Three from the Road #18 – 2010 trip¹

Lake Ogallala sits below Kingsley Dam on its east side in western Nebraska.  Located immediately downstream from Lake McConaughy on the North Platte River in Keith County, it was formed in the late 1930’s when the dredging of materials for the construction of Kingsley Dam resulted in a large borrow pit. Water supplied to Lake Ogallala is primarily from deep-water releases from Lake McConaughy resulting in cold water temperatures ideal for trout.²

Lake Ogallala, at 320 acres, is comparatively small, gentle and sedate. Its protected shoreline wards off winds that would send the big lake into torment. Lake Ogallala’s modern campground is a pay-for-use area, but has all the conveniences electricity, modern restrooms, hot showers and fire grates. Its camper pads are nestled among mature cottonwoods in a serene lakeside setting. On the west side, a more primitive atmosphere prevails at campsites without all the amenities.³

References:

• Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area
  • Nebraska Game and Parks
  • Camping – Reserve America, Nebraska State Parks

End Notes

1. Three from the Road is a series sharing images from places we’ve visited.  Initially, each post included thee images, related by a randomly selected location or topic. Posts now may be random choices or pre-planned sequences.  This post is in a series sequentially sharing images from our 2010 trip west.
2. Lake Ogallala Project Ready to Move Ahead; Environmental Update, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, Summer 2009 (Accessed 10/15/2016)
3. Lake Ogallala SRA, NE – Reserve America, Nebraska State Parks

Empty barns and idle trucks are found throughout the drought area. Beach, North Dakota. July 1936.¹

Typical farm in drought area. Beach, North Dakota, July 1936.²

John Frederick of Grant County, North Dakota, shows how high his wheat would grow if there were no drought; July 1936.³

1. Rothstein, Arthur, photographer. Empty barns and idle trucks are found throughout the drought area. Beach, North Dakota. July, 1936. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1998019575/PP/. (Accessed October 18, 2016.)
2. Rothstein, Arthur, photographer. Typical farm in drought area. Beach, North Dakota. July, 1936. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1998019586/PP/. (Accessed October 18, 2016.)
3. Rothstein, Arthur, photographer. John Frederick of Grant County, North Dakota, shows how high his wheat would grow if there were no drought. July, 1936. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1998019584/PP/. (Accessed October 18, 2016.)

Faces Out of Time #19

Irish spinner and spinning wheel. County Galway, Ireland²

1. Irish spinner and spinning wheel. County Galway, Ireland. [between and Ca. 1900, ca. 1890] Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002717414/. (Accessed October 18, 2016.) Title from the Detroit Publishing Co., catalogue J foreign section. Detroit, Mich. : Detroit Photographic Company, 1905. Forms part of: Views of Ireland in the Photochrom print collection. Medium: 1 photomechanical print : photochrom, color.

Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:

• fade correction,
• color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
• selected spot and/or scratch removal
• cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
• straighten image

Three from the Road #17 – 2010 trip^a

Top of Windlass Hill, looking down into the hollow
Ash Hollow State Historical Park, Nebraska, July 8, 2010

Ash Hollow

After negotiating the climb up California Hill, the emigrants traveled for 18 miles across the high tableland between the South and North Platte rivers before descending into the North Platte Valley through Ash Hollow. Ash Hollow, one of the major landmarks on the Oregon Trail, was labeled “The Gateway to the- North Platte Valley.” In addition to being a physical landmark, Ash Hollow was one of the most famous campsites on the entire trail, for it offered wood, pure water, and grass for the stock. Wood was a scarce commodity on the treeless great plains and made a pleasant change from burning buffalo chips, and the fresh water from Ash Hollow Springs was a special treat after several weeks of obtaining water from the Platte River. In short, Ash Hollow was an idyllic campsite–an oasis of beauty on the generally drab and dreary Great Platte River Road.

