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pcttrailsidereader · 3 years ago

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And so another year begins on the PCT

By AURA RANDALL

The sun rose in a palette of blue and pink over the rugged, rolling terrain of eastern San Diego County as Cowboy Dave navigated his Hyundai Santa Fe onto a dirt road a quarter-mile from the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Perfect day for a hike,” he said. He was right. Cowboy, as he is known among hikers, picked me up at 6 a.m. sharp about 8 miles to the north at Lake Morena County Park, where I had left my car. A retired paramedic, he lives in a nearby RV park and runs an unofficial year-round shuttle service for PCT hikers. For a small fee, he guarantees he’ll be there at the appointed time unless he’s fallen over dead.

“There’s the trail right there.” He pointed to a single-track lane flanked by sagebrush and the residual expectations of thousands of hikers who have followed through on a dream of walking to Canada.

It wasn’t my first time on the legendary 2,650-mile trail. When I hiked sections of the PCT in 2017, the wall separating the United States and Mexico was made up of rusty corrugated sheet metal panels welded to steel pipes by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the California National Guard. The panels — more than 3,000 to cover each mile — came from metal landing mats used by helicopters in Vietnam, fighter planes in the Gulf wars and bridges used by troops in World War II, according to Thomas Nail's 2016 book, “Theory of the Border.” Now the border wall is triple the height it once was: a 30-foot-high fence of vertical steel beams that disappears into the horizon to the east and west, with a double-wide road paralleling it. There is better visibility from either side now, but a squirrel couldn’t fit through those beams.

Cowboy Dave, who doesn’t use the Internet and spoke on the condition his full name not be used, insisted on driving me up to the fir-timbered PCT monument within easy reach of the border. He offered to snap some photos, gave me his card and was gone in a cloud of dust and nicotine, leaving me to contemplate distant Morena Butte and the long walk ahead.

Changes with pandemic

I thought I was done with long-haul hiking, but something about the first 20 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail always stayed with me. The pandemic essentially shut down the entire trail to thru-hikers in 2020, and ongoing border wall construction blocked off access around the monument. As the trail reopened in 2021, with thru-hikers warned to practice “extreme social distancing,” wildfires closed all of the national forests the PCT traverses in California. It made me all the more eager to get back on the trail. As soon as peak wildfire season ended, I made plans to return to the remote town of Campo with a daypack and hopes of soaking up things I had barely noticed the first time around.

The beginning of the trail skirts the torturous route of the San Diego and Arizona Railway and passes through Camp Lockett, a World War II prisoner-of-war camp and a base for the Buffalo Soldiers before the unit there disbanded in 1944. The elite Black Army cavalry unit was tasked with protecting the then-unwalled U.S. border in the event of an invasion from the south. Today, Camp Lockett is a California Historical Landmark that operates as an equestrian center and hiker-friendly camp with giant oak trees and spectacular views of the nighttime sky. The first 20 miles of the PCT are also bloody hard, as Cowboy Dave will tell you. He has driven thru-hikers back to the bus station or airport because they were unprepared for what they signed up for. His first passenger, a young man from England, realized, 20 miles in, that his boots were half a size too small. Dave overheard him talking about his plight at the local malt shop and offered to give him a ride to REI.I thought of those doomed shoes as I began the challenging, circuitous route up Hauser Mountain, about 5 miles from the start. The first several miles had been deceivingly easy: a sandy descent marked by jack rabbits, yucca and chamise and views of the dilapidated barracks of Camp Lockett and a Border Patrol station swarming with trucks. At Mile 3, the trail crossed railroad tracks that once carried freight between Imperial County and the Pacific coast on an impossibly steep and rocky route through the Carrizo Gorge. Next to the tracks, a demoralizing sign proclaims it’s another 2,647 miles to Canada.From here, things got tougher. The trail teased my own increasingly sore feet as patches of smooth sand gave way to disorienting mazes of granite rocks. Waist-high chamise chaparral closed in on my legs and backpack but never blocked the striking vistas to the south. The border wall, and the scenic valley where the Kumeyaay tribe once lived, remained my steadfast companion for almost half the hike. I had barely noticed the omnipresent wall the last time I was here. Most thru-hikers at this point are focused on rationing their water supply and debating whether to set up camp a few miles down in Hauser Canyon or soldier on another 5 miles to Lake Morena.From my distant vantage point, it at first appeared like a mirage, an elongated crown undulating atop the mountain ridge and separating two indistinguishable high-desert landscapes. At one point, I could see a clear rift where the new steel wall stopped and the old corrugated panels remained. (In January 2021, an executive order by the Biden administration essentially halted construction by diverting all funds being used for the new border wall.)With surprisingly good cell reception, I was tempted to share my view on social media, but I let go of the desire to instantly document it and seek the world’s approval. The experience was mine alone to digest and interpret. The angst and uncertainty of the past two years felt a million miles away.

A world away

After another sluggish mile to the top of Hauser Mountain, I started down a fire road oddly juxtaposed by power lines and the majestic peach-hued Morena Butte. Around Mile 13, a tower fitted with two small solar panels appeared in the distance. Closer inspection revealed it was a transmitter with a red button above a sign that urged anyone in need of help to push it and await rescue. It stood next to a battered sign cautioning in Spanish not to expose one’s life to the elements. (“No vale la pena,” meaning it's not worth it.) A stick drawing of a person drowning added to the sign's perplexity: There was no water for miles.

The trail eventually veered down a single track to Hauser Canyon. During thru-hiking season, the area is often packed, but it was silent during my visit, save for the crunch of leaves as I stomped across the dry creek. I had planned to linger under the oaks and sycamores and rest up for the arduous climb to Lake Morena, but the picture-perfect 70-degree weather and a steady momentum (known as finding one’s trail legs) inspired me to keep moving.

About 3 miles later, I reached a flat, sandy path lined with red-barked manzanita trees. It was here that I encountered my first humans in 18 miles. A couple with hiking poles and large backpacks were heading down the canyon, followed shortly by a bespectacled man wearing an umbrella hat. They were all clearly happy to be out on the trail.

The deep blue waters of the Morena Reservoir soon came into focus. A young man sat hunched over a book on a flat boulder overlooking the water. Motorized fishing boats, canoes and kayaks drifted across, while children rode bicycles around a nearby campground.

Despite my euphoria, it was jarring to witness all this buzzing normalcy after hours of solitude. Only the discovery of a Little Free Library upon my return to the Lake Morena ranger station brought me back to the hike’s earlier quietude. Inside the wooden kiosk was a curated selection of books with themes of nature and wandering: Thoreau’s “Walden,” Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild,” Homer’s “The Iliad and Odyssey.”The titles uplifted me, as an unexpected encounter with a close friend might. In the end, though, I left the books there, maybe to be discovered by the next long-distance hikers looking to fulfill a dream.

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greatworldwar2 · 4 years ago

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• Consolidated B-32 Dominator

The Consolidated B-32 Dominator was an American heavy strategic bomber built for United States Army Air Forces during World War II, which had the distinction of being the last Allied aircraft to be engaged in combat during World War II.

