Duchess of Weaselskin

Bayfield, CO - August is here and so are the bears out and about hunting for calories to build up their body fat for their Winter hibernation. The photo on the left is a recent visitor we had Monday evening, around 6:30p.m., 27 August 2012.

This photo on the right is a young bear visitor we had 21st August 2012. Monday's bear was one BIG Bear! I don't think I will be messing with them any time soon. Just maybe stay out of their path and NOT share any of my dog food with them.

During the August months you might find bears building up their body fat through the large calories that can be found in August with the Viburnum berries, dogwood berries, wild plums, hawthorn berries, mountain-ash berries, and hazelnuts (their favorite) ripen.

In September Acorns ripen. Berries and hazelnuts become scarce. Where acorns are abundant, bears feed and fatten on them. Other bears begin losing weight. Cubs stop nursing. Bears begin to become lethargic (sluggish) and some enter dens to begin hibernation. Others hibernate around October. When a hibernating animal does not have enough fat for the winter, the body will use virtually anything as a food source, even embryos.

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100 Years Ago Today - 27 August 1912

Bayfield, CO - As we read in The San Francisco Call, 27 August 1912, out of San Francisco, California, we find various, interesting articles from one hundred years ago. One of those is:

"Oldest Woman in New England at ripe age of 107," as reported by way of Worcester, Massachusetts, August 26, 1912 -- Mrs. Louisa Waterman Carpenter today celebrated the one hundred and seventh anniversary of her birth. Her friends believe that Mrs. Carpenter was the oldest woman in New England. Mrs. Carpenter was born in Old Warwick, Rhode Island. She was one of 12 children, but one other of whom, Mrs. Isabella W. Colburn, 94, of Bostonia, California, still is living.

Have you heard about the Hop vine that got Sam Elliott, the cook of Oakland, into trouble in Sacramento, California, August 26, 1912. Hops got him out again. Elliott drank too much of the essence of hops and started to beat his wife in a boarding house where they were stopping temporarily. Boarders locked him in an upstairs room and called the police. Elliott climbed out the second story window and made his escape, using a hop vine as a ladder.

On page three of the above newspaper there was an article about "National Law makers Migrate," scattering from Washington to plunge into turmoil of presidential battle, August 26, 1912, out of Washington, as they were priming for the strenuous campaign of the two months that precede the November elections, members of the senate and house hurried out of town tonight or made reservations for the next few days to secure what rest is possible before the wearing round of stump speeches and political meetings begins.

Speaker Clark was prepared to leave for Maine, where he was to speak that week. Senator Clapp, progressive, will leave tomorrow for Vermont to make progressive speeches. Former Speaker Cannon confided to friends that he intended to "Hang around" for a few days to get up a collection of campaign literature. Clark also said, "Then I'm going out on the stump and when I make a statement that anybody challenges I'll be loaded for him." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

NW Okie's Corner

Bayfield, CO - Although it was one hundred years ago today, I believe this speech by Teddy Roosevelt talking about the workers who are discriminated upon and should be given more justices could fit right in with today's politics of 2012.



"Stop the GOP War . . . On Women, Students, Seniors & Voters!"

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Pendleton County, (West) Virginia

Pendleton Cty, West Virginia - As we continue with our look back to the History of Pendleton county, (West) Virginia we find that the first permit for a gristmill after Pendleton was organized appears to have been issued in 1803 in favor of James and John Dyer. The need of gunpowder in the war of 1812 stimulated the making of saltpeter from the nitrous earth found in the caverns of Cave Mountain, Trout Rock and Harman hills. This industry continued until after the breaking out of the war of 1861.Besides the Dyer surname showing up in our paternal ancestry, we have found the surname of Arbogast, Lightner and Kinkead/Kinkaid.

In making saltpeter the nitrous earth was leached and the leaching water boiled down. On cooling, the saltpeter rose to the surface and was afterward clarified. In recent years afterwards they witnessed the comparative extinction of these domestic industries. Tanning had lingered because of the mountain forests. The gristmill continued to run, because the absence of a railroad enabled it to compete with the flour from Minnesota. The handicrafts were represented only by the blacksmith, the wheelwright, and the shoemaker, and their work was almost limited to repair service. The home weaving of cloth was not totally extinct was due to the absence of a railroad and the consequent lingering of old-time habits.One distillery remained as a fact not mourned by good citizens.

