#Pawnee Illinois

[uniqueartisanconnoisseur]

Carl and the Ferris Wheel!

Keith and I both love the Ferris Wheel. It has been my favorite ride since I was a kid. Since Keith and I have been together, when we have the opportunity to ride the Ferris Wheel we take advantage. “I love seeing the view of the town from the top,” Keith said when we took a ride last weekend during the Pawnee Prairie Days. When we think of Ferris wheels, we think of our friend Carl Davis…

[stephensmithuk]

A Study in Scarlet: On the Great Alkali Plain

Not sure what the Pawnee and Blackfeet tribes would be doing in Utah; the former were in Nebraska before being relocated to Oklahoma and the latter are based in Montana.

"Braves" was a contemporary, stereotypical term for Native American warriors. There is a Major League Baseball team called the Atlanta Braves, who have refused to change their name despite controversy over this and their use of the "tomahawk chop".

Nearly one in ten of those who travelled on the Emigrant trails died during the journey, mainly of disease, gunshot wounds (usually accidental) and the weather.

Axle grease was commonly used as lip balm at this time.

(https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/death-on-trails.htm)

The Mormons/Latter-Day Saints moved from Illinois to Utah in 1847 due to increasing tensions between them and other residents. Joseph Smith, their founder, had been killed by a mob in 1844, while awaiting trial for incitement to riot and treason; he also was the first candidate for US President to be assassinated.

[belovelyphotography]

Virginia & Adam {married}

[anniekoh]

This Indian Country: American Indian Activists and the Place They Made by Frederick Hoxie (2012)

Frederick E. Hoxie, one of our most prominent and celebrated academic historians of Native American history, has for years asked his undergraduate students at the beginning of each semester to write down the names of three American Indians. Almost without exception, year after year, the names are Geronimo, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The general conclusion is inescapable: Most Americans instinctively view Indians as people of the past who occupy a position outside the central narrative of American history. These three individuals were warriors, men who fought violently against American expansion, lost, and died. It's taken as given that Native history has no particular relationship to what is conventionally presented as the story of America. Indians had a history too; but theirs was short and sad, and it ended a long time ago.In This Indian Country, Hoxie has created a bold and sweeping counter-narrative to our conventional understanding. Native American history, he argues, is also a story of political activism, its victories hard-won in courts and campaigns rather than on the battlefield. For more than two hundred years, Indian activists—some famous, many unknown beyond their own communities—have sought to bridge the distance between indigenous cultures and the republican democracy of the United States through legal and political debate. Over time their struggle defined a new language of "Indian rights" and created a vision of American Indian identity. In the process, they entered a dialogue with other activist movements, from African American civil rights to women's rights and other progressive organizations.Hoxie weaves a powerful narrative that connects the individual to the tribe, the tribe to the nation, and the nation to broader historical processes. He asks readers to think deeply about how a country based on the values of liberty and equality managed to adapt to the complex cultural and political demands of people who refused to be overrun or ignored. As we grapple with contemporary challenges to national institutions, from inside and outside our borders, and as we reflect on the array of shifting national and cultural identities across the globe, This Indian Country provides a context and a language for understanding our present dilemmas.

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15: My informal quiz is intended to prod students to look beneath the surface of the popular beliefs that define Native people as exotic and irrelevant. I also ask students to consider why it is that Americans so easily accept the romantic stereotype of Indians as heroic warriors and princesses? Why don’t we demand a richer, three-dimensional story? I pose a Native American version of the question the African American writer James Baldwin often asked white audiences a generation ago: “Why do you need a nigger?” My question is the same: Why do Americans need “Indians”—brave, exotic, and dead—as major figures in national culture?

17: This book counters that preference by presenting portraits of American Indians who neither physically resisted, nor surrendered to, the expanding continental empire that became the United States. The men and women portrayed here were born within the boundaries of the United States, rose to positions of community leadership, and decided to enter the nation’s political arena—as lawyers, lobbyists, agitators, and writers—to defend their communities. They argued that Native people occupied a distinct place inside the borders of the United States and deserved special recognition from the central government. Undaunted by their adversary’s military power, these activists employed legal reasoning, political pressure, and philosophical arguments to wage a continuous campaign on behalf of Indian autonomy, freedom, and survival. Some were homegrown activists whose focus was on protecting their local homelands; others had wider ambitions for the reform of national policies. All sought to overcome the predicament of political powerlessness and find peaceful resolutions for their complaints. They struggled to create a long-term relationship with the United States that would enable Native people to live as members of both particular indigenous communities and a large, democratic nation.

The story of these activists crosses several centuries. It opens in the waning days of the American Revolution, as negotiators in Paris set geographical boundaries for the new nation that ignored Indian nations that had fought in the conflict and had been recognized previously in international diplomacy. Native activists take center stage in the 1820s, when nationalistic U.S. leaders abandoned an earlier diplomatic tradition and pressed Indian leaders to surrender their homes to American settlers. The Choctaw James McDonald, the first Indian in the United States to be trained as a lawyer, is the protagonist of chapter two. McDonald became his tribe’s legal adviser and drew on American political ideals to defend Indian rights, thereby laying the foundation for future claims against the United States.A generation after McDonald, the Cherokee leader William Potter Ross developed and widened the young Choctaw’s arguments. During the middle decades of the nineteenth century he traveled among Indian tribes in the West as well as to Washington, D.C., to recruit other Native leaders to defend tribal sovereignty. Among those who followed in Ross’s wake were Sarah Winnemucca, a Nevada Paiute who in the 1880s became a nationally famous writer, lecturer, and lobbyist, and a group of remarkable Minnesota Ojibwe tribal leaders who battled both at home and in Washington, D.C., to preserve their tiny community on the shores of Mille Lacs Lake.In the twentieth century the leading activists were often polished professionals like Thomas Sloan, an Omaha Indian who became an attorney and established a legal practice in Washington, D.C. The first Indian to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Sloan helped found the Society of American Indians in 1911 (serving as its first president) and encouraged other community leaders to create similar networks of support. In the 1930s, when Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal offered those leaders opportunities to speak out in defense of their tribes, these networks brought forth tribal advocates such as the Seneca Alice Jemison and the Crow leader Robert Yellowtail, as well as a new generation of intellectuals and thinkers, among them the Salish writer and reformer D’Arcy McNickle and the visionary scholar Vine Deloria, Jr., who by the time of his death in 2005 had become the leading proponent of indigenous cultures and tribal rights in the United States.

