Each time we visit Rocky Mountain National Park, we travel the Old Fall River Road from it’s junction with the modern Fall River Road, U.S. Highway 34.  The road is two-way and paved for the first 1.75 miles, passing Lawn Lake Trailhead, Lawn Lake Alluvial Fan, and the Endovalley Picnic Area.   The remaining 9.4 miles is winding, narrow,  unpaved and one-way from the picnic area  to above treeline at Fall River Pass, following the steep slope of Mount Chapin’s south face to it’s junction with Trail Ridge Road.

Old Fall River Road was built between 1913 and 1920.

The Lawn Lake Alluvial Fan is a particularly interesting recent geologic feature.  It was created when flood water and debris rushing down the steep and narrow Roaring River valley from a failed dam at Lawn Lake slowed down when it reached the broader Fall River valley, leaving behind an alluvial fan of debris.  When we first saw it over 20 years ago, the large Roaring River gully scoured by the flow and the alluvial fan were still a fairly fresh scar on the land, with little new vegetation. In the ensuing years, the scar has weathered some and vegetation has moved in.

Additional information on the Lawn Lake Dam Failure, July 15, 1982

Aerial view of Estes Park, July 15, 1982 (USGS)

• KOA TV Channel 4 – YouTube, 1982 footage
• Wikipedia
• Town of Estes Park

Lawn Lake alluvial fan from Trail Ridge Road

Selected Information
Resources:

Rocky Mountain National Park

• National Park Service– Rocky Mountain National Park
  • Suggested Hikes
  • Conditions and Closures
• Wikitravel
• Wikipedia

Estes Park

• Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Town of Estes Park
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Trail Gazette (newspaper)
• Stanley Hotel

Grand Lake

• Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce
• Wikipedia (the lake)
• Wikipedia (the town)
• Town of Grand Lake

On September 10, we headed out to drive to the top of Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods Campground in Colorado Springs, a driving distance of about 25.6 miles, with an elevation change of almost 8000 feet.

We had attempted to drive to the top in 2004, but were stopped at Glen Cove Inn, at 11, 425 feet, due to high winds higher up.  We were told that the winds will likely lessen later.  After waiting a while, we went back down and, later, decided to try to go up on the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway.  When we got to the top, we found that it was brisk and chilly at 34°F with great views, and the wind was low enough that there were already cars in the parking lot.  The ride on the railway was a great experience, though.

On this year’s trip, the wind was not a problem.  With stops, we made it to the top in around 2 hours.

The road has recently been improved significantly as a settlement of a Sierra Club lawsuit. (A lot of the online references say that the road is not paved on the upper half.   This is old information.)  Except for a section less than a mile long, the road is paved all the way to the top.  The road is on federal land administered by the U.S. Forest Service, but is leased to the City of Colorado Springs for operation.  The toll is used to maintain and improve the road, thus requiring no general tax revenue for the road.

Note:  The images and video segments are sequenced from the bottom of the mountain to the top, but most of them were actually taken at pullouts on the way back down.

Pikes Peak is about 10 miles west of Colorado Spring, Colorado.  It was originally called “El Capitan” by Spanish settlers, but was renamed after Zebulon Pike, Jr., an explorer who led an expedition to the area in 1806.  It is one of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners, mountains rising over 14,000 above sea level.

Information and Resources:

• Wikipedia
• Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway
• Aramark
• Pikes Peak Country Attractions

September 9, 2011 – After visiting Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, we headed on down the road to Cripple Creek.  In 2004, we had rented an A-frame cabin near Cripple Creek and, on this day trip, decided to drive through the area again.

Cripple Creek sits in a high mountain valley just below tree line at about 9,500 feet near the western base of Pikes Peak.  For many years the valley was consider to be of little value for anything more than grazing cattle.  A mini gold rush was caused in 1884 when three con men salted gold in a prospect hole near Mount McIntyre, 13 miles west of Mount Pisgah.  The men planted a fake claim sign and invited the press.  In the excitement over news of a new gold strike, the papers mistakenly identified Mt. Pisgah, near current day Cripple Creek, as the location of the strike.  Experienced miners quickly determined the strike was a fake and the incident became known as the Mt. Pisgah Hoax.  It gave the area a bad reputation, prospectors avoiding it for many years.

A persistent prospector, Bob Womack, came to Colorado in 1861 with his father at the tail end of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.  While they didn’t do well, they liked Colorado well enough to bring out the rest of the family, purchasing the Levi Welty homestead in Pisgah Park, where Cripple Creek would later be established.  Womack dug hundreds of holes search for gold, becoming known as “Crazy Bob” and a drunkard.  In 1890,  Womack dug a narrow shaft into Tenderfoot Hill, finding gold ore.  Womack called the discovery the El Paso Lode.  It later became the Gold King Mine, eventually producing $5 million in gold.

In 3 years the population rose from 500 to 10,000.  Though the mines of Cripple Creek produced a half a billion dollars of gold ore, Womack profited but little and died penniless in 1909.  (See more on Cripple Creek history at Wikipedia.)

Unlike many of the historic gold camps and towns that have faded into ghost towns, Cripple Creek reinvented itself in the 1940s as a tourist destination.  In 1991, Cripple Creek was one of a small number of towns opened to legalized gambling by Colorado voters.  Casinos now occupy many of the old historic buildings and gambling revenue has revitalized the area.

