View from the past

 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.  The early days.

Early photos of my town are not abundant.  Above is what I think is the earliest one that shows anything of real interest.  It is in the archives of the State Historical Society and is thought to be circa 1870.  This is a time period I've written a fair bit about, so I thought it might be interesting to try and identify places that I've "visited".  

Of course we need to first establish the actual perspective.  I don't feel like waiting for snow, but at least in November 2024 the leaves are mostly gone. 

Okay, its not perfect.  I'm off to the right and about 30 feet lower in elevation than the original perspective.  Hey, they tore out a big chunk of hill to make the street I'm standing in, and if I went off to the left I'd have to explain to the property owners why I'm standing on their deck!  For a more recent perspective the 1874 "Birds Eye" view of Chippewa Falls makes a good reference, although many things changed from circa 1870 to four years later.  I'll mark the spot from where the picture would have been taken....

This is on the "East Hill" looking straight down Spring Street.  And how do I know this?  Well, there are three places where streets cross Duncan Creek.  River Street, Spring Street and Central Street in order.  It can't be River Street as the photo would then be centered on the river front.  And we know that there was a bridge on Central Street going back to 1858.  But Spring Street?  Why that bridge was only constructed in 1872!  

The above info helps date the vintage photo.  It is known that Chippewa Falls had a major fire in 1869, as a result of which most subsequent downtown construction was in brick or stone.  So let's say it is 1870 or 1871.  What else can we glimpse in the photo?

Well, less than I'd like.  The Schmidmeyer brewery was at the far end of Spring Street but that's out of sight.  Guess telephoto lenses had not been invented.  And the mysterious Union Brewery should be at the indicated arrow if this was say, 1871 or so.  Is there a roof peeking out behind those trees?

I wish I could point out some of the other places I've written about in my local history rambles.  But some are obscured by the larger buildings - most of those are hotels - others are frustratingly off the the left or right by, in some cases, only a few hundred yards.

The Virtues and Vices of Dogs

You don't gain the status of Man's Best Friend without having a lot going for you as a species.  Dogs have almost all the best human virtues - loyalty, kindness, bravery, a sense of humor - with few of our vices.  Just about the only thing they have against them is a total lack of moderation.  When they see something to eat they wolf it down.  If there is something smelly on the ground, they'll roll around in it as long as you'll let them.

This deficiency does encourage in them a minor degree of deceit.  But you can't actually call them Scamsters because they are so ludicrously bad at it!

Hank is always looking for food.  Sometimes my wife and I are in and out of the house at about "Chow-O-Clock" and he will always try to persuade the person just coming in the house that he needs a bowl full.  So I have a note that I leave on the table.  It says: I fed the Dog.  But it has also started to acquire a bit of "marginalia", little captions and cartoons appearing on the fringes.  Nice try, Hank.

Recently at a grand kid bed time we came up with some additional ones.  Hank seemed to be listening intently.  My personal favorite:

"Yes he fed me, but it was just broccoli, that does not count and I barfed it up in the corner. "

Up in the Air. Also, straight down.

Tree stands going up.  The younger hunter on the right has already gotten the family "on the board" with a nice deer during the special youth hunt weekend.  He may be the best shot in the crew, as one might expect from a kid who can make a soccer ball, baseball or hockey puck go where ever he directs it.

That stand is for the gun season that starts 8 days from now.  After my misadventures with getting deer tags I had to switch tactics this year.  I've been down on The Homestead with a crossbow.  It is a different sort of hunting.  It takes time and patience.  You see deer that you can't reach, given the roughly 40 yard range of my bow.  Well, 30 given my skill level.  And....when a deer unexpectedly steps out from behind a bush and walks directly UNDER your tree stand, well, that's an impossible shot, leaning over the railing and twisting up and over.  I think the grand kids will have some new works of taunting art for the fridge over that one.

Eventually a deer did turn up in the right spot, and I will have venison for the year ahead.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Morbid Puns in Neilsville Wisconsin?

