In this newsletter: and much more! | | Latest from our world | I set out to write of our ill-fated quest, A road trip where chaos was guest. The tires went flat, and the GPS lied, My snacks froze, my hopes nearly died. "I’ll write it," I said, "this tale needs its fame, To warn all poor travelers who dream the same." But the keyboard’s untouched, the words stay away, Procrastination keeps winning the day. The saga lives on in my mind’s messy nook, The road trip unwritten, but oh, what a book! -By Dave & his imaginary computer friend | Okay, I've put off long enough writing about our Winter trip to Texas and back through Arkansas. We left in late January to visit family and friends in the Texas Panhandle. The idea was to work south from there, then back through the Dallas area for more family and friends, and home through Arkansas in late February.
It was our second day on the road when our "Oklahoma Luck" struck again. We've lost two vehicles over the years in the Sooner State and are convinced there is a curse on us coming through. This time, we hadn't been on I-35 in Oklahoma City but a mile or two when we heard a large thud. I thought something had hit the top of our travel trailer, but since nothing was shaking or acting weird, we pushed on to the craft store Kathy wanted to stop at off I-40.
Twenty miles later, we pulled into the parking lot and found that we had blown a trailer tire. We were fortunate it didn't damage the trailer, and luckily, there was a tire shop just down the street. However, all four tires needed to be replaced, so there goes the trip budget.
Then, there is the Texas Panhandle wind. We briefly visited the Amarillo area before heading south to Lubbock, Abilene, and Waco, all the while battling high winds and bitter cold temperatures. We didn't have nice weather until we reached Waco. It wasn't long enough, though, and by the time we hit the Dallas area, the cold came back with a vengeance with a record-breaking polar vortex. We had to stay an extra day to get the trailer pipes thawed.
| | | | The United States Marshals Service selected Fort Smith as the site for the national museum in 2007, and it finally opened in July 2023. The museum includes exhibits and interactive storytelling, taking visitors through colonial days to the western frontier and the challenges of a Marshal's life.
| | We found Bass Reeves Revolver, a rifle carried by Heck Thomas, and much more in the exhibits. The stories inspired by the men and women who wore the badge are testament to the resilience and dedication they served with in the U.S. Marshals service. | | To plan your visit to the Museum, visit their website here. While you are there, take a stroll along the Arkansas River; just make sure the weather forecast is agreeable.
At least we ended our winter journey on a high note, and we'll have plenty more to write about in the future. Meanwhile, we brought the Texas wind back home with us and now have to replant our Flag pole. You're welcome, Missouri.
Enjoy this month's newsletter,
Dave & Kathy | | Available at Legends' General Store | | **20% off when you order 5 or more totem stone or arrowhead designs**
Totem Worry Stones Nature's spirit stones are created by carving a variety of animal totem images and selected symbols into gemstones to unite the healing properties of the stones with the inherent power of these symbols. Makes a great addition to your Medicine Bag!
The average totem stone is 1 1/2" long x 1" wide and 1/4" thick.
Symbol Arrowheads Each of these hand-chipped stone arrowheads is inscribed with Native American symbols. Arrow maker and artist Jose Zamora, a member of the Apache tribe, living in Colorado, uses a quill pen and India ink to add the symbols, which signify various strengths such as health, balance, luck, friendship, strength, protection and more. Each arrowhead comes with a story card identifying a number of symbols.
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| | | | Here are some of the recent additions since our last newsletter | | Arthur Rothstein - Historic Photo Journalist - Arthur Rothstein, a photojournalist, is recognized for his five-decade career. His photographs provoked and entertained the American public.
John Gotti - The Teflon Don - John Joseph Gotti Jr., often called the Teflon Don and Dapper Don, was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City.
Mary Johnson - Confessed Witch of Connecticut - (by Josh Hutchinson) Mary Johnson was the second person known to be hanged for witchcraft in colonial Connecticut. Story rewritten and submitted by Josh Hutchinson, co-host Witch Hunt podcast, a co-founder of the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, the Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project, and End Witch Hunts.
John X. Beidler - Marshal and Vigilante - John X. Beidler, who became known as “Vigilante X”, was a Montana Vigilante and Deputy U.S. Marshal.
Colonel Theodore Spencer Case - A Kansas City Founder - Theodore Case was a Kansas City, Missouri, physician, scientist, soldier, businessman, and one of Kansas City’s founders.
| | Mojave Indian Tribe - The Mojave or Mohave are a Native Americans indigenous to the Colorado River in the Mojave Desert. The Fort Mojave Indian Reservation includes territory within California, Arizona, and Nevada borders. The Colorado River Indian Reservation includes parts of California and Arizona and is shared by members of the Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo peoples.
Maricopa Tribe of Arizona - The Maricopa or Piipaash are a Native American tribe traditionally living on or near the Gila River in southern Arizona.
Seneca Nation - The Seneca are an Iroquoian-speaking tribe historically living south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes of North America.
Tequesta Tribe of Florida - Also known as the Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, and Vizcayno, they were among the first tribes to settle near Biscayne Bay in the present-day Miami area. | | The Presidential Cabinet - (by David White) All the President’s Men and Women: A Cabinet History, is a book that traces the evolution of Presidential Cabinets, successes and failures. Submitted by author David White, publisher of Social Studies for Kids.
Fort Independence, Boston, Massachusetts - Due to its strategic location on Boston Harbor, this site has been home to military fortifications for hundreds of years. It is considered the oldest fortified military site in British North America.
Fort Harmer, Ohio - The first frontier fort built in Ohio Country, its objective was to prevent pioneer squatters from settling on Indian lands northwest of the Ohio River and to evict settlers already living there because they lacked government-issued land titles.
