Don't be dissin' on my fishin'

Some time ago. . .indeed quite some time ago, I started this post. 

As all I've done all summer long is work, I haven't followed up on it.  There's a lot of posts that fit that category, which is probably a surprise to anyone who stops in here, as there's a flood of posts here, it seems, all the time.

Well, anyhow.

I had some gift certificates awhile back and while I always can use gift certificates to sporting goods stores, I eccentrically sought to purchase something that, even at the time, I knew was silly. Well, what better thing to buy with a gift card that something silly, eh?

And what I purchased was a giant fishing pole.

Now, I have a lot of fishing poles, although most of them are ancient.  For years and years I used the fishing poles and rods that my father had bought.  Probably the absolute newest of those was from the 1980s and more likely they were from the 70s.  Some are older than that.

Well, they worked then so they'll work now, right?

Indeed, they will, but they will also wear out and finally I had to start buying new rods and reels, both bait casting and fly, a few years back.

Somewhere in the mix I noted this absolutely giant pole at a local sporting goods chain store.  I know darned well that they stocked this because it is a  national chain and it was meant for some use that doesn't happen around here.  That use would be, I"m quite sure, for trolling behind a giant boat.

No matter.  I had the idea that with the pole I could. . . .maybe, cast way, way out on the big lakes around here.  Like Pathfinder.

In doing to check out with it, some guys checking out in another lane were snickering of the "doesn't know what he's doing variety".

Well, Spanky, I know what I'm doing.  I was fishing. . . all types of fishing, when you were just a pathetic fryling.

But interesting how this goes.

When I was young, fishermen were fishermen, around here.  I didn't know anyone who fished who made distinctions based on the type of fishing they did. That's why I have every kind of fishing pole and rod known to local man.  My father knew how to do every kind of fishing.  I even have some ancient baitcasting reels, which I've only used a very few times.  A giant pole with a giant spinning reel was the only type I lacked.  I don't know.

And yes, I've used it.

And yes, with a little practice, you can case way out. . .and way deep.

I did hook into some deep dwelling heavy things in Pathfinder, but I wasn't able to reel them up.  Had better luck on another lake however.

Take that, critics.

I work most Saturdays.

This is very common for attorneys who do litigation. As a rule, we work at least 5.5 days a week, or 6.  When approaching trials, we work 7.

Indeed, one of the oddest experiences most trial lawyers have is somebody calling you on Friday afternoon and give you the old "well. . . it's 3:00 so you must be ready to knock off. . . ".

No, I'm not.  It isn't the weekend for me.

Sunday is my weekend.  If I'm lucky.

Anyhow, on the odd occasion I take a Saturday off, or even get close it, the home conversation is "What are you planning on doing this weekend?", which is followed by as a comment; "oh, well I thought we'd do x, y and z in the yard".

Usually followed by a claim that we discussed this.

Nope.  We didn't.

I hate yard work.  I like farm work, but yards are a big boring waste of time in my view.  My wife views things differently.  I like to have a yard, but I could care less about having the niftiest grass or any such nonsense, in my view.  I want the yard to look kept, and not messy, but that's about the extent of it. My wife, on the other hand, is one of those people who are constantly improving the yard. 

Which has caused me over the years to dread summer a bit. Spend Saturday in the yard?

Oh well, there's always the reward of a nicely kept yard. Right?

Friday Farming (sort of). The Country Gentleman, June 29, 1918.

An ode to canning.

My mother never did this, but it was pretty common still when I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s.  I know that people still do it, but it's no where near as common as it once was.

The Girls Canning Club was, I suspect, a wartime effort.

The Saturday Evening Post, June 29, 1918.

Once again, the color of the American soldier's uniform in this J.C. Leydecker illustration is flat out wrong.  It's closer to the feldgrau of the German uniform.

Now, having said that, there's a print of this illustration for sale right now on the net, that's apparently an original.  And in that one, the color is correct.

Odd.

US 105th Field Artillery march up to the docks and on to USS America and...

Main Ave. and Depot St., Camp Dodge, Iowa. June 29, 1918.