The falling away of the little home industries was easily accounted for. The growing of flax was all but extinct in Pendleton as well as throughout the Appalachians in general. The little field of a quarter or a half acre was once a feature of almost every farm, and it entailed no wall amount of care and labor. The plants had to be pled by hand and tied into bundles with the poorer stems. After the manner of wheat sheaves these bundles were put into capped shocks until dry. Then after the seed had been threshed out with a flail, the stems were spread out on a meadow for two or three weeks to go through the retting process. Then a simple hand machine was used to break the stems so as to loosen the hard sheath from the interior fibers. The next step was the swinging, when each handful of the fiber resting on a board was struck with a not very sharp paddle to break off the shives. The yellow threads were now ready for the spinning wheel, and the linen which was afterwards woven was of several grades depending on the quality of the fiber.

The tall, yellow-flowered hemp was much grown, not only for the excellent rope and cord which were made from the strong fiber, but as a fabric also. A linen chain with a filling of hemp made a coarser cloth than the linen alone, and it was not so smooth, although it was exceedingly durable. The cloth was at first greenish-gray, finally becoming white. The hemp plant was as persistent as a weed, and had been known to maintain itself on the same ground for more than sixty years.

Wagons were rare. The clock wagon with a solid wheel cross-sectioned from a log and banded with a hoop was very serviceable in logging. Until about 1840 there was only two light wagons. When Zebulon Dyer drove from his home to Franklin in his carryall, people came to look at the strange sight as they turned out to gaze at the automobile. The first mower, appeared about 1858, cost $130. It had one large driving wheel and a wooden cutter-bar. The old fashioned plow with its curved oak moldboard was not swift in yielding to its metallic rival since the moldboard of iron did not scour so well as the one of steel which had since come into use.

The "frolic," especially for husking a farmer's crop of corn, was a recognized feature of farm labor. The absence of any but the simplest forms of farming tools made the collective display of human muscle absolutely necessary.

The reaper might cut his hand on his sickle in keeping a lookout for venomous snakes. But when his work was done he was free to hunt or fish at any time, and the considerable area of wild land still sheltered a considerable amount of game. Several hundred fish would be snared on a single occasion, but the small ones would be returned tot he river. The hams of a deer could be sold for $2.50.

Some men acquired much local fame as huntsmen, and were able to tally a long list of the deer and other animals that they killed. One of these men while on his way from Brandywine as a witness at court saw the trail of a bear and turned aside to follow it. Not being present when his name was called at court, a postponement was moved. The judge was inconveniently inquisitive, and drew out the cause of the man's absence. He then made the remark that the "Day of Judgment" would have to be postponed it if found this person trailing a wild animal.

The roads were still poor, yet were slowly becoming better. In 1850 we find provision for assessing the damages along the right of way of the Moorefield and South branch turnpike.

The militia system kept alive until dissipated under the heat of civil war. Each district supplied one company which assembled for muster in April and October. The regimental muster took place at the county seat toward the close of May. Thursday and Friday were training days for the officers, and Saturday was the day of general muster. Only the officers appeared in uniform, and they furnished their own blue, brass-buttoned costumes. A high-topped hat with a feather in front was worn, and also a low hat with its brim turned up on one side and its ostrich plume leaning back. The pantaloons had a yellow stripe on each side. A broad red sash was passed twice around the waist and tied in a loop with the ends drooping nearly to the ankle. The spectacular drill day took somewhat the place filled by the traveling circus, and its close was marked by drinking and brawling.

The affairs of the county seemed to have been prudently administered, the increase of revenue front he tithables just about keeping pace with the growth in population. Taxation was very low in comparison with the assessments they were familiar with back in 1910. In 1846 a resident of the Seneca valley was taxed one cent on a tract of 130 acres. That with hard effort kept his ground out of the delinquent tax list and it appeared that the title was still in his name several years later.

After the colonial days the citizen of foreign both became very rare, and in 1854 it looked like a strange incident to find a record of the naturalization of two Irishmen.

In 1851 we find mention of but four mercantile firms outside of Franklin. These were William Adamson at the Mouth of Seneca; William S. Arbogast at Circleville; Addison Harper on the South Fork; and I. A. and Enoch Graham at Upper Tract.