I had some time to kill the other day.  Hey, this happens when you hunt from sunrise to 10 am, then again from 3 to sunset.  So I drove over to Neilsville, Wisconsin.  There were a few things I wanted to look into.  A couple of former brewery sites, and, while I was in town, a big cemetery.  Seems like the place you'd find a bit crop of Tree Shaped Tombstones.

But actually, no.  The few specimens represented were of one of the boring subtypes, basically just a log with a name on it.  But wait a minute.  That name.  Manes.*

You'd have to be a fan of both tombstones and Roman stuff to make this connection.

Roman tombstones often have the notation DM.  It is short hand for Dis Manibis.  Or in translation "To the Manes".  

The Manes were the spirits of the dead.  Or more correctly, one sort of spirits.  Lares were the good spirits.  They were assumed to already be on your side.  Lemures ** were the evil spirits.  You did not invoke them.  Manes were the the sort of generic spirits of the dead and definitely worth trying to appease.  So, a dedication to the Manes was customary.

Did this 19th century citizen of Neilsville know this fact?  Did he recognize the irony?  I'm thinking yes.  People paid much more attention to the classics in the pre-Tik Tok age.

But perhaps this was a coincidence, a one off. Surely there could not be another tombstone six rows over with a bit of  pun in the inscription?

Or maybe there could be.  Stone representing Wood.

---------------------------------------

*As a surname Manes probably has nothing to do with Latin at all.  If English or Scottish, it is probably a variant of Mains.

** Lemurs got their generic name - and from Linneaus himself no less - because they are nocturnal, creepy looking and make weird noises in the dark.  I think they've earned their association with evil spirits of the dead....

Hearth and Home - Fall 2024

 

For those who have been following the "Homesteaders" project.  Warmth and light.  Of course you can finish building your house, but you never finish building your home.

Killer Shrews and The Family Business

I enjoy really bad movies.  Oh, not modern ones that I'd have to pay to see, but the classics.  And among them is a gem called The Killer Shrews.  It is from 1959, pretty much the pinnacle of cheesy, black and white sci-fi schlock.  

It has several special charms.  Oh, not the plot.  It's the usual Science Goes Wrong stuff, specifically biological research that makes teeny little voracious shrews grow to giant size while their appetites grow accordingly.  The titular shrews, delightfully, were played by dogs with fake fangs, tails and mangy hides added!

Here you can see the deadly creatures as they gnaw futilely at the oil drums the humans are using to stage an escape attempt.  I bet they had all sorts of dog treats in these to attract their attention.  "Who's a Good Boy?"  Yes, Good Dogs and Good Sports.

I also like this film for a small but remarkable fact I just learned recently.  Now, in most such movies you had stock characters.  Here we see the Girl Scientist, the Dweeby Beta Male love interest of same, and the Macho Can Do guy who comes to save the day.  Oh, and in the middle of the scene we have The Science Guy.  His real life name?  Baruch Lumet.  Sound just a tad familiar?  Hmmmmm?

Well, Baruch did not have much of a film career.  In fact prior to The Killer Shrews he had but a single credit.  Twenty years earlier he had a small role in a film called "One Third of a Nation".  Also appearing in it was his son, Sidney.

Sidney Lumet.  One of the most acclaimed directors in history, he made such classics as 12 Angry Men, Fail Safe, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network.  Somehow despite being often nominated for an Oscar, he only won once and late in his career and as an Honorary Oscar.  

As for Lumet Senior, it seems as if Baruch was not all that interested in being in front of the camera.  He took on a few small parts, especially in the 1960's, but was primarily an acting coach and casting director.  I hope most of his students - Jayne Mansfield was one - went on to greater accomplishments than appearing with collies dressed up as voracious predators!

A Busy 24 hours

Well, lets see.

Monday, 7pm, first official meeting of the robotics team.  Various organizational stuff.  Should be a strong group this year.