The engineering development of the B-29 had been underway since mid-1938 when, in June 1940, the United States Army Air Corps requested a similar design from the Consolidated Aircraft Company in case of development difficulties with the B-29. The Model 33 on which Consolidated based its proposal was similar to the B-24 Liberator. Like the B-24 it was originally designed with a twin tail and a large Davis wing, but with a longer, rounder fuselage and a rounded nose. The powerplants were to be the same quartet of eighteen-cylinder, 2,200 horsepower (1,600 kW) Wright Duplex-Cyclones, as specified for B-29s. The aircraft was designed to be pressurized, and have remote-controlled retractable gun turrets with fourteen .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns. It was to have an estimated gross weight of 101,000 lb (46,000 kg). The first XB-32-CO, AAF s/n 41-141, was constructed next to the Army Air Forces (AAF) Base Tarrant Field Airdrome at the AAF Aircraft Plant No. 4 just west of Fort Worth, Texas along the south side of Lake Worth. The Consolidated Vultee Bomber Plant assembly line was six months behind schedule, the aircraft making its first flight on 7 September 1942. Due to problems with the pressurization system, the gun turrets and landing gear doors, these items were omitted on the first prototype. The aircraft had R-3350-13 engines inboard and R-3350-21s outboard, with all four powerplants driving three-bladed propellers. The XB-32 had persistent problems with engine oil leaks and poor cooling, but the B-29 also had similar engine problems. The first XB-32 was armed with eight .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns in dorsal and ventral turrets, and an odd combination of two .50 caliber and one 20 mm (0.787 in) cannon in each outboard engine nacelle firing rearwards, plus two .50 caliber machine guns in the wings outboard of the propellers. The turrets were remotely controlled from periscopic sights in aiming stations inside the aircraft. The sights were coordinated by a sophisticated analog computer system developed by Sperry Gyroscope Company.

On March 17th, 1943, the initial contract was signed for 300 B-32-CFs but development problems continued. On May 10th, 1943, the first XB-32 crashed on takeoff after making a total of 30 flights before the second XB-32, s/n 41-142, finally flew on July 2nd, 1943. This aircraft had a traditional stepped cockpit canopy. Upon examination and testing, the USAAF recommended a large number of changes that included more conventional gun stations. The pressurization system had problems which were never solved and so the role of the aircraft was changed to operating at low to medium altitude. This decision meant that the pressurization system was easily eliminated from production aircraft. Problems with the remote-controlled gun turrets were never solved and the armament on production aircraft was changed to 10 .50 caliber machine guns in manually operated turrets: Sperry A-17 turrets in the nose and tail, two Martin A-3F-A dorsal turrets, and one Sperry A-13-A ball turret. The bomb load was increased by 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg). The second XB-32 continued to have stability problems. In an attempt to resolve this a B-29 style tail was fitted to the aircraft after its 25th flight but this did not resolve the problem and a Consolidated-designed 19.5 ft (5.9 m) vertical tail was added and first flown on the third XB-32, s/n 41-18336 on November 3rd, 1943. The first production aircraft was fitted with a B-29 vertical tail until a new tail was substituted. By 1944 testing of the three prototypes permitted the AAF to place orders for over 1,500 B-32s. The first production aircraft was delivered on September 19th, 1944, by which time the B-29 was in combat in China. The first B-32 crashed on the same day it was delivered when the nose wheel collapsed on landing. Beginning on January 17th, 1945, 40 B-32A-5, -10 and -15 aircraft were delivered as unarmed TB-32-CF crew trainers.

Originally, the Army Air Forces intended the B-32 as a "fallback" design to be used only if the B-29 program fell significantly behind in its development schedule. As development of the B-32 became seriously delayed this plan became unnecessary due to the success of the B-29. Initial plans to use the B-32 to supplement the B-29 in re-equipping B-17 and B-24 groups before redeployment of the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces to the Pacific were stymied when only five production models had been delivered by the end of 1944, by which time B-29 operations were underway in the Twentieth Air Force. The first assignment of the B-32 began when General George Kenney, the commander of Allied air forces in the South West Pacific Area and commander of the U.S. Fifth Air Force, traveled to Washington D.C. to request B-29s. Since priority had been given to strategic bombing by the B-29, Kenney's request was denied, after which he then requested the B-32. Following a demonstration, the Army General Staff agreed that Kenney could conduct a combat evaluation, and a test schedule of 11 missions was set up, followed by a plan to re-equip two of the 312th Bomb Group's four Douglas A-20 Havoc squadrons with the B-32. Project crews took three B-32s to Clark Field, Luzon, Philippine Islands, in mid-May 1945 for a series of test flights completed on June 17th. The three test B-32s were assigned to the 312th BG's 386th Bombardment Squadron. On May 29th, 1945, the first of four combat missions by the B-32 was flown against a supply depot at Antatet in the Philippines, followed by two B-32s dropping 16 2,000 lb (910 kg) bombs on a sugar mill at Taito, Formosa, on June 15th. On June 22nd, a B-32 bombed an alcohol plant at Heito, Formosa, with 500 lb (230 kg) bombs, but a second B-32 missed flak positions with its 260 lb (120 kg) fragmentation bombs. The last mission was flown on June 25th, against bridges near Kiirun on Formosa.

The test crews were impressed with its unique reversible-pitch inboard propellers and the Davis wing which gave it excellent landing performance. However, they found a number of faults: the cockpit was noisy and had a poor instrument layout, the bombardier's vision was limited, the aircraft was overweight, and the nacelle design resulted in frequent engine fires (a deficiency shared with the B-29 Superfortress). However, the testing missions were mostly successful. In July 1945, the 386th Bomb Squadron completed its transition to the B-32, flying six more combat missions before the war ended. On August 13th, the 386th BS moved from Luzon to Yontan Airfield on Okinawa and flew mostly photographic reconnaissance missions. The missions were intended to monitor Japan's compliance with the ceasefire and to gather information such as possible routes occupation forces could take into Tokyo. On August 17th, the B-32s were intercepted by Japanese fighters. During the two-hour engagement, the Dominators suffered only minor damage and none of their crew were injured. "Though the B-32 gunners later claimed to have damaged one fighter and 'probably destroyed' two others, surviving Japanese records list no losses for that day or next." On August 18th, 1945, four Dominators were given the task of photographing many of the targets covered on the previous day; however, mechanical problems caused two to be pulled from the flight. Over Japan, a formation of 14 A6M Zeros and three N1K2-J Shiden-Kai (George) fighters attacked the remaining two U.S. aircraft. Saburō Sakai, a Japanese ace, said later that there was concern that the Dominators were attacking. The last B-32 combat photo reconnaissance mission was completed on August 28th, during which two B-32s were destroyed in separate accidents, with 15 of the 26 crewmen killed. On August 30th, the 386th Bomb Squadron stood down from operations.

Production contracts of the B-32 were cancelled on September 8th, 1945, with production ceased by October 12th. Many B-32s ended up being salvaged at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas with a total of 38 flown to Kingman Army Airfield for disposal. No examples of a B-32 remain today. The XB-32 (AAF Ser. No. 41-18336) was used as a ground instructional airframe for fire fighting training. Others were written off after suffering major damage in operational accidents. Excess inventories were flown either to Walnut Ridge Army Airfield, Arkansas, to be scrapped by the Texas Railway Equipment Company, or to Kingman Army Airfield, Arizona to be scrapped by the Wunderlich Construction Company. One of the few portions of a B-32 surviving is a wing panel removed from a static test model and erected at the Montgomery Memorial near San Diego, California as a monument to aviation pioneer John J. Montgomery.

#second world war #world war 2 #world war ii #military history #wwii #history #american history #aviation #us army air force #us aircraft #aircraft #bombers

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colindotpdx · 3 years ago

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The Border Then and Now

This week I returned to the Borderlands after a three year absence; riding through the Gadsden Purchase in southern New Mexico and Arizona. The last time I was here was pre-Covid and mid-Trump when “Build That Wall” was the MAGA mantra coming out of a bellicose White House.

Whatever you think about The Wall, a lot has changed around here and a lot of useless steel has been erected for hundreds of miles.