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Vocal opposition to Indian landholding in Mississippi began in 1803, after Napoleon had suddenly decided to sell the entire territory to the Americans. The French emperor’s decision immediately transformed the Choctaw homeland from a distant border area to an inland province that boasted hundreds of miles of frontage on a river that was destined to become the nation’s central highway.15 Secure borders and the lure of plantation agriculture triggered a surge of settlement. The American population in the region doubled between 1810 and 1820 and then doubled again by 1830. New towns clustered along the east bank of the Mississippi as well as on the lower reaches of the Tombigbee River, two hundred miles to the east.The American immigrants were soon calling for the creation of two territorial governments in the area. Congress had first organized Mississippi Territory in 1798 as a hundred-mile-wide swath of unsurveyed land hugging the east bank of the great river and then in 1803, had expanded its borders so that it stretched south from Tennessee to the Gulf. Finally, in 1817, the region took its modern shape when the Tombigbee settlements became the Alabama Territory, Mississippi’s eastern neighbor.Events on America’s northwestern frontier echoed those along the Gulf. Secure borders, a surging settler population, and aggressive local leaders encouraged the rapid organization of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois into territories and states during Jefferson’s presidency. (Ohio became a state in 1803; Indiana in 1816; Illinois in 1818.) Jefferson championed both traditional Indian diplomacy and westward expansion. He understood the value of traditional diplomacy, but he also understood the rising power of western politicians and was far more likely to accommodate them.In 1808 Jefferson supported a major purchase of Choctaw land. He noted that while it was “desirable that the United States should obtain from the native population the entire left (east) bank of the Mississippi,” federal authorities were also determined “to obliterate from the Indian mind an impression . . . that we are constantly forming designs on their lands.” The Choctaws’ current debt of more than forty-six thousand dollars, he explained, provided a solution to this dilemma. Owing to “the pressure of their own convenience,” Jefferson reported, the Choctaws themselves had initiated this sale of five million acres of their land. He wrote that he welcomed this “consolidation of the Mississippi Territory,” and the Senate quickly ratified the agreement.16

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95: Leaders of the removed tribes were quick to promote the idea of multitribal “international councils” aimed at promoting peaceful relations among the tribes in Indian Territory and the surrounding region. These councils grew out of a tradition of peace conferences that U.S. officials had organized prior to removal to reduce tensions between western tribes (particularly the Osages, Pawnees, Kiowas, and Comanches) and the eastern Indians who had begun to migrate voluntarily to the West early in the century. Fort Gibson, erected in 1822 along the Arkansas River at a spot near the future site of the Cherokee capital of Tahlequah, had been the scene for several of these gatherings. One such meeting in 1834 involved more than a dozen tribes (including recently arrived Delawares and Senecas from the Midwest) that pledged friendship to one another and agreed to meet again to conclude a formal treaty. The 1835 Camp Holmes treaty, negotiated on the prairies west of Fort Gibson, fulfilled that goal. It established peaceful relations between the eastern tribes such as the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks, and local groups such as the Wichitas and Osages. A second gathering the following year extended the Camp Holmes agreement to the Kiowas and Kiowa-Apaches.15In the 1840s the Cherokee tribal government, along with the governments of neighboring groups, began hosting their own intertribal meetings. They took this step both because they were eager to maintain good relations with the powerful tribes that had previously occupied their new homelands—particularly the Osages, Kiowas, and Comanches—and because they were increasingly conscious of threats to their borders. To the south, the new Republic of Texas, dominated by slaveholders, seemed determined to remove its resident tribes and create a homogeneous, independent settler nation on the model of the United States. The Cherokees had little interest in antagonizing these aggressive neighbors, many of whom were recent arrivals from Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Tribal leaders in Tahlequah were also aware that Mexican officials to the west, still resentful of the Texans’ recent success in their war of independence, were eager to form alliances with Comanches and other groups who had traditionally raided agricultural communities along the Arkansas River. To the north, resettled tribes from the American Midwest—particularly Delawares, Shawnees, Potawatomis, and Wyandots—were making new homes on the Missouri frontier. The disruptions accompanying their arrival triggered yet another round of retaliation and resentment among indigenous groups.16Large intertribal gatherings began in 1843. In June of that year more than three thousand representatives of twenty-two tribes gathered at Tahlequah in response to invitations sent out by John Ross and Roly McIntosh, the chief of the Creeks. For four weeks the delegates made camp across a two-mile-wide prairie and participated in round dances, ball games, and parades. William Potter Ross, barely a year removed from his Princeton graduation, was among them.When the formal sessions began, Chief John Ross reminded the delegates of the serious work before them. “Brothers,” he cried, “it is for renewing in the West the ancient talk of our forefathers, and of perpetuating forever the old pipe of peace . . . and of adopting such international laws as may redress the wrongs done by the people of our respective tribes to each other that you have been invited to attend the present council.” In addition to securing pledges of peace from all who attended, Ross won approval for eight written resolutions that established rules of conduct and included the declaration “No nation party to this compact shall without the consent of all the other parties, cede or in any manner alienate to the United States any part of their present territory.”17One white observer predicted that the 1843 gathering would “disperse without having done anything,” but the resolution regarding land cessions was a clear signal that the men who had been victims of removal had a serious purpose. They wanted to forge an alliance that could hold their enemies at bay.18 Often ignored by outsiders, these gatherings continued throughout the coming decade.

