THE RESTBOF HANNIBAL and MARK TWAIN

This poster tells more about the Clemens family.  The family moved to Hannibal in 1839  They had 5 children; ORION, PAMELA, BENJAMIN, SANUEL, and HENERY and one enslaved woman, JENNIE.  John was not a good businessman, who constantly tried  different vocations, but fail at all of them.  John died when Samuel was 11 years old.  His mother took him out of school so he could work and help the family.  At 12, he began working in a printer's shop, setting type.  This is where he said, he started to learn words and the correct way of using them.  Which helped in his story telling.

 This is the house that TOM BLANKENSHIP lived.  So part of yesterday question, who is Tom.  Mark Twain wrote the 'Adventures of Tom Sawyer' when he was 40 years old.  Twain used people he knew in Hannibal to make the characters in his book.  Tom became HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

This LAURIA HAWKINS house who became BECKY THATCHER in the book.  Pamela and Henry was Twain's sister and brother and they became cousins Mary and SID in the book.

Twain fashioned AUNT POLLY after his mother, Jane Clemens. 

This is in front of the house, which talks about Becky being Tom's first sweetheart.  In real life Laura was Mark's first sweetheart.

  This photo show Mark Twain and his first sweetheart, Laura Hawkins, later in life.  Laura lived to be 91.

This tells about Doctor Grant, who took the Clemens family into his quarters, when the Clemens fell on hard times.  He had this 3 story building.  First floor housed his Drug Store.  Part of second floor was his office space and they lived in part of second floor and third floor.  Jane Clemens did the cooking and house chores for being able to stay there.

During this time a cousin of Doctor Grant,  Ulysses S Grant, became a friend of Samuel Clemens.

After President Grant Death, Clemens published his best selling memoir, giving financial security to Grant's widow and honoring his friend in an eulogy.

  In the drug store, this poster told of three of the cures of the day, which each will kill a patient that took them; CALOMEL, which contains high doses of mercury, LAUDANUM, a derivative of opium, that is very addictive and BLEEDING, Which left them weak and less able to survive the effect of cholera.

This poster talks about the 3 main killing diseases of the time; Yellow Fever, Measles and Cholera.

  

The main street is  of Hannibal is 6 blocks long.  The building on both sides of the street look like these building.

 At the end of main street, Hannibal has created a Street named 'Avenue of Flags.  With the AMERICAN FLAG are the flags of the 13 original colonies..  Hannibal has a lot to offer.  A place to visit.

This is the end of my ADVENTURE.  What fun it has been. Traveled over 4000 miles, visited states and saw sites of early American history.  It was a very good adventure for me.  I hope you enjoyed the ride   THANKS FOR COMING ALONG.....      THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!!!!!

WHO ARE TOM BLANKENSHIP, LAURA HAWKINS, SIBLINGS PAMELA and HENRY, JANE CLEMENS?????

Driven over 3000 miles and mor to come.

I am In Hannibal, Mo.  I was going into the MARK TWAIN Museum and this sign was on the sidewalk in front of the museum.  Since I have been on a steam boat cruise on the Mississippi River, with this company, I knew what this sign meant.  People on the cruise will board a bus and travel around Hannibal at different stops where attractions are, then hop off and hop on the buses.

 In this photo you will see one of the three buses, that travel with the steam paddle wheel ship,  This is the AMERICAN DUCHESS.  My daughter-in-law, Janet Nall is employed, with the company that owns this ship.  Janet works in the legal department of the company HORNBLOWER.

 

Samuel Clemens at some point in his life became known as MARK TWAIN and I do not know the year when this happen.  Hannibal is all about Mark Twain.  This museum is all about Mark Twain.  The down town are is all about Mark Twain.   You very seldom see his real name mention.  Mark Twain is Samuel Clemens and Samuel Clemens is Mark Twain.  This photo show Mark Twain reading,  While his two favorite characters listen,  Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer

The first floor of the museum have different scenes from different books , he wrote.  This shows the raft that Huck and his friend Jim took down the Mississippi.  A short clip of the movie 'Huck Finn' played in the background.

This photo tells about his older brother Orion and Mark took a trip to Nevada, a1700 miles to Carson City.  This trip Provided a wealth of stories and experiences that Mark used in his western writings.  He named the book 'Roughing it'.

 This made to look like a stage coach and a short clip of Rough IT' played, while you road on the stage coach.

