Today’s Photo
Category: National Parks
Descriptive information about America’s national parks, monuments and memorials, often with a photo or two.
San Juan Island National Historical Park (Washington)
. . . was authorized on September 9, 1966.
San Juan Island is well known for splendid vistas, saltwater shore, quiet woodlands and orca whales. But it was also here in 1859 that the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over a dead pig.
Fort Davis National Historic Site (Texas)
. . . was established on this date in 1961.
Set in the rugged beauty of the Davis Mountains of west Texas, Fort Davis is one of America’s best surviving examples of an Indian Wars’ frontier military post in the Southwest. From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis was strategically located to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Road and the Chihuahua Trail, and to control activities on the southern stem of the Great Comanche War Trail and Mescalero Apache war trails. Fort Davis is important in understanding the presence of African Americans in the West and in the frontier military because the 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry and the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry, all-black regiments established after the Civil War, were stationed at the post.
Today’s Photo (Bonus)
The larger versions you can see by clicking are much better.
Today’s Photo
Click images for larger versions.
Today’s Photo
Click images for larger versions.
Today’s Photo(s): The Photo-Taker Who Cried Wolf
[First, a caveat. My wildlife photos are shameful, varying from mediocre to awful to unusable. Still, I hope they illustrate the story.]
Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves (Canis lupus) were native to Yellowstone but had been eradicated by a government predator control program. The last packs were reported killed by 1926, not even stragglers were seen by the 1940s, and there was no sign of wolves at all by the 1970s. They were brought back under a highly controlled program beginning in 1995. There are now thought to be about 100 wolves in the Park, in ten packs.
This was my sixth visit to Yellowstone since the wolves were reintroduced. I hadn’t seen them the first five times; it was my primary objective this trip.
The Lamar Valley is in the northeastern part of the Park. I camped at Tower Fall Friday to be near. The camp host told me that the evening before people had seen wolves (and a grizzly) at a bison carcass not far from the road into the Lamar Valley.
That evening around six I found dozens, soon to be scores, of people lining the shoulder. An Australian archaeologist working for the summer in the Park told me she had seen seven wolves harass a grizzly away from the carcass that morning. The remains were just several hundred yards away.
We waited. And waited. The wind blew over my tripod, crashing my camera to the gravel on the shoulder of the road. It seemed OK. We waited. More people arrived and some left. (I heard later that at one time there had been 80 cars lined up.) After about 90 minutes I left. I have my rules: full professors get 10 minutes; wolves and bears 90. (None showed after I left.)
Further up the road in the Lamar Valley I was shown little moving spots a mile or more away on a hill and told they were wolves. Even through a spotting-scope they were pretty vague to me. About a bazillion bison wandering around though (photos will follow in days-to-come). I wasn’t satisfied that I could add wolves to my life-list based on such an inadequate sighting.
And so, I was the first one back near the carcass the next morning — I think I was actually there before 6; what was I thinking? — the temperature was in the 30s. After about an hour of no shows, I moved back up into the Lamar.
And there they were, across the river visible when in the open to the human eye.
We begin with this scene in the Lamar Valley (the Lamar River in the foreground). There are two bison and three wolves (that I can find) in this photo. Click the image for the larger version and see how many of the five critters you can find.
These wolves I learned were part of the Mollie Pack (named for the late Mollie Beattie, first woman to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). There were some said six on the slope stalking the bison. I saw five, though not all at one time. They eventually wandered away, deciding I guess that particular bison wasn’t vulnerable.
The Mollie’s are one of the few Yellowstone packs that know how to kill bison, a very difficult proposition. The same Mollie’s black male yearling who cavorted with Lamar Canyon 820F has been making a shopping trip through Lamar Valley’s bison herds every few days.
One morning, as he passed by a bison cow and calf, he suddenly grabbed the calf by the neck, and the race was on. Together they galloped, side by side, with the wolf clamped on the calf’s neck, for about 45 seconds.
Just as the wolf brought the calf down and it appeared to be all over (and I was wondering where the heck the calf’s mother was), a thundering herd of bison bulls rushed in to save the day! Unbelievably, the cow had actually run off to get help!
The bulls chased off that wolf and swarmed around the calf, literally scooping it back into the vortex of the roiling group of bulls. The calf, apparently unharmed (thanks to incredibly thick neck skin, a quick-witted mom and her pals), helped lead the group back to the main herd, with quite a story to tell. The whole thing was simply amazing.