Entrance to Ash Hollow was by way of Windlass Hill, where the Oregon Trail dropped from the high tableland between the rivers into the ravine which formed Ash Hollow. This 25° slope of 300 feet length was the first really steep grade encountered on the Oregon Trail, and the impression made upon emigrants was particularly vivid. The hill was usually negotiated by rough-locking the wagon wheels and using ropes to carefully lower the wagons. An 1849 emigrant complained that it took three hours to safely descend the hill. (The name of Windlass Hill post-dates the emigration period, and there is no evidence that a windlass was ever used to lower wagons down the grade.)¹

Looking down from Windlass Hill, the “ditch” in the center of the image is the eroded trace left from the Oregon/California trail traffic.

Windlass hill is scarred by deeply eroded ruts cut by thousands of wagons sliding downhill with their wheels locked. A paved (but steep) walking trail with outdoor exhibits leads visitors along the ruts to the top of the hill, where hikers are rewarded with a vista of Ash Hollow and the Platte River.²

This ravine on Windlass Hill eroded from the trace left by Oregon/California trail traffic.

Sources:

1. Ash Hollow – Oregon National Historic Trail, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan B1; Comprehensive Management and Use Plan Appendices: Environmental Impact Statement, Issue 3, page 90; National Park Service, 1981 (accessed 10/14/2016)
2. Windlass Hill – National Historic Trails Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide, Nebraska and Northeastern Colorado, page 51

References:

• Ash Hollow Complex – California National Historic Trail, National Park Service
• Ash Hollow State Historical Park
  • Wikipedia
  • Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
    • YouTube
  • Garden County Visitor’s Committee
  • Nebraska State Historical Society

Notes:

1. Three from the Road is a series sharing images from places we’ve visited.  Initially, each post included thee images, related by a randomly selected location or topic. Posts now may be random choices or pre-planned sequences.  This post is in a series sequentially sharing images from our 2010 trip west.

Art on Sunday #21

Snap Apple Night: All Hallow Eve¹

Snap apple, of Irish origin, is a synonym for apple bobbing, a game in which contestants try to pick apples out of a tub or basin of water, using only their mouth. A variation has the apple hanging by string, with the same goal of picking the apples using only one’s mouth.²

All-hallow Eve by Daniel Maclise³

Maclise revisits Cork —‘ All-hallow Eve’—‘ Scene at Blarney’— His Picture⁴

At this period there lived. in the village of ‘Blarney’ (a very few miles from Cork) the Rev. Matthew Horgan; he was the parish priest, a genial old gentleman, famous for his antiquarian research, and his profound acquaintance with the literature of Ireland.

A man he was to all the country dear,’—

the arbiter to whom all disputes and differences that sprang up in the parish were invariably referred; in fact, he claimed to possess a kind of feudal jurisdiction over his tractable parishioners, and he ‘had his claim allowed.’ It was the invariable custom of the good old priest to invite a large party on ‘All-hallow eve:’ it was a social gathering, where persons of superior position in society were to be found unaffectedly mingling with the poorest peasantry of the parish. Crofton Croker and Maclise were invited to this entertainment, and whilst the young artist, charmed with the novelty of the scene, surrendered himself, heart and soul, to the enjoyments of the night, and joined in the harmless hilarity that prevailed, he contrived to sketch every group in the ‘Barn.’ On his return to London in the beginning of November 1832, he commenced his wonderful picture of ‘All-hallow Eve,’ and he wrought with such unceasing diligence and rapidity, that it was ready for, and appeared in, the Exhibition of 1833. As the earliest specimen in oil, of his powers on a large scale, its appearance produced an almost electrical effect on the public.

• Then Peggy was dancing with Dan,
• While Maureen the lead was melting,
• To prove how her fortunes ran,
• With cards that old Nancy dealt in;
• ..
• There was Kate and her sweetheart Will
• In nuts their true love burning;
• And poor Norah, though smiling still,
• She’d missed the snap-apple turning.

