I recently stopped a series I was doing on this blog about the uppermost part of the Texas Panhandle because I wanted to write about Yellowstone National Park, which I had never done. I will continue that series soon, but, in the meantime, I will continue my series about the upper Texas Panhandle on my other travel blog, called "In My Travels,"which is available at
www.radzvacations.blogspot.com. In that series, I am currently writing about the Oklahoma Panhandle, which is adjacent to the Texas Panhandle, so I will "move across the border" very soon in that blog. Just wanted to let my readers know about that and also to let them know about my other travel blog.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Fort Yellowstone
When Yellowstone National Park was created, on March 1, 1872, it was the first national park in the world. National parks were a new concept and when mountain men and fur trappers first started telling stories about this incredible place of boiling mud pits, geysers and hot springs, no one believed them because it sounded too incredible to be true. The first known person to start talking about Yellowstone's geothermal features was John Colter in 1860. A few people, after hearing his stories about smoke spewing out of the ground began calling the place
"Colter's Hell," in jest.
The man that really led the effort to have Yellowstone set aside as the world's first national park was Ferdinand Hayden. He had several unsuccessful attempts before finally succeeding in 1872, when President Ulysses Grant signed the bill creating Yellowstone National P:ark after it was approved by Congress.
When Yellowstone National Park was created, the National Park Service did not exist yet, it would be another 19 years before the Park Service was created. Shortly after the park was created, Nathaniel Langford was appointed as Park Superintendent, but he had little money with which to operate and very limited legal authority to deal with poachers, miners, squatters, etc. Yellowstone was basically a park in name only because people were still claiming plots of land to homestead, still cutting timber, still prospecting for gold or other minerals, still grazing cattle within park boundaries and railroad magnates wanted to build railroad lines through the park. The latter situation is most likely what led to administration of the park being turned over to the United States Cavalry in 1886. The Cavalry built Fort Yellowstone in the northern part of the park, in Wyoming, but about 2 miles from the Montana border. The fort was built adjacent to Mammoth Hot Springs, which is a huge set of hot springs, which are fed by the Norris Geyser Basin through a subterranean fault. These hot springs flow over travertine terraces and into the Boiling River, which, in turn, flows into the Yellowstone River. The buildings of Fort Yellowstone were constructed out of locally quarried sandstone. Almost immediately after the U.S. Cavalry assumed control of the fledgling national park, the
commanding officers set up backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife management and protection and began to vigorously protect the national features of the park that had so inspired visitors to the area.
In 1891, the National Park Service(NPS), was created by the federal government and they still regard backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife protection and management and resource protection, duties that were established by the U.S. Cavalry in 1886, as their primary responsibilities. The Mammoth Hot Springs area, which encompasses Fort Yellowstone, is still the administrative headquarters for Yellowstone National Park.
"Colter's Hell," in jest.
The man that really led the effort to have Yellowstone set aside as the world's first national park was Ferdinand Hayden. He had several unsuccessful attempts before finally succeeding in 1872, when President Ulysses Grant signed the bill creating Yellowstone National P:ark after it was approved by Congress.
When Yellowstone National Park was created, the National Park Service did not exist yet, it would be another 19 years before the Park Service was created. Shortly after the park was created, Nathaniel Langford was appointed as Park Superintendent, but he had little money with which to operate and very limited legal authority to deal with poachers, miners, squatters, etc. Yellowstone was basically a park in name only because people were still claiming plots of land to homestead, still cutting timber, still prospecting for gold or other minerals, still grazing cattle within park boundaries and railroad magnates wanted to build railroad lines through the park. The latter situation is most likely what led to administration of the park being turned over to the United States Cavalry in 1886. The Cavalry built Fort Yellowstone in the northern part of the park, in Wyoming, but about 2 miles from the Montana border. The fort was built adjacent to Mammoth Hot Springs, which is a huge set of hot springs, which are fed by the Norris Geyser Basin through a subterranean fault. These hot springs flow over travertine terraces and into the Boiling River, which, in turn, flows into the Yellowstone River. The buildings of Fort Yellowstone were constructed out of locally quarried sandstone. Almost immediately after the U.S. Cavalry assumed control of the fledgling national park, the
commanding officers set up backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife management and protection and began to vigorously protect the national features of the park that had so inspired visitors to the area.