[freetheshit-outofyou]

On This Day...

1775 – The Olive Branch Petition, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, was signed by members of the Continental Congress. The petition was a final attempt to avoid a full-blown war between the Thirteen Colonies that the Congress represented, and Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. In August 1775 the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected in fact, although not having been received by the king before declaring the Congress-supporting colonists traitors. 1776 – In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell rings out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall), summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, by Colonel John Nixon. On July 4, the historic document was adopted by delegates to the Continental Congress meeting in the State House. However, the Liberty Bell, which bore the apt biblical quotation, “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof,” was not rung until the Declaration of Independence returned from the printer on July 8. In 1751, to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of Pennsylvania’s original constitution, the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly ordered the 2,000-pound copper and tin bell constructed. After being cracked during a test, and then recast twice, the bell was hung from the State House steeple in June 1753. Rung to call the Pennsylvania Assembly together and to summon people for special announcements and events, it was also rung on important occasions, such as when King George III ascended to the throne in 1761 and to call the people together to discuss Parliament’s controversial Stamp Act of 1765. With the outbreak of the American Revolution in April 1775, the bell was rung to announce the battles of Lexington and Concord. Its most famous tolling was on July 8, 1776, when it summoned Philadelphia citizens for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. As the British advanced toward Philadelphia in the fall of 1777, the bell was removed from the city and hidden in Allentown to save it from being melted down by the British and used for cannons. After the British defeat in 1781, the bell was returned to Philadelphia, which was the nation’s capital from 1790 to 1800. In addition to marking important events, the bell tolled annually to celebrate George Washington’s birthday on February 22, and Independence Day on July 4. In 1839, the name “Liberty Bell” was first coined in a poem in an abolitionist pamphlet. The question of when the Liberty Bell acquired its famous fracture has been the subject of a good deal of historical dispute. In the most commonly accepted account, the bell suffered a major break while tolling for the funeral of the chief justice of the United States, John Marshall, in 1835, and in 1846 the crack expanded to its present size while in use to mark Washington’s birthday. After that date, it was regarded as unsuitable for ringing, but it was still ceremoniously tapped on occasion to commemorate important events. On June 6, 1944, when Allied forces invaded France, the sound of the bell’s dulled ring was broadcast by radio across the United States. In 1976, the Liberty Bell was moved to a new pavilion about 100 yards from Independence Hall in preparation for America’s bicentennial celebrations. 1778 – George Washington headquartered his Continental Army at West Point. 1918 – Ernest Hemingway is severely wounded while carrying a companion to safety on the Austro-Italian front during World War I. Hemingway, working as a Red Cross ambulance driver, was decorated for his heroism and sent home. Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. Before joining the Red Cross, he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. After the war, he married the wealthy Hadley Richardson. The couple moved to Paris, where they met other American expatriate writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. With their help and encouragement, Hemingway published his first book of short stories, in the U.S. in 1925, followed by the well-received The Sun Also Rises in 1926. Hemingway would marry three more times, and his romantic and sporting epics would be followed almost as closely as his writing. During the 1930s and ’40s, the hard-drinking Hemingway lived in Key West and then in Cuba while continuing to travel widely. He wrote The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, his first major literary work in nearly a decade. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. The same year, Hemingway was wounded in a plane crash, after which he became increasingly anxious and depressed. Like his father, he eventually committed suicide, shooting himself in 1961 in his home in Idaho. (Ernest Hemingway on crutches in 1918, outside the American Red Cross hospital in Milan. The protagonist in his World War I novel, A Farewell to Arms, is an American ambulance driver on the Italian front who was wounded in both legs.)  

1944 – The US 1st Army is reinforced with 2 divisions arriving from Britain. There is heavy fighting along the road from Carentan to Periers. 1947 – In New Mexico the Roswell Daily Record reported the military’s capture of a flying saucer. It became know as the Roswell Incident. Officials later called the debris a “harmless, high-altitude weather balloon. In 1994 the Air Force released a report saying the wreckage was part of a device used to spy on the Soviets. 1959 – Maj. Dale R. Ruis and Master Sgt. Chester M. Ovnand become the first Americans killed in the American phase of the Vietnam War when guerrillas strike a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) compound in Bien Hoa, 20 miles northeast of Saigon. The group had arrived in South Vietnam on November 1, 1955, to provide military assistance. The organization consisted of U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps personnel who provided advice and assistance to the Ministry of Defense, Joint General Staff, corps and division commanders, training centers, and province and district headquarters. 1960 – The Soviet Union charged Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the country, with espionage. 1999 – An Air Force cargo jet took off from Seattle on a dangerous mission to Antarctica to drop medicine for Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a physician at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Center who had discovered a lump in her breast. The mission was successful; Nielsen was evacuated the following October. Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day CARNEY, WILLIAM H. Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry. Place and date: At Fort Wagner, S.C., 18 July 1863. Entered service at: New Bedford, Mass. Birth: Norfolk, Va. Date of issue: 23 May 1900. Citation: When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded.

