Painted Bricks: The Virginian, Medince Bow, Wyoming.

Painted Bricks: The Virginian, Medince Bow, Wyoming.:  

Saturday, October 28, 2023

The Virginian, Medince Bow, Wyoming.

Mid Week At Work: Wind Turbines near Medicine Bow

The Aerodrome: Medicine Bow Airport (Site 32 SL-O (Salt Lake-Omaha) Intermediate Field Historic District).

The Aerodrome: Medicine Bow Aiport (Site 32 SL-O (Salt Lake-Omaha...: 

Medicine Bow Airport (Site 32 SL-O (Salt Lake-Omaha) Intermediate Field Historic District).

Teletype hut and beacon tower.

I didn't know that Medicine Bow had an airfield at all until MKTH photographed it.  I've never been to it myself.

But it does, as these photos show.

As these photos show, not only is a strip still there, but one of the big concrete arrows (which I've never seen in person myself either) is on the strip, indicating that it was once part of the Transcontinental Air Mail system.  It must have been part of a connection between Cheyenne and points further west, but what the next western airfield was, I don't know.  My guess would be Rawlins, but that would be just a guess.  According to the submitting material for its placement on the National Register of Historic Places, it was an emergency field on "Route T".  This was "Site 32" on the route.

Today the strip is owned by the Town of Medicine Bow, and is little used, apparently.  It's still there, however, including the noted remnants of the near century old teletype hut and its beacon tower.

Sunday Morning Scene: Wind City Church, Medicine Bow, Wyoming

Churches of the West: Wind City Church, Medicine Bow, Wyoming: 

Wind City Church, Medicine Bow, Wyoming

These photographs are of Wind City Church in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  The church is a fundamentalist Christian church of the sola scriptura branch of Protestantism.  It opened in 2019.

Railhead: Smoking like one of the old ones. Union Pacific, Medicine Bow, Wyoming.

Railhead: Smoking like one of the old ones. Union Pacific...:  

Railhead

A website dedicated to interesting train stations I run across, or trains perhaps, or perhaps just interesting things connected with railroads.

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Smoking like one of the old ones. Union Pacific pusher engine, Medicine Bow, Wyoming.

November 19, 1919. Robbing No. 19 and Rejecting the Versailles Treaty

Robbing a train as soon as you escape the pen for robbing trains does seem like a pretty bad idea.  At least one paper wondered if it was actually him.

You have to wonder what Carlisle was thinking.  How did he plan on getting away with this?

By this time, it was also clear that the proposed Versailles Peace Treaty was in real trouble in the U.S. Senate.

Indeed, it was in so much trouble that on this day in 1919, the Senate voted to reject the Treaty, with Republican opposition to the League of Nations being a major cause of that vote.

There would be a couple of more attempts, but the United States never did ratify the treaty, passing instead a peace treaty with Germany later that adopted much of it, but not all of it. The US would not join the League of Nations.

Oberg Pass. The Site of the first aircraft fatality in Wyoming.

Which occurred as part of the 1919 Air Derby.

This crash, discussed elsewhere, is usually referenced as occurring "west of Cheyenne".  It is west of Cheyenne, but the pilot was following the Union Pacific Railroad and a much better description would have been north west of Laramie, or even south of Medicine Bow.

October 9, 1919. The Reds Win A Tainted Series, Air Racers Already in State, and a Tragedy

Lefty Williams, the White Sox starting pitcher for the final game of the 1919 World Series. His performance was so bad that he was taken out of the game after one inning and replaced by Big Bill James, who was not in on the plot, but who performed badly all on his own.

And so it came to an end, at least for now.

The headlines seemed to say it all.  But as a win goes, it will forever be remembered as a false victory.  One obtained because certain members of the Red Sox not to win, but rather to accept money in payment for losing.

The loss was pathetic.  Rumors started nearly immediately that the game had been thrown and one noted sports reporter write a column that no World Series should ever be played again.

In less than a year, the cover of the plot would be off.

As the series ended, news of the air race started to dominate the local papers.  The speed of the new mode of transportation was evident. The race had just started and planes were already over Wyoming.

Airco DH-4

Not reported in these editions, one of the planes had gone down in Wyoming, killing the pilot.  It was the first fatal air crash in Wyoming's history.  It occurred when Lt. Edwin Wales DH-4 would go down in a snowstorm near Coad Peak (near Elk Mountain).  Specifically it went down over Oberg Pass.  His observer, Lt. William C. Goldsborough, survived the crash and walked into an area ranch for help.

Hard to discern in this photograph of the old rail bed of the Union Pacific, you can see Kenneday Peak, Pennock Mountain and Coad Peak.  The pilots had been following the Union Pacific and were diverting to what looks like low ground to the right, Oberg Pass.

Oberg Pass is the low ground between Pennock Mountain and Coad Peak.  In decent weather they would have been fine, but flying in 1919, in a snowstorm, they likely iced up right away. They no doubt knew they were in big trouble pretty quickly and the plane went down in rugged ground.

Elk Mountain as viewed from Shirley Basin.  This was to the north of the where they went down and they were trying to go to the south of the substantial peak.

This crash is often inaccurately noted as having occurred "west of Cheyenne".  It was "west" of Cheyenne, but west a long ways west of Cheyenne.  It was northwest of Laramie and the closest substantial town was that of Medicine Bow, if you consider Medicine Bow a substantial town.  The destination was Wolcott Junction, which doesn't have an airfield today.  Of course, the DH-4 didn't take much of a run way of any kind to land on.  Going through the pass would have shaved miles off the trip and avoided a big curve around the substantial Elk Mountain.

The Air Derby had already proved to be a fatal adventure, and it would continue to be so.  Lt. Goldsborough would carry on after recovering however, by which we mean carrying on in the Air Corps.  He lived until age 73 and retired to Redondo Beach, California.  He went to Hawaii with the Air Corps in 1923 and therefore was a very early aviator there.  

Not surprisingly, given the infancy of aviation, Goldsborough would go on to endure other incidents. As a Captain he ground looped a Boeing P-12 C in 1937. In 1938 he'd be involved in another airborne tragedy, as a Major, when he was the pilot of a plane that left Langley Field for a flight to Jacksonville Florida and weather conditions so obscured the ground that he could not land.  Both he and a civilian government employee passenger were forced to bail out of the aircraft as it ran out of gas. The passenger's parachute failed to open and he was killed.  The then Major Goldsborough successfully landed.  The incident ended up in a lawsuit against an insurance company.  He must have still been in the Air Corps when World War Two started, but at that point, I've lost track of him.  At age 46, and a Major, he would have then been a fairly senior officer.

August 12, 1919 Medicine Bow to Rawlins, Wyoming on the Motor Transport Convoy

Lincoln Highway marker at Ft. Fred Steele.

The Motor Transport Convoy traveled from Medicine Bow to Rawlins on this day in 1919.

The Strand Theatre in Rawlins, which was built in 1919.

The diarist wasn't impressed with the roads or the conditions in any fashion.  Indeed, he reported Ft. Steele as being the only pleasant spot on the journey.

A photograph taken from Ft. Steele.

Today the highway doesn't pass through Ft. Steele as it once did, but is located several miles to the south.  Interestingly, there is a campground near the current Interstate Highway.

Union Pacific depot in Rawlins.  This would have been a busy depot in 1919.

On the same day, men were busy at work elsewhere in the West.

Water troughs at Thompsons Cattle Camp. Wenaha N.F. 43264A. USDA, Forest Service, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon. August 12, 1919.

And overseas, a photographer took a reminder of the cost of the recent war.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Malachy Catholic Mission Church, Medicine Bow, Wyoming

Churches of the West: St. Malachy Catholic Mission Church, Medicine Bow, Wyoming

Original caption:  "This is St. Malachy's Catholic Mission Church in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The Church is served by the parish in Saratoga Wyoming."

I'll note that I'm not too certain that this church is currently being used.  Indeed, I think it is not.  Medicine Bow's fortunes have declined in recent years.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Unidentified, Medicine Bow Wyoming

Churches of the West: Unidentified, Medicine Bow Wyoming:

This is an old Prairie Gothic style church in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, but other than that, I don't know anything about it.

Today In Wyoming's History: August 30

Today In Wyoming's History: August 30: 1916. A horse and rider were killed near Medicine Bow by lightening.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

I personally knew some kids when I was growing up whose father died in the exact same manner and indeed, I'm familiar with a horse that was similarly killed.

Saturday, June 26, 1909. Smile when you say that.

Today In Wyoming's History: June 26:   1909  Medicine Bow becomes an incorporated town.

Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, known to history as Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, was born in Breda, Netherlands.  While he only entered the US at age 20, he could flawlessly speak English with a Southern accent.

Last prior edition:

Monday, June 21, 1909. Heat wave.

Labels: 1900s, 1909, Carlisle Indian School, Carlisle Pennsylvania, Education, Native Americans, panoramic, Weather