 They had made a replicate of a pilot house o a steam paddle wheel.

mn,, 

This tells of the death of Mark Twain's brother, Henry, in explosion on THE PENNSYLVANIA.

This names all the steamboats and the year that Marked Twain piloted them.  There are 21 steamboats.

 In 1935, NORMAN ROCKWELL was chosen to do illustrate editions of 'THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER' and 'ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN'.  This walls shows 9 illustrations that Norman did.

 

On the stree of Hannibal they had this flags posted with Mark Twain's sayings.  This one reads

'Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.  But I repeat myself'.

This is the boy hood home of SAMUEL CLEMENS and MARK TWAIN.  The photo also show the fence, that TOM SAWYER got all his friends to paint.

This talks little of Mark Twain's Parents, Jane and John Clemens. They started out in Kentucky, went to Tennessee and then to Missouri. They had 6 slaves.  John failed tp prosper as a lawyer, farmer and storekeeper.  The family grew poorer with each move. They sold all but one slave. At Florida, Missouri, John was elected to the county court and had the title of  'Judge', which he kept. It was in Florida, Missouri, Samuel Clemens was born.   SO MUCH MORE ON MARK TWAIN!! To Be Continued...

CASPER or CASPAR????? WHERE DID ALL THE INDIANS COME FROM!!!!!!

Lt CASPAR COLLINS was a young soldier station at PLATTE BRIDGE STATION with one company of men.  More on the Platte Bridge later.  This fort was named after him( tell you why later).  So was the town of CASPER.  The naming fathers of the town, misspelled his name and it became CASPER and they kept the name.  Same for the fort.  Some time it is called CASPER and sometimes CASPAR.  You ask, why did they not name the fort,  FORT COLLINS.  Well there was a fort already named COLLINS, after Caspar's father.

This photo is of the outside before one arrives at the entrance.

This is the entrance to the fort.  Caspar as a boy would travel with his father when he went from post to post.  Young Casper had a hobby, which was to sketch the different forts in detail.  When this fort was rebuilt, the construction people used Caspar's sketches.

 

Photo of the inside the fort, showing officers quarters.  Look to you right and you will see tents that was used by some of the  enlisted men.

This photo is of the stable.  It is attached to the officer's quarter. Good Wyoming fresh air!!

This is the mess hall. They also had beds at the far end to house some of the soldiers. 

This photo show the beds plus some of the soldiers' clothing and weapons.  I have seen many a fort, but not once have I seen an outhouse.  

OKAY, here comes the story.  Pay attention, because it is long and there may be a TEST!!

Remember all the people that was going west.  Well, they had  to cross the NORTH PLATTE RIVER.  The river was very deep and very wide.  Many deaths just by crossing the river.  A man by the name of Louis Guinard,  looking for a way to make some money, built a bridge across the river, 810 feet long and 17 feet wide and this photo shows a part of the bridge.  Wagons, cattle and even pony express used this bridge for a fee. So, we have a bridge, an overnight stage stop, a pony express relay station and a telegraph office.  So Platte Bridge Station needed protection from the Indians.  The Indians, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe was still mad about the SAND CREEK massacre after one year had pass.  The Indians would take the opportunity to fight the Calvary any time, any place.    Still with me.  

On the morning of July 26, 1865, Lt. Caspar Collins led troop of men to reinforce an army supply train coming into Platte Bridge Station. The Indians, Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe, wanted to destroy Platte Bridge Station.  The Indians heavily outnumbered the group led by 20 year old lieutenant. During the retreat Lt. Collins was killed. In his honor, the Platte Bridge Station became  FORT CASPAR!!

NOW YOU KNOW.  You can use this knowledge , the next time you are at a party.

 This shows the inside of what was known as SUTLER STORE.   He had a franchise from the regiment, moving with the troops.  He supplied the troops with a variety of goods including clothing, tobacco, food and liquor.  The start of our modern POST PX.

A side note.  The Mormons had to cross the North Platte River, also.  They attached 2 canoes to the wagons and move them across the river.  Later, they built their own bridge.  If you were a Mormon, you could go across free, others paid a toll.  Isn't this fun.  Glad you came along with me!!!!

WAGONS!! WESTWARD!! HOOO!!!!

This museum is in CASPER, WYOMING.  This museum is all about the movement of people from the EAST to the WEST and the hardships they had to overcome to arrive at their destinations.  Many did not.  Weather and Indians were their worse enemies. And crossing the NORTH  PLATTE RIVER.