October 1846 Murder On Reed's Creek

In 1846 the community was stirred up by the atrocious crime perpetrated by William Hutson, A resident of Reed's Creek. He murdered his wife and several children. The trial took place October 2, 1846. Daniel Smith presided as judge. The 24 jurors appeared to have been the following: Benjamin Arbogast, Thomas Beveridge, Daniel Cotton, George Eagle, Samuel c. Eagle, Henry Fleisher, John Jack, Jacob Hull, John Lightner, Henry McCoy, James Moyers, James Morton, Jacob Smith, Benjamin Rexroad, Isaac Seybert, Joseph Siren, Abraham M. Wilson and Samuel Wilson. These jurors were chiefly from the southern end of the county. the names withdrawn do not appear. Deputy sheriffs, Peter H. Kinkead and John M. Jones, gave the oath to the jury. That body appeared to have come to a speedy agreement. It reported that, "We, the jury, find that William Hutson, the prisoner at the bar, is guilty of murder in manner and form as in the indictment against him is alleged, and we so decide and sustain that he is guilty of murder in the first degree."

In accordance with this verdict the prisoner was hanged near Franklin. It was the first legal execution in the county. Though at this distance of time it would appear that Hutson was a victim of some mental derangement, the prompt and unequivocal punishment was thought to have had a salutary influence for many years.

Soon after the Hutson trial the county of Highland was formed from portions of Bath and Pendleton. Its boundaries were defined by the legislative act of March 19, 1847, such as, "Beginning whereat he North River gap road crosses the Augusta county line, and running thence to the top of Jackson's Mountain, so as to leave Jacob Hiner's mansion house in Pendleton county, thence to Andrew Fleisher's so as to include his mansion house in the new county; thence to the highland between the Dry run and Crab Bottom, and thence along the top of the main ridge of said highlands, to the top of the High Knob; thence N. 65 degrees W. to Pocahontas county line."

The area of Pendleton was reduced from 990 square miles to 707, and its length of more than 40 miles was correspondingly shortened. The number of inhabitants in the section lost to Pendleton was about 2100. In 1850, the new county had a population of 4227. Of this number, 3837 were whites, 28 were free blacks, and 364 were slaves. The war with Mexico was then going on, and the name of Monterey, the county seat of Highland, commemorates a victory by General Taylor.

State Constitution of 1776

The state constitution of 1776 remained in force until 1830. it allowed two members in the House of Delegates to each and every county; no more and no less, except that the towns of Williamsburg and Norfolk were each entitled to one member. But the aristocratic complexion of the document grew more and more obnoxious to the counties west of the Blue Ridge. In 1825 a convention met at Staunton and issued an appeal tot he legislature, that a new constitution be framed. The direct result was the constitutional convention of 1829, of which General McCoy was one of the 96 members and the representative for Pendleton county. But the new instrument was not progressive. The counties east of the Blue Ridge were able to outbalance those to the westward, and the new constitution was drawn almost wholly in their interest. it was so displeasing to the counties which now form West Virginia that they gave 8365 votes against its adoption and only 1383 in its favor. But as the corresponding votes in the rest of the state were 7198 and 24,672, the new charter carried by a majority of nearly 11,000. The new constitution fixed the membership of the House of Delegates at 135, only 29 being apportioned to what was in 1910 West Virginia. The representation front he two divisions of the state was to remain unchanged, regardless of any unequal growth in population. As the weak counties were limited to a single delegate, the representation of Pendleton was reduced from two to one. There was a little broadening in the mater of voting qualifications, but in general there was no liberalizing of the forms of government.

Justices were commissioned as before, but the limit to each county was 12. The board was to make three nominations for the office of sheriff at the November term, the governor to commission that officer for a term of a little more or a little less than a year and a half, according to the date of commission. The governor also chose toe coroner from two nominees, the office being held during good behavior. The county clerk was appointed by the court for a term of seven years. Constables were appointed by the court for two years. There was to be a quarterly term of county court, and supplementary terms in each alternate month. The fourth Thursday in April was made election day, except for presidential electors. Female slaves above the age of 16 were counted as tithables.

The western counties of the state were restive under the illiberal features of the constitution of 1829, and in 1850 a new convention met at Richmond, deliberated nine land a half months, and framed the instrument which was ratified the next ear by a vote of 75,748 against 11,069. The member of the convention for Pendleton was A. M. Newman. The new constitution became effective January 1, 1852.