CO-RUX-TE-CHOD-ISH (Mad Bear) Rank and organization: Sergeant, Pawnee Scouts, U.S. Army. Place and date: At Republican River, Kans., 8 July 1869. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Nebraska. Date of issue: 24 August 1869. Citation: Ran out from the command in pursuit of a dismounted Indian; was shot down and badly wounded by a bullet from his own command.

SHEA, RICHARD T., JR. Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company A 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sokkogae, Korea, 6 to 8 July 1953. Entered service at: Portsmouth, Va. Born: 3 January 1927, Portsmouth, Va. G.O. No.: 38, 8 June 1955. Citation: 1st Lt. Shea, executive officer, Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. On the night of 6 July, he was supervising the reinforcement of defensive positions when the enemy attacked with great numerical superiority. Voluntarily proceeding to the area most threatened, he organized and led a counterattack and, in the bitter fighting which ensued, closed with and killed 2 hostile soldiers with his trench knife. Calmly moving among the men, checking positions, steadying and urging the troops to hold firm, he fought side by side with them throughout the night. Despite heavy losses, the hostile force pressed the assault with determination, and at dawn made an all-out attempt to overrun friendly elements. Charging forward to meet the challenge, 1st Lt. Shea and his gallant men drove back the hostile troops. Elements of Company G joined the defense on the afternoon of 7 July, having lost key personnel through casualties. Immediately integrating these troops into his unit, 1st Lt. Shea rallied a group of 20 men and again charged the enemy. Although wounded in this action, he refused evacuation and continued to lead the counterattack. When the assaulting element was pinned down by heavy machine gun fire, he personally rushed the emplacement and, firing his carbine and lobbing grenades with deadly accuracy, neutralized the weapon and killed 3 of the enemy. With forceful leadership and by his heroic example, 1st Lt. Shea coordinated and directed a holding action throughout the night and the following morning. On 8 July, the enemy attacked again. Despite additional wounds, he launched a determined counterattack and was last seen in close hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. 1st Lt. Shea’s inspirational leadership and unflinching courage set an illustrious example of valor to the men of his regiment, reflecting lasting glory upon himself and upholding the noble traditions of the military service.

SOURCE

[artemisdreaming]

Ghost Dance Drum, c. 1891-1892. George Beaver (unknown dates), Pawnee, Oklahoma Wood, rawhide, pigment. In the 1880s, a millennial spiritual movement arose among Plains Indians, expressed in a ceremony called the GHOST DANCE. Diameter: 23 in. (58.4 cm) Chicago (Illinois), The Field Museum of Natural History. (via: thirdeye.com)

From Wiki:  “The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah,  also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a new religious movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilson), proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits to fight on their behalf, make the white colonists leave, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Native American peoples throughout the region.

The basis for the Ghost Dance is the circle dance, a traditional dance done by many Native Americans. The Ghost Dance was first practiced by the Nevada Northern Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, different tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs.

The Ghost Dance was associated with Wovoka's prophecy of an end to white expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Indians. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act. In the Wounded Knee Massacre in December 1890, United States Army forces killed at least 153 Miniconjou and Hunkpapa from the Lakota people. The Lakota variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Lakota interpretation from Jack Wilson's original teachings. The Caddo still practice the Ghost Dance today.”  

Read more:  Here

Related post:  Here

[claudia1829things]

"THE CHISHOLMS" (1979): Chapter III Commentary

"THE CHISHOLMS" (1979): CHAPTER III Commentary Chapter II of the 1979 miniseries, "THE CHISHOLMS" focused on the second leg of the western Virginia family's westbound journey to California in 1844. This last episode focused on their journey through Illinois and Missouri, culminating in their arrival in Independence, Missouri. Chapter III focused on the family's trek along the eastern half of the Oregon Trail, culminating with an unwanted encounter on the plains.

A great deal had happened to the Chisholm family in Chapter II. Their traveling companion, Lester Hackett, managed to seduce Hadley and Minerva Chisholm's older daughter Bonnie Sue and later, steal Will Chisholm's horse in an effort to evade a group of men who suspected him of stealing some items of their friend. Will and the family's second son, Gideon broke away from the family outside St. Louis and headed for Lester's family farm in Iowa. The pair was eventually arrested for trespassing on the Hackett farm and forced to spend one month on a prison work gang. The other members of the Chisholm family encountered a family from Baltimore, Maryland named Comyns and formed a wagon party with them. Following their arrival in Independence, the family discovered that most of the wagon trains had set out on the Oregon Trail over a month ago. The two families encountered a former Army scout named Timothy Oates, who asked if he and his Pawnee wife could accompany them as far as present-day Nebraska. Unaware that Will and Gideon had been detained in Iowa, the Chisholms and their traveling companions continued their western trek. Despite being a month behind and two missing members of the family, the Chisholms' western trek seemed to be going well. For once, Hadley has managed to contain his prejudice against Native Americans and regard Timothy's Pawnee wife, Youngest Daughter, in an affable light. The youngest member of the Chisholm family, Annabel, has managed to click rather well with the Oates. However, it was not long before the travelers encountered their first barrier on the trail. After their first river crossing (possibly the Wakarusa River), they encounter a family named Hutchinson. When the family's patriarch informed the travelers that he and his family were returning east due to a mysterious fever striking their wagon party, Mr. Comyns decided to do the same. The youngest member of his family happened to be an infant and he did not want to risk the child becoming sick. The Chisholm family continued their western trek in the company of Timothy and Youngest Daughter Oates. They first encountered the very wagon train that the Hutchinson family had abandoned. Unfortunately, members of that wagon train were still stricken by the fever. The traveling party then encountered two Kansa couples traveling on foot, with whom they traded coffee for butter. Timothy hid his wife inside the Chisholms' wagon, due to the Pawnee and the Kansa being at war. Eventually, the Chisholms said good-bye to Timothy and Youngest Daughter, who continued on to the latter's Pawnee village. And the Chisholms continued their California-bound trek. Ten or fifteen minutes into the episode, Will and Gideon were finally released from the prison work gang after thirty days. The pair stumbled across a ramshackle cabin in Missouri, where they found dead bodies, a wrecked interior and a traumatized Native American woman who seemed to have been assaulted. Will managed to convince her to accompany them as far as Independence for medical attention. The Chisholm brothers finally discovered the tavern where Hadley and Beau had first met Timothy Oates. The bartender informed them that the other Chisholms had already continued west. The pair also learned that their traveling companion was named Keewedinok and she wanted to accompany the two brothers on their journey. Meanwhile, back on the trail, Beau managed to shoot a buffalo, allowing the Chisholms to enjoy a meal with bison meat for the first time. Unbeknownst to them, a Pawnee warrior had spotted them and raced back to his companions to report their presence. The Pawnees hold a campfire before deciding to raid the Chisholm camp for the family's mules and the women. The episode ended with Bonnie Sue becoming the first family member targeted by the Pawnee raiders. I felt as if I experiencing an oncoming train wreck, while watching Chapter III. This is no negative reflection on the miniseries' writing. The train wreck I was referring to were the series of decisions and bad luck that led to the episode's last moment - the Pawnee raiders' attack upon the Chisholms. To be honest, this series of bad luck and questionable decisions began when the family discovered they had set out for California a month late in Chapter I and continued in Chapter II. But the series of small disasters that the Chisholms experienced in Chapter III seemed to form a crescendo, until it ended with a pay off that culminated in a disaster. Although the previous two episodes featured decisions made by Hadley Chisholm that led to that disastrous moment in the final scene of Chapter III, screenwriter David Dortort did a great job in building up to that moment with a series of memorable scenes. For me, the one most dramatic scenes included the Chisholms' encounter with the fever-infected wagon train. This led to Hadley and Minerva's last quarrel over whether they should continue west to California or turn back. I also enjoyed the Chisholms and the Oates' encounter with the two Kansa couples. It featured an interesting mixture of comedy surrounding the Chisholms' efforts to trade with the two couples; and dramatic tension over Timothy's effort to Younger Daughter from the Kansa, due to a war between the two tribes. Viewers got a chance to experience the beginning of Will and Gideon's adventures on the road as they struggle to catch up with their family, following their release from the prison work gang. The miniseries never really indicated on whether they had met the widowed Keewedinok in Iowa or Missouri. But I cannot deny that Dortort did a great job in detailing the brothers' budding relationship with her. I especially enjoyed how the pair, especially Will, went out of his way reassure Keewedinok that he and Gideon will not harm her with a soothing manner. Another interesting aspect about this scene was the brothers' discussion on who was behind the attack on the cabin. When Will speculated on the idea of hostile Native Americans in that part of the world (Iowa or Missouri, circa 1844), Gideon responded with an even more interesting suggestion that whites may have been behind the attack that left a traumatized Keewedinok as the sole survivor. Although Will managed to convince Keewedinok to accompany him and Gideon, she barely spoke a word during their journey. She finally spoke up at an Independence saloon, where she revealed her name and asked Will if she could accompany the brothers further west. One of the most interesting scenes in both this episode and the entire miniseries proved to be the conference between the four (or three) Pawnee braves who had targeted the Chisholms for a raid. Frankly, it happened to be one of the funniest scenes in the series as the Pawnees debated over the Chisholms' valuable belongings. They also debated over who would lead the prayer for a successful raid. One particular brave seemed to be rather annoyed when the youngest Pawnee kept erroneously praying for horses, when it had already been established that the Virginia family only had mules. It seems odd to think that this rather humorous scene occurred right before they made their first strike at the end of the episode. As usual, the performances featured in this episode of "THE CHISHOLMS" were top-notch. Solid performances from the likes of Stacy Nelkin, James Van Patten and Susan Swift, who portrayed the younger members of the Chisholm family. The episode also featured solid performances from the likes of Silvana Gallardo (whom I remembered from NBC's "CENTENNIAL"), Tenaya Torres, Joe "Running Fox" Garcia, Ronald G. Joseph, Don Shanks and Jerry Hardin. I rather enjoyed Geno Silva's entertaining performance as an Osage man named Ferocious Storm, who proved to be quite a canny trader when the Chisholms and the Oates made their river crossing. Another performance that caught my eye came from none other than Billy Drago, who portrayed Teetonkah, the leader of the four Pawnee raiders. Eight years before his appearance in the 1987 movie, "THE UNTOUCHABLES", Drago made it clear in this production that he would become a screen presence that many would not forget. David Hayward proved to be both solid and charismatic as the dependable former Army scout, Timothy Oates. Hayward did a great job in conveying Timothy's competence as a guide . . . to the point that his departure from the story was clearly felt when the character and the latter's wife parted from the Chisholms on the Nebraska plains. Both Ben Murphy and Brian Kerwin finally got the chance to develop a solid screen chemistry when their two characters - brothers Will and Gideon Chisholm - were released from the prison work gang. I especially enjoyed their performances in one scene that featured Will and Gideon's discovery of the traumatized Keewedinok and their speculation on whether Native Americans or whites were responsible for assaulting her and killing the ransacked cabin's other inhabitants. Speaking of Keewedinok, I thought Sandra Griego gave an excellent portrayal of a woman dealing with the trauma of being assaulted. Griego managed to perfectly convey Keewedinok's state of mind without any acting histronics. She also formed a very good chemistry with Murphy. As for the miniseries' two leads - Robert Preston and Rosemary Harris - they were outstanding as usual. However, there were two scenes featuring the veterans in which I thought they truly shined. The first was a small scene that featured Hadley and Minerva enjoy a brief private conversation together (which included Minerva's astonishment at the different languages spoken by various Plains tribes) that led to more intimate nocturnal activities. Both Preston and Harris were at their most charming in this scene. I also enjoyed their acting in another scene that featured a brief quarrel between the couple over whether to continue west or not, following the family's encounter with the fever-induced wagon train. I did have a few quibbles regarding Chapter III. One, the passage of time struck me as rather vague. In fact, the passage of time for this production has been vague since the last half hour of Chapter I. The miniseries revealed that the Chisholms had arrived in Louisville, Kentucky in mid-May 1844. As of the end of Chapter III, I have no idea how much time had passed since their departure from Louisville. All I know is that Will and Gideon are probably a little over a month behind the rest of the family, thanks to their month long sentence on an Iowa prison work gang. I also had two problems regarding the episode's photography. For some reason, cinematographer Jacques R. Marquette thought it was necessary to film this episode in earth tones, due to the Chisholms traveling west of Independence. I found this unnecessary, considering that the landscape in eastern Kansas and Nebraska is green and the Chisholms had yet to travel that far west. Also, unlike the production's first two chapters, I noticed that this chapter's photography not only did not seem that colorful, but also not that sharp. I get the feeling that whoever transferred this miniseries to DVD did not bother improve the visuals for this episode. Quibbles or not, Chapter III of "THE CHISHOLMS" proved to be both entertaining and very interesting. The episode featured a major shift in the Chisholms' western journey, the addition of new characters and dangers. Chapter III also featured some excellent performances, especially by the leads Robert Preston, Rosemary Harris and Ben Murphy and a series of interesting scenes that led to the episode's cliffhanger.