In 1891, the National Park Service(NPS), was created by the federal government and they still regard backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife protection and management and resource protection, duties that were established by the U.S. Cavalry in 1886, as their primary responsibilities. The Mammoth Hot Springs area, which encompasses Fort Yellowstone, is still the administrative headquarters for Yellowstone National Park.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
An Introduction To Wyoming
Well, I had said in the previous edition of this blog that I was going to change themes and not write about the upper portion of the Texas Panhandle anymore. Well, that is true, but my teaser was that I was going to start writing about Idaho again, even though I never mentioned
the state's name. I will get to Idaho eventually(I could write about that state forever), but, in the meantime, it has occurred to me that I have never written about Wyoming. I lived in that state for about one month, in 1988, working at Yellowstone National Park. After one month living in the park, I got a job just outside the northeast entrance of the park in Cooke City, Montana, where I spent the rest of that summer and part of fall, until I headed home to Texas in mid-October, just barely beating a snowstorm out of the area. I still have vivid and fond memories of the area and have visited several times since then. I guess the logical place to start in my writings about Wyoming is the most visited part of that state, Yellowstone National Park.
When I worked at Yellowstone, I worked at Lake Lodge, which is very near the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. In my writings about Yellowstone, I will fuse together things I saw when I lived in the area in 1988 with things I have seen on subsequent trips to the nation's oldest national park.
Yellowstone National Park covers 2, 219,791 acres, or 3,468 square miles. This area makes it slightly larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. 96% of the park is in Wyoming, in the northwest corner of that state, 3% is in Montana and 1% is in Idaho. Until approximately 15 years ago, Yellowstone had a unique distinction. It was not part of any county. It was, in a sense, its own county, or county equivalent, except that it had no county seat. I guess you could say the county seat was the Mammoth Hot Springs area in the northern part of the park, because that is where the administrative offices are and where the federal court is that deals with issues that occur within the park's boundaries.
A legal issue issue was raised in 2005 that involved a man shooting an elk outside the park, in Montana, and dragging the elk inside the park. He wound up pleading guilty, but the park's special status was revoked shortly thereafter. All the county boundaries that had once run through the park were restored. Now, the park, once again, covers portions of Park and
Teton Counties, in Wyoming; Park and Gallatin Counties, in Montana and Fremont County, in Idaho. When I started to see the county boundaries going through the park appearing on maps, I assumed it was a mistake, but it wasn't. Prior to the dissolution of the park's special status, each state was treating its portion of the park as a "county equivalent,"
sort of a Yellowstone National Park County. The Census also treated each state's portion of the county as a "county equivalent," but that is no longer the case. If Yellowstone was a
"county equivalent," it was the only county-type unit in the United States that crossed state borders, covering parts of three states.
The dissolution of the park's special status shortly after the legal issue came up about convening a jury from residents of the Montana portion of the park and holding the actual trial in Wyoming, at Mammoth Hot Springs, is very interesting to me and I don't know if it is coincidental or a direct result of the legal issue. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, there is still a looming legal issue because Yellowstone is still its own federal district and this federal district still crosses state borders. If a crime were to be committed in the Idaho portion of the park, the Constitution of the United States requires that a jury be empaneled from Idaho residents that live within the district and that the trial be held in Idaho and, as I said earlier, no one lives in the Idaho portion of the park. It is basically the perfect crime waiting to be committed because, if a jury cannot be empaneled from the Idaho portion of the park, the charges would have to be dismissed, even if the crime is murder. So far, any crimes committed in the Idaho section of the park, or the Montana section, have been minor, such as poaching. The solution to this jurisdictional nightmare is to make the Idaho portion of the park part of the Idaho Federal Judicial District and the Montana portion part of the Montana District. Yellowstone Judicial District was created when the park was created, in 1872, and Wyoming, Montana and Idaho were not even states yet, but territories. This situation has never been rectified. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, the federal court district boundaries remain the same. The Wyoming portion is technically part of the Wyoming District, but it is the Yellowstone Division.