Information and Resources:

• Wikipedia
• Cripple Creek Travel Website
• City of Cripple Creek
• Ghosttowns.com

Newsboys admiring sporting goods, Jackson, Ohio – April 1936

From a photograph by FSA photographer Theodor Jung.

Part of: Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

Images of the Great Depression 001

On September 9, we visited Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument and Cripple Creek.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is located in Florissant Valley, a high mountain valley west of Pikes Peak.  The valley, fossil beds and national monument take their name from the nearby town of Florissant, Colorado.

In 1893, when the photograph on the right was taken, tourists had ready access to shale fossils and petrified wood.

“Early accounts describe the valley as being littered with petrified wood.  As word spread, the Florissant area became a popular tourist destination.  Exploitation, constant collecting, and thoughtless destruction continued for nearly 100 years.  There is no way to assess the damage done or the loss of rare scientific evidence during this period.” ¹

Our visit to the park included the small visitor center, the Petrified Forest Trail, and the Hornbek Homestead.

“Adeline Hornbek was not a typical homesteader.  In the 1970s, after the loss of two husbands and two homes, this single mother of four moved her family to the Florissant Valley.  At a time when women had few opportunities to own property, she filed a claim to homestead 160 acres here. Within seven years, Adeline had built a sizable house and nine outbuildings, and had acquired $4,000 worth of livestock.  On top of the daily work of homestead chores and raising children, she added a job at the general store in Florissant.”¹

Information and Resources:

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• University of California Museum of Paleontology
• Proctor Museum of Natural Science
• GORP
• Facebook

^__________

¹ from a park interpretive sign

Our next destination has long been a Colorado destination – more tomorrow with a video photo presentation of our visit there, including a bachelor herd of sheep with big horns.

Several years ago, I did quite a bit of research on a National Historic Site I had never visited, Bent’s Old Fort, just north of the Arkansas River in Southeastern Colorado, near La Junta.  It was one of the places I wanted to see on this trip and we visited the fort September 7th, 2011, a breezy and chilly morning.

It was very, very interesting, exceeding all of what I remembered of that long ago research.

The fort is actually a reconstruction based on drawings by Lt. James Abert in 1846.

It’s amazing to think that this location was actually on the border between the United States and Mexico back then.

Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site was the first place I selected for an online travel project that never came to full fruition.  The material that I developed from that research is included below, along with a few photos from our visit.

William Bent, Charles Bent and Ceran St. Vrain were among the earliest western fur traders and, in the 1820’s, began to engage in the Mexican and Indian trade.  There were five Bent brothers. For thirty years their name was almost synonymous with the fur trade of Colorado.

In 1831 or 1832 Charles Bent and St. Vrain formed a partnership, which in time became Bent, St. Vrain, and Co., and entered the Santa Fe trade. In the late 1820′s or early 1830′sWilliam Bent, who had apparently been trading independently, erected a large adobe fort on the north bank of the Arkansas River, 12 miles west of the mouth of the Purgatoire. At first named Fort William, it was also known as Bent’s Fort and finally as Bent’s Old Fort after it was partially destroyed and a new fort was built elsewhere. Elaborately constructed, it was eventually a massive adobe structure of quadrangular shape having 24 rooms lining the walls, supported by poles. Two 30-foot cylindrical bastions, equipped with cannon, flanked the southwest and northeast corners. The walls were 15 feet high and 2 feet thick and extended 4 feet above the building roofs to serve as a banquette and were pierced with loopholes. On the south side was a cattle yard, enclosed by a high wall. A self-sufficient institution, the fort was operated by about 60 persons of many nationalities and vocations, including blacksmiths, trappers and traders, carpenters, mechanics, wheelwrights, gunsmiths, cooks, cattle herders, hunters, clerks, teamsters, and laborers.

Bent’s Fort became the center of the Bent, St. Vrain Company’s trading empire which reached from Fort St. Vrain in the north to Fort Adobe in the south. The company also had stores at Taos and Santa Fe in what was then Mexico. A primary trade was for buffalo hides with the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Arikara, Comanche, Kiowa, Shoshone and Sioux Indians. Constructed of adobe due to the scarcity of lumber, for most of its 16 years, it was the only permanent white settlement between Missouri and the Mexican settlements.  For explorers, adventurers and the U.S. Army, the fort provided supplies, livestock, company and a place for protection in what was known as the Great American Desert.

In 1846 the U.S. Army decided to use their post as a staging base for the conquest of New Mexico. That summer Gen. Stephen W. Kearny and his Army of the West, consisting of about 1,650 dragoons and Missouri Volunteers-from Fort Leavenworth, Kans., followed by some 300 to 400 wagons of Santa Fe traders, rested at the fort before proceeding to occupy New Mexico.

When Kearny departed, Government wagon trains congregated in ever-increasing numbers. Horses and mules overgrazed nearby pastures. Quartermaster stores piled up at the fort, and soldiers, teamsters, and artisans in Government employ occupied the rooms. Not only did the Government fail to compensate the company adequately, but trade also suffered because the Indians were reluctant to come near when so many whites were present. Following the soldiers into New Mexico were scores of settlers, gold seekers, and other adventurers who slaughtered the buffalo, fouled the watering places, destroyed scarce forage, and used up precious wood. The company was caught between the millstones of resentful Indians and invading whites.