[leviyastrow]

New wood fired press plate by @woodfire . . . #woodfiredceramics #woodfireme #ceramics #clay #pottery (at Pawnee, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1q56SVAGOA/?igshid=1vrxano1z4tws

[icouldbelonelywithu]

Time for a visit to a certain gov't department

[uniqueartisanconnoisseur]

Midwest Mission a special place

Sometimes traveling locally, I learn about remarkable groups. I visited on wonderful group on December 8th, when I got the chance to tour Midwest Mission and see what they do. This is a true Christmas story of volunteers making a difference both locally, and around the world! I had heard about it and knew that our church at Trinity Lutheran in Auburn had teamed up with them to make rice meals,…

[goalhofer]

U.S. Daily High Temperature Records Tied/Broken 10/21/22

Tangass National Forest, Alaska: 59 (previous record 55 1957)

Dunsmuir, California: 87 (previous record 86 2003)

Unincorporated Shasta County, California: 90 (also 90 1988)

Lakewood, Colorado: 78 (also 78 2003)

Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado: 78 (previous record 77 2017)

Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado: 74 (also 74 2003)

Unincorporated Maui County, Hawaii: 94 (previous record 93 2020)

Rock Island Township, Illinois: 80 (also 80 2017)

Cedar Rapids, Iowa: 83 (also 83 1979)

Center Township, Iowa: 84 (also 84 1978)

Iowa City, Iowa: 85 (previous record 81 2017)

Dodge Township, Kansas: 87 (also 87 2003)

Emporia Township, Kansas: 90 (previous record 89 1978)

Gardner, Kansas: 86 (previous record 83 1968)

Hutchinson, Kansas: 88 (also 88 2012)

Manhattan, Kansas: 90 (previous record 83 1999)

Russell Township, Kansas: 89 (also 89 2003)

Salina, Kansas: 89 (also 89 1978)

Topeka, Kansas: 90 (previous record 88 1978)

Glacier National Park, Montana: 61 (previous record 60 1974)

Terry, Montana: 80 (also 80 2014)

Unincorporated Treasure County, Montana: 80 (also 80 2014)

Unincorporated Banner County, Nebraska: 81 (previous record 80 2017)

Bottineau, North Dakota: 75 (previous record 74 1918)

Max, North Dakota: 75 (also 75 2017)

Unincorporated Stutsman County, North Dakota: 73 (also 73 2017)

Underwood, North Dakota: 75 (previous record 73 1992)

Willow City, North Dakota: 76 (also 76 1901)

Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Oklahoma: 90 (previous record 88 2003)

Ponca City, Oklahoma: 93 (previous record 91 2012)

Unincorporated Blanco County, Texas: 88 (also 88 2007)

Ft. Worth, Texas: 92 (previous record 89 2017)

Guadalupe Peak summit, Texas: 106 (previous record 72 2020)

Mineral Wells, Texas: 94 (previous record 92 1979)

Waco, Texas: 92 (also 92 2004)

White Settlement, Texas: 91 (previous record 89 2012)

Unincorporated Duchesne County, Utah: 73 (previous record 71 1988)

Unincorporated Chelan County, Washington: 72 (previous record 68 2018)

Yakima Nation Reservation, Washington: 80 (previous record 77 1942)

Buena Vista Township, Wisconsin: 81 (also 81 1953)

Unincorporated Park County, Wyoming: 81 (previous record 79 2003)

Unincorporated Sweetwater County, Wyoming: 70 (also 70 1940)

[nuadox]

Biden-Harris Administration provides $759 Million to bring high-speed internet access to communities across rural America

- By U.S. Department of Agriculture. (USDA) -

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 27, 2022 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the Department is providing $759 million to bring high-speed internet access (PDF, 204 KB) to people living and working across 24 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and Palau. 

