Connecting East to West - The Transcontinental Telegraph

Hi, Winnie Griggs here.  Today I want to share a little bit of history I uncovered in one of the many rabbit trails I find myself following when doing research. I had, of course, heard of the Transcontinental Railroad and the ceremonial driving of the golden spike.  But I hadn't given much thought to when and where our communication lines, namely the telegraph, were first linked coast to coast.

On October 24th, 1861, Western Union Telegraph Co. linked the eastern and western networks of telegraph systems at Salt Lake City, Utah.  For the first time in our nation’s history, nearly instantaneous communication between Washington D.C and San Francisco, CA was possible.  The first transcontinental telegraph was actually sent by the chief justice of California, Stephen Field, and was sent to President Abraham Lincoln.  In the historic missive, Field predicted that the newly established communication venue would help ensure that the western states would remain loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

A little of the story behind this historic event:  An efficient telegraph system was first developed in the 1830s and in the ensuing years spread with phenomenal speed.  By 1850 lines covered most of the eastern part of the country as well as the fast growing territory of California.  When California achieved statehood in 1850 it became the first state not contiguous with the rest of the country.  Almost immediately there was a major push to connect this new state with the rest of the country via communication and travel services.  In 1860, Congress passed the Pacific Telegraph Act and awarded a contract to Hiram Sibley, president of the Western Union Company.  Mr. Sibley took the contract and formed a consortium between his company and telegraph companies in California to undertake the commission.  

The task involved building lines to connect the system at the western-most edge of Missouri and the one at Carson City, Nevada.  Sibley formed the Pacific Telegraph Co. to construct the eastern leg and the California telegraph companies consolidated into the Overland Telegraph Company to build the western leg.  The two lines would eventually meet at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Most of 1860 was spent collecting materials for the project, and construction began in earnest in 1861.  Right from the start there were significant problems along the way with provisioning the construction teams.  Glass insulators and wire had to be shipped to San Francisco by sea and then transported to the construction sites in the west by wagon - this included a trek over the Sierra Nevada.   Finding sources for telegraph poles was also a challenge in the mostly treeless plains areas as well as the deserts of the Great Basin.

The Route Of The First Transcontinental Telegraph

 The line from Omaha in the east made it to Salt Lake city first, arriving on October 18, 1861.  The Transcontinental connection was completed six days later when the line from Carson city joined it on October 24, 1861.

An almost immediate result of this momentous accomplishment was that it made the Pony Express obsolete.  On October 26^th, a scant two days after the lines were joined, this adventurous, dedicated relay mail service, which had previously provided the fastest means of communication between the western and eastern United States, officially closed.

So what do you think - what did you find most surprising about this story?

And don't forget about the drawing we are having to celebrate the unveiling of our new look and new name. Entering is simple. Just comment on this post and you will be entered to win one of MANY books and prizes--including a $50 Amazon gift card. Prizes will be awarded at the end of  September, and you can enter every day. Have fun!

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America's First Western Film Star

Hi!  Winnie Griggs here.  I came across an interesting bit of trivia a while back that intrigued me enough to send me on a research rabbit trail.

Maxwell Henry Aronson was born on March 21, 1880 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Max eventually changed his name to Gilbert M. Anderson, but you would probably know him better by the name of the character he played in over 300 films – Broncho Billy.

Anderson drifted into acting, working first as a photographer’s model and then newspaper vendor before moving into work as a vaudeville performer.  In 1903 Anderson landed a role in The Great Train Robbery by claiming he could ride a horse like a Texas Ranger.  When it turned out he could hardly climb onto a saddle, he was demoted to ‘extra’ and ended up playing several minor parts in the film.  The resulting 10 minute movie found an enthusiastic reception from the general public, and Anderson was hooked.  He decided to make his career in the fledgling moving picture business.


Anderson formed a partnership with old friend George Spoor and together they created the Essanay Company (the name is a play on the first letter of each of their last names “S and A”).  This company was destined to become one of the early film industry’s predominant studios. 

At first Essanay made comedies, but Anderson couldn’t forget the success of The Great Train Robbery and soon he focused on Westerns.  But where Anderson really differentiated himself, is that he was one of the first to realize that the public needed a ‘star’ to latch on to, a central character they could really focus on.  But at that time (1909) the big names of the stage were reluctant to risk their careers on the new medium of film.  So Anderson decided to take on that star role himself, creating the character of Broncho Billy from ideas he collected for the most part from popular dime novels.  Anderson wrote and directed most of the movies himself and within five years he had filmed over 300 one or two reel movies featuring his new character.  Most of these films were distributed simultaneously in the U.S. and Great Britain.  And while Anderson was not especially dashing, audiences liked Broncho Billy for his bravery and virtue.  

As an interesting side note, Essanay studios also filmed many Charlie Chaplin shorts, including The Little Tramp.

In 1915, Anderson’s final film in the Broncho Billy series, Broncho Billy’s Sentence, was released.  He tried his hand at writing for a while and then later he attempted a film comeback.  But by then more dashing actors such as William S. Hart and Tom Mix had taken over the interests and hearts of movie goers.  So Anderson turned to making comedies for a while before finally retiring from film.