Several other factors accelerated the company’s demise. In 1847 Charles Bent, who the year before had been appointed the first Governor of New Mexico Territory, was assassinated by Taos Indians during a revolt. The following year St. Vrain sold his interest in the company to William Bent. The final blow was a cholera epidemic, which in 1849 spread from emigrant wagons and decimated the Plains tribes. That same year the disillusioned William Bent abandoned the fort, moved 38 miles down the Arkansas, and founded Bent’s New Fort in an ill-fated attempt to restore his trading business.

Bent may have partially blown up and burned Bent’s Old Fort at the time he departed. By 1861, at the end of more than a decade of disuse, the fort’s rehabilitated walls sheltered a stage station on the Barlow and Sanderson route between Kansas City and Santa Fe. When the railroads replaced stagecoaches, the buildings served as cattle corrals and gradually collapsed and disintegrated. Yet as late as 1915 parts of the old walls were still standing.

Early in the 1950′s the State Historical Society of Colorado acquired Bent’s Old Fort from the Colorado chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The society arranged with Trinidad (Colo.) State Junior College to perform the initial archeological investigation and determine the fort’s general outlines. The society then erected a low wall, about 3 to 4 feet high, delineating them.

In 1960, Congress established the fort as a national historic site. After the National Park Service activated Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site in 1963, it tore down the wall and completed comprehensive archeological excavations. Archeological excavations, original sketches and paintings, and diaries were the bases for the fort’s reconstruction in 1976.

Nearby Camping:

• Hasty Lake-Ordway
• John Martin Reservoir-Lamar
• KOA-La Junta

In internet researching for my web pages on Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, I discovered over 70 mentions of the old fort and the new fort in old documents available on-line.  In nine of them, I found more detailed information:

Harper New Monthly Magazine, Editor’s Drawer[1]

In “old times,” said Colonel Saint Vrain to me when I last saw him at the little New Mexican pueblito of Morn, “the Indians came to the posts when they had any trading to do; camped near by, and did their trading; settled little disputes among themselves; had pony- races with the mountaineers that had come in with pelts, and a sort of good time generally. If you could have seen the old trading post that stood where Bent’s Old Fort now stands, on one of these trading visits, you would have seen a sight worth remembering. We did not let many Indians into the fort at a time, and those who were in had to exhibit good behavior or none at all. There have been more than forty thousand robes sent out from that post as the result of one year’s work. There was money in the trade then, but now— Well, there’s but few of the traders who go out to the villages with an outfit but what might have found quite as good employment for themselves in some other line of business.”

Life of Kit Carson…[2]

We left Carson at Robideau Fort, tired of the pursuit of trapping, as soon as it had become unprofitable, and while there, he arranged with three or four other trappers, to come down to Bent’s Fort. The trip was like others made at this season, through a country where the rifle would supply food for the party, and arriving at Bent’s Fort, where his name was already well-known, Carson could not long be idle. He engaged himself to Messrs. Bent and St. Vrain, as hunter to the fort, preferring this by far to the idea of seeking employment nearer civilized life. Indeed no situation could have pleased him better, if we may judge from the fact that he continued in it for eight years, and until the connection with his employers was broken by the death of one of the partners, Col. Bent. Gov. Bent, since appointed to the office of chief magistrate of New Mexico, by the United States Government, had been killed by Mex can Indians, and was universally mourned by Americans and Indians wherever he was known. Mr. St. Vrain, the other partner, was active during the Mexican war, since the date of which we write, still lives, and is esteemed as a father, by many an early mountaineer. Carson owed him gratitude for kindly sympathy and words of counsel, when yet a youth he was commencing his mountain life, and Dr, Peters, the first biographer of Kit Carson, dedicates his book to Col. St. Vrain, asserting that he was the first to discover and direct Carson’s talents to the path in which they were employed. For both of these gentlemanly proprietors, Carson cherished a warm friendship, nor was there ever an unpleasant occurrence between them.

The life of Col. John Charles Fremont….[3]

On the 1st of July [1844] we arrived at Bent’s fort, about 70 miles below the mouth of the Fontaine-qui-bouit. As we emerged into view from the groves on the river, we were saluted with a display of the national flag, and repeated discharges from the guns of the fort, where we were received by Mr. George Bent with a cordial welcome and a friendly hospitality, in the enjoyment of which we spent several very agreeable days. We were now in the region where our mountaineers were accustomed to live; and all the dangers and difficulties of the road being considered past, four of them, including Carson and Walker, remained at the fort.

Scenes beyond the Western Border[4]

July 29th. [1845]-A pleasant day, with a cool breeze, which made all comfortable. As we passed on this morning, we saw a half mile to our right, near the river bank, a small party with a wagon, moving westward: — whereupon it was visited, some barrels of alcohol destroyed—me n and wagon seized and brought with us.