the state's name. I will get to Idaho eventually(I could write about that state forever), but, in the meantime, it has occurred to me that I have never written about Wyoming. I lived in that state for about one month, in 1988, working at Yellowstone National Park. After one month living in the park, I got a job just outside the northeast entrance of the park in Cooke City, Montana, where I spent the rest of that summer and part of fall, until I headed home to Texas in mid-October, just barely beating a snowstorm out of the area. I still have vivid and fond memories of the area and have visited several times since then. I guess the logical place to start in my writings about Wyoming is the most visited part of that state, Yellowstone National Park.
When I worked at Yellowstone, I worked at Lake Lodge, which is very near the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. In my writings about Yellowstone, I will fuse together things I saw when I lived in the area in 1988 with things I have seen on subsequent trips to the nation's oldest national park.
Yellowstone National Park covers 2, 219,791 acres, or 3,468 square miles. This area makes it slightly larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. 96% of the park is in Wyoming, in the northwest corner of that state, 3% is in Montana and 1% is in Idaho. Until approximately 15 years ago, Yellowstone had a unique distinction. It was not part of any county. It was, in a sense, its own county, or county equivalent, except that it had no county seat. I guess you could say the county seat was the Mammoth Hot Springs area in the northern part of the park, because that is where the administrative offices are and where the federal court is that deals with issues that occur within the park's boundaries.
A legal issue issue was raised in 2005 that involved a man shooting an elk outside the park, in Montana, and dragging the elk inside the park. He wound up pleading guilty, but the park's special status was revoked shortly thereafter. All the county boundaries that had once run through the park were restored. Now, the park, once again, covers portions of Park and
Teton Counties, in Wyoming; Park and Gallatin Counties, in Montana and Fremont County, in Idaho. When I started to see the county boundaries going through the park appearing on maps, I assumed it was a mistake, but it wasn't. Prior to the dissolution of the park's special status, each state was treating its portion of the park as a "county equivalent,"
sort of a Yellowstone National Park County. The Census also treated each state's portion of the county as a "county equivalent," but that is no longer the case. If Yellowstone was a
"county equivalent," it was the only county-type unit in the United States that crossed state borders, covering parts of three states.
The dissolution of the park's special status shortly after the legal issue came up about convening a jury from residents of the Montana portion of the park and holding the actual trial in Wyoming, at Mammoth Hot Springs, is very interesting to me and I don't know if it is coincidental or a direct result of the legal issue. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, there is still a looming legal issue because Yellowstone is still its own federal district and this federal district still crosses state borders. If a crime were to be committed in the Idaho portion of the park, the Constitution of the United States requires that a jury be empaneled from Idaho residents that live within the district and that the trial be held in Idaho and, as I said earlier, no one lives in the Idaho portion of the park. It is basically the perfect crime waiting to be committed because, if a jury cannot be empaneled from the Idaho portion of the park, the charges would have to be dismissed, even if the crime is murder. So far, any crimes committed in the Idaho section of the park, or the Montana section, have been minor, such as poaching. The solution to this jurisdictional nightmare is to make the Idaho portion of the park part of the Idaho Federal Judicial District and the Montana portion part of the Montana District. Yellowstone Judicial District was created when the park was created, in 1872, and Wyoming, Montana and Idaho were not even states yet, but territories. This situation has never been rectified. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, the federal court district boundaries remain the same. The Wyoming portion is technically part of the Wyoming District, but it is the Yellowstone Division.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The "Feel Good" Story of the Year
In March of 2012, the boys basketball team from Texline High School, in the far northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle, made a very impressive run to the state semi-finals, which were played in Austin at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas. They lost the semi-final game, in overtime, to Roxton, a team from northeast Texas, in Lamar County. Roxton is a team that was completely destroying every team they met in the playoffs. Roxton was an extremely talented team that played like a well-oiled machine. Yet, the Texline Tornadoes, from an obscure town in the northwest corner of the Panhandle, took Roxton to overtime and almost won the game.
Texline High School has only 36 students and only 14 of them are boys. 11 of the 14 boys were on the basketball team and this unlikely team came close to winning the state championship.
At the "Final Four" in Austin, a lot of people were asking "Where's Texline?" The Texline Tornadoes became the "media darlings" of the state Final Four when it was learned how far they had to travel to get to Austin and the fact that 11 of the 14 boys in the school were on the basketball team. Texline had to travel 627 miles to get to Austin! That is the farthest anyone has ever traveled to get to the state Final Four in Texas high school basketball history.
Towns in the upper Panhandle waved the Texline bus through their town as the bus made its long trip to Austin. Many farmers and ranchers in the area, in both Texas and New Mexico, held fund raising activities to raise money to send the Texline Tornadoes and many of their fans to Austin.
This is what high school sports is all about, the only thing missing is the fact that Texline did not bring home a state championship. Stories like this are what I like to see. This is truly a "feel good " story and one that needs to be told.
Begging my readers' indulgence, in the next edition of this blog, I am going to write about a different part of the country and abandon my project about the upper part of the Texas Panhandle. My mind wanders a little too much for my own good and I think it is probably best for me to keep "jumping around' and write about what is most interesting to me at that time. I want to write more about this state that I often daydream about, but have only been there a few times. I hope to visit this particular state some more in the future, but for now, I want to write about this state some more because it is at the forefront of my thoughts now.
Texline High School has only 36 students and only 14 of them are boys. 11 of the 14 boys were on the basketball team and this unlikely team came close to winning the state championship.
At the "Final Four" in Austin, a lot of people were asking "Where's Texline?" The Texline Tornadoes became the "media darlings" of the state Final Four when it was learned how far they had to travel to get to Austin and the fact that 11 of the 14 boys in the school were on the basketball team. Texline had to travel 627 miles to get to Austin! That is the farthest anyone has ever traveled to get to the state Final Four in Texas high school basketball history.
Towns in the upper Panhandle waved the Texline bus through their town as the bus made its long trip to Austin. Many farmers and ranchers in the area, in both Texas and New Mexico, held fund raising activities to raise money to send the Texline Tornadoes and many of their fans to Austin.
This is what high school sports is all about, the only thing missing is the fact that Texline did not bring home a state championship. Stories like this are what I like to see. This is truly a "feel good " story and one that needs to be told.
Begging my readers' indulgence, in the next edition of this blog, I am going to write about a different part of the country and abandon my project about the upper part of the Texas Panhandle. My mind wanders a little too much for my own good and I think it is probably best for me to keep "jumping around' and write about what is most interesting to me at that time. I want to write more about this state that I often daydream about, but have only been there a few times. I hope to visit this particular state some more in the future, but for now, I want to write about this state some more because it is at the forefront of my thoughts now.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Texline
Near the northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle lies the tiny town of Texline, population slightly more than 500. It lies just 8 1/2 miles from Clayton, New Mexico and Clayton is where residents of Texline do most of their shopping and where they have most of their social activities, since there is also a movie theater and several restaurants, in Clayton.
Most of the streets in Texline are dirt and many of them are rather rough. Texline is the oldest town in Dallam County. It was founded in 1888 when the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad set up divisional offices and shops slightly more than half a mile inside the Texas Panhandle. This was less than one year after the rail line first entered Texas. The town that soon developed around the railroad shops took the name "Texline" due to its location close to the New Mexico border. At the time, New Mexico was still a territory. Three years later, in 1891, Dallam County was created by the Texas Legislature and, since Texline was the only town in the county, it was named county seat, a position it held for twelve years, until 1903, when the county government moved to the new, and bustling, town of Dalhart on the county's southern border. Due to the fact that Texline is the oldest town in the county, it can claim several "firsts." The first county courthouse, first school, first marriage license issued in Dallam County and the first public road, which led from Texline to the Northern Division Headquarters of the famous, but now defunct, XIT Ranch. I will have more about the XIT Ranch in another edition of this blog. Its history is integral to the history of Dallam County and this part of Texas in general.
Texline today is basically a railroad town and a farming town, though the Fort Worth and Denver Railway liquidated in 1982 and the line is now owned by Burlington Northern. Texline sits at a lofty elevation of 4,673 feet above sea level, which, I believe, makes it the second highest town in Texas, behind Fort Davis, which is 5,050 feet above sea level. The grain elevator is one of the biggest employers in town, along with the school district and the town government.
There is a claim that the Texline area is the only part of Texas where you can actually see the Rocky Mountains from Texas soil, but that is not all together true because the "official" end of the Rocky Mountains is just north of downtown El Paso, in far west Texas, at the foot of the Franklin Mountains. There is a commemorative plaque in El Paso saying so. I guess it depends on what your definition of the Rocky Mountains is. At any rate, the mountains of northern
New Mexico can be seen from the Texline area, though they are more than 100 miles away, and that is something many people do not realize.
Texline is located at the junction of U.S. Highway 87 and Farm Road 296 (a secondary state highway that is unique to Texas), and these are the only paved streets in town. Highway 87 parallels the railroad and it is a very busy highway and it follows one of the busiest rail lines in the country. Highway 87 runs at an angle, northwest to southeast, through part of New Mexico, across Dallam County and part of neighboring Hartley County. It is a four-lane, divided highway for most of that distance, but it is not a freeway. It does not have exits, instead it has
"grade crossings," or direct crossings, with connecting roads. In Texline, however, it is not divided, it is a four lane street that widens into a divided highway on each end of town.
Texline was recently the subject a news story that made its way around Texas, and parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma, recently. It was the "feel good" story of the year. I will discuss that in the next edition of this blog.
Most of the streets in Texline are dirt and many of them are rather rough. Texline is the oldest town in Dallam County. It was founded in 1888 when the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad set up divisional offices and shops slightly more than half a mile inside the Texas Panhandle. This was less than one year after the rail line first entered Texas. The town that soon developed around the railroad shops took the name "Texline" due to its location close to the New Mexico border. At the time, New Mexico was still a territory. Three years later, in 1891, Dallam County was created by the Texas Legislature and, since Texline was the only town in the county, it was named county seat, a position it held for twelve years, until 1903, when the county government moved to the new, and bustling, town of Dalhart on the county's southern border. Due to the fact that Texline is the oldest town in the county, it can claim several "firsts." The first county courthouse, first school, first marriage license issued in Dallam County and the first public road, which led from Texline to the Northern Division Headquarters of the famous, but now defunct, XIT Ranch. I will have more about the XIT Ranch in another edition of this blog. Its history is integral to the history of Dallam County and this part of Texas in general.
Texline today is basically a railroad town and a farming town, though the Fort Worth and Denver Railway liquidated in 1982 and the line is now owned by Burlington Northern. Texline sits at a lofty elevation of 4,673 feet above sea level, which, I believe, makes it the second highest town in Texas, behind Fort Davis, which is 5,050 feet above sea level. The grain elevator is one of the biggest employers in town, along with the school district and the town government.
There is a claim that the Texline area is the only part of Texas where you can actually see the Rocky Mountains from Texas soil, but that is not all together true because the "official" end of the Rocky Mountains is just north of downtown El Paso, in far west Texas, at the foot of the Franklin Mountains. There is a commemorative plaque in El Paso saying so. I guess it depends on what your definition of the Rocky Mountains is. At any rate, the mountains of northern
New Mexico can be seen from the Texline area, though they are more than 100 miles away, and that is something many people do not realize.
Texline is located at the junction of U.S. Highway 87 and Farm Road 296 (a secondary state highway that is unique to Texas), and these are the only paved streets in town. Highway 87 parallels the railroad and it is a very busy highway and it follows one of the busiest rail lines in the country. Highway 87 runs at an angle, northwest to southeast, through part of New Mexico, across Dallam County and part of neighboring Hartley County. It is a four-lane, divided highway for most of that distance, but it is not a freeway. It does not have exits, instead it has
"grade crossings," or direct crossings, with connecting roads. In Texline, however, it is not divided, it is a four lane street that widens into a divided highway on each end of town.