Tuesday, 5am.  Got up to be ready at 6 for Vindolanda signup.  You have to be quick on the mouse to get a spot.  Success.

Tuesday morning.  Spent with a grand kid.  Doing play stuff.

Tuesday 4pm, Robot School.  Hitting the home stretch now.  This was the assignment board.  They did get it running and the paddle mechanism operating.  All wires now better secured.  We had a vote on the robot's name.  It shall be known as.....Jeff.  I don't know why.

Here is some frenzied end of session work to get it operating.  There are two sessions left, and plenty of shoring up and tweaking ahead.  But the basic mechanisms all work.

Oh, there's some kind of election going on as well.  Probably others will have things to say about that.

Capricious Thoughts

Sometimes I enjoy questions without answers.  They make you think.

Consider the word Caprice.  It means a sudden change of mind without apparent motive.  It turns up in French in the 16th century, apparently arising from an earlier Italian word, cappricio.  But where did that come from?

Some say it references goats (capro) and their tendency to frisk about in random fashion.  Or, perhaps it combines the words for head (capo) with riccio, a complicated word meaning curled or frizzled hair.  Having one's hair stand on end does not quite seem like caprice, but it is the sort of experience that might change your mind.

Seasons Change. Dogs? Never.

There's a Far Side cartoon I've always really liked:

Honestly, I think it sells "Bob" short.  Ever since wolves snuck up to the stone age campfires and started trying to be helpful, they've been playing the Long Con.  "Hey, take care of us and we'll protect you from danger".

Right.  What exactly do dogs bring to the table as compared to sturdy cave people who have spears and the use of fire?  Well, they can still bark their fool heads off in response to perceived threats....  Right, Hank?  The Enemy is inside the perimeter!!!!

Here's Hank's response to me making the dreaded Lawn Mower move.  Not run mind you, just move.

Well, he's sure giving it his best effort.  With the strange transitional weather we are now experiencing it won't be long before I'll be running the even bigger, noisier Red Machine.  I test started it right after I finished mowing/mulching.  Strangely Hank ignored it.  Guess a dog has to know his limits.

Tolkien and the Romans Part Two

 

 

This odd looking thing is the Ring of Silvianus.  It was found by a farmer in 1785.  The front has a recessed portrait and the letters NVS and VE.  This is a signet ring, designed to be rolled onto hot wax and leaving a raised "signature".  Around the band is the inscription SENICIANAE VIVAS IN DEO.

Although this contains a typo and some sketchy grammar it essentially says:  "Seniciane lives in God".  It is the sort of saying that was current in early Christian communities in the 4th century AD, which is the presumed date of the ring.  

There is no actual documentation that Tolkien ever saw the ring or knew about it, but he was both very erudite and a bit closed mouth about his work, so....maybe.  But he does factor into the story.

In the early 19th century, and about a hundred miles from where the ring turned up, a "Curse Tablet" was found.  These are folded up bits of lead with an inscription on them.  Usually you'd hire someone to fashion it, dedicate it to a god, and leave it in a sacred place.  This one reads:

For the god Nodens. Silvianus has lost a ring and has donated one half [its worth] to Nodens. Among those named Senicianus permit no good health until it is returned to the temple of Nodens

Here's a sketch of the tablet.  

Note the name Senicianus.   Silvianus sure thought he'd swiped a ring, and for it to be a matter of importance it sure would not have been a bronze trinket.  The inscription on the band would be new, but the rest would probably be original.  

Tolkien was consulted on the collection of artifacts that included this tablet, and wrote a detailed report, particularly with regards to what sort of deity Nodens was.  He did not mention the ring, but the man who commissioned the study was aware of it and I think would have mentioned it.

It's an interesting theory.  Is this where JRR got the idea of a ring that would be a curse to those who stole it?  And of course from the perspective of Sauron, all future possessors of The Ring would have been thieves.