Over a smooth, gravelly, second bank prairie, we caught sight, at several miles distance, of the national flag, floating amid picturesque foliage and river scenery, over a low dark wall, which had a very military semblance. Very gradually and tediously we approached; and then were we more surprised at the fine appearance and strength of the trading fort. An extensive square, with high adobe walls, and two large towers—at opposite angles; and all properly loop-holed. Our near approach was saluted by three discharges from a swivel gun; the walls being well “manned.” The Colonel and suite were most hospitally greeted at the sally port, by Messrs St. Vrain and C. Brent. The regiment marched on, and en camped at the first grassy meadow, a mile or lower down

Amongst a few luxuries which we here attain, are several newspapers, of later date by some weeks than we have seen.  The commissary reports the provisions in perfect preservation—especially the hard bread; ‘tis a pity there is no flour.  We arrived with rations for a single day.

This afternoon a party of a dozen Mexicans passed our camp, being questioned, and allowed to proceed; they have a trading venture, for the Chians. The majority of the hands at the fort are Mexicans; and the Spanish the prevailing language; but with English, French and Indian additions and combinations, there is no slight confusion of tongues.

There has been quite a lively exchange of broken down horses for ponies and mules; and very much, ” unsight, unseen,” a horse was a horse, if he could stand up; a pony was only expected to go. Two young antelopes were presented to an officer, who then purchased a mule and cart for their conveyance.

Here we lose sight of Pike mountain, after journeying rapidly in view for nine days. It is said to be visible from some river bluff, 80 or 90 miles further on. We have found it about 400 miles from Fort Laramie, and the route we have followed is the best natural road we have yet seen. There is nothing to prevent a light carriage from passing it, twelve miles to the hour; and this so near the mountains, and in view of perpetual snow!

The Mexican war: a history of its origin, and ….[5]

[1846] The point of departure [of Kearney’s troops] was Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri river, and the point to be reached (Santa Fe) was one thousand miles distant. For a greater part of that distance, from the Missouri to Bent’s Fort on the Arkansas, the road lay over vast plains, which had for ages been the pasturage of the buffalo, or the hunting-ground of the Indian. Short dry grass, or sometimes barren ground, with skirts of trees in the valleys of the streams, made nearly the whole landscape; while occasionally a buffalo in the distance, a prairie-wolf in the trail, or the carcass of some unfortunate horse given to the wild birds or wilder beasts, gave variety to this desolate scene. Bent’s Fort, the lonely plantation of Mr. Bonny, and the meeting of a party of traders, were the only signs of civilization.

History of the United States of America, from the discovery to the present time.[6]

On the 2d of September [1846], George Bent, known as the proprietor of Bent’s Fort, was appointed civil governor of New Mexico….

Incidents of travel and adventure in the far West: with Col Fremont’s last expedition ….[7]

p. 73—Bent’s house [not the fort] is a trading post. Indians of the different tribes bring in their venison, buffalo meat, skins, and robes, which are exchanged for various descriptions of manufactured goods. Mr. Bent also receives the annual appropriation from Government, for the neighboring tribes of Indians which are distributed at this point. Bent’s Fort, which is situated about thirty miles further up the Arkansas, was recently destroyed by the Indians, and has not been rebuilt, from the scarcity of timber in its vicinity. All the material saved from the fort, was removed to Mr. Bent’s house, on Big Timber.

p.75:—WE travelled up the Arkansas, and passing the ruins, of Bent’s Fort on the opposite side of the river, struck the mouth of the Huerfano; we followed that river to the Huerfano Valley-which is by far the most romantic and beautiful country I ever beheld.

California and Mexico, Message from The President of the United States to Congress [8]

Letter from Indian Agent James C. Calhoun

INDIAN AGENCY, SANTA FE,

October 5, 1849:

Sir: Since my letter of yesterday’s date, I regret to say rumors of Indian troubles have increased, and received some confirmation by the murder of a Mexican within three miles of this place. The surgeon who examined the wounded man on yesterday says he was shot with sixteen arrows in the back and two in front; that he found arrows upon the ground, and that the trail indicated the number of Indians as unusually large. Several Indians from Ildefonso came to me yesterday, also, saying the Navajoes were impudent, troublesome, and dangerous, and that they were in every nook and corner of the country.

A few moments since, the governor and others of Santa Domingo, thirty-one miles west of Santa Fe, came to give me similar intelligence. One of the owners of Bent’s Fort has removed all property from it, and caused the fort to be burnt. Mr. St. Vrain, long a citizen here, every way reliable and intelligent, says a worse state of things has not existed in this country since he has been an inhabitant of it. This fact is sustained by Mr. Folger and others—among them Mr. Smith, who will be in Washington at an early day, as the delegate of a convention assembled here on the 24th of last month, to consider of the public good.

The number of discontented Indians in this Territory is not small; and I regret to add, they are not the only evil people in it.

This whole country requires a thorough purging, which can be accomplished only by a thorough exploration of every hole and corner in it. The entire country should be immediately examined and surveyed, and military roads should be opened, and posts and depots established.

This policy would render it absolutely necessary to send out one or two additional regiments, (mounted) as the surest and only plan of economizing in this branch of the public service; and with this branch, should one or more additional regiments be raised, I should be pleased to be associated, as I have written to you and to the Secretary of War heretofore.

Governor Washington left for Taos on yesterday morning, to be absent for a few days only. I am arranging to leave for Jemez on to-morrow, where, it is understood, a number of the chief officials of several pueblos are to be on the 8th of the present month.