The border was fenced through some towns and at border crossings since the early 1900s but the first serious barriers on the border over open desert were started only after George W Bush signed the Real ID Act in 2005 that had some border barriers snuck into it - first around San Diego and then on the Rio Grande at Brownsville. The construction of a fortress had begun.

But this is a 2,000 mile border.

In other areas with a lot of illegal cross-border traffic, vehicle barriers were built out of old railway track that look like they belong on the Normandy Beaches. Since I was last here, the simple rail track fence from El Paso to the Coronado Mountains west of Bisbee has been replaced with a 20 foot high steel fence with no room for any human or animal to pass.

Except, as predicted, it has been cut through over 3000 times; at least that's the number of times that have been found. One post is cut and then folded and folded back and disguised after it's been used.

Home Depot versus Build That Wall.

(Side note: Home Depot was the largest corporate donor to the Republican Party and Trump in the 2020 election. You decide)

The monuments are still there, installed in the 1850s by a US-Mexico team of surveyors; some are now behind massive steel gates with six locks and others still accessible between the rusting vehicle barriers and Mexican barbed wire.

West of the Coronados, the old barrier remains; at one point by Monument 106, you can see the initials of the worker who welded and signed the fence in 2007 out of hundred year old rails made by Carnegie Steel. This area is surveilled remotely by towers with infra-red and other sensors, the road along the fence has motion detectors, Border Patrol clean the road to make footprints easier to detect, and setup inspection stations about 50 miles from the border.

Anyone crossing here has a long and dangerous walk.

As we rode up to Montezuma Pass, we saw one group of women and children being apprehended. On some sections of road we saw more Border Control vehicles than cars.

#AZNM22

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sidewalkstamps · 3 years ago

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R. E. Hazard 1966 (Photo taken in San Diego, CA by Rachel Hughes in November 2021).

Roscoe Elwood Hazard, Sr. was born in 1880 in Arizona but moved to San Diego, CA in 1900, becoming a paving contractor in 1915 (California State Parks’s website).

I have to say, I probably wouldn’t use my name if it was Hazard and I wanted to work in construction! Nevertheless, R.E. Sr., known as “Pappy,” did so, filing articles of incorporation in downtown San Diego, California on June 22, 1926 with the California Secretary of State (Corporation Wiki), focusing on road construction and excavation. In 1926, they gave out medals emblazoned with Sr.’s portrait as advertising.

In 1927, they built the Bank of America building in San Diego at 6th and Broadway.

As early as 1928, they, along with E.S. Cook, sued the Holton Interurban Railway Company et al. regarding “the rates assessed for transportation of crushed rock, sand and gravel, carloads, from Frink to Westmoreland, El Centro and other points on the lines of the defendants in Imperial County,” but the matter was settled when they adjusted the rates and the proceedings were dismissed (”Annual Report of the Railroad Commission of the State of California from July 1, 1928 to June 30, 1929,” Appendix to the Journal of the Senate and Assembly of the Legislature of the State of California, Volume 1, Sup’t State Printing, 1931). Right away, “Pappy bought a fleet of trucks and wagons with nearly every available horse and mule in the region. He began a hauling, excavation and site construction business which helped shaped early San Diego (US Builders Review, July 6, 2015). At the San Diego Automotive Museum, you can see their old Mack Truck, built in 1922, similar to the one in the Bank of American construction photo.

Hazard then expanded into manufacturing concrete blocks at a site in Mission Valley. “At the height, the manufacturing plant was producing as many as 400 different varieties of block and brick” (US Builders Review, July 6, 2015). In 1931, the company built the First Avenue Bridge across Maple Canyon north of downtown San Diego ( but “Standard Iron Works fabricated the structure”) (San Diego History Center).

He was “an avid collector of Western memorabilia who traveled all over the country acquiring Western objects [including] horse-drawn vehicles, saddles, branding irons, firearms, tack, various ethnographic objects, a large number of Southwestern Indian pottery and much more.” He even opened an “Old West Museum” at the aforementioned manufacturing plant site, but he gifted the collection to California State Parks via Governor Ronald Reagan in 1972 (Daniel P. Faigin, California Highways, 1996-2020. https://www.cahighways.org/ROUTE805.html). Much of the collection is at the Seeley Stables, State Museum Resource Center, and Antelope Valley Indian Museum, which, by the way, is one of my favorite places and is basically a museum of how not to be a museum in the best way possible. According to California State Parks, “the Hazard Collection is one of the largest personal collections donated to California State Parks” at over 3,000 objects.

These photos of Pappy from the Ed Fletcher collection were taken sometime between 1926 and 1950. The second one is from October, 1949 and was taken by Lucille Stewart at the Sacramento Fair. Fletcher described Pappy as “a friend of a life-time who would tackle anything where there was a chance to make money.” I believe the horse is named Silver Jr..

Also in Mission Valley is a shopping mall called Hazard Center. I just can’t get over this name. I don’t want so many hazards in my life, please and thank you.

At the mall are sculptures of R.E., Sr. and Bruce Hazard near the parking lot. Sr.’s sculpture is a life-sized bronze with the phrase “Be just and fear not” and Bruce’s says “Everyone’s friend.”

According to their own website, they graded and paved “much of Rancho Santa Fe” (a census-designated place in San Diego County). R.E.’s son Bruce R. started working at the company in 1935 when he was 17 years old. In 1943, Wood Roadmizer Co, et al, v. R. E. Hazard Contracting Co. et al was dismissed with prejudice (U.S. Department of Commerce. “Patent Suits.” Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, vol. 553, no. August 3, 1943, Aug. 1943, p. 10.).

They also did a lot of major freeway construction, in tandem with W.F. Maxwell, Inc., “a specialist in bridge and concrete structure construction.” In 1967, after winning with the low bid of $11.7 million dollars, the two companies constructed 4.3 miles of 8-lane freeway in San Diego (part of the I-5) (Pacific Road Builder and Engineering Review, Volumes 110-113, Fellom Publishing Company, 1967) and also major portions of Interstates 15, 805, and others. They also worked with Taylor & Sloan, Inc. to “place sewer pipe” on the I-5 in San Diego. In 1985, Hazard purchased W. F. Maxwell. There is a bridge named after “Pappy” - the Adams Avenue overcrossing, built in 1970, is officially named the Roscoe E Hazard Memorial Bridge. According to the San Diego History Center, Pappy was an “ardent supporter of San Diego history.”

Hazard, Sr. died in 1975. Bruce’s younger brother, “Togo,” was also “R.E. Hazard” and ran the company for decades after returning from WWII. He was born May 12, 1922 in San Diego to R.E. Sr. and Muriel, had three siblings, and attended Point Loma High School and University of California, Berkeley. He married Dorothy and their marriage lasted 51 years until her death in 2001; he died in 2010 of cancer at 88 years old (he had retired in the mid-1990s).

Togo was also an animal lover and a board member of the Helen Woodward Animal Center. The above photo is from 2009.

In 1985, “the company moved its headquarters to the Miramar area of San Diego (as part of) a 42-acre mixed use project.”

Other members of the family have had their turn running the company, such as Thomas B. Hazard and currently retired Terry Grant Hazard, a Republican from La Jolla, CA. The company was all in the family until 1998, when Dave Randal purchased it from the Hazards.

Now they are “a full-service general engineering contracting firm with a focus on private sector work,” including “commercial site development, residential subdivisions, golf course construction and public sector projects throughout Southern California.” One of their “top customers” is Cal Trans, doing paving, widening, and interchange work (US Builders Review, July 6, 2015).