As theories go it is nice and neat.  Too neat.  Senicianus apparently was a fairly common name in 3rd century Brittania.  It even turns up on other curse tablets!  And Tolkien - remember he was not a particular fan of Roman stuff - was said to be more influenced by Nordic sagas in which cursed, magical rings - occur.  And perhaps by The Ring of Gyges, as mentioned by Plato.  It was also magical and gave its owner the power of invisibility.  I don't think the Silvianus ring does that, but I do note that there do not seem to be any photos of museum curators trying it on!

For a more scholarly look at the tablet and ring question I refer you to one of my erudite excavation colleagues who runs a site on the Roman Inscriptions of Britain.  He thinks there is no link. 

One final thought.  The Ring of Silvianus is unusual in that it is too large to wear on a normal finger.  It seems to have been designed to wear over a gloved hand.  Odd.....and if Peter Jackson's writing and research people knew about this artifact and worked it into the movie, well, I salute them.

Tolkien and the Romans Part One

As of this writing I am in limbo regards excavating in the UK next year.  We'll see if it works out.  I confess, my mind does wander back frequently to the stone ruins of Roman forts.  It's very thought provoking.  

Of course I'm not the first person to feel this way.  One of the earliest descriptions of the ghostly ruins of Roman Britain is called "The Ruin".  Written in the 8th or 9th century and included in a later compilation of works, it sums things up nicely.  Here's the first couple of lines:

"These wall-stones are wondrous —
calamities crumpled them, these city-sites crashed, the work of giants
corrupted. The roofs have rushed to earth, towers in ruins."

Of course it was written in Old English:

Wrætlic is þes wealstan, wyrde gebræcon;
burgstede burston, brosnað enta geweorc.
Hrofas sind gehrorene, hreorge torras,

If you pay very close attention a few of the archaic words make sense.  "Wyrde" has become Weird, a word for Fate that Shakespeare dredged up for his "Weird Sisters".  "Gebraecon" evolved into "broken", and "Torras" for towers.  But what about that word "Enta"?

If it seems a bit familiar its because J.R.R. Tolkien borrowed this word for Giants for his Lord of the Rings "Ents".  Later in the poem the word of "Orthanc" also appears, and became the name of Saruman's tower.  

By some accounts JRR Tolkien was not a big fan of the Roman Empire.  That being said, he certainly baked elements of Rome into The Lord of the Rings.  The kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor being split and one conquered, basically reflect the Eastern and Western parts of the Roman Empire.  Even Gondor (ok nerds, Minas Tirith)  as a city with Seven levels of Walls has a bit of the "Seven Hills of Rome" in it.

And what about The One Ring?  It is after all the central plot device for the entire trilogy, and is what links it to the earlier Hobbit.  We shall cover that next time...

Walking along the River

My dog Hank is an endearing simpleton.  He knows what he likes.  He likes these things a great deal.  Most everything else gets ignored.

One thing he likes a lot is: Walks.  With the delightful fall weather, and lack of rain, I've been able to take him along the rocky shore of our local river.  As there is nobody else around I can even let him off leash.  I'm looking for things I like.  Artifacts for instance.

But sometimes when I wander in new places I encounter the unexpected.  Check out this short video clip....

Huh.  So why would there be a bubbling fountain of water just showing up 30 feet off shore?  Perhaps a great Kracken is about to rise out of the water?

Well, no.  Turns out we were walking along the steep bank atop which stands the city's water treatment plant.  There must be an outlet pipe extending out into the river.  Not as unpleasant as a sea monster.  Why, there were not even odors I could detect.  Maybe Hank could.  Smells are another of the things he likes a lot.

Homesteading Home Stretch

The Homesteaders have had marvelous weather here in the home stretch.  The project was delayed a bit by the rains of June, but to have weather like this in the second half of October is a blessing.  

Fall colors with off grid power, solar panels and neatly stacked fire wood.

Or if you prefer, fall colors and ongoing work...