Some of the milestones in his later years:

• 1958 – Received an honorary Oscar as a “motion picture pioneer, for his contributions to the development of motion pictures as entertainment.”
• 1965  - he made a cameo appearance at age 85  in a modern Hollywood Western called The Bounty Killer, his first talking picture.
• 1998 – posthumously honored with his image on a U.S. postage stamp.
• 2002 – posthumously inducted into the National Cowboy Hall Of Fame
• Anderson also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
• Gilbert Anderson died in his sleep in 1971 at the age of 90 at a sanitarium in South Pasadena, Ca.  He was cremated and his ashes were placed in a vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

So there you have it, the fascinating life and times of Broncho Billy.  

What about you?  Are you a fan of the western movie genre?  Have you seen any Broncho Billy movies or even heard of him before?  And what is your favorite all time Western movie?

The Extraordinary Fannie Farmer

Hi Winnie Griggs here.

I’m sure most of you have at least heard the name Fannie Farmer and are aware that there is a famous cookbook that bears her name.  But how much do you know about the woman herself?  Fannie Farmer was a woman of keen intelligence, unusual motivation, avid curiosity and deep personal courage.

Fannie, born in 1857 in Medford, MA, to Mary Watson Merritt and John Franklin Farmer, was the oldest of four daughters.  Her father was an editor and printer and both parents placed a high value on education - it was expected that Fannie would go to college.  However, when Fannie was 16 she suffered a paralytic stroke and could not continue her education.  For a number of years after her stroke she was unable to walk and remained in her parents’ care.  It was during this time that Fannie developed an interest in cooking. 

At the age of 30, Fannie, who now walked (though she would have a pronounced limp for the remainder of her years), enrolled in the Boston Cooking School. This was at the height of the domestic science movement and the school utilized a scientific approach to cooking and food preparation.  It also trained women to become cooking teachers at a time when their opportunities for employment were limited.  Fannie attended the school for two years, learning what was considered the most crucial elements of the science - nutrition and diet for the healthy person, cooking for convalescents, methods of cleaning and sanitation, techniques of baking and cooking, and general household management.  During her time as a student, Fannie studied under Mary J. Lincoln, who published the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.  This cookbook was used in a number of cooking schools, most of which were established for the training professional cooks.

Fannie proved herself to be one of the school’s outstanding students and was kept on after she graduated as assistant to the director.  During this time, Fannie started exploring the association between eating and health.  She went so far as to take a summer course at Harvard Medical School to aid in her understanding of this connection.  Eventually she was appointed school principal and then, in 1894, director.  It was just two years later, in 1896, that Fannie revised and reissued The Boston Cooking School Cookbook.  The publication of Fannie’s book was a highly significant event in cooking history.  Before this publication, ingredient measurements were imprecise using terms such as ‘the size of an egg’ or ‘a teacup full’.  Fannie’s cookbook introduced the idea of using standardized measuring utensils with an emphasis on taking care to use level measurements..  In addition to the more than 1800 recipes, the book included scientific explanations of the chemical processes that occur during cooking as well as essays on housekeeping, the importance of cleanliness in the kitchen, canning and drying produce and nutritional information.

Little, Brown & Company, who produced the book, didn’t think the book would do well and so only produced 3000 copies, which were published at the author’s expense.  However, the book proved so popular that Fannie saw twenty-one editions printed during her lifetime.  It has remained a standard work and it is still available in print today, over 100 years later.

Fannie continued to serve as director of the Boston Cooking School for eleven years, then resigned and went on to establish her own school.  Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, as it was known,  emphasized the practice of cookery rather than just theory.  Its target student were housewives rather than future academics.  Fannie’s school also focused on developing cooking equipment for the sick and disabled.  She became a highly respected authority in this field and was invited to deliver lectures to nurses, women’s clubs and even the Harvard Medical School.  Her lectures were printed by newspapers nationwide making her influence widespread and her name a household word.  She also wrote a popular cooking column for the national magazine, the Woman’s Home Companion, that ran for ten years.

In addition to the 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook (Later know simply as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Fannie published five other books.  They are

Chafing Dish Possibilities, Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1898.

Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent, Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1904.

What to Have for Dinner, Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1905.

Catering for Special Occasions, with Menus and Recipes, Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1911.

A New Book of Cookery, Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1912.

Later in life, Fannie suffered another paralytic stroke that confined her to a wheelchair for the last seven years of her life.  However, that did not prevent her from carrying on her responsibilities.  She continued to lecture, write, invent recipes and travel.   In fact, just ten days before her death, she delivered a lecture from her wheelchair.  Fannie died in 1915 at the age of 57.

For those of you interested in taking a look at the original Boston Cooking-School Cookbook here is a link to the online version  http://www.bartleby.com/87/

Stereoscopes - Nineteenth Century 3-D Pictures

Hi.  Winnie Griggs here.  In one of my WIPs I needed to find a polite parlor activity for my characters to indulge in and after a bit of thought and research, I decided to look into the stereoscope.  And was fascinated by what I discovered.

Did you know that the scientific principles behind 3-D movies had their first practical application as early as 1838?  That’s when Charles Wheatstone patented his reflecting stereoscope.   I’m sure you’ve all seen stereoscopes before, in pictures if not in actuality.  But do you know how they work?

Actually, they work in much the same way human vision works.  Because our eyes are spaced about two inches apart we see everything from slightly different angles.  Our brains, wonderful creations that they are, then process these into a single image with both dimension and depth. 