Colonel Monroe has not arrived. No report of troops approaching from the States, and we are yet without a mail.

I am your obedient servant,

James S. Calhoun, Indian Agent, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Commissioner, &c., Washington City

Camp and Travel in Colorado^[9]

There along the river banks are the stamping grounds of Colonel Bent, and some miles above Lyon are the ruins of Bent’s Old Fort, while several miles below it stands Bent’s Fort, a massive structure of masonry built on a solid bed of stone, under one-third of which flows the current of the Arkansas. This fort was probably built for Indian business, and though we could see no present or past need of it, knowing that Indian tribes have no very powerful bombarding batteries, its walls, we were told, were broad enough for our teams to drive around on, and fifteen to twenty feet in height. Its portholes and towers gave the fort a threatening look, as seen from any point for miles away upon the plains. Within its walls were the conveniences of barracks and stables, while but a few rods north, at the foot of a hill, lay a little town of barracks that was used by the garrison in times of peace. This was unoccupied, while there was only a poor Mexican family in possession of the fort itself.

[1] “Editor’s Drawer, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Harper & Brothers, New York, January 1869

[2] Burdett, Charles, “Life of Kit Carson: the great western hunter and guide. Comprising wild and romantic exploits as a hunter and trapper in the Rocky Mountains; thrilling adventures and hairbreadth escapes among the Indians and Mexicans; his daring and invaluable services as a guide to scouting and other parties, etc., etc. With an account of various government expeditions to the far West.”, Philadelphia,: J. E. Potter and company, 1869

[3] Frémont, John Charles, “The life of Col. John Charles Fremont, and his narrative of explorations and adventures, in Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon and California,” New York, Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1856.

[4] Cooke, Philip St. George; Captain of U. S. Dragoons, “Scenes Beyond the Western Border”, Southern Literary Messenger, Aug 1853

[5] Mansfield, Edward D.,  “The Mexican war: a history of its origin, and a detailed account of the victories which terminated in the surrender of the capital; with the official despatches of the generals. To which is added, the treaty of peace, and valuable tables of the strength and losses of the United States Army” New York, A.S. Barnes & Co., 1860

[6] Watson, Henry Clay, “History of the United States of America, from the discovery to the present time.” Philadelphia,: Thomas, Cowperthwait & co., 1854

[7] Carvalho, S. N, [artist to the expedition] ” Incidents of travel and adventure in the far West: with Col Fremont’s last expedition across the Rocky Mountains: including three months’ residence in Utah, and a perilous trip across the great American desert to the Pacific.” New York, Derby & Jackson, 1859

[8] Taylor, Zachary, “California and Mexico, Message from The President of the United States, Transmitting Information in answer to a resolution of the House of the 31^st of December, 1849, on the subject of California and New Mexico.”, January 24, 1850

[9] Mariager, Dagmar, “Camp and Travel in Colorado”, Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, May 1890

Market House Museum, Paducah, Kentucky, April 24, 2010

I don’t know what the colored bottles were for.  I was too intent on taking pictures.  This photo intentionally has a shallow depth of field, leaving some parts of the picture out of focus.

Paducah, Kentucky:

• Market House Museum website
• City of Paducah
• Paducah Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel

Related posts:

• Architectural detail
• Art tiles
• A short spring time trip
• A Visit to Paducah…,

Separated from Yellowstone National Park by only 10 miles, Grand Teton National Park is another of our favorites that we have visited many times.  Though we have camped in the park on some previous visits, this time we stayed at a campground on the Snake River south of Jackson, Wyoming.

The park is named for Grand Teton, the tallest peak, 13,775 feet (4,199 m),  in the Teton Range, which rises abruptly above the valley of Jackson Hole.

Jackson Hole is believed to be named after a mountain man, David (Davey) Edward Jackson, a mountain man who trapped the area for beaver in the early 1800s.  The name “hole” is a term used by early trappers who entered from the north and east, descending along relatively steep slopes, giving the feeling of descending into a hole.

The town of Jackson, Wyoming, the only incorporated town in the valley, is often mistakenly referred to as Jackson Hole.

__________

References and Resources:

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
  • Grand Teton National Park
  • Jackson Hole
  • Jackson, Wyoming
• Wyoming Tourism
• Wikitravel
• Grand Teton Lodge Company

The music is “Back to Back” by Whitey Morgan and the 78’s, YouTube audioswap.

While we had been here before, in 2001, we had just been passing through on our way to Glacier National Park and had made reservations at a hotel in Great Falls for one night.

In 2007, though, Great Falls was a destination for a family visit.  A brother, his wife and two sons were living there.

While visiting with family, we also saw some of what is left of the falls, went to a farmers’ market, saw an autocross competition, visited Giant Spring State Park, spent a little time at a horse auction and stopped at the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center.

__________

References for Great Falls:

• City of Great Falls
• Wikipedia
• Great Falls Conventions and Visitors Bureau
• Great Falls Chamber of Commerce
• Great Falls Tribune

America’s First National Monument

This was our second visit to Devils Tower.  Our first was an abbreviated, quick visit-and-get back-on-the-road side trip on our way home from a western vacation.

On this 2007 visit, we stayed 3 nights at the Devils Tower KOA campground, just outside the entrance station to the monument.