This is their logo today:

Additional sources:

“Local Builder R.E. ‘Togo’ Hazard Dies at 88.” San Diego Union-Tribune [San Diego, CA], 29 Dec. 2010, www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-local-builder-re-togo-hazard-dies-at-88-2010dec29-story.html.

Ed Fletcher Papers, Box 76, Folder 9. MSS 81. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego, La Jolla.

Minerals Yearbook, Volume 1, p. 806. United States Bureau of Mines, 1980.

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nypaenergy · 6 years ago

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Energy Tech Roundup for 6/21

It's Friday and that means another installment of NYPA's Energy Tech Roundup! This week includes a number of 'firsts': we cover China's first 100-megawatt molten salt tower thermal power plant reaching full capacity, the first customer for an Israeli electric airplane manufacturer is signed, and details on testing the UK's first hydrogen-powered railroad.

First molten salt solar thermal power plant runs at full capacity

China Daily reports this week on China's first molten salt solar thermal power plant beginning operation at full capacity in Dunhuang. Over the course of one full day, the new facility generated more than 1.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity. The plant uses 12,000 mirrors that concentrate sunlight at a receiver at the tip of a solar tower, which then heats molten salt to generate power. This process is reported to have the potential of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 350,000 metric tons per year, and the plant in Dunhuang is one among many that China has recently invested in.

Electric Plane-Maker Eviation Clinches First Customer

Eviation, an Israeli electric aircraft company, has signed its first customer (Cape Air) for delivery of its Alice electric aircraft, according to Bloomberg. The first routes made by this new electric aircraft will be Boston/Martha's Vineyard and New York/Nantucket. Designed to compete with Cessna turboprop planes that ferry small groups of 8-10 passengers on "middle mile" trips, such as San Jose to San Diego, the Alice has a range of about 650 miles on one charge. Eviation is planning its first flight later this year in the US and is preparing to manufacture its aircraft in both Arizona and Washington.

UK’s first hydrogen train set for mainline railway testing

Gasworld reports this week that HydroFLEX, the UK's first hydrogen-powered train, is set to be tested on electrified train routes in the UK this year. Two to three years of testing could see it launched and operating on regular electrified railroad routes. HydroFLEX is a partnership between railroad management company Porterbrook and the University of Birmingham's Center for Railway Research and Education. The train works by funneling hydrogen to a fuel cell where it mixes with oxygen from the air to create electricity, which can be stored in an on-board battery. Germany is currently the only country to have an operating, emission-free hydrogen-powered railroad, running on a short spur between small towns.

#NY #NYS #NYState #NYPA #energytechroundup #tech #technology #energy

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gemevieve · 8 years ago

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Some days ago I got some pins my neighbor did not want to keep anymore. I pins I got are as follows a crutch (given to people who broke their bone/s at a ski resort), martini glass ( it was for club members of some martini party or something, I’m going to give it to a friend), Escondido (I’ve been there a few times), Laws Museum (a train museum, I’m giving the pin to my uncle Gary who loves trains), June Mountain (I liked the pin’s design), Bighorn sheep (this was from Borrego Springs, which is well known for their bighorn sheep counting event), Arizona (I liked the design of the pin and I’ve been to Arizona a lot), Mountain lion head (I liked the design but my neighbor doesn’t remember where he got it from), CTS (he worked for the City of San diego and got this pin for the transit system, I’m giving this one to a friend as well), Flag of Wyoming (my neighbor visited there years ago, I’m going to give it to a friend who would visit Wyoming), Australia pin (I think he mentioned he got it from a friend), Bonnevile Speed Week (it’s a place where they test out cars and he went there many years ago. I gave that pin to a friend who loves cars), Horny Toad pin (I love horny toads), Mother Goose Parade pin (He has been to the parade and he got a pin from it), In N Out Burger Pin (He went to the Rose Parade in 1992 and one of the sponsors for the parade was In N Out), Purgatory Pin (it’s the name of a mountain but I wanted it for the name), a little owl (I don’t know the origin), Grand Canyon Railways (he went there, I liked the pin’s design, and I also like trains), Be In Life (slogan from one of the charities he worked for, he did a lot of charity work), and the drama mask pin.

#The life of Pierce #pierce's pics #Pierce's belongings #jewelry #pins

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alpineacn · 6 years ago

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"The Impossible Railroad: 100 Years of the San Diego & Arizona Railway" - Free Presentation - May 16, 2019

“The Impossible Railroad: 100 Years of the San Diego & Arizona Railway” – Free Presentation – May 16, 2019

Join us for a talk presented by the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association (PSRM) on the history of the San Diego & Arizona Railway on Thursday May 16, 2019 at 6 pm at the Alpine Library! The SD&A rail line was called the “Impossible Railroad” by engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges, which included extreme terrain requiring 2.5 miles of bridges and trestles, and 21…

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#"The Impossible Railroad: 100 Years of the San Diego & Arizona Railway" - Free Presentation - May 2019 #Free Events #History #news

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stridetravel-blog · 8 years ago

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5 Top Travel Ideas for Westworld Fans

Are you a White Hat or a Black Hat?

Has Westworld made your inner cowboy rise up? Do you wish you could break your loop and enter the world of the Wild West? Well grab the reigns because we've curated a list of 5 perfect Westworld inspired travel ideas.

Guests who travel to the fictional Westworld theme park can fulfill their every desire, true to the historical nature of the raucous wild west. There’s the classic saloon with various ladies of the night, the intense poker games going on, the whiskey, the tinny piano (which, fun fact, plays modern rock tunes - how many did you find?), and of course the gun slinging horseback chases and standoffs.

While Westworld seems eerily like something our current technology might not be too far off from providing, today there are already many ways you can travel to feel as though you’re a part of the Wild West.

Maybe you'll hop on horseback at a ranch or raft down a remote river. Grab a ticket on a steam engine. Spend a few days hiking through unparalled nature. Read on to discover how you can travel to fulfill your Westworld fantasies:

1. Go to a Dude Ranch

At a Dude Ranch, you will experience many of the activities and landscapes that make the Old West so alluring. You’ll learn to handle a lasso, shoot bow and arrows, and of course do lots and lots of horseback riding. Main destinations for dude ranches in the US include: Colorado, Montana, California, and Wyoming. See all Dude Ranch tours, and see below for some top choices:

Raft and Ranch: Ultimate Western Vacation with ROW

On this western themed tour through Idaho with ROW Adventures, you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of a classic Spaghetti Western. Take in the culture of the Nez Perce tribe at the historical park in Spalding, stay in log cabins, and enjoy nighttime campfires. On a rafting trip along the Salmon River, you’ll traverse through some of the most remote parts of the American West.

All Inclusive Ranch Vacations

Get to work alongside real cowboys on a real ranch, herding cattle and riding horses every day. But it’s not all hard work - go kayaking and canoeing, hike in the Wyoming wilderness, or spend a day flyfishing against a stunningly beautiful and classically Western backdrop.

Montana Dude Ranch Adventure

Under the famous bright blue and expansive Montana sky, ride horses to your hearts content, and take in the beautiful countryside. Watch exciting demonstrations of cowboy skills like roping and penning. Enjoy live music outdoors by the campfire and feel the outside world slowly drift away.

2. Take a Train Journey across the US

Train travel is intrinsically linked to the American West. The railway system in the United States was only implemented in the mid 1800s - around the time when travel west was reaching its most intense spike.

Gold in California, the lush Oregon forest discovered by Lewis and Clark, the homesteading spurred on by pioneers like legendary Davy Crockett - the list goes on. Those who could afford rail travel were saved from having to battle the extreme elements, and harsh conditions that came with covered wagon travel. See All Train Travel Tour in the US

3. Take a drive along the California coast

Ok, so there isn’t much coast to be seen in Westworld, but California is unique in that it is the furthest west pioneers could venture, and therefore holds a special place for fans of the Old West.