This wagon is a replicate of the wagon that they used.  Except for the driver, all family members walked.  At night, the family would sleep under the Wagon.

The museum had a wall of rock, where people carved their name, before they left Casper on their journey.

The BOZEMAN TRAIL left Casper and went north to MONTANA to the gold fields.  This trail was very difficult because of the Indians.  The area had mainly four tribes that had land that the government had giving them and was told no white man would cross the land.  The tribes were CHEYENNE,ARAPHOE, LAKOTA SIOUK and OGALALA.  The Calvary Had raided a Indian Village on what the Indians Called SANDY CREEK.  The warriors were hunting buffalo.  The Calvary killed many, women, children and old men.  The Indians never forgot this and they would fight any Calvary and attached any white person who came on their land.  The main war chief at that time was RED CLOUD. The military built 3 Forts along the trail to try to protect the white people. FORTs RENO, PHIL KEARNEY and C.F. SMITH.  It did not work. The military abandon the forts and withdrew from the area.  The Indians burned the forts.

1847, 7000 emigrants past thru Casper going west. One of the trails that went thru Casper was the  OREGON TRAIL.  The economic depressions of 1837 and 1841, led US farmers and businessmen to look for new opportunities. The politicians of that time urged people to go west.  They wanted that territory settled so the british could be pushed out. Many of the fur trappers became guides, because they knew the mountains and the passages.

The CALIFORNIA TRAIL happen for the people headed to the gold found in that area.  'Ho For California!'.  Free land. Gold.  Adventure.  Between 1841 and 1869,  more than a quarter million people answered this call and crossed the plains and mountains to the goldfields of the west.

The PONY EXPRESS has fascinated people since its first riders in April of 1860, headed west out of St Joseph, Missouri, and east out of San Francisco,  California.  The express only lasted for 19 months.  The coming of telegraph and train put a stop to the express. Thousands of horses and hundreds of  stations along the trail.  Wanted ad for riders, read' wanted, young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen.  must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily.  Orphans preferred.  Wages $25 per week'.

 THE MORMAN TRAIL was used to go to UTAH.  From 1846 to 1869 over 70,000 Mormons Traveled this trail which started in NAUVOO, ILLINOIS. to THE GREAT SALT LAKE in UTAH. Some Mormons travels with west pulling and pushing hand carts, which held about 500 pounds of necessary  food and personal items.  The travel was much more difficult for them, than my trip has been.  Still more to see......

CHILDREN, TODAY YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT THE FLUME; THEN I WILL TELL YOU OF THE TOWN THAT WAS AND NOW IS NOT!!!

This is WYOMING.  In the background, those or the BIG HORN mountain range, The mountains starts in MONTANA and stops mid way done the state.  WYOMING is as vast, dry, every changing landscape just as MONTANA.  Wyoming has few town, which are small, and there is a lot of vast space between the towns.  But I really like driving the highways and looking at the landscape.  There is not much traffic on the roads.  This photo was taken close to SHERIDAN,  WYOMING.

I stopped in SHERIDAN and visited this museum and it is named BIG HORN. This is where I learned about the FLUME.  When the railroad started to build in Wyoming, they need TIEs for the tracks.  The trees they needed where located on the BIG HORN mountains.  SO, the trees had to be moved from the high mountains to the valley.  The FLUME is what they used.

This tells about the FLUME.  I will explain.  They built this wooden structure from the top of the mountain to the valley.  It was built in a v-shaped and water flow down the flume.  The logs would moved down the flume.  The trees had to be 11-18 inches in diameter and 60-80 feet tall

This photo shows a section of the flume.  First flumes were built in a U-shape, but the V-shaped was found to have less water leakage and less log jams.  At the right of the flume, you will see a plank walkway, which ran the length of the flume.  Men would walk up and down on that plank to undo log jams.  Many feet up.

This photo shows a small replicant of the flume.  Just think of building down the side of the mountain, several miles.

 This photo which you probably can not read, tells the different names of the different jobs that they needed to make the FLUME work.  I will give the names, but you assignment will be to google the names to see if you want the job.

SWAMPER< ROAD MONKEY<FLUME HIKE or WALKER<SLOUGH PIG or RIVER RAT<TIE HACK<CANT HOOK MAN<SKIDDER and RATCHER MONKEY

Now you know about FLUME!!!