Today’s investments include funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides a historic $65 billion to expand reliable, affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S.

“People living in rural towns across the nation need high-speed internet to run their businesses, go to school and connect with their loved ones,” Vilsack said. “USDA partners with small towns, local utilities and cooperatives, and private companies to increase access to high-speed internet so people in rural America have the opportunity to build brighter futures. Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, USDA is committed to making sure that people, no matter where they live, have access to high-speed internet. That’s how you grow the economy – not just in rural communities, but across the nation.”

The $759 million in loans and grants comes from the third funding round of the ReConnect Program. As part of today’s announcement, for example:

North Carolina’s AccessOn Networks Inc. is receiving a $17.5 million grant to connect thousands of people, 100 businesses, 76 farms and 22 educational facilities to high-speed internet in Halifax and Warren counties in North Carolina. The company will make high-speed internet service affordable by participating in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Programs. This project will serve socially vulnerable communities in Halifax and Warren counties and people in the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal Statistical Area.

Tekstar Communications is receiving a $12.6 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect thousands of people, 171 farms, 103 businesses and an educational facility to high-speed internet in Douglas, Otter Tail, St. Louis, Stearns and Todd counties in Minnesota. Tekstar will make high-speed internet affordable by providing its “Gig for Life” service, where households that sign up for internet will not have their internet prices raised as long as they stay at the same address and continue service. Tekstar also will participate in the FCC’s Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Programs.

In Colorado, the Eastern Slope Rural Telephone Association is receiving an $18.7 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network connecting thousands of people, 898 farms, 110 businesses and 17 educational facilities to high-speed internet in Adams, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Crowley, Elbert, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln and Washington counties. The company will make high-speed internet affordable by participating in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program.

USDA is making 49 awards in Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, Puerto Rico, Guam and Palau. This list includes awards to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and the utility authorities for the Navajo Nation and the Tohono O’odham Nation. Many of the awards will help rural people and businesses on Tribal lands.

In 2022, the Department has announced $1.6 billion from the third round of ReConnect funding.

Background: ReConnect Program

To be eligible for ReConnect Program funding, an applicant must serve an area that does not have access to service at speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) (download) and 20 Mbps (upload). The applicant must also commit to building facilities capable of providing high-speed internet service with speeds of 100 Mbps (download and upload) to every location in its proposed service area.

To learn more about investment resources for rural areas, visit www.rd.usda.gov or contact the nearest USDA Rural Development state office.

Background: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

President Biden forged consensus and compromise between Democrats, Republicans and Independents to demonstrate our democracy can deliver big wins for the American people. After decades of talk on rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure, President Biden delivered the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – a historic investment in America that will change people’s lives for the better and get America moving again.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $65 billion to ensure every American has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet through a historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment. The legislation also lowers costs for internet service and helps close the digital divide, so that more Americans can take full advantage of the opportunities provided by internet access.

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, tribal and high-poverty areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean-energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.

To subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit the GovDelivery subscriber page.

#

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

--

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture. (USDA)

Read Also

Canadian government unveils affordable high-speed Internet program

[pawneecityschool]

The Hastings College Tour Arrives in Pawnee City

By Mrs. Veleba

Photos by Mrs. Veleba and Ms. Kristi Robison

On Friday, November 9, the Hastings College band and choir stop off to perform in Pawnee City during their Fall 2018 Tour.  Their tour started on November 8 at Nebraska City High School, followed by Papillion-Lavista High School and the Church of the Cross in Omaha.  Following the concert in Pawnee City, they are scheduled to perform in Beatrice at 7:00.  They end their tour on Sunday, November 11 at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS and then back in Hastings at the Presbyterian Church that evening.

The Head of the Music Department, Dr. Byron Jensen, said that they are touring with 52 band and choir students this week.  Dr. Jensen commented, “We haven’t been on tour for quite a while, but we’re hoping that this tour will get us back on track with a tour every other year.”

The band was conducted today by Dr. Louie Eckhardt, and the choir was conducted by Dr. Fritz Mountford.  The students played and sang a wide range of music, and featured Dr. Bobby Fuson on the soprano saxophone and Dr. Eckhardt on the natural trumpet, as well as two student soloists, one vocalist and one student playing the marimba.

As an alum of Hastings College, it’s always a proud moment when I get to watch the band and choir.  Today’s performances brought back many memories from my time in the Bronco band.  We went on tour twice over my years in the band and traveled to towns in western Nebraska, Wyoming, and Illinois, playing at schools and churches and meeting new people.  What an opportunity!!

A special “THANK YOU” to the parents who helped to feed the Hastings College students and our high school band and choir members.  The lasagna, salad, garlic bread, cookies, and water were very much appreciated!!