Charles Wheatstone applied this principle to his invention, using drawings that were pairs of reverse images and a series of mirrors to create the illusion of a single three dimensional image.  In 1850, glass images were developed.  Though this was an improvement on the earlier drawings, the quality was still low and the price was relatively high.  

Queen Victoria took a fancy to the device when she saw one demonstrated at the Crystal Palace Exposition in 1851, and suddenly they were all the rage in Europe.  It was somewhat later, however, before the fascination took hold in America.  These early stereoscopes were large, bulky and table mounted, requiring a large commitment of space as well as money.  

But all of that changed a few short years later.  With the advent of photographic improvements, tintypes, daguerreotypes and flat mount paper became available, greatly improving the quality of the images.   Early attempts had photographers taking one photograph then slightly shifting the camera and taking a second.  The next evolution had photographers utilizing a rig that had two cameras mounted on it to take the twin photos.  Eventually an enterprising inventor created a camera with two lenses

Then, in 1862 Oliver Wendell Holmes and Joseph Bates created a compact, handheld viewer named the Holmes stereopticon and the popularity of stereoscopes exploded.  In fact, by the end of the century, in spite of their expense, you could find one of these devices in many middle and upper class parlors of the time.  

The most popular slides were the travelogue type that depicted exotic landmarks such as the pyramids of Egypt and the closer-to-home scenic beauty of Yellowstone.   The marvels of the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1892 and the St. Louis World Fair also made their way onto stereoscopic slides.  As Burke Long put it, “Mass-produced and relatively cheap, the integrated system of mechanical viewer and photographs became fashionable for classroom pedagogy, tourist mementos, and parlor travel to exotic places of the world.”  You could say that, as a form of entertainment, the stereopticon was the Victorian era’s equivalent of today’s DVD players. 

By the 1920s movies and the enhanced availability of cameras to the ‘common man’ began to supplant the stereopticon’s hold on people’s  interest.  But the stereopticon survives to this day.    The child’s toy View-Master, named one of the top 50 toys of the twentieth century, is a direct ‘descendent’ of the stereopticon, utilizing the very same principles. 

So, do any of you have any first hand experience with a stereopticon?

Memorial Day - How It Came To Be

As I was pondering what my topic for this blog would be it hit me that this particular post would be going up on Memorial Day.  So I decided that a fitting observance would be to discuss a little about the origins and history of this special day.

In 1866, as the country was trying to heal from the long and bloody Civil War, a drugstore owner in Waterloo, NY by the name of Henry Welles, watched the surviving soldiers come home, some with horrendous injuries and missing limbs, most with nightmarish stories to tell.  Mr. Welles decided he had to do something to recognize the sacrifices that had been made.  He discussed his idea with General John Murray, a war hero and intensely patriotic man.  General Murray supported the idea and helped rally the local veterans’ support.  

Welles’ and Murray’s suggestion that the businesses in town close up shop for one day to remember and honor those who had given their lives in the war and were buried in the town cemetery was met with community-wide approval.  On May 5th of that year the shops did indeed close.  The entire village was draped in evergreens and mourning black, flags were flown at half mast and the townspeople marched to the three town cemeteries to the sound of martial music.  Solemn ceremonies were held and the graves were decorated with wreaths, flowers and crosses.

The ceremony became an annual event.

On May 30^th, 1868 General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of an organization of veteran soldiers and sailors called the Grand Army of the Republic, established Decoration Day with this declaration in his General Order 11:

The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

May 30^th was chosen as the date in part because it was not the anniversary of any given battle and so could stand on its own.  That first year, General James Garfield, who would later become the 20^th president of the United States, gave a speech at Arlington National Cemetery.  Afterwards, an estimated 5,000 people pitched in to adorn the graves of the more than 20,000 Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who were buried there.

In 1882 the name was changed to Memorial Day and by the end of the nineteenth century, towns and communities across the nation were observing the day in some way.  After World War I, the observances expanded to recognize and honor those Americans who had died in any war in service to their country.

Of course those early observances in Waterloo, NY were not the sole or even the first such ceremonies.  Local observances of this type had been undertaken in many towns across the country since the end of the Civil War.  In fact, even though President Lyndon Johnson in May of 1966 declared Waterloo NY to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, over two dozen cities, both in the North and the South, still claim to hold that honor.  Among them are Macon GA, Richmond VA, Carbondale IL and Columbus MS.  It is said Waterloo NY received the official nod from President Johnson because it was the one town that had made Memorial Day an annual event, one the entire community supported by shutting down businesses for the day and showing up in large numbers to honor the fallen.

In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.  On the national front, Memorial Day is observed at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia with special reverence.  In the early hours of the Friday before Memorial Day, soldiers of the Third US Infantry walk along the rows of over 200,000 grave markers, pause before each and place the shaft of a small flag into the ground before it.  These soldiers are members of the Old Guard, a special regiment, and it is considered an honor to be selected for this duty.  As one soldier said “They have done their job and now it is time to do mine.”

On Memorial Day itself, it is customary for the president or vice-president to give a speech honoring the contributions of these fallen heroes and to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Members of the armed forces shoot a rifle salute in the air.  About 5,000 people attend the ceremony each year (the same number who attended that first ceremony with General Garfield presiding).

I hope that today, whatever your plans, you will take some time to remember and honor those who have given their lives to protect the freedom and quality of life that we Americans enjoy.