One of the trails that we took was a trail that goes all the way around the base of Devils Tower. Devils Tower is a sacred site to many American Indian tribes. All along the trail could be seen Indian prayer offerings (bundles and cloths).

The other trail we took was a full moon hike with a park ranger.  I did have a couple of good images that turned out from that night, but they were from after we got back to the camper.  One of them is the last image of the video slide show at the beginning of this post.

Photos (from top to bottom):

1. Prayer bundle in the forest at the base of Devils Tower
2. A scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind in one of the prefab buildings on the military base set up at the entrance station.
3. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon), and Larry Butler (Josef Sommer) run towards Devils Tower, Close Encounters of the Third Kind scene right at the entrance station to the monument.
4. Devils Tower National Monument entrance station.

It’s interesting, now, how familiar much of the scenery in the movie is now, including some of the scenery outside the park.  The area where the military encampment is shown to be in the movie is now the site of several better than average touristy type shops.

From Wikipedia:

Devils Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means “Bear Lodge”) is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet (386 m) above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,112 feet (1,558 m) above sea level.

__________

Devil’s Tower references:

• National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel
• Wyoming Tourism
• Black Hills, Badlands, and Lakes

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (full movie)

The day we decided to visit Deadwood, South Dakota, turned out to be during the “Kool Deadwood Nights” festival.

We had no idea that there was anything special going on until we got there.  When we had trouble finding a place to park, we almost decided to head on down the road to see other places and sights.

Deadwood’s Main Street was filled with the chairs of people who were planning to attend the night’s entertainment.  We have no idea who was performing that night and we were not prepared to stay that late.

Kool Deadwood Nights: Car lovers come together for four days full of classic cars, classic music and classic fun. It’s a 50’s and 60’s sock hop—Deadwood style. Enjoy parades, show and shines and FREE concerts on Main Street featuring the biggest names in rock ‘n roll history.¹

Deadwood, named for dead trees found there when it was established, was illegally settled in the 1870s in territory granted to native tribes in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie.  An expedition led by George Armstrong Custer in 1874 announce the discovery of gold in the Black Hills.  The news, of course, triggered a gold rush, and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood.

The town’s early history forms the basis for the storyline of the HBO TV series named Deadwood.

__________

Deadwood references:

• Deadwood Chamber of Commerce
• City of Deadwood
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel

__________

¹ Deadwood Chamber of Commerce.

(Audio: Pious Reflection by Paul Mottram)

One of our first stops on our 2007 trip, after visiting family in Nebraska, was the Black Hills of South Dakota.  While there, we visited Mount Rushmore national Monument.

We had stopped at Mount Rushmore once in the late 80s.  We were on our way home from vacationing in Wyoming and Idaho and our visit to Rushmore was a hurried afterthought.

This trip, we took our time and got the full benefit of the visit.  Mount Rushmore is worth seeing.

_____________

Mount Rushmore information:

• Wikipedia
• National Park Service
• State of South Dakota

USS Razorback, SS 394, North Little Rock, Arkansas

A Balao-class submarine of the Sandlance variant, USS Razorback was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

Her keel was laid on 09 September 1943. Razorback was constructed in Drydock #1 at the shipyard, and she was launched, along with two sister ships USS Redfish (SS-395) and USS Ronquil (SS-396), on 27 January 1944. USS Scabbardfish (SS-397) was also launched at the shipyard that day. This was the largest single-day launch of submarines in US history.

After five WWII combat patrols and extensive service during the Cold War, on 30 November 1970, USS Razorback was decommissioned and transferred to the Turkish Navy, where she served until decommissioned on 08 August 2001.    She reached her new berth in North Little Rock, 29 August 2004 at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum.

USS Razorback (SS-394)

• Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum (AIMM)
• Dictionary of American Fighting Ships
• Historic Naval Ships Association
• Submarine Photo Archive
• Wikipedia

Little Rock Area

• City of Little Rock website
• Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau
• City of North Little Rock website
• North Little Rock Visitors Bureau
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel

Other posts related to the Little Rock area

• Presidential Table
• Big Dam Bridge
• Tug and barges leaving lock, upstream of the Big Dam Bridge
• Tight squeeze and short on time
• Parking Privileges – YES!
• Karen’s Quilting
• A Big Dam Bridge for biking and hiking

Begging Burros is a name used to refer to feral burros (asses) in Custer State Park, South Dakota. The burros are descendants of a herd that were used to carry visitors to the top of Harney Peak.  When the rides were discontinued years ago, the burros were released into the park. Elk, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, and mountain lions  also inhabit the park.

ass: (noun) 1. A hoofed mammal of the horse family with a braying call, typically smaller than a horse and with longer ears

burro: (noun) 1. The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E. africanus. In the western United States, a small donkey is sometimes called a ”burro” (from the Spanish word for the animal).

Custer State Park

• Official park web site
• Wikipedia

Black Hills

• Black Hills, Badlands, and Lakes – Black Hills Badlands & Lake Association
• Wikipedia

William J. Clinton Presidential Center, May 12, 2007

The Clinton service is remarkable not only for its revolutionary design but also for its significance to the history of the American presidency.