[steammanofthewest]

Bear attack Spanish dime novel, Aventuras Extraordinarias de Buffalo Bill, "Daniel el oso y el oso Juan" (Grizzly Dan and John the Bear), circa 1931, anonymous (Prentiss Ingraham), translated by Gregorio La Fuerza. So-called "thick book" reprint of Buffalo Bill Stories No. 528 (1911), "Buffalo Bill and Grizzly Dan; or, Pawnee Bill's Great Swing". Also reprinted in New Buffalo Bill Weekly No. 281 (1918, and image courtesy Northern Illinois University).

The Steam Man of the West

[uniqueartisanconnoisseur]

5 Ways to Celebrate the Resurrection!

As Easter approaches, here are five ways to celebrate the resurrection. Easter is the most holy of holidays in the Christian world. Why not make the most of this amazing time? Attend an event recalling the resurrection. Last Saturday, with a group from Trinity Lutheran Church in Auburn Illinois, we went to the 100th anniversary, and final performance of the American Passion Play in Bloomington,…

[goalhofer]

U.S. Daily Precipitation Records Tied/Broken 8/30/22

Unincorporated Autauga County, Alabama: 1.46" (previous record 0.8" 2001)

Atigun Pass summit, Alaska: 0.5" (also 0.5" 2012)

Nome, Alaska: 1.33" (previous record 0.94" 1927)

Lead Hill, Arkansas: 2.07" (previous record 1.9" 1991)

Mammoth Spring, Arkansas: 2.1" (previous record 1.95" 1928)

White River Township, Arkansas: 1.83" (previous record 1.55" 2014)

Gilroy, California: 0.01" (previous record 0" 2021)

Carlinville, Illinois: 1.31" (previous record 1.18" 1994)

Danville, Illinois: 1.73" (previous record 1.32" 1918)

Dwight Township, Illinois: 0.65" (previous record 0.4" 2016)

Mattoon, Illinois: 2.08" (previous record 1.12" 1982)

Paris, Illinois: 1.55" (previous record 0.92" 1982)

Philo Township, Illinois: 1.19" (previous record 0.72" 2003)

Shelbyville, Illinois: 0.37" (previous record 0.25" 1978)

Sidell Township, Illinois: 1.96" (previous record 1.41" 1951)

Sullivan Township, Illinois: 1.68" (previous record 0.75" 2001)

Windsor, Illinois: 1.5" (previous record 1.33" 1918)

Francesville, Indiana: 1.33" (previous record 0.67" 1993)

Greenfield, Indiana: 2.5" (previous record 1.07" 1981)

Huntington, Indiana: 0.68" (previous record 0.6" 2003)

New Castle, Indiana: 2.41" (previous record 1.57" 1960)

Rockville, Indiana: 4.1" (previous record 1.57" 1964)

Shelbyville, Indiana: 2" (previous record 1.5" 1918)

Tell City, Indiana: 1.83" (previous record 1.69" 1974)

Washington Township, Indiana: 2" (previous record 1.89" 1985)

Hazard, Kentucky: 2.16" (previous record 0.88" 2006)

Louisville, Kentucky: 1.47" (previous record 1.4" 2005)

Paris, Kentucky: 0.75" (previous record 0.71" 1990)

Baldwyn, Mississippi: 1.43" (previous record 0.61" 1940)

Alton, Missouri: 2.37" (previous record 1.9" 1978)

Jasper Township, Missouri: 2.1" (previous record 1.9" 1978)

Rosebud, Missouri: 2.84" (previous record 0.91" 2004)

Millville, New Jersey: 0.96" (previous record 0.4" 2003)

Queensbury, New York: 1.58" (previous record 0.71" 1983)

Seal Township, Ohio: 2.2" (previous record 1.33" 1974)

Tiffin Township, Ohio: 1.26" (previous record 0.99" 1980)

Warren Township, Ohio: 0.98" (previous record 0.93" 2018)

Pawnee, Oklahoma: 2.2" (previous record 1.1" 2003)

Pittston Township, Pennsylvania: 1.42" (previous record 0.98" 1955)

Somerset, Pennsylvania: 0.66" (previous record 0.6" 1989)

Abernathy, Texas: 0.62" (previous record 0.6" 2016)

Breckenridge, Texas: 3.45" (previous record 1.73" 1993)

Coleman, Texas: 3" (previous record 1.3" 1964)

College Station, Texas: 1.72" (previous record 1.15" 1960)

Crosbyton, Texas: 1.7" (previous record 1" 1910)

Del Rio, Texas: 3.19" (previous record 2.33" 1996)

El Campo, Texas: 2.41" (previous record 1.68" 1953)

Unincorporated Floyd County, Texas: 2" (previous record 1.55" 1963)

Friendship Park, Texas: 3.15" (previous record 0.88" 1964)

Unincorporated Gillespie County, Texas: 2.9" (previous record 1.65" 1974)

Unincorporated Lavaca County, Texas: 2.95" (previous record 1.11" 2001)

Richmond, Texas: 3.44" (previous record 2.35" 1953)

Unincorporated Runnels County, Texas: 2.5" (previous record 1.19" 1996)

Slaton, Texas: 0.75" (previous record 0.68" 2008)

Spur, Texas: 1.6" (previous record 1.43" 1944)

Unincorporated Taylor County, Texas: 2.3" (previous record 1.51" 1974)

Turkey, Texas: 0.62" (previous record 0.6" 2020)

Bridgeport, West Virginia: 1.16" (previous record 0.47" 2003)

Unincorporated Randolph County, West Virginia: 0.99" (also 0.99" 1974)

Wheeling, West Virginia: 1.83" (previous record 1.16" 2005)

Powder River Pass summit, Wyoming: 0.4" (also 0.4" 1995)