The Man Behind The McGuffey Readers

Hi Winnie Griggs here.  Today I want to tell you a little bit about a man who was very influential in the education of America's schoolchildren - especially in the 19th century.

One of the best known text books in the history of the American school system is the McGuffey Reader.  Some estimates put the number of these books sold between 1836 and 1960 at over 120 million copies.  This places it in a category alongside Webster’s Dictionary and the Bible for number of copies printed.  Of course they have continued to sell to this day – at a rate of 30,00 copies a year every year since 1961.

The editor of these famed texts, William Holmes McGuffey, was born near Claysville, Pennsylvania in 1800, but grew up in Ohio.  The son of Scottish immigrants, McGuffey was raised in a household that fostered strong opinions on religious beliefs and the value of education.   These influences carried over into his adult life.  An interesting fact about W.H. McGuffey was that he had a remarkable memory and was known to memorize entire books of the bible.

At age 14, McGuffey became a roving teacher.  His first assignment had him in a one room schoolhouse with 48 students.  It wasn’t unusual for the young McGuffey to work 11 hour days, six days a week as he taught in a series of frontier schools in Kentucky and Ohio.  And in most of these schools, since few textbooks were available, the children brought their own books, primarily the Bible.

During this time, McGuffey also pursued his own education, eventually graduating from Washington College in 1826.  Shortly thereafter, he accepted a position as Professor of Languages at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  A year later, he married Harriet Spinning.

McGuffey soon acquired a reputation as a lecturer on biblical and moral topics.  When Truman and Smith, a small publishing firm in Cincinnati, became interested in creating a series of graded readers for primary level students, it was Harriet Beecher Stowe, a longtime friend of McGuffey, who recommended him for the assignment.  The year was 1836 and within a year of signing the contract McGuffey completed two of the four books in the commissioned series.  For his work he received $1,000.  The next year he completed two additional books.  The fifth and sixth books in the series were later completed by his brother Alexander in the 1840s.

McGuffey Readers contained stories, poems, speeches and essays.  They were among the first student texts in the nation designed to be progressively challenging with each volume.  The first Reader introduced the alphabet, employed the phonetic method of learning words and other basics.  Once a student had mastered those skills, the second Reader used vivid stories and placed an emphasis on understanding the meanings of sentences.  The third Reader, which was equivalent of a current 5th grade text, focused on the definitions of words.  The fourth Reader taught students advanced reading and comprehension skills.  Unlike previous texts which employed uninteresting lists and memorization, McGuffey threaded new vocabulary words within the context of literature, gradually introducing new words while repeating the old.

A hallmark of McGuffey’s Readers was their strong moral tone.  He believed spirituality andeducation were essential and intertwined in the fostering of a healthy society.  The works selected for inclusion in his Readers, besides teaching the basics of reading and grammar, were designed to teach principles of religion, morality and patriotism.   They also included themes on nature, games, manners and proper attitudes toward family, God, companions, authority figures, the less fortunate and animals.  In these works, right was always victorious and wrong was always punished.  The stories emphasized goodness, truth, honor and strength.  These books helped to frame nineteenth century America’s morals and values, tastes and character.

McGuffey also had strong beliefs on how teachers should conduct their classes.  He suggested that teachers read aloud to their students, he listed questions after each story to test comprehension and encouraged teachers to study the lessons as well.

Gradually, other texts began to replace the McGuffey Readers in the schoolroom.  The call for more rigorous grade distinctions, less emphasis on morality and spirituality, and a changing view of teaching methods speeded up the decline in their usage.  But they have never completely disappeared from the scene and are still in use today, especially in the home schooling environment.

McGuffey penned very few other works in subsequent years.  He advanced in his career in education, taking positions of  progressively greater responsibility, including college president, until he retired as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Virginia.  McGuffey died in 1873, and is remembered as a great philanthropist and as a man who found success as an educator, lecturer and author.

So, do have any actual hands on experience with a McGuffey Reader?  Have you used one yourself or had a member of your family talk about using one?  If not, have you ever seen one up close and personal?

The Great Red River Raft

Hi. Winnie Griggs here. I live in a small town that’s situated near the Red River in Northwest Louisiana.  In fact my husband and I own some pasture land that borders on the river itself and the view from the riverbank is fabulous.  
I wasn't raised here, though, and from time to time I like to look into some of the local history of the area just to learn more about it. One of the things I stumbled on in one of these research forays was an interesting tidbit of Red River History, namely The Great Red River Raft.


First off, the raft in question is not a floating platform of the kind Huck Finn poled down the Mississippi River. This raft was a massive logjam, reputed to be the largest ever seen in the US. It was comprised of a series of ‘rafts’ formed by fallen trees and debris that made the Red River virtually unnavigable for hundreds of years. By the start of the nineteenth century, the lower end was about ten miles upstream from Natchitoches, LA (where I went to college incidentally) and from there it extended northward nearly one hundred and fifty miles to the point where the river crosses the Arkansas-Louisiana border. In places it was twenty five feet deep and could be safely crossed by men on horseback.

The origins of this logjam are not completely understood. Some believe it began over a thousand years ago when the Red River changed course and moved its end point from the Atchafalaya Basin to join with  the Mississippi River. According to this theory, the extreme flood stages of the Mississippi would force large amounts of debris back into the Red during the heavy rains that fell every spring. Once enough had backed up to cause the first major logjam, the obstruction began to build upon itself, growing on the back end faster than the front end eroded. 