Kathie Lynch’s June 2012 Yellowstone Wolf Update, The Wildlife News
Back to the photo with two enlargements:
And five minutes later, still close.
Like the wolves, I too wandered away, ultimately back down the road to the carcass. There I saw — and heard! — three wolves, also from the Mollie Pack, but my photos (the camera was acting weird — I will say that) are worthless. Well, not to me.
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Today’s Photo
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Fort Union
Once the largest army post in the southwest, Fort Union is now little more than a shadow of its former self set among beautiful grasslands north of Las Vegas, New Mexico. For 40 years in the second half of the 19th century, it was the Santa Fe Trail equivalent of an interstate truck stop and regional warehouse.
When New Mexico became United States territory after the U.S.- Mexican War, the army established garrisons in towns scattered along the Rio Grande to protect the area’s inhabitants and travel routes. This arrangement proved unsatisfactory for a number of reasons, and in April 1851, Lt. Col. Edwin V. Sumner, commanding Military Department No. 9 (which included New Mexico Territory), was ordered “to revise the whole system of defense” for the entire territory. Among his first acts was to break up the scattered garrisons and relocate them in posts closer to the Indians. He also moved his headquarters and supply depot from Santa Fe, “that sink of vice and extravagance,” to a site near the Mountain and Cimarron branches of the Santa Fe Trail, where he established Fort Union.
Photos were taken four years ago yesterday with iPhone 3G.
Today’s Photo
I’ve watched Old Faithful several times, including twice in August. This eruption seemed larger than most; the height can vary from 106 to 185 feet (32 to 56 meters) and volume from 3,700 to 8,400 U.S. gallons (14 to 32 kL). On Thursday morning at 9:15 there were maybe 300-350 watching; on Saturday afternoon when this photo was taken, more than 1,000.
The Gettysburg of the West
The battle of Glorieta Pass concluded 150 years ago today (1862). Union troops from Fort Union, New Mexico, joined by volunteers from Colorado, effectively ended Confederate attempts to march north up the Rio Grande and on to the gold fields in Colorado.
Estimated casualties: Union 142, Confederate 189.
The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Battle Summary: Glorieta Pass provides somewhat more detail on the three days, including this:
Glorieta Pass was a strategic location, situated at the southern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, southeast of Santa Fe, and on the Santa Fe Trail. . . . Both Slough [Union] and Scurry [Confederate] decided to attack and set out early on the 28th to do so. As Scurry advanced down the canyon, he saw the Union forces approaching, so he established a battle line, including his dismounted cavalry. Slough hit them before 11:00 am. The Confederates held their ground and then attacked and counterattacked throughout the afternoon. The fighting then ended as Slough retired first to Pigeon’s Ranch and then to Kozlowski’s Ranch. Scurry soon left the field also, thinking he had won the battle. Chivington’s men, however, had destroyed all Scurry’s supplies and animals at Johnson’s Ranch, forcing him to retreat to Santa Fe, the first step on the long road back to San Antonio, Texas. The Federals had won and, thereby, stopped Confederate incursions into the Southwest. Glorieta Pass was the turning point of the war in the New Mexico Territory.
Navajo National Monument (Arizona)
… was proclaimed on March 20, 1909.
Navajo National Monument preserves three intact cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people. A visitor center, museum, three short self-guided trails, two small campgrounds, and a picnic area provide service to travelers.
Descendants of the Hopi people who built these places are called Hisatsinom. Zuni, also pueblo builders, know that several of their clans began in this area. Later, San Juan Southern Paiute, famous for their baskets, moved into this area and lived near the cliff dwellings. Today, this place is surrounded by the Navajo Nation, as it has been for hundreds of years.
Homestead National Monument of America (Nebraska)
… was authorized on this date in 1936. The park includes the 160-acre claim filed by Daniel
Freeman under The Homestead Act of 1862. It is one of five National Park Service Units in Nebraska.
It is the purpose of our government “to elevate the condition of men, to lift artificial burdens from all shoulders and to give everyone an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.” President Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1861.
The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. By granting 160 acres of free land to claimants, it allowed nearly any man or woman a “fair chance.” Homestead National Monument of America, located in Southeast Nebraska, commemorates this Act and the far-reaching effects it had upon the landscape and people.