The Clinton administration coincided with the bicentennial of the White House as home to America’s first families, a role it had played since John Adams, the second president, took up residence there on November 1, 1800. To commemorate this event, and also replenish the stock of official state china for the first time in nearly two decades, President William Clinton and his wife, Hillary, commissioned Lenox to create 300 12-piece place settings in 2000.

In a dramatic departure from previous White House services, the Clinton china features a border of pale creamy yellow, instead of a bright primary color, and images of the White House facades, in place of the customary presidential seal. Each piece in the placesetting is decorated with a different pattern, the motifs derived from outstanding architectural elements found in the State Dining Room, East Room, and Diplomatic Reception Room.

Fittingly, the china was used for the first time at a dinner attended by former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George Bush, their wives, and Lady Bird Johnson, former first lady.

Lenox White House China

Clinton Presidential Library and Center

• William J. Clinton Presidential Library (.gov)
• William J. Clinton Presidential Center (.org)
• Wikipedia

Little Rock Area

• City of Little Rock website
• Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau
• City of North Little Rock website
• North Little Rock Visitors Bureau
• Wikipedia
• Wikitravel

Other Exit78 posts related to the Clinton Presidency:

• Fascinating Landscape
• Digital photography is just so cool!

Other posts related to the Little Rock area

• Big Dam Bridge
• Tug and barges leaving lock, upstream of the Big Dam Bridge
• Tight squeeze and short on time
• Parking Privileges – YES!
• Karen’s Quilting
• A Big Dam Bridge for biking and hiking

Just over a quarter of Nebraska is mixed grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes, referred to locally as the sandhills. It is the largest area of sand dunes in the western hemisphere.

In 2007, we visited a relative’s ranch in the sandhills, a place of fond memories for me.  The accompanying video was produced from pictures from that visit.

• Sand Hills – Wikipedia
• The Nebraska Sandhills
• The Sandhills – U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Valentine National Wildlife Refuge
• Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway
• The Nebraska Sandhills – Lincoln City Library: “The Nebraska Sandhills are the largest area of sand dunes in the western hemisphere. Over 50,000 square kilometers, or close to 20,000 square miles in extent (not counting some outliers), the Sandhills are fragile grasslands that are wild, sparsely settled, desolate, and beautiful in unexpected ways.”

I’ve created a short video using photographs from the civil war and and mixed it with a couple of medleys of civil war music recorded almost 100 years ago.  I titled it “Torn Asunder–Images from America’s Civil War.”   It can be viewed in high definition by going to YouTube.com and then selecting the full screen icon in lower right corner of video (move mouse cursor over lower part of video to see icon).

This little project took a lot longer than the one’s I’ve created from my own photos and videos.  I assembled it photo by photo as I found them in the U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog.  Each image was “adjusted” to correct fading, remove spots and scratches, or other enhancements.  The audio was enhanced to filter out most of the static, hisses, and pops.

The video shows very little of battle.  First off, there are very few actual photos of battle.  Second, for most people, including the soldiers, the actual fighting was only a fraction of their war-time experiences.

I am using the frames from some of the photographs in the new header on my Daily Observations from the Civil War blog, which, of course, also has a post on this video, with a different slant to the blog post content.

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Description of photographs:

• Keedysville, Md., vicinity. Confederate wounded at Smith’s Barn, with Dr. Anson Hurd, 14th Indiana Volunteers, in attendance, September 1862.
• Unidentified soldier in Confederate uniform and forage cap.
• Chickahominy River, Va. Grapevine bridge built May 27-28, 1862, by the 5th New Hampshire Infantry under Col. Edward E. Cross.
• Unidentified young soldier in Union uniform with musket, bayonet, and knapsack.
• Aquia Creek Landing, Va. Embarkation of 9th Army Corps for Fort Monroe, February 1863.
• Unidentified soldier in Confederate uniform and slouch hat, missing jacket buttons.
• Cedar Mountain, Va. A Confederate field hospital, 1862.
• Unidentified young soldier in New York Zouave uniform.
• Cumberland Landing, Va. Federal encampment April – May 1862.
• Unidentified young soldier in Confederate shell jacket, Hardee hat with Mounted Rifles insignia and plume with canteen and cup.
• Military Bridge across the Chicahominy, June 1862.
• Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform in front of painted backdrop showing military camp.
• Rebel gun in front of Fort Hell, April 1865, a Confederate cannon inside of Fort Sedgwick in Petersburg, Virginia.
• Unidentified soldier in Confederate uniform.
• Yorktown, Va. Embarkation for White House Landing, Va.
• Unidentified young sailor in Union uniform.
• Antietam Bridge, September, 1862.
• Unidentified soldier in Confederate shell jacket and slouch hat with object hanging from neck in front of painted backdrop showing waterfall.
• Confederate prisoners at Fairfax Courthouse, June 1863.
• Unidentified girl in mourning dress holding framed photograph of her father as a cavalryman with sword and Hardee hat.
• Hand colored; Tending wounded Union soldiers at Savage’s Station, Virginia, during the Peninsular Campaign, 1862.
• Two unidentified women reading letters.
• James River, Va. Sailors on deck of U.S.S. Monitor; cookstove at left, July 9, 1862.
• Unidentified soldier in Confederate uniform and civilian, likely his father or older brother.
• Harper’s Ferry, meeting of the Potomac and the Shenandoah, July 1865.
• Unidentified soldier in Confederate uniform.
• Libby Prison, Richmond, Va., August 23, 1863.
• Unidentified African American Union soldier with a rifle and revolver in front of painted backdrop showing weapons and American flag at Benton Barracks, Saint Louis, Missouri.
• Manassas, Virginia. Camp of General Irvin McDowell’s body guard, hand colored photographic print.
• Unidentified soldier in uniform with young woman, probably his wife.
• Secret Service agents, Whitehouse, Va.
• Unidentified soldier in Confederate uniform of the 11th Virginia regiment with knapsack and bedroll.
• Dinner time in camp.
• Unidentified woman wearing mourning brooch and displaying framed image of unidentified soldier.
• Confederate artillery near Charleston, S.C.
• Unidentified soldier in Union uniform with Company E, 12th Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers hat.
• Confederate prisoners at Belle Plain Landing, Va., captured with Johnson’s Division, May 12, 1864.
• 1863, Interior view of Fort Sumter showing ruins and explosion.