Much of the current work does not photograph well.  Drywall finishing for instance.  But my assignment was not inside.  It was necessary to add a layer of insulation under the floor.  The house sits off the ground - but not very darn far - so one person could crawl under while the other fed rolls of insulation in to be secured.  Hot, tedious work while lying on uneven, hard ground.

It's always fun to work hard alongside your children.  Unexpected conversation topics are frequent.  Such as...why are rolls of insulation called bats?  Well, it is a delightfully obsolete word that refers vaguely to rolls of cotton that had been pounded with bats, or batons if you prefer.  The name just stuck around for rolls of insulation.

OK, then what about brickbats?  A brickbat is a partial brick.  Here a little "Stonehenge" of brick leftovers has been set up on the picnic table.

Brickbat means a partial brick.  It comes from a middle English word meaning a lump or piece.  Perhaps related to the sense of things being hit or knocked with a stick.  In more recent years it has acquired another meaning.  Severe criticism, as in things like theatrical reviews.  Evidently brickbats were popular things to throw during riots and protests.  In more recent times they have turned up in the imaginative comic strip Krazy Kat, a personal favorite of mine.

I must admit feeling a greater kinship with Ignatz than with Krazy.

Robot Fun

Robot School machine is coming along well.  The criteria for the whiffle ball collector were:  sturdy, safe, actually works, and amusing.  I think they've nailed it.

We will convert the wooden parts of the prototype to metal in the next couple of sessions, and add the control systems and drive motor.

Here's something else fun.  The high school team has a new cnc router.  The learning curve has involved starting with easy stuff...and working on up.  Plywood to soft plastic to 1/8 inch aluminum and now the big challenge....making a part out of quarter inch aluminum.  

Noisy, and you have to work with a degree of caution, but this is "in house" capacity we've never had before.

Projected Images

There is so much politics in the air that my saying anything on the topic is akin to having a thoughtful chat while watching a chainsaw carving competition.  

I'd actually like to see some of the people now running for office turn up at such an event and try their hand....it might show their levels of talent and prudence!  This of course is the sort of Image that both Presidential campaigns are trying to project at the moment, and with variable levels of success.  

What follows is long, and perhaps only of interest to my overseas friends trying to understand the politics of the US.  But here goes....

Having earlier given my opinions of the "on paper" qualifications of the Trump-Vance and Harris-Walz tickets I guess its fair to also give my personal opinions of them.  Before doing so - and hold your fire Indignant Internet - I should state two sincere beliefs.

1. I believe that a healthy society needs the interchange between Progressive and Conservative philosophies.  I would not censor either.  Lopsided world views lead to stagnation or to launching off into poorly conceived nonsense.

2. Although I'm personally on the Conservative side of the political spectrum I have friends and family to the "left and right" of me.  None of them are Hateful.  We each see the world based on the places we come from and the paths we've followed.  Sometimes the view from the beginning, middle and latter parts of the path look different......

OK, now to it.  My opinions, or if you prefer, feelings, about the five figures in the Presidential race.  I'll run them from Most Favorable to, well, Least.  

J.D. Vance

A political newcomer but articulate, father of young children and somebody who absolutely beat the odds and made success out of a life that should have ended badly.  I read Hillbilly Elegy and found it authentic.  And probably not ghost written.  You actually want somebody who will care about those left behind by society?  How 'bout somebody who was, but rose above it.

Kamala Harris 

This might surprise you, but in second place for my "likeability" score.  True, it is primarily sympathy for somebody who is in way over her head.  In our system a Vice President is supposed to take a fair amount of criticism....its our way of expressing dissatisfaction with The Boss while not damaging the office of the Presidency in a troubled and hostile world.  Yes, Harris is a Diversity Hire.  But she did not create the times in which this is a possibility.  I'll save my more pointed criticism for a later and lower entrant on the list...

Donald Trump 

I've never liked the man.  He represents many things I find grating or even repellant.  Some of them are more a reflection on me.  I'm not fond of real estate developers, philanderers or frankly, boisterous New Yorkers.  The guy is a jerk.  After almost a decade of obsessive scrutiny it is unlikely that anything new - good or bad - will be revealed about him in the next few weeks.  He is a known quantity.  Bonus questions.  How many good men have been poor presidents?  How many bad men have been effective ones?