One of the first people to file a claim under the Homestead Act of 1862 was Daniel Freeman. The site of his claim is now the site of Homestead National Monument of America. This site commemorates the lives and accomplishments of all pioneers and the changes brought about by the Homestead Act. Legend has it that Daniel Freeman filed his claim 10 minutes after midnight at the Land Office in Brownville, NE on January 1, 1863, the first day the Homestead Act went into effect.
Zion National Monument (Utah)
… was proclaimed on this date in 1918. It incorporated Mukuntuweap National Monument. On November 19, 1919, Zion National Monument became Zion National Park.
Massive canyon walls ascend toward a brilliant blue sky. To experience Zion, you need to walk among the towering cliffs, or challenge your courage in a small narrow canyon. These unique sandstone cliffs range in color from cream, to pink, to red. They could be described as sand castles crowning desert canyons.
Immutable yet ever changing, the cliffs of Zion stand resolute, a glowing presence in late day, a wild calm. Melodies of waters soothe desert-parched ears, streams twinkle over stone, wren song cascades from red rock cliffs, cottonwood leaves jitter on the breeze. But when lightning flashes water falls erupt from dry cliffs, and floods flash down waterless canyons exploding log jams, hurling boulders, croaking wild joyousness, and dancing stone and water and time. Zion is alive with movement, a river of life always here and always changing.
Everything in Zion takes life from the Virgin River’s scarce desert waters. Water flows, and solid rock melts into cliffs and towers. Landscape changes as canyons deepen to create forested highlands and lowland deserts. A ribbon of green marks the river’s course as diverse plants and animals take shelter and thrive in this canyon oasis. From the beginning people sought this place, this sanctuary in the desert’s dry reaches. The very name Zion, a Hebrew word for refuge, evokes its significance.
NewMexiKen photo, 2005. Click image for larger version.
Salem Maritime National Historic Site (Massachusetts)
… was designated such on March 17, 1938.
Salem Massachusetts was once one of the most important ports in the nation. The historic buildings, wharves, and reconstructed tall ship at Salem Maritime tell the stories of the sailors, Revolutionary War privateers, and merchants who brought the riches of the Far East to America.
The three wharves that extend into Salem Harbor at Salem Maritime are the best examples of the over fifty wharves that once lined the harbor during the height of Salem’s international trade.
Derby Wharf, the longest of the three wharves, was begun in 1762 by Richard Derby, Sr., one of Salem’s wealthiest merchants. Over the years, as the Derby family’s trade expanded, they extended the wharf, until in 1806 it reached its current half-mile length. Hatch’s Wharf, the shortest wharf, was built in 1819, and Central Wharf was built in 1791 by Simon Forrester. Derby Wharf Light Station was built in 1871.
Chickasaw National Recreation Area (Oklahoma)
… was consolidated from existing areas and renamed on March 17, 1976. It is one of just two National Park Service units in Oklahoma.
Chickasaw National Recreation Area is in southcentral Oklahoma, between Dallas, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Chickasaw National Recreation Area was originally authorized in 1902 as Sulphur Springs Reservation and was renamed and redesignated as Platt National Park in 1906. In 1976, Platt National Park, Arbuckle National Recreation Area, and additional lands were combined to establish Chickasaw National Recreation Area.
From prehistoric times to the present, access to the combination of cool water, mineral springs, cool breezes, shade, and wildlife has created at Chickasaw National Recreation Area an experience that sets it apart from the surrounding environment.
Tradition touches the present at Chickasaw National Recreation Area. You park your car and pursue the same diversions people enjoyed at the turn of the Twentieth Century— after parking their buggy or getting off the train. You no longer see women in full dresses and sunhats sidesaddle on mules, but you can still follow pleasant trails, enjoy a picnic or just people-watch. Surely that’s what attracted some of the folks who crowded the old train station and put up at Sulphur’s former grand and popular hotels and bath-houses.
Great Sand Dunes National Monument (Colorado)
… was proclaimed such by President Herbert Hoover 80 years ago today (1932). It became America’s 58th national park on September 24, 2004, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
The tallest in North America, these dunes developed as southwesterly winds blew ancient alluvial sediments from the San Luis Valley toward the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The preserve, containing the entire surface watershed and primary topographic features interacting with the Great Sand Dunes, ranges in elevation from 8,000 to over 13,000 feet and includes life zones from desert to alpine tundra.