Driving from the southernmost border, near San Diego, you'll pass through such pivotal and historic milestones as Los Angeles, San Francisco, stunning wine country, and gold country in Eureka. As you reach the wild coastal beauty of Oregon, you'll get a profound sense of the Western expansion, manifest destiny spirit.

When there’s no further to go than the ocean, one begins to see the tremendous stamina it took, and how elated those explorers must have felt to reach this point. See All Tours in California

4. Visit a National Park

If anything could help harken back to the days of wild and untamed nature, it’s any one of the 417 national parks in the United States.

The national park system, which was instigated by Teddy Roosevelt at the turn of the century, is one of America's crowning jewels. Go on a digital detox for the experience of long hikes, rock climbing, rafting, horseback riding, and camping. See All United States National Park Tours

Here are some top choices:

Yosemite National Park, California

Waterfalls, mountains, and stunning views for days, Yosemite is the best of the best of the far West. Pristine, clear air, and miles upon miles of wilderness make this the perfect destination to get away from it all.

Combine an old fashioned sense of wonder and travel as the socialites of the late 19th century did with a stay in the Majestic lodge. With its old fashioned dining room and enormous fireplace, you’ll feel like a cowboy enjoying the finer things in life after a long, arduous journey.

Death Valley National Park, California

Arid, expansive, and dry, this national park is desert through and through - it's the hottest, driest, and lowest park in the United States. A strange beauty nonetheless can be found among the harsh landscape. This is a true look at the hard conditions that faced many cowboys on their adventures.

Arches National Park, Utah

Arches National Park looks like what the West would look like if it was a cliche of itself - like in the hundreds of western films that came out of early Hollywood. Sunburnt rock formed into arches, and classic flat topped bluffs dot an alluring, dusty, landscape.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Buffalo galore. This impressive animal was once in abundance across the plains of the US. A standard food and fur supply for the Native American plains tribes and later for the pioneers arriving en masse as they headed west.

This is America’s first national park, established in 1872 - a mere thirty years after the California Gold Rush. About 5000 Buffalo make their home in Yosemite, and they have lived in the area since prehistoric times.

5. Unique Wild West Themed Activities

There are many activities travelers through the United States can partake in for a Wild West feel. Other than the more obvious such as horseback riding and camping under the stars, there are many ways to have a western themed vacation.

You could follow the footsteps of pioneers in an actual covered wagon, go panning for gold in California, or visit the many eerie ghost towns that dot the American frontier in Colorado, Arizona, and California.

Another idea is to visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming. No figure more encapsulated the romanticism and excitement of the American West than Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show.

In many ways he was the first to capitalize on the desire and allure of the west - much like Westworld does. Learn the story of the original purveyor of Wild West fantasies through various collections and exhibitions exploring his life and times.

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teeky185 · 4 years ago

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The climate crisis is a factor, but so are efforts to fight fires - which have had the opposite effect We call them wildfires, but that might not be the right word any more.In recent days, at least five whole towns have been destroyed by fire in Oregon. So has much of Malden, Washington, and swathes of Big Creek and Berry Creek, both in California.To many people this will seem like deja vu. In 2018, another town was also wiped off the map, in the most dramatic recent example of this horrible genre. Paradise, California, was much larger, home to 27,000, and it was destroyed in just a few hours. Eighty-five people were killed.The places now being ravaged are not forests or chaparral located somewhere out there, in the wilds. Instead the current wildfires demonstrate how easy it has become for fires to invade our suburbs and towns, with their 7-11s, gas stations and doctors’ offices, and lay them to waste. Where will this end? The prospects are disturbing.To understand how we got here, it is important to know that we have come to expect control over such conflagrations relatively recently. Prior to European settlement in the West, fire flowed freely, sparked by lightning or intentionally by Native Americans to encourage the growth of favored plants or clear areas for easier hunting. As much as 4.5m acres of California’s 105m acres might burn every year. These low-intensity fires did not kill large trees, and some plants even came to depend on fire to regenerate themselves. A shrub called chamise appears to encourage fire by releasing combustible gases in the presence of flames.The shift to a different approach occurred after several instances in which wildfires became appalling urban fires. In October 1871, railway workers sparked a brush fire in northern Wisconsin, which swept into the city of Peshtigo and killed 1,500 people there and elsewhere across a gargantuan footprint of 1.2 million acres. And in the great fires of 1910, fires burning across several Western states killed hundreds and razed a number of towns. People escaped by train as the fires virtually licked at their heels.After this the US sought to suppress all wildfires before they could gain a foothold. In the 1930s, the US Forest Service instituted its so-called 10am policy, according to which fires had to be stamped out by that time the next day. Later came the “10-acre policy”, dictating that fires should not be permitted to grow beyond that size. Fire was the enemy, an idea catalyzed by wartime imagery of firebombed cities such as Dresden, Hamburg and Tokyo. Smokey Bear helped to reinforce it, too.This strategy had a pronounced effect – though not necessarily in ways that were intended. Fire activity decreased, it is true, but with scouring flames removed from the environment, forests grew far denser and brushier than they had been before. In one Arizona forest, 20 trees per acre became 800 trees per acre. These forests can and will burn more severely. In addition the climate crisis is rendering vegetation ever drier, and by 2050 up to three times more acreage in Western forests will burn as a result of global warming. Meanwhile 60m homes can now be found in or close to high-risk areas where wildfires have previously burned.Cue urban fires. The fire that obliterated Paradise on the morning of November 8, 2018 was sparked in a rural river canyon several miles to the east of town. As we describe in our new book, Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy, it approached the community at speeds previously thought impossible, chewing through almost 400 American football fields’ worth of vegetation per minute. It hit like a hurricane. Strikingly, many of the hundreds of thousands of trees in the town were spared – it was the homes that became matches setting fire to the next. The fire was so quick, so hot, that people died seeking shelter under their cars, in the driveways of their homes while holding a hose, or huddled in their bathtub.Lincoln Bramwell, the chief historian of the US Forest Service, told us that the story of Paradise “reads like these accounts from the late 19th century”, of fires like Peshtigo, back before we had sought to bring wildfire under our command. “I see us going back to the future,” he added. “Going back to a time when fire was not under our control.”As Americans in California, Washington and Oregon are discovering, wildfires do not only impact the wilderness. Towns and suburbs are not inviolate. With so many of our Western paradises now under threat, experts are begging us to bring controlled fire back into the ecosystem in the form of prescribed burns. To ensure buildings meet stringent fire codes. And to prepare city evacuation plans so we do not repeat the gridlock in which many of those escaping Paradise were trapped. We must, it almost goes without saying, get a handle on the climate crisis.Witnessing the urban fire in Paradise, some of those we interviewed for our book no longer thought it fanciful that a fire that could maraud into the very heart of a major city, such as Los Angeles, San Diego or the communities of the San Francisco Bay.University of California scientist Faith Kearns recounted to us that she lives in the Berkeley flatlands, in a part of the Bay that is as thoroughly urbanized as can be. Suddenly she was considering the prospect that a fire might one day reach her home.“My neighborhood is full of Victorians. My neighbor’s window is about six feet away from my own…” she said, pausing in thought. “I think we’ll see it. I think we’ll see it.” * Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano are the authors of Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy, available from WW Norton. Read an excerpt here

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beautytipsfor · 4 years ago

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Wildfires are striking closer and closer to cities. We know how this will end

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bujoloveme · 5 years ago

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Ghost Town, v01, Dos Cabezas, AZ (1879), USA