Tim Walz

We near the bottom of the barrel.  You may think I'm unfairly dumping on a guy whose entree to the national stage was just a few weeks ago.  But remember, I'm from Minnesota and live adjacent to it.  So I follow Minnesota politics closely.  In my opinion he's as bad a jerk as Trump.  His management of Covid and of the George Floyd riots was heavy handed in the first case and "What, me worry?" in the second.  He lies about all manner of things, which you can get away with when you have the local media in the bag for you.  My wife was puzzled when I mentioned his mug shot photo.  I don't respect a guy who makes political hay out of being "Coach" when he had to step down from that role when he was caught driving under the influence.  And then got the charges negotiated down to lesser ones.  Somehow.

I understand that people make mistakes and learn from them.  Evidently he has quit drinking in the wake of this, and good for him.  But the greatest sin in American Politics has always been hypocrisy.  And to be touted as "Coach Walz" and "America's Dad" just does not cut it with me.  He's a small time politician who has been allowed to skate by in his small time job.  Dad shouldn't drive drunk at 95 miles per hour.  And then make excuses.

Joe Biden

Well, here's what happens when a small time politician gets the Big Chair.  In our system when you are say, a Senator from Delaware, it is expected that you will reward your friends and punish your enemies.  It's how you get elected to seven 6 year terms as US Senator.  Usually, and this is very true in a single party state, your friends remember the favors and reciprocate.  And most of your enemies eventually shut up or sue for peace.  These learned habits do not serve you well when you are supposed to be the President of a polarized nation, nor when you have to deal with foreign leaders who don't give a damn.

Basically laughed off the political stage when he ran for President in 1988, he ran again in 2008 and dropped out early.  So he was probably as surprised as anyone when Barack Obama tapped him for the VP role.  But as per above, part of your job is to take the heat for The Boss and make him or her look good in the process.

Late in his tenure as Veep he probably figured his political life was done and that he and his family/friends might as well make a bit of cash.  Various dubious business arrangements later, Biden bank accounts prospered.

The 2020 election was one weird affair.  The shadow of Covid was over the land and campaigning from your basement was considered prudent and patriotic.  I think everyone was again surprised when Biden threw his hat in the ring; less surprised when he had a mediocre primary campaign.

Until....he announced that he'd only select a black woman as his VP choice.  And coincidentally, most of his rivals dropped out and he got critical endorsements that handed him the nomination.  

All this is just the "sausage making" of American politics.  But there was a huge problem nobody was supposed to talk about.  Biden was ageing rapidly.  It happens to us all in the end, and the Presidency ages people at an advanced rate.

I spent a career in medicine and was a darned good diagnostician.  I've also had two parents with dementia and physical ailments.  Biden's cognitive and physical decline during the course of his administration has been dramatic enough that desperate efforts to conceal it were to no avail.

That's sad for an individual, but more importantly means that jerks on the international level are emboldened to act with impunity.

He should have stepped aside mid term.  His party did well in the mid term elections and it would have given Harris a chance to show what she could do.  Or to let other Democrats step up and challenge.  But Biden hung on.  He presumably approved or allowed to happen, things that we have never seen in our political life.  An armed raid on the home of his chief rival.  Prosecutions of same by Federal and allied State offices, often on highly "creative" grounds and in front of very friendly juries.  There were even measures proposed to keep Trump off ballots, or to strip him of Secret Service protection.  

These are either the actions of a desperate regime clinging to power, or of a political party that truly believes what they say, that Donald Trump is a unique, singular existential threat to our nation such that anything is justified in stopping him.

The first option warrants rejection.  The second?  Well, once you normalize such measures you would have to have deep faith in the Democrats (or the Republicans ) that there would not be a similar hue and cry for whoever is brave enough to run next.  Do I have such faith in our politicians?