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve:
- contains the tallest dunes in North America and one of the most fragile and complex dune systems in the world
- protects a globally significant, water- and wind-driven system, which includes creeks that demonstrate surge flow, a rare hydrologic phenomenon
- provides tremendous scenic settings that, for many, provoke strong emotional responses. These settings (including massive dunes surrounded by alpine peaks, a desert valley, creeks flowing on the surface of the sand, pristine mountains, and rural range land) offer spacious relief from urban America, exceptional solitude and quiet, and a remarkably unspoiled day and night sky
- hosts a great diversity of plants and animals, including insect species found nowhere else on earth. The system, which spans high desert to alpine life zones, supports rare biological communities that are mostly intact and functional
- contains some of the oldest (9,000+ years before present) known archeological sites in America. The dunes have been identified as having special importance by people of various cultures, and the area is recognized for the culturally diverse nature of human use
- provides special opportunities for recreation, exploration, and education in the highly resilient dune mass and adjoining creek environments.
National Parks Traveler tells us that Great Sand Dunes is one of the quietest places in the U.S. I can attest it also one of the darkest, with an incredible star-filled sky on clear, moonless nights. NewMexiKen photo, 2010. Click image for larger version.
Canyon de Chelly National Monument (Arizona)
… was authorized on this date in 1931.
Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, the cultural resources of Canyon de Chelly include distinctive architecture, artifacts, and rock imagery while exhibiting remarkable preservation integrity that provides outstanding opportunities for study and contemplation. Canyon de Chelly also sustains a living community of Navajo people, who are connected to a landscape of great historical and spiritual significance. Canyon de Chelly is unique among National Park service units, as it is comprised entirely of Navajo Tribal Trust Land that remains home to the canyon community. NPS works in partnership with the Navajo Nation to manage park resources and sustain the living Navajo community.
Millions of years of land uplifts and stream cutting created the colorful sheer cliff walls of Canyon de Chelly. Natural water sources and rich soil provided a variety of resources, including plants and animals that have sustained families for thousands of years. The Ancient Puebloans found the canyons an ideal place to plant crops and raise families. The first settlers built pit houses that were then replaced with more sophisticated homes as more families migrated to the area. More homes were built in alcoves to take advantage of the sunlight and natural protection. People thrived until the mid-1300’s when the Puebloans left the canyons to seek better farmlands.
Edward Abbey and the Grand Canyon Bottle Ban
“This week’s news that the National Park Service has O.K.ed a ban on the sale of small disposable water bottles at the Grand Canyon National Park, reportedly over the objections of the Coca-Cola Company, a major donor, put me in mind of Edward Abbey. . . . ”
Read more from The New Yorker.
Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
… was established on this date in 1915 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act.
This living showcase of the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, with elevations ranging from 8,000 feet in the wet, grassy valleys to 14,259 feet at the weather-ravaged top of Longs Peak, provides visitors with opportunities for countless breathtaking experiences and adventures.
While massive glaciers shaped the meadows and peaks, Rocky was an inhospitable land. It was not until some 11,000 years ago that humans began venturing into these valleys and mountains. Spearheads broken in the fury of a mammoth’s charge and scrapers discarded along a nomad’s trail tell us little about the area’s early native peoples. Even though it was never their year-round home, the Ute tribe favored the areas green valleys, tundra meadows, and crystal lakes. The Utes dominated the area until the late 1700s.
With the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. government acquired the land now known as Rocky Mountain National Park. Spanish explorers and French fur trappers skirted the area during their wilderness forays. Even Major Stephen H. Long, the explorer for whom the peak is named, avoided these rugged barricades in his famous 1820 expedition. In 1843, Rufus Sage wrote the first account of Rocky’s wonders, called Scenes in the Rocky Mountains. The Pikes Peak gold rush of 1859 drew hopeful miners and speculators. Their settlements at places like Lulu City, in what is now the northwest part of the park, were ephemeral. The rousing boom times yielded to an industrious homesteading period starting in the 1860s. Harsh winters proved inhospitable to grazing, but the abundant bears, deer, wolves, and elk howled through the trees and the mountains continued to draw Easterners impressed by the sublime landscape. Mountain water proved more precious than gold. The Grand Ditch in the Never Summer Range intercepted the stream source of the Colorado River and diverted it for cattle and crops in towns such as Greeley and Fort Collins.