Of course, there are no photos of the town that was, but is no more. The towns name was MONARCH.  It was located north of SHERIDAN.  It was a COMPANY COAL MINING TOWN. Begin in 1903 and closed in 1953.  They had a population of over 500.  The company brought in pre-fab house, which was very comfortable,  Built two churches, a school, and all the different stores they needed. They had people from, Italy, Germany, Ireland, and Wales ,plus some people of Wyoming.  Everything was good and everyone was happy.  They stopped mining coal in 1953.  A letter was sent to all employees  stating that 'they would stop production May 8, 1953 and your employment terminates with Sheridan-Wyoming Coal Company.  You are privileged to seek employment elsewhere'. The company took all the buildings somewhere.  Where town was is now grassland. 

This  is a good museum. . Lots of history of the Sheridan area.    Time to move on to CASPER.

GREASY GRASS BATTLE GROUND

First, when you open the blog today, you notice that I now have a logo.  My granddaughter COURTLAND THOMAS CROMER design the logo for me and help me add it to my blog.  Thanks Courtland.

Every story, event or happening has two sides.  The Indians named the battle with Custer and his men, Greasy Grass Battle.  The grass that was growing  in the area of the battle had a greasy feel to the Indians, so this is the name they gave to the battle.  The Little Big Horn battle was the name that the white man chose.

This was my second visit to Little Big Horn. They added a bus tour of the area and the guide/speaker was a native American Indiana.  He talk was more from what the Indians remember of the battle.  There were more Indiana survivors, than white men.

The above photo is of what is called Custer's hill. The white markers was placed where some of the soldiers died. 

This photo is taken inside the memorial for the Indians.  This has been added since my first visit. 

There are plaques along the wall, telling of the tribes that fought Custer and his men. Tells of the Indians that died from the battle and other names of Indians that lived to tell their story.  Of course, history talks about the two most important Indians, which was Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.  A little trivia.  What was Crazy Horse's birth name.  CURLY!!.  Yes.  He had curly hair when he was born.  He was given his father's name after he proved himself in battle at the age of 14.

This photo show the valley along the Little Big Horn river, Where the encampment of the Indians were located.  The Indian history states there were between 8000-10000 people located here.  Many had come to be under the protection of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.  4000 of these Indians were warriors.  If you do not know, why these Indians were at this location I will explain latter.  The encampment was 6 miles long and 3 miles wide.  Just a side note, Indian history said there where 50000-75000 Indian  horses, grazing on the hill side.  The military had no idea the number of Indians that were in the valley.  The military where advancing on this area, from three directions. South, East and West.  Custer was coming from the East.  More on this latter.

This is the monument for Custer and all of the 7th Calvary that died that day, June 25th, 1876.

All names of the men that died that day are carved on the monument.

This plaque tells of the archeological survey that was done on the Custer's Battle Field after a prairie fire swept the area in 1983.  It show photos of some of the 1,159 artifacts recovered; iron arrow heads, bullets, buttons, coins, soldier skeletal remains, boots, etc.

This tells that on June 25, 1926, White Bull, nephew of Sitting Bull, shank hands with General Edward S. Godfrey and bury the hatchet on the ground where the Indian memorial would be placed.

A treaty was signed ten year prior to the battle at Little Bid Horn.  This treaty gave the Indians large portions of land in South Dakota and Montana Territory, which included the Black Hills of Dakota. 

Gold was discovered on the land in Montana, which brought white settlers.  The Indians chased them off.  Than Gold was discovered in Black Hills. More white settlers came under the guard of the military and the Indians fought them off.  The Indians decided the white men had broken the treaty, so the Indians in the area decided to band together to fight the white men instead of each other. That is why the Indians had gather at Little Big Horn, to form a large nation, not to fight. They felt that if the US Government saw so many Indians, they would not attach.   President Grant ordered the  capture of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The  military was trying to find them.  Indians' history says' they fought to save their way of life'. It was a good victory for the Indians, but a sad day for all of Sitting Bull's people. Because, he knew that the white man would not stop until all Indians where dead.

If You have not visited LITTLE BIG HORN, I recommend that you plan a trip.

Over 2000 miles and still going.

 I took this photo in Miles City, Montana.  It was after a heavy down pour of rain.  Sun breaking thru the clouds and there was dust particles in the clouds.  

Any way, going to Wyoming.  You coming???