I do not.

I don't know what will happen, but what should happen is this.  Trump has a win large enough that we don't have to be scrutinizing ballots for a month.  Biden says: "I'm done", resigns and makes Harris President for a few months.  Let's get that Historic First stuff out of our system.  She and Trump sit down and make a list of people they feel were prosecuted/convicted on political grounds.  They make it public then split it up, Harris pardons the Republicans the day before she leaves, Trump the Democrats on his first day in office.  Our system is strengthened and Harris elevates her chances to become a serious contender next time around, instead of a political joke.

Hey,  all the rancor aside, it could happen.

Fifty Years in the Dirt

 Recently I changed my facebook photo to this:

I rather like the image....as several have pointed out there is clearly something interesting going on off camera to the right!  But it did prompt some old friends to point out just how long I've been messing around in the dirt, digging things up.

One sent this gem, purporting to be me and in 1985.

Uh, the guy in front, not the guy in back.

I've been digging around looking for things for a long time, probably going back not 50 years but 60, to when as a kid I would dig holes in the back yard of our house and find odd things.  Broken plates, marbles, that sort of stuff.

Still digging.  Guess I'll keep throwing the dirt out of the hole until somebody decides I'm Done and shovels it back in on me.

Robot School 2024

Robot School time again.  We've roughly doubled the class size and had kids sign up for either software or build/design.  So far so good.  We are only taking 7th and 8th graders so the maturity level is - by the standards of middle school - fairly reasonable.  And I have good help.  FIRST team alumni coming back to train up the next generation.

So, what do we do?

Oh, learn how to use tools.  Many of them have never worked with metal at all.

Measure mark, drill.....learning by doing it wrong a few times....

Everyone on build has to at least try CAD for a session or two.  Several really enjoy it.

The drive base is now complete, and the winch mechanism to raise and lower the whiffle ball collector is in place.  Of course foam based bumpers are needed....these are newbie drivers after all.

Here's a couple of the students who have been developing the intake design.  We expect to get it attached and powered up later this week.  Look out, there will be whiffle balls flying everywhere until we get things dialed in properly!

CCC Camp Globe Revisited

My earlier post on CCC Camp Globe had too many loose ends.  I had gone there looking for remains of the place, particularly of the impressive gate posts that once held giant globes.  Instead I found scattered remains, and these big hunks of stone work.  Which seem to be too close together for gate posts.

And there were other problems.  Usually the signs marking the location of CCC camps were put pretty close to the main entrances of same.  This "stuff" was a couple hundred yards in.  So, it was time for a repeat visit.  Actually it took two, as on one occasion there were some rather unfriendly guys scouting hunting locations right there.  

With a few more leaves gone I was able to see more.  Down the road from the above photo was:

More stone, cement, even a cellar hole.  So at least I'd found a few more remains.  But what about the gate posts?

The cover of the CCC Camp Globe newspaper is helpful.  I've generally found such images to be reasonably accurate.

You can see my point about the spacing between the gate posts.  Also, see how the road is coming off what I suspect is the existing county road at a 90 degree angle, and then starts to curve to the right.  Same view today:

Alas, I think the gate posts are long gone.  Probably they were destroyed when the county road was widened and ditches added at some point.  

CCC camps are a real test of my archaeological "eye".  Most were only occupied for a few years, and most have subsequently seen logging activity.  This tends to create many ambiguous lumps and bumps, and to either re-use or destroy the roads of the original camp.  While of course adding new roads specific to the logging operation.  As CCC camps were laid out rather loosely on military principles the position of roads is critical to understanding them.  So Globe is a tough nut to crack, although I think the road seen above - now used only by hunters - was probably the main road of the camp.

I had a flicker of hope when I learned that there was a geocache hidden here, supposedly at an old building foundation.  Alas, it was a few yards from the mystery pillars, which I suspect were part of a gigantic fire place.  Cool cache container though....