With the ranchers and hunters and miners and homesteaders came tourists. By 1900, the growing national conservation and preservation movement, led by Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir, advocated an appreciation for nature. The Estes Park Protective and Improvement Association fostered local conservation efforts. “Those who pull flowers up by the roots will be condemned by all worthy people,” they warned. In 1909, Enos Mills, a naturalist, nature guide, and lodge owner, championed the creation of the nation’s tenth national park. He hoped that: “In years to come when I am asleep beneath the pines, thousands of families will find rest and hope in this park.” Unleashing his diverse talents and inexhaustible energy, he spent several years lecturing across the nation, writing thousands of letters and articles, and lobbying Congress to create a new national park. Most civic leaders supported the idea, as did the Denver Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Mountain Club. In general, mining, logging, and agricultural interests opposed it.
Photos by NewMexiKen, June 2007
Lehman Caves National Monument (Nevada)
… was proclaimed on this date in 1922. It was made part of Great Basin National Park in 1986.
Lehman Caves attracts tens of thousands of visitors to eastern Nevada yearly, a trend that began not long after their discovery in the late 1880s. For over 60 years, Lehman Caves National Monument protected these underground wonders, with their unique geology and ecology. And today, they remain protected as part of Great Basin National Park.
The human history of Lehman Caves is both interesting and insightful. The discovery of such a natural wonder only 130 years ago is thrilling, while the abuse the cave endured during its early years causes many people to cringe. Learning about the early years of Lehman Caves provides context for the cave today. History remains the great teacher.
All visitors to Lehman Cave will be screened through a simple question and answer process. Visitors who have not been in any cave or mine in the past year, or who are not wearing any clothing, shoes, or other items that were in another cave or mine can go straight to their tour. If visitors do have on clothing, shoes, cameras or other items that were in another cave or mine, they will be required to either change or clean items before being allowed on the tour.
Aztec Ruins National Monument (New Mexico)
… was proclaimed on this date in 1923.
Around 1100 A.D. ancient peoples embarked on an ambitious building project along the Animas River in northwestern New Mexico. Work gangs excavated, filled, and leveled more than two and a half acres of land. Masons laid out sandstone blocks in intricate patterns to form massive stone walls. Wood-workers cut and carried heavy log beams from mountain forests tens of miles away. In less than three decades they built a monumental “great house” three-stories high, longer than a football field, with perhaps 500-rooms including a ceremonial “great kiva” over 41-feet in diameter.
A short trail winds through this massive site offering a surprisingly intimate experience. Along the way visitors discover roofs built 880 years ago, original plaster walls, a reed mat left by the inhabitants, intriguing “T” shaped doorways, provocative north-facing corner doors, and more. The trail culminates with the reconstructed great kiva, a building that inherently inspires contemplation, wonder, and an ancient sense of sacredness.
Ancestral Puebloans related to those from the Chaco region farther south built an extensive community at this site beginning in the late 1000s A.D. Over the course of two centuries, the people built several multi-story structures called “great houses,” small residential pueblos, tri-wall kivas, great kivas, road segments, middens, and earthworks. The West Ruin, the remains of the largest structure that they built and which has since been partially excavated, had at least 450 interconnected rooms built around an open plaza. Several rooms contain the original wood used to build the roof. After living in the area about 200 years, the people left at about 1300 A.D.
Photo taken by Jill, March 30, 2010.
Marble Canyon National Monument (Arizona)
… was established by President Lyndon Johnson on this date in 1969. It became part of Grand Canyon National Park in 1975.
In the 1960s Marble Canyon was the site for a proposed dam as part of the Central Arizona Project. Another even higher proposed dam, Bridge Canyon, would have been constructed at the other end of the canyon. Arizona’s congressional delegation, Republican and Democratic, pushed hard for the project and condemned the Sierra Club for its objections. For example, this 1966 speech from the usually admirable Morris K. Udall attacking David Brower and the Sierra Club and defending the dams. The Sierra Club even charged Udall with using the IRS to hinder the conservation group. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall also supported both dams, as of course did Senators Hayden and Goldwater.
Fortunately the environmentalists, the California delegation and the Navajo Nation were sufficiently opposed that congressional approval became impossible and the Marble Canyon and Bridge Canyon dams were withdrawn from the legislation in 1967. And Interior Secretary Udall may have been converted; it was he who put Marble Canyon on President’ Johnson’s plate in the last hours of the Administration.