Utah War - Also known as the Utah Expedition and the Mormon War, was an armed confrontation in the Utah Territory between members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), also known as Mormons, and the U.S. government’s armed forces.Taking place from May 1857 to July 1858, the conflict primarily involved Mormon settlers and federal troops, escalating from tensions over self-governance within the territory.
Dominguez–Escalante Expedition - The Dominguez–Escalante Expedition was a Spanish exploration conducted in 1776 by Franciscan priests Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante.
What's New on Legends of Kansas | | Chicopee, Kansas – (Legends of Kansas) Chicopee, Kansas, is a small town in Baker Township of Crawford County that began as a coal mining community.. As of the 2020 census, the population was 422.
Crawfordsville, Kansas – Extinct in Crawford County – (Legends of Kansas) Crawfordsville, Kansas, is a lost town in Crawford County. Located on Lightning Creek, it was two miles west and a half mile north of present-day Girard.
Spring Hill, Kansas - (Legends of Kansas) The first settler in the township was James B. Hovey, who arrived at the present location in March 1857.
Fort Lookout, Kansas - Fort Lookout, in the northeast corner of Republic County, Kansas, was established by the U.S. Army in 1861, near the beginning of the Civil War. Its purpose was to protect the military road from Fort Riley, Kansas, to Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory.
We've added 35 new articles since our last newsletter. | | | From Legends' Photo Print Shop | | From Ancient Cities to Native American Art. Sizes small to large available on hundreds of vintage images.
Save 20% off all prints when you use Coupon Code NEWS20 during checkout. | | | | | On April 16, 1846, nine covered wagons left Springfield, Illinois, on the 2,500-mile journey to California in what would become one of the greatest tragedies in the history of westward migration. | | | Fort Dodge, Kansas – Serving the Santa Fe Trail | | Fort Dodge, Kansas, was one of the most important forts on the western frontier. It is located southeast of the Caches, a noted landmark on the Santa Fe Trail, and present-day Dodge City. On April 10, 1865, the fort was established by Captain Henry Pierce by order of Major General Grenville M. Dodge. The fort’s primary purpose was to protect the wagon trains along the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico. | | | Available at Legends' General Store | | The Cherokee and Hitchiti author shares his knowledge of medicinal uses of plants and traditional Native root-doctoring techniques. Readers learn how to identify, honor, and select common wild plants and are given information about responsible harvesting versus cultivation. He also explains how to prepare liniments, lotions, oils, salves, teas, and tinctures, and recommends specific remedies for numerous ailments. A must for beginners as well as serious students of herbology. Illustrated and indexed by both plant name and medical topic.
Author Tis Mal Crow also worked internationally with indigenous healers and herbal groups to promote the medicinal uses of herbs and the conservation of the wild habitat needed to sustain the growth of medicinal herbs.
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| | | Natchez Trace – Traveled For Thousands of Years | | For thousands of years, people have been using the Natchez Trace, today memorialized as the 442-mile Natchez Trace Parkway that winds its way through Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, providing tourists with exceptional scenery and thousands of years of American History. | | | Ghost Town Stretch Across the Mojave | | Interstate 40 left in its wake more than 100 miles of old Route 66 that is today littered with ghost towns. From, Goffs near Needles, California all the way to Ludlow, where the Mother Road picks back up with I-40, the desert is littered with relics from the past, and little more.
While driving this dry, barren stretch of battered highway, one can only imagine how difficult it would have been to have traveled it as a fleeing dust bowler in the 1930s. With dreams of “beautiful California” and its golden opportunities dancing in their heads, what a letdown it must have been to arrive in this sweltering bit of desert. | | | Popular Stories on Facebook | | In case you missed it, here are some of the articles that have been popular on our Facebook Fan Pages recently. | | | Toyah, Texas, was once a hub along the Texas & Pacific Railroad. By 1910, the town had reached its peak population of 1,052 and had four churches, four stores, two banks, two hotels, two lumber yards, and a drugstore. Today, it is a sparsely populated ghost town with numerous abandoned buildings standing in various states of decay.
[Photo: In 1912, a large brick school building was constructed that served as both an elementary and high school. Photo by Kathy Alexander, 2015] | | | The Acjachemem (Ah-HAWSH-eh-men) people historically lived in present-day Orange, northern San Diego, southern Los Angeles, and western Riverside Counties of California. They are very closely related to the Quechnajuichom or Luiseño people to the south, both culturally and linguistically. Though their language became extinct by the early 20th century, the tribe is working at reviving it, with several members learning it.
[photo: Jose de Gracia Cruz, a San Juan Capistrano Mission Indian bell ringer, June 1909.] | | | Born on March 17, 1804, James Felix Bridger was an accomplished trapper, scout, and mountain man who, at the age of 17, joined General William Ashley’s Upper Missouri Expedition and, for the next 20 years, would repeatedly pass on foot through an enormous area whose boundaries were the Canadian border, the Missouri River, the Colorado-New Mexico border, and Idaho and Utah, constantly exploring new territory. He became famous in 1825 when he was part of an expedition that brought $50,000 worth of beaver furs back from a fur-trading rendezvous.
[Photo: Jim Bridger in 1860]
| | | Paola gained a post office on February 13, 1856. However, at the start of the 19th century, the area was primarily controlled by the Osage Indians. More natives came when the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Wea, and Piankashaw tribes were forced to move to the region between 1827 and 1832. These tribes formed the Confederated Allied Tribe, led by Baptiste Peoria, who was of French and Indian descent. They called their settlement Peoria Village.
[Photo: Around the turn of the 20th Century, Paola, Kansas.]
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