Another theory is that the logjam was formed as the swirling waters eroded the river banks, toppling huge trees at the river’s edge that submerged and began to trap other debris in a cumulative effect that eventually resulted in the massive rafts.

Regardless of the cause, by the time Fort Towson was established in what was to become Oklahoma, and Fort Jessup was established to protect western Louisiana, it became critical to open up the river to navigation as a means of getting supplies to these garrisons. Several ideas were put forth, most of them entirely impractical.   Finally, in 1825, the Arkansas territorial legislature petitioned the U.S. Congress to handle the situation. As happens today, Congress decided to first study the matter, so it was 1832 before a solution was settled on and the funds were appropriated to actually begin the work.

Captain Henry Shreve, an army engineer who had served as the Superintendent of Western River Improvement since 1826, was tapped to lead the project. Shreve had designed ‘snag boats’ capable of clearing raft-type logjams from other rivers. These boats were actually constructed of twin 125 foot hulls connected by a series of massive beams, and were outfitted with various contraptions for either ramming through the debris or lifting troublesome logs directly from the river. Shreve brought four of these ‘snag boats’ with him along with a crew of 159 men to handle the project. The work crew started at the downstream end of the logjam, tearing out the massive logs and allowing them to float downstream. It proved to be a challenging project – a congressional report would later state: “One snag raised by the Heliopolis… contained 1600 cubic feet of timber, and could not have weighed less than sixty tons.”

The project was stopped several times as funds ran out and new monies had to be appropriated, but by March of 1838 Shreve had succeeded in clearing the channel.  So impressed were the locals with the work of Captain Shreve and his crew that when, in 1836, entrepreneurs incorporated a new town on the banks of the Red, they named it Shreveport in his honor.


Captain Shreve cautioned Congress that keeping the channel clear would be an ongoing effort. Congress chose to ignore his warning, though, and by 1839 the raft had begun to reform. During the next 32 years the government spent upwards of $630,000 funding various schemes to reclear and maintain the channel, most of which met little or no success. Finally, in the spring of 1872, Lt. E. August Woodruff, head of the Army Corps of Engineers, began a major attack on the raft. Combining Shreve’s snag boats with saw boats, crane boats and explosives, he had success within a year. In May of 1873, the 150 foot steamer R. T. Bryarly, fully laden with cargo, arrived in Shreveport – it was the first such ship to do so in 29 years.


This time, learning from prior mistakes, Congress appropriated the funds to allow for patroling the river with vessels that could keep the raft from reforming. Finally, by 1900, the great Red River raft was permanently defeated and the Red River was open to navigation from Indian territory all the way to the Mississippi.

So there you have it, the story of the Great Red River Raft.

Mount Of The Holy Cross

Hi!  Winnie Griggs here.  Today I want to share with you a little tidbit of history I stumbled across in my research.

During the early days of the westward movement, when travelers and adventurers were still exploring the Colorado Rockies, there was a legend about a great wonder to be found hidden in a rugged and nearly inaccessible area of the great mountain range.  Rumors floated around for decades about an immense cross of snow that appeared only occasionally on the face of a high mountain peak.  Word of its existence inspired many of the curious and/or devout to seek it out.  But most who claimed to have seen the natural wonder stumbled on the sight accidentally, while others who searched diligently never caught so much as a glimpse.  And even those who saw it, found that it would subsequently disappear from view.

One of the earliest recorded sighting comes from author Samuel Bowles in his 1869 book, The Switzerland of America.  In it he wrote   “Over one of the largest and finest, the snow fields lay in the form of an immense cross, and by this it is known in all the mountain views of the territory. It is as if God has set His sign, His seal, His promise there--a beacon upon the very center and height of the Continent to all its people and all its generations...as if here was a great supply store and workshop of Creation, the fountain of Earth."

After the Civil War, the Department of the Interior turned its attention to continuing the exploration of the West, including mapping and charting the landscape.  As part of that endeavor they hired photographers and engravers to accompany the expeditions in order to capture images of the environment and the people who populated it.  Photographer William Henry Jackson was picked to accompany the US Geological and Geographic Survey of the Territories from 1870 to 1878.  During that period, Jackson heard the rumors and legends about the extraordinary cross and became determined to be the first to photograph it.  He set out to do so in the summer of 1873.  An experienced wilderness photographer, he led a small party to what was rumored to be the best vantage spot.  But this was no easy trek up the mountain.  This arduous climb involved carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment without the aid of pack animals.  When they finally reached their destination, Jackson and his team spent a night in the high altitude air so that he could be in just the right spot to take the perfect picture when the sun rose.  But all these efforts proved to be worth it.   That photograph won Jackson numerous awards and, among other things, inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to pen his poem The Cross of Snow.

The next year, western artist Thomas Moran accompanied the expedition and made several rough sketches.  When he returned to his studio he did not attempt to create a faithful reproduction of what he’d seen, but rather a “true impression.  As one website stated “In an attempt to capture the "true impression" of the scene rather than a topographical view, Moran freely invented the foreground waterfall in his painting. Forthright about his approach, Moran declared, "I place no value upon literal transcripts from Nature. My general scope is not realistic; all my tendencies are toward idealization....Topography in art is valueless."  The result was the 7’ x 5’ painting Mountain of the Holy Cross, finished in 1875.