"Another example of gun violence in America"

So reported one of the national news broadcast companies on the morning news.

Now, let me be the first to say that this is a tragedy.

But it's a tragedy in part because the newspaper refused to prosecute the nut job who ultimately committed acts of violence.

Once again, the perpetrator was well known to be violent and dangerous.

The commentary would have been better put if it had been "another example of the authorities doing absolutely nothing whatsoever about a dangerous nut".

But that doesn't fit the script much.

Added to that, as tragic as this event was, and it was, it's local news.  It isn't national news.  The press only regards it as national news as it is 1) violent; and 2) involved firearms; and 3) involved the press.

It's sort of a pornography of violence really.  People are fascinated by violence.  The press therefore reports on it.  And the press generally feels that guns are bad.  The press likes the press a lot, and so things that happen to the press are of course highly newsworthy in a major way.

The press doesn't like issues to be too complicated, so it won't say something like "another dangerous mentally impaired individual commits an acts of violence in spite of everyone knowing he was dangerous."  That just doesn't report to the script.

Focusing to excess on a local news story of this type and making it a national one does however, which is a way that the press itself is complicit in the story.

The US Second Division

We looked at the 3d Division a bit earlier, as they were showing up in large form in the Press at that time due to Chateau-Thierry.  

The 3d, however, was only one of three U.S. Divisions that saw heavy combat, as U.S. Divisions, in the 1918 Spring Offensive of the Germans.  The 1st and the 2nd also did. 

Here we look at the 2nd, as it was the Division that won the Battle of Belleau Wood.  Moreover, it was the most unique of the three for a reason we'll explore a bit in a second post.  

The 2d Division was also made of up regular U.S. troops.  I.e., it wasn't a National Guard Division nor was it made up of conscripts (although it would soon have them in the form of replacements).  Here's the makeup of the WWI 2nd Division:

One thing that was really unique about this division is that it include a Marine Brigade. As noted, we'll explore that in greater depth soon, but the Marines entered their modern form, or started to, in the 2nd Division.  They also saw significant combat with the 2nd Division, forming the bulk of the troops that fought at Belleau Wood while the rest of the 2nd Division was engaged nearby.  Indeed, the Marine Corps was so associated with the 2nd Division that it was in fact twice commanded by Marine Corps general officers.

Charles A. Doyen, U.S.M.C. who commanded the 2nd Division during October and November, 1917, before returning to the United States.  He was a victim of the 1918 Flu Pandemic and died in October 1918.

The 2nd Division saw heavy combat all trough the rest of the war and has gone on to be one of the stalwart standing US Infantry Divisions, having been long stationed in the Republic of Korea.  It hasn't included Marines in its ranks, however, since 1919. 

Headquarters

• 3d Infantry Brigade
• 9th Infantry Regiment
• 23d Infantry Regiment
• 5th Machine Gun Battalion

 

John A. Lejeune, who commanded the 2nd Division from July 28, 1918 until August 1919.  He later became Commandant of the Marine Corps.

• 4th Marine Brigade:  This will be further addressed in a later post, but as noted, the inclusion of a Marine Brigade in the 2nd Division shows how tight US forces really were early in the war. As will be explored later, Marines simply weren't regarded as regular ground troops until World War One and this was their first real use, large-scale, in this role. 
• 5th Marine Regiment
• 6th Marine Regiment
• 6th Machine Gun Battalion

• 2nd Field Artillery Brigade
• 12 Field Artillery Rgt. 
• 15th Field Artillery Rgt
• 17th Field Artillery Rgt
• 2nd Trench Mortar Battery

• 4th Machine Gun Battalion
• 2nd Engineer Regt
• 1st Field Signal Battalion
• Headquarters Troop.  As previously noted, this was a cavalry troop drawn from a regular cavalry regiment, although I've forgotten what regiment it was drawn from in this instance.
• 2nd Train Headquarters and Military Police
• 2nd Ammunition Train
• 2nd Supply Train
•  2nd Engineer Train
• 1st, 15th, 16th and 23d Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals.

Again? The Laramie Boomerang, June 28, 1918

Residents of Laramie woke up to news that the German offensive was about to start up once again.  Would the Spring Offensive become a Summer one?

The same issue was reporting the Bolsheviks in Russia overthrown while reporting that the president of the University of Michigan was warning that immigration was bringing the red peril to our shores.

Did you feel the earth shift?

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, the "swing vote" on the Supreme Court, and the author of a couple of very controversial decisions, announced his retirement.

Kennedy was appointed by Ronald Reagan.  In spite of his disappointments to conservatives, rumor has had it that he wanted a Republican to pick his replacement. Recent results of his decisions may have cemented that view.

And, depending upon what occurs here, this could well cement a 5 to 4 conservative majority in the court for some time.

The German Navy's U86 commits a high seas atrocity. June 27, 1918.

On this day in 1918 the U86 torpedoed and sank the HMHS Llandovery Castle, a Canadian hospital ship.  Hospital ships were not targets of war under international law and targeting them was further against the standing orders of the German Navy.

When the submarine's crew realized what had occurred, U86's commander ordered the boat surfaced and they in turn began to ram and machinegun the survivors.  Only 26 individuals in one life boat survived the combined sinking and murders.  The loss of life included fourteen Canadian nurses.  Only six of the ninety seven hospital personnel on board survived the event.

The sinking was used in British posters for victory bonds after it had become learned of.

"Llandovery Castle!" became the battle cry of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Division as its commanding officer was from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where two of the nursing sisters from the ship were also from.

After the war U86's Lieutenant Helmut Patzig, and two of his officers, Ludwig Dithmar and John Bold, were put on trial for war crimes.  Patzig fled the country and avoided extradition. Dithmar and Bold were convicted and sentenced to four years, from which they escaped, but their sentences were reversed on appeal on the basis that the commander of the U-boat bore full responsibility for the illegal actions.  Patzig lived for a time under an assumed name but returned to German naval service, in the U-boat branch, as a training officer and lived until 1984.

A Canadian opera on the sinking opens today.

World's largest boxing class, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of 337th Inf. Brigade conducted by Billy Armstrong, June 27, 1918

The Laramie Boomerang for June 26, 1918. Belleau Wood Taken.

Tides beginning to turn.

Issues In the Wyoming Election. A Series. Issue No. 1 (e). What about those other industries?

The shaded stool of Wyoming's other economic sectors.

More economics?

Yep.  We still haven't covered it all.

But then the candidates haven't either, and that's the point.

In the June 24 issue of the Star Tribune there's an article over concerns in the tiny Carbon County town of Rock River about a lack of housing there that threatens to soon become a problem due to an economic boom.

Coal coming back to Carbon County, you might be thinking?

And indeed, the last time southern Carbon County had a boom that's what brought it about.  But that one skipped Rock River.  Rock River last was doing really well a long time ago, although it still did well enough at some point that a relatively new modern school was put in there since the 1970s.

What the anticipated boom in this case would be caused by is an expiration in Federal wind power subsidies which is causing companies that put in wind farms to rush to try to get theirs in, and qualify, before the subsidy expires, which it is likely to do.

Wind turbines have been used for power generation since houses were first wired with electricity.  Indeed, one of the missions of the Rural Electric Administration was to get farmers and ranchers off of windmills in their yards and on to the grid.  Granted, the grid was probably safer than the wind generators of the time, but, none the less.

Now, this isn't an article on wind power.  I've had others on that topic. Rather, this is an article on the topic of "the other" industries that candidates in the election will vaguely reference, but rarely specifically actually address.

It's odd.

In part this doesn't occur as, at least now in the GOP, you just can't say "well. . . oil and gas is doing fine and coal isn't going to get better, so we better look at . . . .".  The official mantra is that coal will recover and oil and gas wouldn't be boom and bust if only the Federal government would stay out of things.  That's naive.

And we know that its naive at that, but we don't want to say too much.  It's sort of based on the power of wishful thinking thesis, but nobody wants to really deal with the decline of coal.

Which is all the odder when we consider that Wyoming at one time had a lot of other extractive industries.  Wyoming was an iron producer, for example, and was well into the second half of the 20th Century.  And Wyoming was a major uranium producer.  All that is no longer the case, due to market forces. Uranium, I'm pretty convinced, will come back.  But you only have to go to Shirley Basin to see that its gone.  There's no town there, where once there was a mining town there.

But there are windmills there, that's for sure.

Wind mill installation has become a big deal in Wyoming. That doesn't mean you could plan an economic future on it, as installation is like petroleum exploration.  It isn't really steady.  It goes in, and then you have the infrastructure.  So, for places like Rock River and Medicine Bow, you have to deal with the boom in construction followed by a bust, but the infrastructure and the jobs associated with it, remain.  And they remain for a very, very, long time.

Now, this post isn't the "why aren't the candidates speaking about wind power" post, although so far they don't seem to be.  It's the "what are those other economic areas" they vaguely reference?

This is probably too broad of category to make a fair post about, frankly, but some attention does need to be given to it. There are a lot of economic activities in Wyoming and we've addressed a lot of them.  But not all by any means. When candidates speak of "improving the economy", what are they talking about.

Some candidates, to be fair, have made specific references to other areas.  Galeotos and Throne have both spoken about technology, although oddly Galeotos was sort of uncharacteristically hostile to the topic in one instances, assuming the Tribune is reporting that accurately, as Throne seemed to get to it first.  Having said that, Throne and Galeotos both have spoken about trying to harness the computerized technological advances of recent years to Wyoming's benefit, and they seem to have some concepts, vague though they may be, about how that would work.

Hageman seems outright hostile to any discussion that doesn't involve 100% application of Wyoming's traditional industries, by which she is pinning her hopes on the extractive industries.  That doesn't seem to show much vision at all, but she's not the only one who likely looks at the economy in that fashion.  If you are in a line of work, and most Wyomingites are not, which is somewhat insulated from booms and busts, that is in fact an attractive way to look at things. . . somewhat.  It has its own problems no matter what, but suffice it to say if you are a small business owner or a laborer, this view really has its problems.

Other candidates simply promise to fix the economy.  Foster Freiss, for example, notes that he's a successful businessman and he can be trusted to fix the economy. Well, being so successful that you can keep a home in Jackson and another in Arizona means something, but what it doesn't mean is that you know anything whatsoever about Wyoming's economy.

And a lot of things go into an economy.  You can't just "fix" them.  Economies are natural in a way (although the corporate capitalist model we have is not a "natural economy" in the pure sense).  That's a big aspect of the economy that the candidates haven't really addressed in a full on way, although some have topically.

As an economic unit, the state, the state has to play to its strengths and attempt to build some where they are lacking.  Some have noted that, and that's particularly noted by people who are strongly reliant on the extractive industries. But it is missing in regards to other things, such as agriculture, in the discussion.

Be that as  it may, there's been little (some, but not much) reference to our weaknesses. Those weaknesses are specifically what the ENDOW study looked at.

There's a lot about Wyoming that makes development of its economy outside of the existing areas its strong in tough.  We lack good transportation and we lack intra state air travel nearly entirely.  We have no passenger rail at all.  Travel during the winter season can be death defying. . . or in fact deadly.

It's also popular to note that we have no major urban areas, but in fact we do.

Wyoming does have a major regional city.  Or actually two such cities.

And those cities are Denver Colorado and Salt Lake City Utah.  Maybe more than that.

Now, that may sound like I'm missing something, but the opposite is true.

Wyoming does have its own culture within the regional culture.  But we have to acknowledge that it is still part of the Rocky Mountain Region and the Northern Plains. And that matters as, at the end of the day, while the states and provinces (did I say provinces, as in Canadian provinces, why yes I did) have their own cultures, their boundaries are not natural ones, for the most part, and therefore they do not have the geographic impact of natural boundaries.  The line separating Wyoming from Colorado, in other words, is not the Rhine River or the Atlas Mountains.  It's just a line.  That line is real in various ways, but you can cross it and never know.

Indeed, as an aside, when a student in Laramie I had a deer license in southern Wyoming and the only really good place I could find to hunt was so near Colorado in those pre GPS days that I constantly worried about crossing into Colorado.  I'm really good with a topographic map, but none the less I worried about it.  Oddly enough, I was hunting in an area where there was a very large stream, a proto river, present and instinctively you found yourself thinking that "across the river is Colorado".  Not so much.

Anyhow, we live in age of increasingly improved transportation and communications. And we live in an age in which economic consolidation has moved towards the cities.  It's been often noted by demographers that, over a long period of time, indeed a period of time exceeding a century, Americans have been leaving rural areas for cities, and leaving towns and small cities for big cities.

Whether this is good or bad is another matter.  Frankly, I feel its nearly universally a negative trend. But it being a negative trend doesn't mean it isn't a trend.  And in our region, that has meant that for much of Wyoming Denver Colorado is the regional hub. For far western Wyoming, that hub is Salt Lake City.  And that's the way it is.

That may be more fine with most Wyomingites than we care to admit (and I'll have more in that in an exciting conclusion to this series) but the truth of the matter is that our major hubs are regional. Denver and Salt Lake City.  If you expand out just a bit, the hubs also include Calgary, St. Paul, Minnesota and Houston Texas.

If you feel otherwise, consider the evidence.  I've worked with and for people in the oil industry who worked in Denver and had bosses in Calgary or Houston.  If you grew up in Wyoming and have an advanced degree, other than in medicine, veterinary medicine, dental medicine, law or accounting there's a really good chance that you moved to Denver, Salt Lake or St. Paul.  Shoot, a lot of Wyomingites end up moving to Denver or Salt Lake simply due to economic reasons, irrespective of their educations.  That includes individuals with nearly no education, and those with advanced degrees.  One friend of mine with an advanced degree grew up outside of Hanna, worked in the mines for awhile, before ended up with what will be a life long career in Denver.  Pretty typical.

And this is the way it is, and we're not changing it.

So, when we speak of those other areas, we have to accept the geographic and economic realities, including that we can't really change a lot of that.

So what are our plans, really?

When jail standards were different.

Shoshoni jail house, circa 1907.

Naturalization Ceremonies, Ft. Ethan Allen, Vermont. June 25, 1918.

Naturalization of aliens, June 25, 1918, 310th Cavalry, Fort Ethan Allen, Vt.

Blessing the Colors, 310th Cavalry.

Monday at the Bar: Lyman Bryson

"Lyman Bryson, born 1888, Nebraska. Educated Public Schools, Omaha, Nebraska. University of Michigan A.B. Degree 1910, A.M. Degree 1915. Studied Law at Columbia and Georgetown. Newspaper work on Omaha Bee, Omaha News, Detroit News, Detroit Times, Detroit Free Press. Taught Rhetoric, University of Michigan, 1915-1917. In American Red Cross Publicity since June 24, 1918. Contributor to various Magazines. Editorial Adviser to Thompson and Black, financial Accountants, 14 Wall St. New York, 1917"  March 31, 1919.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Abandoned Church, Sinclair Wyoming

Churches of the West: Abandoned Church, Sinclair Wyoming:

Given the Spanish style of this abandoned, but apparently still maintained, church in Sinclair, my guess is that it was contemporaneous with the  construction of Parco, as the town was originally called.  All the principal buildings that were built in the early 20th Century along the refining town on the Lincoln highway, were built in that style

I'm not sure what denomination used this church, or even when it was last in use.  As noted, it's still receiving maintenance even though it is not serving as a church and is partially boarded up.  Oddly enough, the Baptist Church in Sinclair is using the giant Parco Hotel of the same vintage for its church.

It's Mid Summer!

Portrayal of a Midsummer's dance in Scandinavia.

June 21, you're thinking?

Nope, June 24. St. John The Baptist's Day on the Christian calendar. 

Midsummer's Eve is June 23.

And yes, they were big deals.

Big Christian deals, it should be noted, but they did have a tenancy in some places to get out of hand.  Indeed, Midsummer's Eve was made that as cleric's in England felt that people were letting the revelry get out of hand on the saint's day and it was an effort to put the festivities on another day.

Traditionally the day was celebrated with feasting and parties, but also religious observances.  The more Catholic the country, the more likely the religious significance of the day is likely to be retained, but even in Protestant countries the significance was often not lost and all through Northern Europe some observance of Midsummer tends to be retained.

French peasants celebrating St. John the Baptist's day.

Well what about Shakespeare's play?  Well, it's simply set on the day.

And "Midsummer", what's up with that?  Summer starts on June 21, right?

Well, not really. Most people don't figure summer that way anywhere.  In the US Memorial Day usually is regarded as kicking off summer.  In more agrarian times, summer was calculated to start about the time planting really got rolling,. and run to the harvest.  This was, mid summer.

And in a lot of ways, it still is.

Best post of the week of June 17, 2018

Best post of the week of June of June 17, 2018

Issues In The Wyoming Election. A Series. Issue(s) No. 2: The Social Issues.

The Arctic Summer

The Supreme Court tries a bit to mop up a dog's breakfast. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

The 2018 Wyoming Election. Volume Three

Mid Week At Work: Professor Almon Harris Thompson with his horse "Old Ute." Utah. 1872.

Railhead: Burlington Northern, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.

Holscher's Hub: Echos of Parco. Sinclair Wyoming.

 

Officers of the 34th Division, Camp Cody, N.M., June 23, 1918

A Hundred Years Ago: 1918 Poem About Bread and WWI

For today's poster, we not only have a poster, but a link to a poem.

1918 Poem About Bread and WWI

Something like that shows the extent ot which resources were really short.  Today, we don't worry about white flour being available, and if we use some other sort of flour, it's likely because we're convinced it has some health benefit, or perhaps we just like the other flours.

But clearly, in World War One, things were a bit different.  People were obviously used to refined white flour, and that's what they would have normally cooked with. There was a dedicated effort to have them use something else.

It's interesting in looking at this to realize that I have sort of an odd exposure to alternative grains as my mother (a horrible cook, as I've noted before) used some.  She'd routinely make oatmeal bread and rarely tried to make white bread.  When she did make white bread, it wasn't great, as it had the consistency of bricks.  Her oatmeal bread was better, which isn't to say that it was great by any means.   But I wonder how many people ate oatmeal bread at that time?  Not many, I'd guess.

All of her cooking, as she noted, she'd learned at home from her Franco Irish Canadian mother.  More Irish, than French.  She would note from time to time that she'd learned how to cook in the English fashion, which wasn't really any different in Ireland.  In recent years, as I understand it, there's been a bit of a reconnaissance in English cooking and the reputation it (and Irish) cooking had obtained has started to change.  At least in my case, however, that change in views will be difficult.

None the less, it did mean an exposure to different grains.  Oatmeal in bread, barley in stew, and lots of cornbread (which she did well, and which I've always liked. 

Echos of Parco. Sinclair Wyoming.

 Echos of Parco. Sinclair Wyoming.:

This is linked over here, as it fits in quite well with the theme of the blog.  Parco was a company town, as noted below, built by a refining company in 1924-25.  The luxury hotel was built by the company on the then fairly new Lincoln Highway, and the town no doubt benefited as it was also a stop on the Union Pacific.  Only seven miles away from the larger and older town of Rawlins, the Interstate Highway bypasses it and its a remnant of its former self.

Not too many people stop at Sinclair who are just passing through.  But at one time that wasn't true.  And that's why the town has what was once a luxury hotel (now a Baptist church), a spacious park, really nice tennis courts, and the like.  Only the sign on the hotel remains, as well as a historical monument, to remind us that Sinclair is the town's second name.  It was originally Parco, a company town founded by the founder of what is now the Sinclair Refinery, the Producers & Refiners Corporation.

Friday Farming. War Gardens, 1918.

Railhead: Burlington Northern, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.

From our companion blog; Railhead: Burlington Northern, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.:

These are photographs of the Burlington Northern as it runs through the Wind River Canyon, or rather at the head of the canyon.   The canyon is fairly long and the rail line, and the State highway, run throughout its length.

 

Why is this reposted here?  

Well, because of the juxtaposition of the old means of transportation (once new), now limited around here to carrying freight, and the new one.