Sunday, January 01, 2006

foist the deadly umbrella on an unwilling people

From: "Chris Graves" caliron@cwnet.com

From the Austin, Nevada REVEILLE, 1878:

The extraordinary weather of this morning is dangerous to our institutions.  It threatens to introduce the umbrella in our midst. The last man who ventured on our streets with an umbrella was promptly shot, but his corpse was not mutilated, like that of his predecessor.  Since the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad the manners and customs of an effete Eastern civilization have one by one encroached upon our isolation, driving the old pioneers further and further back into the fastness of the mountains; and now that showers in March threaten to foist the deadly umbrella on an unwilling people, men look into each other's faces and ask: "What IS this consarned country coming to, anyway?"

Anon.


"I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: 'no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.' —Eleanor Roosevelt

"I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it." —W C Fields

Human Error in Transportation

Jane Lathrop Stanford nurtured women in education

"Area institutions nurtured women in education" by RAYMOND SCHIMMER, © Times Union, 1/1/2006. (Letter)

"the central role Jane Lathrop Stanford played in founding Stanford University, and later in rescuing it from the brink of bankruptcy. ... Stanford began its history as a coeducational facility because Jane Lathrop Stanford insisted that it be so. ... She sponsored free kindergartens and schools in the Palo Alto area, and returned to Albany in the mid-1880s to commission the construction of a nursery annex for the Albany Orphan Asylum. Paul Grondahl, in his new book "Now Is the Time, A History of Parsons Child and Family Center," recounts Mrs. Stanford's involvement in this project ["The Albany Orphan Asylum," where her father, Dyer Lathrop was the first treasurer] from 1886 to 1891, as well as her donation of $100,000 of Central Pacific Railroad stock [and the the Lathrop family mansion] ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

For visitors who brave the season's chilly weather, Golden Spike has a treat

"For visitors who brave the season's chilly weather, Golden Spike has a treat: Steam fills the air at monument's Winter Festival" by Kristen Moulton, © The Salt Lake Tribune, 1/1/2006. (News Article)

"GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL MONUMENT – It's a shame most visitors to the place where the East and West rails met in 1869 come in the summer. Those warm-weather folks never get to see the steam of a locomotive, fueled by several cords of wood, 800 gallons of water and cold enough temperatures to make billowy white clouds. That's why the Golden Spike began its Winter Steam Festival, held each New Year's Eve, several years ago. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Size of Original Construction Spikes

From: "Ed Capen" mrtrain@tritel.net

Could someone tell me the size of the Spikes used on the original Trans Continental railroad. I think I have one – it is a lot smaler than the ones used today.

—Ed Capen

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