It was under this new charter, each magisterial district elected 4 justices, one of whom presided, the others being divided into classes. They were allowed a per diem of $3. County officers were also chosen by the people. The county clerk and county surveyor held office for 6 years, the prosecuting attorney for 4 years, and the sheriff and commissioner of revenue for 2 years. The right to vote was now freed from all property qualifications. The time of state elections was changed to the fourth Thursday in may. Pendleton was put with Augusta, Bath, Hardy, Highland, Rockbridge, Rockingham, and Shenandoah to form the Ninth Congressional District, and with Hardy, Highland, Page, Rockbridge, Shenandoah, and Warren to form the Twelfth Judicial Circuit.

Of the 32 state senators, 19 were to come from east of the Blue Ridge. Of the 152 members of the house of Delegates, 47 were allotted tot he counties now in West Virignia. In apportioning this representation, salve property was thrown into the scale, and as a vast majority of the slaves were east of the Blue Ridge, the East of the state retained the balance of power in its own hands. But as a concession tot he West, it was provided that in 1865, or in any tenth year thereafter, and in the event that the General assembly should fail to agree on a principle of representation, the voters of the state were to decide between four different schemes of suffrage.

These four plans were as follows:

1. A suffrage basis resting solely on votes.
2. A mixed basis, one delegate being assigned to each seventy-sixth of the number of whites, and one to each seventy-sixth of all state taxes on licenses and law processes, plus the capitation tax on freedmen.
3. A Taxaton basis, the senators being apportioned on the taxation basis as aforesaid, andy he delegates on the suffrage basis.
4. The senate to be chosen by the mixed basis, the lower house by the suffrage basis.

History of Oklahoma

Oklahoma - In The Indian Advocate, dated 1 January 1902, page 6, there was a bit of mention of "History of Oklahoma" as taken from the report of ex-governor Jenkins.

This is the story of the creation of Oklahoma Territory, but of the long struggles to secure the various enactments of Congress required to bring it about, of the successive great rushes of settlers to the country, of the Struggles to build up here an ideal American commonwealth, and of the great measure of success attained, volumes might be written.

Historically, Oklahoma as a territory was of recent origin, but was a small portion of the great tract of southwestern country, known at various times and under various circumstances as Louisiana, Mandan Territory, the Great American Desert, uninhabitable lands and the Indian Territory, it had a place in the history of the nation dating back to the days of the Spanish explorers, who sought in the great Southwest unknown empires and their reputed fabulous wealth.

It was described in many early Spanish manuscripts and books back in 1902, that the original Oklahoma boomers were the little army of adventurous spirits who traversed the Southwest under the leadership of DeSoto, and that they were followed by Jesuits and others who sought wealth in the mineral veins of the mountains and hl's of the Territory, there are unmistakable signs in lately discovered ruins of mines and places of early adobe.

lewis and Clarke visited the Territory in one of their early exploring expeditions, and the prairies and valleys of the Territory were the hunting grounds of the early tribes of Indians, from the earliest time of which there is record of the movements of the aboriginal Americans.

The Indian Territory was created as a home for all of the Indian tribes, and with the intention of some day building there a great Indian State, most of what was Oklahoma Territory was included within its bounds, and Washington Irving, who, in 1834, made a hunting trip here, described most graphically the beauty and wealth of Oklahoma's natural endowments in his sketch, "A Tour of the Prairies."

It was some time early in the 1870's the name of Oklahoma first appeared in political history, with the occasion being the introduction in Congress of a bill to create a territory out of a portion of the Indian Territory to be known as Oklahoma. The measure failed of passage, and for more than a decade little or nothing was heard of this country.

There was an agitation started by Payne and Couch and kept up by their intrepid little band of Boomers until, in March, 1889, in the dying hours of Congress, an amendment was tacked on the Indian appropriation bill providing for the opening to homestead settlement of the little area of land then known as Oklahoma, embracing less than 3,000,000 acres now lying in the heart of a great Territory.

this land was opened on April 22, 1889, and then occurred the first great Oklahoma rush. The brief legislation opening the land provided no form of government, and for over a year the people of the territory were a law unto themselves. The only government during this period was that created and maintained by common consent, yet there was no lawlessness or outlawry, and property and life were adequately protected at all times.

