A Little Local History

[Wishfulthinker580]

I spend most of my work day within two miles of the actual place where Bill Dalton was killed. I grew up 5-6 miles away from it but have never seen it because it’s on private land. A guy that actually had reason to be there sent me the picture of it today. Pretty neat to see.

Dalton Gang | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

www.okhistory.org

 

[fourfive8]

Local history nuggets are always interesting!

Not far up the hill from where I live and just below Lizard Head Pass is Trout Lake, an impoundment used to supply water to run turbines at the Ames generating station. The lake is uniquely an artificial cirque basin lake. Ames Station was the world’s first AC generating station. It was designed to supply power to the Gold King mine. Westinghouse used Nicola Tesla’s AC technology for the design- a technology rejected and fought against by Thomas Edison who was fully invested in DC power… BTW, much to his regret!

Just over the hill from the Ames Station is Telluride, Colorado, originally a wild mining town of the late 1800s. The San Miguel Valley Bank (Mahr bldg) in Telluride was made famous as being the first bank robbed by Butch Cassidy/Wild Bunch. They robbed the bank then made their way horseback, cross country, to Robbers Roost, Utah. How they got from Telluride to Robbers Roost beats me? I’ve poked around all through that area and it has to be some of the most “horse impossible” country on the planet! It’s an endless maze of box canyons and vertical, rock-walled switch back drainages.

Trout Lake this spring

 

[chutestraight]

Eagles, Doolin-Dalton, 1973

 

[fourfive8]

I’ve noticed even though Nikola Tesla never received credit or support during his lifetime, his contributions have recently become more acknowledged. Somehow Thomas Edison always dominated the support of what at the time was the MSM, therefore political power and financial backing. Could be that Tesla seemed to be too much of a scientific rebel therefore not as comfortable to be associated with. In the long run and through the looking glass of history, Tesla’s work shows it may not be wise to quickly and automatically dismiss unique ideas that at first seem wacky or that someone else tells you are wacky

 

[fourfive8]

Expanding that theme could also include historical context for comparing Goddard, von Braun, the “college kids” who were instrumental in creating what is now JPL and of course most recently Elon Musk. I remember spending time in 1965 sorting through some of Goddard’s liquid fuel rocket equipment in Roswell. At that time, no one even mentioned the Roswell alien crash which more recently has become something of a tourist trap, local wink wink, phenomenon

One can only guess how history (and the present) would have been different if Goddard in the ‘20s had received the same backing as von Braun did from the German Nazi machine leading into and during WW2.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Fortifications the Boers erected in anticipation of stopping the British march towards Kimberley. General de Roos arrived late, having just buried his son lost in the previous battle. He advised against this plan. The Brits always followed the same strategy: set up their superior artillery about two miles away, pound the fortifications for a day or two, then make an assault with troops in the dark just before sunrise. De Roos suggested the Boers dig trenches in the dense brush at the foot of the hills and wait for the attack. Worked like a charm. The Brits spotted the decoy battlements, fired artillery for a day, then in the pitch black dark troops advanced literally touching each other to avoid becoming disoriented. The Boers hung tin cans on the wire fence in the middle of the battlefield and these acted as alarm bells when British troops stumbled into them (the fence was actually the border between the Orange Free State and Transvall). Two thousand British casualties were inflicted in short order with almost none to Boers. The British almost succeeded in doing an end around but Boers were saved by a regiment of Scandanavian volunteers, mostly Danish. They saved the day but at huge cost. I seem to recall only 38 survived.

It is thought this headstone may mark the burial site of British soldiers. The British encampment should have been in this area judging from photographs taken after the battle. Unfortunately all lettering has been eroded away. Note the heaps of white stones surrounding the marker. Possibly a mass grave.