Doz CabezasAZ (about 1879, population <25), height 1,549 m (1582 m)

• The "ghost town" aesthetic of this entrance works the surprise Furthermore

"The Dos Cabezasite is the only person on the globe who can sit and smile calmly and smiles again under conditions and adversities that would drive a vicious devotee of the Lamb crazy.When Gabriel blows his horn, he will find some of those ingenious ancients Fellows who sit on a rock and tell about the promising future of the camp or how rich the juniper mine is. "-Grave stone EpitaphApril 28, 1887

• Dos Cabezas, AZ is a "living" Sonoran Desert Ghost town with few remaining inhabitants • in the Sulfur Springs Valley [[[[photo]from Cochise County • lies next to the Dos Cabezas ("Two Heads") mountains, named after the two bare peaks

• A historically significant source of drinking water, formerly known as Dos Cabezas Spring, is about half an hour away. southwest of the city on the old Southern Emigration Patha main artery of the Move west • The path descends from below into the valley Apache Spring by Apache Pass

On September 4, 1851, John Russell Bartlett & his Boundary Survey The Commission was located to the west in an area that had been Spanish / Mexican territory for more than 300 years worn in the US in 1848, end of controversial The Mexican-American War, but much of the southernmost region of Arizona and New Mexico remained under the Mexican flag. Bartlett's mission was to work with a Mexican Surveying Team to formally define the post-war US-Mexico border

• The survey was a prelude to the years 1853-54 Gadsden purchase which acquired 29,670 square kilometers for $ 10 million. of the Mexican territory south of the Gila River, Including Cochise County • The deal was signed by the president Franklin Pierce, a northern anti-abolitionist ("TeiggesichtDemocrat • It should facilitate the development of a road, canal and / or railway in New Orleans-LA and open southward expansion to the south, apparently ignoring the fact that an economy based on slave cotton probably not thriving in the desert – "Cochise and his times"

• With drinking water, a precious commodity for two- and four-legged desert travelers, Apache Spring – like many water holes – became the scene of a stagecoach stop. C. 1857 • was operated by the San Antonio-San Diego "San-San" line, commonly known "Jackass Mail" • Chiricahua Apache Attacks made the Apache Pass the most dangerous stop on Birkenstrasse[[[[map], named after company owner James Birch (1827-1857) –The West is connected

• the 1,476 mi. Only daylight driving – with daily stops for 2 meals (45 min. Each) and team change (5-10 min.) – usually it took less than 30 days and could be up to 22. • One way is $ 150. Meals and £ 30 luggage included –Deconstruct the Jackass Mail Route

• The Jackass Line had a fleet of High speed trolley (mud)Vehicles suitable for transport in case of strong heat in rough terrain. Concord stagecoaches [[[[photo]made by the Abbot Downing Co. in Concord, NH

"It was no joke to sit in the hard seat, now against the roof and now against the side of the car." Under the passenger compartment, wide leather straps called "full-length braces" sat in the carriage, causing them to move Motion sickness was a common complaint, and ginger root was the preferred remedy. "-Historynet

• Each stage accommodates 9-12 passengers on three benches and up to 10 others on the roof • The coaches were drawn by four- and six-mule teams. • The company kept 200 upper mules in its western coasts

The bus was equipped with three seats, which were occupied by nine passengers. As the occupants of the front and middle seats faced each other, these six persons had to lock their knees; and only for ten of the twelve legs there was room, each side of the coach was adorned by a foot that dangled now on the bike and now tried in vain to find a base … "-The story of stagecoaches in Tucson, ArizonaBob Ring

• Tips For stagecoach travelers, Cowboy Chronicles

• The passenger experience, Desert USA

"The company recommended to every passenger: … with one Sharp's rifle(Not carbine,) with equipment and a hundred cartridges, a dark blue Colts revolver and two pounds of bullets, belts and holsters, knives and scabbards … "-San Diego Herald November 21, 1857

• The stations of the line were built 10 to 40 miles. apart from • a few basic bedding options provided; Everyone had water for passengers, drivers ("Whips") and their teams • equipped with corrals, the depots served as relay stations where drivers and draft animals were exchanged. • "Rocking Stations" did not offer meals, but larger "home stations," often run by families, were "eating stops":

"… hard beef or pork fried in a dirt-blackened pan, coarse bread, mesquite beans, a mysterious concoction known as slumgullion, deadly black coffee, and a" nasty mixture of dried apples "that spread masked under the name apple pie. "-True West

• In September 1857, Jackass founder James Birch, who sailed to Panama via California, was lost at sea along with 419 other passengers and 30-pound pounds. made of gold in the S. S. Central America Disaster • in the same month the Butterfield Overland Mail line[[[[photos]From St. Louis to San Francisco, it gradually began to displace the Jackass Line and absorb many of its stations

• around 1858 a new fortified stone camp, Ewell's Stage Station [[[[photo]rose 4 mi. south of Dos Cabezas Spring • It's unclear which stage lift the building has built, but when Jackass Mail was completed, Butterfield-Overland later left the decision to bypass "Ewell's." In 1861 it was in ruins, which were destroyed by Apaches

• The name Ewell continued to live in a tiny, heavily populated settlement Ewell Springs & at Dos Cabezas Spring, renamed Ewell's Spring when the original station was built. • In 1879, the National Mail & Transportation Co. had set up a new Ewell's station

Born in Virginia Richard Stoddert "Baldy" Ewell (1817-1872) was captain of the first US dragoons, which were stationed in the 1850s in the southwest. He resigned from the US Army in 1861 to join the Confederation. • served in the Civil War as Commander-in-Chief under Stonewall Jackson & Robert E. Lee • It has been argued that his decisions In the Battle of Gettysburg may have decided the outcome of this engagement

• During Ewell's service in the West, Gila Apache raided the Southern Emigrant Route and demanded a military response. • He campaigned for an unrestricted fight: "How can the devil stop a soldier in the midst of battle and summon a jury of mattresses to decide if he has a redshin to throw bullets into the soldiers is a woman or not . "• the 1857 Bonneville Expedition, in which Ewell commanded about 300 men, who committed themselves on the river Gila against Apache

"… the fight on June 27 … was short and sweet … Ewell went away with the lion's share of the honors … Hardly an Apache escaped, nearly 40 warriors were killed or wounded and 45 women and children were captured … Ewell was unreservedly recognized as the hero of the day, his rampant leap to action destroyed the Western Apaches and forced them to seek peace. "-Robert E. Lee's hesitant commanderPaul D. Casdorph

• From Lt. John Van Deusen Du Bois & # 39; report on the engagement: "An Indian was wounded, and his wife carried him to the Chaparral in the arms and covered him with a brush when the troops came upon them and killed both of them Indian was arrested and taken out by Col. Bonneville's request or express command with bound hands and shot like a dog by a Pueblo Indian – not 30 yards from the camp … May God never allow the Native American fight make me a thug or I'm hard, so that I can behave the coward in this way … "-Journal of the History of Arizona, Vo. 43, No. 2, Arizona Historical Society

• c. Around 1850, gold veins and some gold nuggets were discovered around the Ewell's station in the 1860s wildcatters Gold found on both sides of the Dos Cabezas series • In 1862, claims were made near the mountains and around the Apache Pass.Index of Mining Properties

• In 1866, Congress passed a mining law that in 1872 proclaimed "Minerals of Public Interest … free and open to exploration and occupation." additional stimulus was provided to "promote the exploration and development of minerals in the western United States",Congress Research Service