Native grasses at a travel rest stop at Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge, Kansas, intersection of U.S. Highway 69 and Kansas 52 – with our motorhome and car in the background.

From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

The Refuge is named after the Marais des Cygnes River which runs through the middle of the refuge and is the dominant natural feature of the region.  The name, Marais des Cygnes, comes from the French language and means Marsh of the Swans.  It is presumed that trumpeter swans, which were historically common in the Midwest, used the wetlands adjacent to the Marais des Cygnes River during spring and fall migration.

The Refuge was established in 1992 for the protection and restoration of bottomland hardwood forests.  Approximately 5,000 acres of the 7,500 acre refuge are available for wildlife oriented recreation including hunting, fishing, and birding.   A wildlife sanctuary encompasses the remaining 2,500 acres of the refuge and is not available for public use.

The Marais des Cygnes Massacre:

The Marais des Cygnes Massacre is considered the last significant act of violence in Bleeding Kansas prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War. On May 19, 1858, approximately 30 men led by Charles Hamilton, a Georgia native and proslavery leader, crossed into the Kansas Territory from Missouri. They arrived at Trading Post, Kansas in the morning and then headed back to Missouri. Along the way they captured 11 free-state men, none of whom were armed and, it is said, none of whom had participated in the ongoing violence. Most of the men knew Hamilton and apparently did not realize he meant them harm. These prisoners were led into a defile, where Hamilton ordered the men shot and fired the first bullet himself. Five men were killed.

Hamilton and his gang returned to Missouri. Only one man was ever brought to justice. William Griffith of Bates County, Missouri, was arrested in the spring of 1863 and hanged on October 30 of that year. Charles Hamilton returned to Georgia, where he died in 1880.

The incident horrified the nation and inspired John Greenleaf Whittier to write a poem on the murders, “Le Marais du Cygne,” which appeared in the September 1858 Atlantic Monthly.

Related sites:

• Marais des Cygnes Massacre History – Kansas Historical Society
• Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • Wikipedia

Related posts:

• Marais des Cygnes.
• On the road again √
• Sunflowers in Kansas

Josiah Marshall
Favill

Image of unknown
man used for John
Beauchamp Jones.

Image of unknown
woman used for
“refugee” Judith
White McQuire.

Joseph Howland

Horatio Nelson Taft

William Howard Russell

Seven of the writers that I am including at Daily Observations from The Civil War wrote diary entries or letters on July 21, 1861 that related to the battle near Manassas Junction and/or the aftermath.  The following are excerpts from their writings of the day:

Josiah Marshall Favill – “In the order prescribed by the regulations, for a force feeling the enemy preparatory to an attack, we marched forward, passing over the open field and into a piece of full grown timber, apparently the slope of a considerable hill. As we slowly ascended the rising ground, suddenly a loud screeching noise overhead sent more than half the regiment pell mell the other side of a fence that ran along the road side. Here we crouched down flat on our bellies, our hearts in our mouths..,” – Diary of a Young Officer.

John Beauchamp Jones – “The President left the city this morning for Manassas, and we look for a battle immediately. I have always thought he would avail himself of his prerogative as commander-in-chief, and direct in person the most important operations in the field; and, indeed, I have always supposed he was selected to be the Chief of the Confederacy, mainly with a view to this object, as it was generally believed…” – A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital.

Judith White McQuire – “We were at church this morning and heard Bishop Meade, on the subject of “Praise.” He and his whole congregation greatly excited. Perhaps there was no one present who had not some near relative at Manassas…” Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War.

Joseph Howland – “On The Battle-Field Near Bull Run… Our brigade is making a demonstration in the face of the enemy and a fight is going on on the right of the line five or six miles off.” – Letters of a Family During the War for the Union.

Horatio Nelson Taft – “This has been the most exciting day yet. We have heard the guns all day from the battle which has been raging at or near Mannasses Junction. There is no news that can be relied on public tonight, only that a terrible fight has been going on all day.” – Diary of a Clerk in the U.S. Patent Office.

William Howard Russell – “The calmness and silence of the streets of Washington this lovely morning suggested thoughts of the very different scenes which, in all probability, were taking place at a few miles’ distance. One could fancy the hum and stir round the Federal bivouacs, as the troops woke up and were formed into column of march towards the enemy.” – My Diary North and South.