Both Jackson’s photograph and Moran’s painting were exhibited in the 1876 Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia.  The public was immediately looked for religious implications of this natural wonder.  Many saw the presence of the cross in this particular location as a blessing on the idea of the nation’s Manifest Destiny to continue the westward expansion.  Others went so far as to assign it curative powers.   It became the destination of many pilgrimages and was credited with many cures.

Now for the scientific explanation.  Centuries of erosion carved two very deep ravines in the rugged rock face, and these intersected at a ninety degree angle.  These ravines fill with snow during the winter months, and their steep walls keep that snow sheltered in the spring and part of the summer, well after the rest of the mountain’s snowfall has melted away.  It does eventually melt as well, but for 2-3 months every year, a dramatically perfect white cross could be viewed from great distances.  The vertical portion of the cross is about 1200 feet long and 50 feet wide.  The horizontal arms have a combined length of about 700 feet (though this varies with the season).  The altitude of that particular mountain peak is just over 17,600 feet.

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In 1929 President Herbert Hoover designated the Mountain of the Holy Cross a National Monument.  The monument was then transferred from the USDA Forest Service to the National Park Service in 1933.  Then in 1950 it lost its National Monument designation and was returned to the oversight of the Forest Service.

Eventually, visitation to the site fell off, and nature took its toll on the mountain itself as well.  Erosion has caused the right arm of the cross to virtually disappear, making it difficult to visualize the cross as it once was.

The AmericanDigest.org site describes it this way:  “The Mountain of the Holy Cross began as a myth and became a rumor. Then it became a report, a photograph, and a painting. In time it became a destination for pilgrims and tourists. Shortly after that it ceased to exist.”

So what do you think?  Do you think this was just some natural phenomenon, some accident of nature?  Or do you believe it was put there at that time and place for a purpose?

And do you have any first hand experience with this or any other natural phenomena you’d like to share with us?

Thanksgiving History and Trivia

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here.  November has always been a time to celebrate family to me.  My parents got married in November.  My husband and I got married in November.  Two f my four children were born in November.  And quite a number of members of my extended family also have anniversaries and birthdays this month.

And of course the month is always capped off with Thanksgiving, a holiday that is always celebrated, at least among my clan, with a large gathering of family and friends.  And since we're just a few short days away from Thanksgiving, I thought it might be fun to list some of the history and trivia surrounding the holiday.

• The first Thanksgiving celebration took place in 1621 and lasted three days.  It was a true festival that included games as well as food.  The menu is thought to have included  lobster, rabbit, chicken, fish, squash, beans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, dried fruits, maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and goat cheese.
   
• In 1789 George Washington declared November 26^th to be a national day of Thanksgiving
   
• In 1863 Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation that officially set aside the last Thursday in November as the national day of Thanksgiving.  Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of The Godey’s Lady’s Book magazine and the author of the nursery rhyme Mary Had A Little Lamb, was instrumental in persuading Lincoln to do this.
   
• In 1920, Gimbel’s of Philadelphia held the first department store sponsored Thanksgiving Day parade.  Four years later Macys launched its own version and that one soon overshadowed Gimbel’s and became a Thanksgiving tradition.

   

• In 1941 Congress passed a law declaring that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November rather than the last.
  
•  Beginning in 1947 the National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey to the U.S. President.   The president then ‘pardons the bird and it normally lives out its remaining days on a public farm in Herndon VA called Frying Pan Park.

Other fun facts:      

• Approximately 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving holiday in the US every year.
• The average American eats around 16-18 pounds of turkey each year
• It is believed that the tradition of having a ‘kiddy table for youngsters to sit at separate from the adults originated as a Thanksgiving tradition
• To determine if a cranberry is ripe enough to harvest and sell commercially, it must be able to bounce 4 inches.
• The busiest travel day of the year in the U.S. is the day after Thanksgiving
• North Carolina produces more turkeys than any other state
  

And now I'd love to hear about any Thanksgiving traditions you and your family celebrate, or any bits of holiday trivia not mentioned here.

And to all of you, I wish for you on this upcoming Thanksgiving a wonderful day filled with remembrances of all the many blessings we have in our lives, both past and present.

How Honey Bees Came To America

Hi!  Winnie Griggs here

In one of my prior books I had a scene where the heroine was attempting to harvest honey in the wild.  It was a small scene, but it was pivotal the story.  Problem was, I didn’t know anything about gathering honey, not in the present and definitely not in the 1890s which is when my story took place.  So off I went to do some research - and what fun research it was!

One of the more interesting things I learned (which had nothing to do with the scene in my story) was something of the history of honey bees in America.  Today I thought I’d share the highlights of that history with you.

There are lots of bees that are native to America, but honey bees are not.  The assumption is that they arrived here with the earliest settlers who would have considered them a must-have item not just for the honey they produced and pollination duties they performed, but also for their wax making abilities.

The earliest mention of the honeybee’s journey to the New World can be found in shipping records dating back to the 1620s.  It would take over 230 years for them to make it to the Pacific coastal states.

Those first bees to be transported here arrived in Virginia.  Once they got a toehold, however, they began moving further afield by swarming.  By 1639 they could be found in neighboring Maryland.  By 1655 swarms had established hives in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.  By 1820 honeybees could be found as far afield as Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Things slowed down for a while, but eventually they made it to Utah courtesy of the Mormon settlers and by 1852 they’d shown up in Nevada.

The Rockies proved to be a significant barrier to the migrating swarms.  Even with the help of migrating settlers, the trip over the snowy peaks was not an easy one for the bees.  One story speaks of a traveler who planned to undertake a trip to Oregon via the Applegate Trail.  He was offered $500 if he could successfully deliver a viable hive of honey bees.  According to the anecdote, he decided to take two hives with him thinking that way he would surely arrive with enough live bees to make one intact hive.  Alas all the bees in both hives perished of cold and disease before he was able to make it to the other side of the mountains.

In 1853 an enterprising individual purchased twelve hives in Panama.  He then transported them across the Isthmus and sent them on to San Francisco.  One sole hive survived the trip but that was all it took.  That thrive flourished and as with that original hive in Virginia 220+ years earlier, it went on to spawn a number of swarms.

As you can see from this short history the journey of the honeybee across America was very similar to that of the early settlers themselves.  They faced some of the same barriers - disease, harsh climates, predators, resource competitors, and geographical roadblocks - that hindered their advance.  But the human and apian settlers had a very symbiotic relationship during this westward push.  The honey bees not only provided honey and wax for the settlers, they often arrived in advance and helped to spread the white clover and other European grasses that the imported livestock favored.  In return, the humans planted countless acres of land with crops that were favorable to honey bee populations, built hives, and more importantly transported them over terrains such as treeless plains and mountain ranges that would have been difficult for the honey bees to cross on their own. 

How about you folks out there?  Do any of you have experience with bees, either in the wild or in a man-made hive? 

The Confectionery Store

Hi!  Winnie Griggs here.  In my upcoming October release, A Family For Christmas, the heroine Eve runs a confectionery shop.  As part of the research for this book, I looked into what sorts of treats might be sold in such an establishment in 1896, the time period this story is set in.  Today, I thought it would be fun to share a bit of this info with you.  (Oh, and you'll also find information about a giveaway I'm sponsoring today at the bottom of this post)

When I looked into the items you’d find in a small town confectionery during this period, I was surprised by some of the things I did - and didn't - see.

Some of the expected items on the list were butterscotch, peppermints, lemon drops and sugar plums.  Marshmallows, gum drops and sour drops were a few of the things on the list that I didn’t expect to see - I hadn’t realized they’d been around that long ago.  Another surprise -  popcorn was classified as a candy during that period.  One thing conspicuously absent from the lists were references to any sort of chocolate candies.  Apparently, even though chocolate WAS around at this time, it hadn’t made into everyday use as a children’s treat.

Most of the candies offered by a general store would be hard candies such as peppermint sticks, butterscotch, lemon drops, hoarhound candy or rock candy.  I decided I’d prefer my heroine, however, to concentrate on softer treats such as bon-bons, taffies, nougats, gum drops and fudge.  She also makes brittles and pralines.  It was great fun coming up with a list of offerings for her shop!

One thing I learned in my research is that fudge is an American invention.  The exact origins are a matter of some dispute, but the first mention of it is found in a letter written by a student at Vasser College, Emelyn Hartridge.  In the letter dated 1886 Emelyn mentions that the relative of a schoolmate made the confection and sold it for forty cents a pound.  Emelyn obtained the recipe and made about 30 pounds of the sweet treat for a school fundraiser.  It was a huge success and a tradition was born.


If you’d like to get a look at some of the early recipes, you can check them out at this link:
 http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/candy/old/history-of-fudge2.asp

In addition, I thought I’d share a much more modern version, namely my personal favorite.  This is made the old fashioned way so it takes a bit of time and attention, but whenever I make it, I think of making it with my mom and sister back when I was just a kid - that always adds to my enjoyment of the treat.
Here it is:

3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1.5 cups milk
4 tblsp butter, softened
1 tsp almond extract

Add first four ingredients to heavy saucepan and stir to combine.
Add mix, stirring until thoroughly mixed.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring continuously.
Discontinue stirring, allowing to maintain a low, rolling boil, until it reaches soft ball stage (approx 234 degrees F)
Remove from heat and add butter and almond extract without stirring.
When mixture reaches 110 degrees F,  beat until fudge thickens and becomes less glossy.
Quickly spread in a lightly greased pan (8 or 9 inch square works best).
Allow to cool before cutting
Enjoy!

So tell me, what is your favorite confection?

And to celebrate the October release of my book A Family For Christmas, I’d like to give one of today’s commenter an advanced copy of the book.

An Unexpected Gift 

Eve Pickering knows what it's like to be judged for your past. So she's not about to leave the orphaned boy she's befriended alone in this unfamiliar Texas town. Since Chance Dawson's offer of shelter is the only way to look after Leo, Eve is determined they'll have a warm, welcoming home for the holidays.

Chance came from the big city to make it on his own despite a painful secret. But Eve's strength is giving him a confidence he never expected—and a new direction for his dream. With a little Christmas blessing, he'll dare to win her heart—and make their family one for a lifetime.

Fun and Games in 1864

by Linda Farmer Harris

In her June 26th CFHS post, Schoolyard Games, Winnie Griggs posed an intriguing question, “Was there a favorite game you remember playing during recess?” She mentioned Hop-Scotch. Wow - that brought back lots of memories. There is something irresistible about a chalk diagram on a sidewalk. Children and adults alike will hop across the board and go on their way with a chuckle and a smile. But, how many of them actually know the rules.

In the 1864 edition of the American Boys Book of Sports and Games (Dick & Fitzgerald, New York), the rules required that the player hop on one foot and kick an oyster-shell or small flat stone from one compartment to the other, without putting the lifted foot on the ground and without allowing the shell/stone to land on a line.

The diagram consisted of thirteen compartments, twelve were numbered, and the last one had a large “P” standing for plum-pudding. No explanation was given for why the plum-pudding designation.

One method to decide who went first was for each player to throw a stone onto the diagram and the one nearest to the P played first.

The winner would stand on the place marked with the star and throw his shell into the No. 1 box; he would hop into the space and kick the shell back to the star.

For his second move, he threw the shell into No. 2, kicked it from No. 2 to No. 1, then kicked it back to the star, all the while hopping with one leg lifted. For his third move, he threw his shell into No. 3, kicked it from 3 to 2, from 2 to 1, and out to the star. He would follow this kicking sequence again for No. 4 — 4 to 3, from 3 to 2, from 2 to 1, and out to the star. He followed suit for No. 5 and No. 6. He proceeded to No. 7 where he was permitted to rest by standing with one foot in No. 6 and the other in No.7.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired already! I found it interesting that this was a game played primarily by boys. I’ve always thought of it as a girls’ game.

The player must resume hopping before he can kick No. 7’s shell back to the star, following the kicking sequence. He passes through the beds 8,9,10, and 11 in the same pattern as 1-5, until he reaches the P. He can now rest again. He is then required to place his shell on P and while standing on one foot, kick the shell from P to the star in one kick.

A player loses his “innings” if he throws his shell into the wrong compartment, if his shell or his foot rests on a line; or he kicks the shell out of the diagram.

This made me think of the ways we chose teams or the person to be “it.” No matter the group, everyone seemed to know the Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe chant. This counting rhyme has existed in various forms since well before 1820 and common in many languages with similar-sounding nonsense syllables. I think locality had some influence on the rhyme also. Some chants caught a tiger by the toe, some caught a monkey or a chicken, others caught a teacher (hmmm). We caught a cowboy and made him pay fifty dollars every day instead of letting him go.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,

Catch a tiger by the toe.

If he hollers, let him go,

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

There was always some kid who wasn’t satisfied with the person pointed to on the last moe so he had to add “My mother told me to pick the very best one, and that is Y-O-U.”

Growing up I heard “Hop, Step, and Jump” used to denote distance. Such as, “Old man Brown’s pond is a hop, step, and jump behind his barn.” Or, “It ain’t far, just a hop, step, and jump and you’ll be there.” In New Mexico, it was a hop, skip, and a jump.

Lo, and behold, the boys played a game as early as 1864 that may have originated that measurement phrase. To play, mark a long line on the ground as a starting point. Ten yards from this point make another mark for the “spring.” Players line up along the starting point line and in succession run to the spring line. From the spring line, he makes first a hop on one leg, then a long step, then a long jump. He holds his ground until every player springs. The winner is the one who covers the most ground. This is now an typical track and field event plus a variation of it is one of the Olympic Games competitions.

I never thought of boys needing to be taught to jump, but the 1864 manual encourages them to jump upward, downward, backward, and over long distances. They are to practice these moves in earnest.

Now, that you’re tired and want to play indoors, “Twirling the Plate” and "Cupid’s Coming” will fit the bill. These are particularly good for cooling down after a vigorous romp.

Twirling the Plate was new to me, but lots of fun when I tried it with some visiting children. I used a plastic “charger” plate; set it on its edge and gave it a spin. I called the name of one of the children and she had to catch it before it quit spinning or pay a forfeit. We used a dime’s worth of pennies as the penny-forfeit. The forfeit went to the person who twirled the plate. The person called on now spins the plate and calls on someone to catch it. It isn’t as easy as it sounds.

The girls really liked Cupid’s Coming. Yes, we Eeny, meeny, miny, moe’d to choose the person to start the game. She chose a letter for a word that ended in “ing.” For example, R was chosen. The IT girl said to the person next to her, “Cupid’s coming.” The person responded, “How is he coming?” Miss IT replied “Racing.” The person now tells the girl on her opposite side, “Cupid’s coming.” The third person asked, “How?” The response was “Rudely.” The question and response goes around the circle until the “R” (or chosen letter) and its “ing” are exhausted. The penny-forfeit was used when someone couldn’t answer with an “ing” word.

Indoors or outdoors, kids need to be active and interact with each other. Maybe some of these old games need to be refreshed in our backyards and family outings. Have you or your family invented any games to play or modified an old game?

Blessings, Lin

Lin grew up in Lovington, New Mexico and married Jerry 47 years ago this month. When she isn't researching the many fascinating things in and around Chimney Rock, Colorado, where they now live and ranch, she is working on her new series Voices in the Desert. The first book, Treasures Among the Ruins, is set in 1926 and introduces Cornelia Miller and her adventures as a Southwestern Indian Detour Courier. The other four books span the years 1928-1932.