• John Casey (1834-1904), an immigrant from Ireland, had made the first important statement in the area of Dos Cabezas in 1878. • Juniper (locally known as "Casey Gold") was only 3 km northeast of Ewell Spring • John and his brother Dan moved to a hut on site. • At the end of the year, a dozen employees worked in the mine

• The news that Casey Pay Dirt & Word had hit that soon a station in the South Pacific would be built in Willcox – only 14 miles. Dozens of prospectors lured, z. B. Simon Hansen (1852-1929), a recent immigrant from Denmark who claimed 27 claims. • With the arrival of the new settlers, a small school was built on October 20, 1878, the Dos Cabezas The mining district was officially determined

• 1879 the Arizona Miner reported rich silver and gold deposits, claiming to have 2,000 residents at Ewell Springs. • Other reports indicate that the local population is unlikely to exceed 300 before 1920The persistence of mining settlements in the Arizona countrysideJonathan Lay Harris, 1971

• In the midst of the rapid growth of 1879, the settlement of Ewell Springs was replaced by Dos Cabezas, a town with its own post office, just above Ewell. • John Casey is widely regarded as the founder • Mississippi-born James Monroe Riggs (1835-1912), once a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army, became Post Cabezas' first postmaster and opened a shop he was Traveler's Rest named

• In 1880 there were ~ 30 mud houses and 15 families in the up-and-coming city. • In 1882, the year of the city newspaper, 65 voters were registered Dos Cabezas Gold NoteIn 1884, 42 students wrote the school of the city

• At its height, Dos Cabezas had ~ 50 buildings, 3 shops, 3 salons, 2 dairies, joineries, telegraphy, a commercial shop, a barber shop, a butchery, a brewery, a brickyard, a hotel, a ballroom, a boarding house, a blacksmith shop , 3 stables, 3 stamp mills For gold ore and about 300 inhabitants, however, the population consisted of at least 1,500 prospectors, miners and other mining companies. Employees who live in the nearby mountains and valleys –Books in Northport

• Dos Cabezas ("Two Heads") was often spelled and pronounced "Dos Cabezos", with an "o" replacing the second "a" in "Cabezas". • The postmaster chose both spellings, as seen in the city postmark • the English translation by Dos CabezOs is "Two Peaks", undoubtedly a more accurate – albeit less poetic – description of the twin peaks than the original, since the flawed version was only registered at the US Post Office in Washington DC interchangeable spellings persist into the 20th century

• The railroad arrived in Arizona in 1880, a station was established in Willcox, and shabby Scottish-born miner John Dare Emersley (1826-1899) arrived at Dos Cabezas to search for mineral deposits. • JD was a graduate of the U. of Edinburgh, a scientifically accomplished writer and botanical collector with drought-tolerant grass, who named after him Muhlenbergia emersleyi (bull grass) • was a correspondent for the Engineering & Mining Journal • several other journals, including Scientific American him

According to a miner who knew him, Emersley was apparently a greedy-and unusually tall-knight: "Every Old Settler in the Globe District remembers Emersley, a three-meter-long scotchman who had more claims than he could work, and jumped more than he could hold. "-Arizona silver belt (Globe, AT), January 6, 1883

• The Scotchman soon found a gold deposit and made about 20 claims. • He built a cabin nearby at an altitude of 6,000 meters and led a secluded life. He made a contract with God and vowed not to develop allegations from him, unless he received a sign from above. Nevertheless, the legally prescribed work to retain ownership of its claims produced several tunnels, one that Roberts, 160. The sign of God was never realized, and while Emersley was waiting for it, he died of scurvy

• shortly thereafter Starved to death among his richThe story of JD Emersley, a religious hermit who lived and died on a "copper mountain", appeared in newspapers across the country. • Emersley made his demand on the Lord to be used for the good of all humanity, though he did not wish for this last wish, the "Mountain of Copper" brought another wave of prospectors into the mining district and sparked a local copper boom out

• In 1899, a new town, Laub City, was dismissed at the mouth of Mascot Canyon, 3 km. on Dos Cabezas • John A. Rockfellow (1858-1947)[[[[photo], Author of The Log of an Arizona Trail Blazer, conducted the survey. • Rockefeller's sister was Tucson architect Anne Graham Rockfellow (1866-1954), an MIT graduate and designer of the landmark El Conquistador[[[[photo]• The site was near the Emersley claims acquired from the mines of Dos Cabezas Consolidated. Coastal coastline electrification required countless miles of copper power lines"Copper camp" like Laub City grew and prospered. The city grew and gained its own post office around 1900

• Laub City was named after (and possibly after) Henry leaves (1858-1926), a Kentucky-born investor from Los Angeles for German-Jewish immigrants. • He made his first fortune as a liquor dealer. • He later invested in mining, oil and real estate in Southeast Arizona

"There is every reason to believe that Dos Cabezas will be one of Arizona's largest mining areas" – Henry Laub, 1902

• A global increase in mining led to a decline in copper prices as supply outstripped demand. • Several mining experts collaborated to restrict production so as not to stabilize the market. Consolidated Mines financing had dried up in 1903. Laub City was a ghost town Cabezas also suffered from the mine closures, but was able to hold on to the operation of some mines

• In 1905, a Wales-born mining engineer, Capt. Benjamin W. Tibbey (1848-1935), with a "Mr. Page" in the city. • Ben Tibbey's mining career began as a child in a Welch mine. • Page was actually T.N. McCauley, a Chicagoer with a turbulent investment & finance career. • The two examined the mining district. McCauley had apparently stayed. Later, he claimed that he spent two years in Emersly's abandoned cabin. • He applied quietly and acquired claims on 600 hectares

• In June 1907, McCauley organized the Mascot Copper Company with a capitalization of $ 10 million and began large-scale development. • Euphoric reports of massive ore occurrences have appeared in the local press, e.g. B. "Many Thousands of Tons of Ore in Sight – Commandments for Real Estate" Fair to Become Arizona's Largest Copper Producer "

• In 1909, Mascot acquired control of Dos Cabeza's Consolidated Mines Co., the original Emersley claims that the Laub Group had bought. • McCauley launched a campaign to sell Mascot stock for $ 3 / share, later $ 4, and eventually $ 5. • His extravagant promotions included Investor & Press Junkets in the mine in private railroad cars, Food & Drink at the property's Hospitality House, and a substantial shareholder banquet at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco with the company logo, a swastika prominently displayed[[[[photo]"The management of the Mascot has a remarkable array of sensational crop coverages and few if other copper mining companies can achieve their enviable performance in terms of actual tonnage when in the same development phase." -Bisbee Daily Review, March 10, 1910

• although stock analysts familiar with McCauley's story con artist Their customers were warned that by August 1910, sales of $ 300,000 had been achieved. • The shareholders owned 25% of the company, the rest was retained by the promoters

• While actual mining and ore deliveries were limited, the company announced that in 1912 a store, a boarding house, employee quarters and a new office building had been completed when Mascot continued its costly expansion and occasionally shipped ore. Arizona Territory won statehood

• In 1914, the company founded Mascot Townsite & Realty Co. to sell land in a new town they developed at Mascot Canyon:

"UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR PERSONAL GAIN By buying a property on the MASCOT TOWNSITE This new city should have a population of 5,000 in a few years." – May 1915

• By 1915, the city of Mascot had been founded. • Houses that could be reached by winding paths climbed over terraces. • Residents built a community hall on a single day. • On Saturday, a band called "Merry Miners" was organized – nightly dances

"King Copper, the magician of magic, has once again raised his polished scepter – and once again a tiny minecamp, a mere patch of the Arizona landscape, got the industrial incentive that was soon to turn it into a factor to reckon with The tiny mining town of the past was Dos Cabezas The next town is Mascot – El Paso Herald, June 25, 1915

• within 10 years The city would have ~ 100 buildings and 800 inhabitants. • The children were taught at the Mascot School and a second school with 4 teachers. • Many of the city's boys "grew up with gold to earn money" – Arizona Republic, March 4, 1971

• Although most Mexican residents of the area lived in Dos Cabezas, some, such as Esperanza Montoya Padilla (1915-2003), lived in Mascot:

"I was born on August 28, 1915, in Mascot, Arizona … In the early days, when I was a small child, Mascot was very large and thriving, it was also a beautiful place, with lots of cottonwood and oak trees The school was on this street, along with a grocery store and even a pool hall, and there was a pastry shop in the pool hall where they sold treats like ice cream On the hill there was a community center where movies were screened, I remember silent movies with Rudolph Valentino, even the guys from Dos Cabezas came to Mascot because of the movies.

At Christmas, they set up a tree in the community center, and all the kids in the city got their Christmas gifts. There was a road that led from Dos Cabezas to Mascot and all sorts of houses along this road to the mine. Our house was on this street. I remember a time when all were Caballos – horses pulling wagons. Of course the cars came later. –Songs My mother sang to me

• On January 27, 1915, a celebration in Willcox marked the beginning of the construction of the Mascot & Western Railroad • A large crowd watched as a cheering T. N. McCauley turned the first shovel out of dirt. • The last spike – a copper – was taken at The Mascot Townsite on June 15, 1915, followed by a "monstrous grill" for 4000 guests[[[[photos]• Activities included a visit to a mine and the company's "2-mile" railroad (10.6000 & # 39;)[[[[photo]"I feel that this project can only be a good and lasting good, not just because the mascot is established, but because many people who have only known Arizona in the desert so far may be part of it take home with them the idea of permanence that we enjoy in this great community. "- HA Morgan, Bisbee Daily Review, June 27, 1915

• In 1916, a drought devastated the mining area – wells dried up, cattle died and many mines closed. • On July 1, 1917, American Smelting & Refining closed its 20th anniversary. Lease the Mascot property just to give up less than a year. later probably because the operation lost money

• Following the bankruptcy of Mascot Copper, McCauley reorganized the company through merger. • The "new" Central Copper Co. commenced operations on February 15, 1919. • McCauley developed a multi-level marketing concept in which shareholders became stock traders. • The price was set at $ 0.50 per share. Purchases are limited to $ 100 / person and $ 10 / month. Financing Available • The vendors used portable, hand-cranked projectors to film the property at small gatherings of prospects

• According to reports, 70,000 shareholders were invested and were astounded when the price fell 50% when the stock came on the market. • lawsuits have been filed. • In an advertisement published in several newspapers, McCauley denied any action against the company

By January 1924, McCauley reported that $ 4.5 million was spent on the new building. By 1926, 400 employees were on the payroll, but the production of the mines proved marginal. In 1927, shareholders were informed that copper and silver prices would decrease as a result of falling copper and silver prices. Minimum amount to cover operating costs

• The following year, the company was acquired by Southwestern Securities Corporation, a holding company. • At the end of 1929 there were only 26 employees left. • On February 29, 1932, Southwestern Securities acquired Mascot Company through a public auction for $ 100,000. • McCauley moved to Tucson, was involved in a bank scandal, fled to California, then disappeared without a trace –A story of Willcox, Arizona and the surrounding areaVernon Burdette Schultz

• with the failure of Central Copper[[[[photo]And the departure of the miners began Dos Cabeza's final descent, though not without distractions. • Despite frequent mine closures and the onset of the Great Depression, the city set up a team in the Sulfur Springs Valley Baseball League, which also includes a squad representing a C.c.c. Stock • Willcox had 2 teams in the league, the Mexicans and the Americans

• Among the dwindling population of Dos Cabezas was Jack Howard, the man who "sharpened the first tools that opened the first gold discoveries of the Dos Cabezas district" and spent his last 30 years. with Mary Katherine Cummings, the story "Big Nose Kate"[[[[photo], in movies as Katie Elder –Tombstone Daily Prospector

• John Jessie "Jack" Howard (1858-1930) was born in Nottingham, England. • As one of the first miners in the mining area of Dos Cabezas, he is remembered by Howard Peak and Howard Canyon. • lived in the hills near Dos Cabezas. • He remembered as a crazy guy hiding behind his hut in a manhole to shoot at intruders as they rode into range. • On the other hand, some of his colleagues, Dos Cabezans, thought he was friendly, • divorced his wife Mary, who was divorced according to court records. a hideous and unpleasant mood, coupled with frequent outbursts of fierce temper, until she made his life a burden he could no longer endure. "

Witnesses testified of Mary's insults against insults, which included calling Howard a white man, kept a dirty house, never washed dishes or clothes, and even threatened to burn down his house and poison his camp. " –He lived with Big Nose Kate, True West

• Mary Katherine "Big Nose Kate" Horony (1850-1940) was born in Pest (Hungary). Second oldest daughter of the Hungarian doctor Miklós Horony. • emigrated with her family to the US in 1860. • taken to a nursing home after her parents' death. • stowed on a steamer in St. Louis, where she became a prostitute • 1874 fined for work as an "athlete" (prostitute) in a "sports house" (brothel) in Dodge City, KS, run by Nellie "Bessie" Ketchum, wife of James Earp

• moved to Fort Griffin, TX in 1876. • met dentist John "Doc" Hollidaywho allegedly said that he considered Kate to be his intellectual equal. • Kate introduced Holliday to Wyatt Earp

• The couple fought regularly, sometimes violently. • According to Kate, she married in Valdosta, Georgia. • moved on to AZ territory, where Kate worked as a prostitute at the Palace Saloon in Prescott. They split up, but returned to Holliday in Tombstone[[[[photos]Claimed to have experienced October 26, 1881 Gunfight in the OK Corral out of her window C.S. Fly pension

• 19 years later Kate, almost 50 years old[[[[photo]& Divorcing an abusive husband was too old for prostitution long after her romance with Doc & • In June 1900, when she was employed at the Rath Hotel in Cochise, AT, she responded to a housekeeper for $ 20 / month , plus room and board • The ad was placed by Jack Howard. • Kate lived with him as an employee ("servant" according to the 1900 census) until 1930

• On 3 January, Kate went 3 miles. to the house of Dos Cabeza's postmaster Edwin White.

"Jack died last night and I stayed with him all night."

• Howard was buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery of Dos Cabezas after living alone for 2 years. Kate sold the homestead for $ 535.30. • In 1931 she wrote the Governor of Arizona, George W.P. Hunt to take in the Arizona pioneers home in Prescott • Although foreigners were born and thus not admitted, she claimed that Davenport, Iowa, was their birthplace and was accepted. • She died 5 days before her 90th birthday. • was buried under the name "Mary K. Cummings" in the cemetery of the homeland. "Big Nose Kate, independent woman of the Wild West – Kyla Cathey

• The mascot mine was closed in 1930

• The Mascot & WesternRailroad ceased operations in 1931 – four years later the tracks were taken

• Dos Cabezas of the 1940s photos

• In 1949, the US Postal Department corrected the spelling of the city postal service from Dos Cabezos to Dos Cabezas

• mid-20th century Dos Cabeza's family[[[[photos]• The postal service of Dos Cabezas was discontinued in 1960

• In 1964, the city's population had dropped to 12

• McCauley's Mascot Hospitality House was part of the Dos Cabezas Spirit & Nature Retreat Bed & Breakfast[[[[photo]• Today, Dos Cabezas is considered a ghost town graveyard the main attraction of the city

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