In June, 1890, the territorial government came into existence, and by the same act of Congress the strip of country known as "No Man's Land," embracing 3,681,000 acres, was added as Beaver county. In September of the same year the 1,282,434 acres embraced in the Sauk and Fox, Iowa and Pottawatomie reservations, in the eastern part of the Territory, were opened to settlement, and the following spring came the 4,297,771 acres of Cheyenne and Arapaho land. September 16, 1893, the Cherokee strip was opened to settlement, and the counties of Kay, Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble and pawnee created from its 6,014,239 acres of fertile land. In 1895 the Kickapoo reservation of 206,662 acres was settled, and the year following Greer county, which had been previous to that considered a portion of Texas, was given to the Territory by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.

All these, with the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache and Wichita Indian reservations just opened, give the Territory a settled area of 24,000,000 acres, 1,725,646 still being included in Indian reservations.

In the little more than a decade which had elapsed since the creation of the Territory, the people had accomplished here more than any other community had ever accomplished in a quarter of a century. The story of the achievements of this people, whose progressiveness, energy, industry and American citizenship has never been equaled, reads almost like a fairy tale, and the great and lasting results attained can only be realized by him who comes and views and ponders. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

The Bull Moose Years (1912-1916)

America - In 1912 rough politics was nothing new, and it still happens today. It was without question former President Theodore roosevelt, contesting the renomination of President William Howard Taft. Both Roosevelt and Taft were opposed by the militant reformer Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin, who saw both of his opponents as too conservative.

The voice of the people was clear in the 1912 Republican primaries, but the voters were not allowed to speak in most states. This was also the first year in which there were presidential primaries. The primary system had developed on the state level for state offices from the 1890's onward. In the 1912 presidential primaries were introduced, promoted by supporters of Theodore Roosevelt. There were 36 states that had no direct popular Republican primary. These states delegates were chosen by state conventions, and delegates to state conventions were usually chosen in local conventions. It was a system dominated by professional politicians, particularly in the South where there were few Republicans and many delegates. Republicans in the South were often simply federal officeholders.

The republican National Committee, dominated by President Taft's supporters, had the power to decide the delegate disputes. The 53 members of that committee, 15 had not been elected delegates to the convention in 1912 with four coming from US territorial possessions and 10 from Southern states, areas where GOP politics was completely controlled by presidential patronage. These groups accounted for 29 members of the RNC (a majority).

Of the 254 contested seats, Roosevelt was awarded 19 and president Taft was given 235. The courts seldom got involved in party disputes in those days. The loss of 22 delegates would have denied Taft the nomination on the first ballot. The conclusion seemed obvious to Roosevelt's supporters at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in June of 1912.

Roosevelt's delegates walked out of the Republican convention and held a mass meeting to decided to bolt the Republican party and found a new party. Roosevelt agreed to lead a new party if nominated. In August 1912 the national convention of the new Progressive Party met in Chicago, nominating Roosevelt for president and governor Hiram W. Johnson of California for Vice President.

In November, 1912, the Republicans for the first and only time in history came i third in both the popular and electoral vote for president. Roosevelt came in second, and because of the split in the normal republican vote, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected. The Bull Moose party welcomed women into leadership positions as no major party had done before. The high status of women in the Progressive party reflected the party's strong advocacy of women's suffrage and women's rights, and the emphasis that Theodore Roosevelt gave to women's issues.

Republican president Taft, running for re election and Democrat Woodrow Wilson endorsed women's suffrage on the national level. It was in 1912 women had the vote in several western states, but in no state east of the Mississippi River.

The Bull Moose party lasted until about 1916, but the cause of women's suffrage was surely advanced by four years of bull Moose campaigning. Women got the vote everywhere in 1920. The Progressive party (Bull Moose party) had opened a door to women, a door previously closed to them by Republicans and Democrats alike. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Theodore Roosevelt 1912 - Why Trusts & Bosses Oppose the Progressive Party

America - One hundred years ago today a former President of the United States, Colonel Teddy Roosevelt, in one of his campaign speeches as nominee of the Progressive (Bull Moose) party during a campaign for president in 1912, was saying what many are saying today.



With Roosevelt in the race as a viable 3rd Party (Bull Moose) Candidate, the votes of the conservatives, Progressives and Republicans were split between Teddy & William Howard Taft enabling the Democratic Woodrow to win the election. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe