Sunday, March 12, 1944. Derailed.

Today In Wyoming's History: March 12: 1944  Nineteen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed near the location of old Ft.Steele.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

A few photos of Ft. Steele (more are on the linked in site.

Ft. Fred Steele, Carbon County Wyoming

In the past, I haven't tended to post fort entries here, but for net related technical reasons, I'm going to, even though these arguably belong on one of my other blogs.  I'll probably cross link this thread in.

These are photographs of Ft. Fred Steele, a location that I've sometimes thought is the bleakest historical site in Wyoming.

One of the few remaining structures at Ft. Steele, the powder magazine.  It no doubt is still there as it is a stone structure.

The reason that the post was built, the Union Pacific, is still there.

Ft. Steele is what I'd regard as fitting into the Fourth Generation of Wyoming frontier forts, although I've never seen it described that way, or anyone other than me use that term.   By my way of defining them, the First Generation are those very early, pre Civil War, frontier post that very much predated the railroads, such as Ft. Laramie.  The Second Generation would be those established during the Civil War in an effort to protect the trail and telegraph system during that period during which the Regular Army was largely withdrawn from the Frontier and state units took over. The Third Generation would be those posts like Ft. Phil Kearney that were built immediately after the Civil War for the same purpose.  Contemporaneously with those were posts like Ft. Steele that were built to protect the Union Pacific Railroad.  As they were in rail contact with the rest of the United States they can't really be compared to posts like Ft. Phil Kearney, Ft. C. F. Smith or Ft. Caspar, as they were built for a different purpose and much less remote by their nature.

Ft. Sanders, after it was abandoned, remained a significant railhead and therefore the area became the center of a huge sheep industry. Quite a few markers at the post commemorate the ranching history of the area, rather than the military history.

One of the current denizens of the post.

Suttlers store, from a distance.

Union Pacific Bridge Tenders House at the post.

Current Union Pacific bridge.

Some structure from the post, but I don't know what it is.

The main part of the post's grounds.

This 1914 vintage highway marker was on the old Lincoln Highway, which apparently ran north of the tracks rather than considerably south of them, like the current Interstate Highway does today.

The Marine Corps occupied Wotje Atoll in the Marshalls without opposition.  A small U.S. force landed on Hauwei in the Admiralty Islands but did meet opposition.

The Red Army reached the Bug at Gayvoron.

Pope Pius XII asked the belligerent parties in World War Two to spare Rome.

Hitler authorized Operation Margarethe, the German occupation of its ally Hungary, in order to prevent it from concluding a separate peace with the Soviet Union, which it was secretly attempting to do.

Romolo Murri, controversial former Italian Priest and politician, and founder of the political party that would become the precursor to the Italian Christian Democracy Party, died.

Italian journalist and anti-fascist partisan Silvio Trentin died as well.

The Duke School of Medicine’s all-white intramural basketball team secretly played North Carolina College for Negroes’ all-black team.  North Carolina won the game.

Thursday, March 12, 1924 Exile in Florida.

Adolfo de la Huerta went into exile to Florida, following his initial flight to Los Angeles after the collapse of his revolution in Mexico.  He's soon return to Los Angeles.

The World Court of the League of Nations issued its decision in the border dispute between Poland and Czechoslovakia within the Orava Territory. Czechoslovakia was allowed to retain Javorina and Ždiar in return for ceding Nižná Lipnica to Poland. Poland ceded territory around Sucha Góra and Glodōvka became Suchá Hora and Hladovka in what is now Slovakia.  The dispute had led to conflict in 1919.

Last prior:

Monday, March 10, 1924. Denby resigns.

The traffic circle.

 

Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.

John, Chapter 21.

The theme of this week, I fear. 

Approximately 30 years ago, I was presented with an opportunity that I desired greatly to take.  It was, however, irresponsible in about every way a serious person would regard something to be irresponsible.  I accepted it, and then back out.

It was a mistake.

History does not really repeat, as they say, but rhymes. 

This week, I'll start dealing right off the bat with a crisis, and it's a multi party crisis.  From crisis, comes opportunity of all sorts, and if not traveling into a fork in the road, I'm definitely traveling into a traffic circle.

I know with certainty which road I want to take, and that it goes where I want to go, and it can be travelled.

I also know that another road is the responsible one, in every conventional fashion.  That will be the one I'm expected to take.  And even now, that's the one I'm going to.

But I don't want to.

And that will be a mistake.