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All the posts in this blog, and much more, organized across the country from east to west.

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Copper Roof -- Canon City, Colorado

The copper steeples and roof you see in this photo are on the First United Methodist church in Canon City, Colorado.

Why copper? It is lightweight compared to most other roofing materials, and it resists damage from hail, fire, and natural processes such as mildew. What’s more, it’s durable: If properly maintained, a copper roof can last fifty years or more.

So, why don’t we all have copper roofs? Perhaps most important, the metal itself is costly, and as a result they are expensive. This is not a minor consideration, since estimates can run as much as fifteen times the cost of asphalt shingles. In addition, copper roofs transmit noise, and so need additional material to muffle sound. What’s more, copper expands and contracts with changes in temperature. This can loosen the fasteners securing the roof, requiring regular maintenance.

Whatever the pros and cons, we can tell the copper covering the steeples and roof of this church is relatively new, because of the distinctive orange-brown color. With age, the color of copper gradually changes, and in ten to twenty years the copper protecting this church will develop a blue-green-grey patina --  actually oxidation which will shield the surface of the copper.

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Pueblo, Colorado -- Gourmet Dining

This is a beer float. Not a root beer float, but a float made with porter, a style of dark beer historically related to stout.

As you can see, in addition to beer it includes ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. When you taste it, the first thing you notice is the absence of the sweetness normally provided by root beer. After that, you settle down to a pretty tasty treat.

Should you want to taste for yourself, you can find one at the Shamrock Brewing Company pub on West 3rd Street in Pueblo, Colorado. It is located a few miles south of Route 50.

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Kinsley, Kansas -- Interior Decorating

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Kinsley, Kansas -- Barbed Wire and the Taming of the West

There have been many varieties of barbed wire, and the Edwards County Museum in Kinsley, Kansas displays several, as shown in the photo above.

Barbed wire was first proposed in France in 1860. The first patent in the U.S. was granted in 1867, and it was swiftly followed in the same year by five more patents. Barbed wire proved to be much cheaper than alternative fencing methods, and the settlement of the American great plains provided a vast area where it could be used. Demonstrations at the time showed showed it was simple to install and effective in limiting animal movement. According to the History Channel, one user offered this praise: "It takes no room, exhausts no soil, shades no vegetation, is proof against high winds, makes no snowdrifts, and is both durable and cheap." Sales soared, and at the peak of barbed wire production there were 150 companies manufacturing it.

Initially, much of the land in the American west was "open range," which meant cattle could graze where they wished and move freely from place to place. Barbed wire's effectiveness in controlling the movement of cattle created conflict between ranchers, who valued open range for grazing, and farmers, who wanted to protect their crops or expand their farmland. This conflict came to a head after the "big die up" of 1885. Free range cattle had typically been able to migrate south during winter, but increasing use of barbed wire made it difficult for the cattle to escape the harsh winter weather of 1885, and some herds lost three-quarters of their animals.

At the time, both ranchers and farmers were fencing land with barbed wire, and soon there were "fence-cutting wars," in which both sides took advantage of the fact that the only tool required to remove a barbed wire fence is a wire cutter. Ranchers cut the wire preventing free-range cattle movement, and farmers cut wire they felt improperly prevented expansion of farms.

Fence-cutting wars erupted throughout the west, but they were particularly severe in Texas, where organized groups with names like the "Blue Owls" cut fences, and armed bands of men opposed them. There were shootouts, and the Texas Rangers were called in to impose order. Arrests, indictments, and trials followed.

Today, we often think the west was tamed when town marshals overcame bands of outlaws, but the prosaic issue of fencing was perhaps more influential. States enacted laws that prohibited cutting barbed wire, and the long-term result was the reduction of free range and the imposition of structure on the Wild West.

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Kinsley, Kansas -- Corn Sled

This device, called a corn sled, was designed to harvest corn. As the sled was pulled through a field, the opening on the left would gather the corn. The blade, which you can see just under the "Corn Sled" label, would then cut the stalks.

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Kinsley, Kansas -- Princess Lace Loom

The device shown in the top photo, which is displayed in the Edwards County Museum in Kinsley, Kansas, is identified as a lace loom. It is more properly called a bobbin lace maker. It appears to be a device promoted as a "Princess Lace Loom," produced and sold in the early 1900s by the Torchon Lace Company, located first in Chicago and then St. Louis. The company claimed that more than 25,000 were sold.

It can be used to produce basic lace patterns, such as the examples shown in the second photo, also on display at the museum.

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Kinsley, Kansas -- Sod Houses

The top photo shows a sod house. The photo is on display in the Edwards Country Museum in Kinsley, Kansas.

Sod houses were built during the settlement of the great plains, where there often weren't enough trees to build log cabins. People cut the sod, removed it from the earth, and piled it up to form walls.

The second photo shows the wall of a preserved sod house located inside the museum. Sod worked as a construction material because prairie grasses have deep, strong roots, and the roots would hold the pieces of sod together.

Contrary to our modern expectations, a carefully constructed sod house was sturdy and well-insulated. It did require regular maintenance, although the walls inside and out could be covered with stucco for protection and improved appearance. Roofing materials were also an issue -- poorly chosen roofs could be washed away by rain

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Kansas City, Missouri

Country Club Plaza.

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Missouri Farming

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Wildwood, Missouri

This is a lime kiln. It is located in Rockwoods Reservation, a Missouri forest and wildlife conservation area in Wildwood, Missouri, just west of St. Louis and north of Route 50.

This kiln was built in the mid-1850s by a businessman who needed powdered lime to use in mortar for houses he was building in the area. It is 20 feet on a side and about 40 feet tall, roughly the height of a four-story building.

The kiln is located at the base of a hill and is open at the top so limestone rocks could be dumped into it from above. Openings on the sides allowed firewood to be put inside. Burning the wood produced temperatures reaching 800 degrees Fahrenheit, which broke down the limestone rocks into powdered lime. The arch you can see at the bottom was used to shovel the powdered lime out.

The wood that was burned was harvested near the kiln. This resulted in clear cutting, and the trees you see are part of a second-growth forest.

The vertical line on the wall of the kiln is an expansion joint, allowing the walls to expand and contract as the temperature within changed. The kiln itself was built of the same limestone it rendered. To protect it from the heat, the inside walls were lined with firebrick brought from St. Louis. Firebrick is made from a type of clay, often mixed with minerals. It, too, is produced by firing in a kiln. Firebricks are still used today to help contain molten metals and in other applications.

This kiln is the lone survivor of several that were built in the area at about the same time.

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Lawrenceburg, Indiana

The Ohio River is on the other side of the levee shown in the top photo. The levee opening in the center of the picture can be closed to protect against floods.

Turn around, and the second photo is what you’ll see.

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Newport, Kentucky

Across the Ohio River from Cincinnati and Route 50.

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Hillsboro, Ohio

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McArthur, Ohio

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New Creek, West Virginia

Heading back west.

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Washington D.C.

Lawn care at the White House, as seen from Route 50 (Constitution Avenue).