In the fore-ground of the picture several groups appear; the most prominent are a stalwart and openmouthed country boy and a buxom girl, trying to catch the apples which are affixed to the points of the cross-sticks, or ‘snap-apple,’ suspended from the ceiling: near this group a couple are dancing, and on the right are the fiddler and piper: the former has the expression on his face of exquisite torture caused by a young urchin who is slyly tickling his ear with a straw; and as the unhappy musician dare not stop the music, the contortions of his face are most ludicrous. This picture is so well and so widely known by the engraving from it, that a more detailed description will be unnecessary here. It is characterised by, great boldness of touch with simplicity of composition. The grouping and attitudes are most artless and unrestrained, and the entire coup d’œil fraught with beauty and effect.⁵

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1. Currier & Ives, American, active 1834 – 1907, Snap Apple Night: All-hallow Eve. Image retrieved from (Photo credit:) Yale University Art Gallery  (Accessed October 19, 2016)
2. Apple bobbing (Wikipedia): In Ireland, mainly County Kerry, it is known as “Snap Apple”, and in Newfoundland and Labrador, “Snap Apple Night” is a synonym for Halloween. A variation of the game exists, with the apples hung on string on a line, rather than in a bowl of water. (Accessed October 20)
3. “All-hallow Eve,” painting, oil on canvas, in private collection. (Despite extensive searching, I was unable to find a high quality, higher resolution image.)
4.  A Memoir of Daniel Maclise, R.A.; pp. 46-48; W. Justin O’Driscoll, Barrister-at-Law; London: Longman’s, Green, and Co., 1871
5. The principal characters are portraits of Sir W. Scott, Crofton Croker, the Sisters of the Artist, ‘Perceval Banks (who was married to Anne, the younger sister), and the Old Clergyman, who appears in the back-ground, compelling two of his ‘Boys,’ who had been trying their shillelahs on each other’s heads, to shake hands and be friends.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign #8

Camped in the rain behind billboard: three families, fourteen children. On U.S. 99. Near Famosa, Kern County, California. Nov, 1939¹

A rather ironic photo by Dorothea Lange juxtaposes the extreme poverty of migrant workers with the relative luxury offered by passenger trains of the 1930s.

1. Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/fsa2000004591/PP/. (Accessed October 16, 2016.)

Eyes of Woman Migrant Near Strathmore, California

Near Strathmore, California. From Wyoming and Missouri. Eight years in California. Working in lemons. “It’s easy for us because we haven’t got a bunch of kids to get drug around.”¹

1. Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Feb, 1939. Images retrieved from the Library of Congress, (Accessed October 24, 2016.)
   • www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000002400/PP/
   • www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000002379/PP/
   • www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000002368/PP/
   • www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000002367/PP/

Huts and unemployed, West Houston and Mercer St., Manhattan, October 25, 1935¹

Men sit in front of huts made of salvaged materials, some decorated with pictures, cat plays in front near baby carriage.

Dust Storm in Rolla, Kansas; 05/06/35²

“Darkness came when it hit us. Picture taken from water tower one hundred feet high.”

Over this bridge drought refugees are crossing the Colorado River into California. 1935.³

1. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Huts and unemployed, West Houston and Mercer St., Manhattan.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1935. digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-4fc1-a3d9-e040…; Collection: Changing New York; Date Created: October 25, 1935. (Accessed October 17, 2016.)
2. National Archives, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs. Original Caption: Dust Storm in Rolla, Kansas; 05/06/35; Dear Mr. Roosevelt, Darkness came when it hit us. Picture taken from water tower one hundred feet high. Yours Truly, Chas. P. Williams.” Photo: Massive Dark cloud approaching village in forefront. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/195691 (Accessed October 17, 2016.)
3. Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Over this bridge drought refugees are crossing the Colorado River into California. U.S. 80 / Dorothea Lange, 1935. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2007683523/. (Accessed October 17, 2016.)

Faces Out of Time #18

ca. 1915
B.J. Falk, American, 1853–1925¹

The Faces Out of Time series is being recommenced four years to the day after the last post, Turkish woman, circa 1860-1870.

1. B.J. Falk, American, 1853–1925; Two women seated on bench, interior. ca. 1915; Image retrieved from Eastman Museum collections.eastman.org/objects/342514/two-women-seated-o… and Flickr (George Eastman House) www.flickr.com/photos/george_eastman_house/3334093628/ (Accessed October 17, 2016.)

Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:

• fade correction,
• color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
• selected spot and/or scratch removal
• cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
• straighten image