Texline was recently the subject a news story that made its way around Texas, and parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma, recently. It was the "feel good" story of the year. I will discuss that in the next edition of this blog.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
The Northernmost Part of Texas
I initially had only one travel blog, called "In My Travels," that was set up for me by my sister at the time when I didn't know how to create a blog. I wrote in that blog alot, but I had so much stuff I wanted to write about that I created this blog, on my own. The first topic I wrote about in this blog was Union County, New Mexico, in the northeast corner of that wonderful and beautiful state. Union County borders Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado and is only 72 miles from the Kansas border. I said that I believe Union County is my absolute favorite county in the United States. I have written quite a bit about Union County and will write more about it in the future.
Meanwhile, in my other travel blog, I am resuming my writing about the Oklahoma Panhandle, that narrow, 34 mile wide strip of the state that sits above the top of the Texas Panhandle. All the while, I have basically neglected writing about the Texas Panhandle, which, along with Far Western Texas, is my favorite part of the Lone Star State.
I will start with the northwestern part of the Texas Panhandle, to be exact, Dallam County.
Dallam County was created in 1876 and was named for James Dallam, a lawyer and newspaper publisher. It covers 1,505 square miles, which makes it one of the larger counties in a state that has 254 counties, the most, by far, of any state in the nation. One thing that is noticeable about the Texas Panhandle, when looking at a map, is the fact, most of the counties are the exact same size, give or take a few surveying errors. They were laid out to be 30 miles long and 30 miles wide with the county seat at, or near, the center, if possible. The county size is uniform except for the four counties in the northwest part of the Panhandle. These are Dallam, Hartley, Oldham and
Deaf Smith Counties and these counties are almost double the size of all the other Panhandle counties, roughly 1,500 square miles compared to roughly 900 square miles.
Dallam County is the coldest place in Texas, on average. The average date for the first freeze in Dalhart, the county seat, in Autumn, is October 16 and the average date for the last freeze in Spring is April 23, which are rather anomalous statistics for Texas, yet the Panhandle has been known to get snowstorms as early as the first week of October and as late as early May. The Texas Panhandle is also known for crippling blizzards and Dallam County has had blizzards where the snowdrifts have been as high as 30 feet! The average first freeze date for Dallam County's second largest town, Texline, is October 12 while the average last freeze date is April 27. A few years ago, I spent the night in Dalhart in the first week of September and the temperature got down to 28 degrees that night!
Dallam County is next door to Union County, New Mexico, where I started this blog. The first Dallam County town I will write about is Texline, which is located just 8 1/2 miles from Clayton, New Mexico, the county seat of Union County.
Meanwhile, in my other travel blog, I am resuming my writing about the Oklahoma Panhandle, that narrow, 34 mile wide strip of the state that sits above the top of the Texas Panhandle. All the while, I have basically neglected writing about the Texas Panhandle, which, along with Far Western Texas, is my favorite part of the Lone Star State.
I will start with the northwestern part of the Texas Panhandle, to be exact, Dallam County.
Dallam County was created in 1876 and was named for James Dallam, a lawyer and newspaper publisher. It covers 1,505 square miles, which makes it one of the larger counties in a state that has 254 counties, the most, by far, of any state in the nation. One thing that is noticeable about the Texas Panhandle, when looking at a map, is the fact, most of the counties are the exact same size, give or take a few surveying errors. They were laid out to be 30 miles long and 30 miles wide with the county seat at, or near, the center, if possible. The county size is uniform except for the four counties in the northwest part of the Panhandle. These are Dallam, Hartley, Oldham and
Deaf Smith Counties and these counties are almost double the size of all the other Panhandle counties, roughly 1,500 square miles compared to roughly 900 square miles.
Dallam County is the coldest place in Texas, on average. The average date for the first freeze in Dalhart, the county seat, in Autumn, is October 16 and the average date for the last freeze in Spring is April 23, which are rather anomalous statistics for Texas, yet the Panhandle has been known to get snowstorms as early as the first week of October and as late as early May. The Texas Panhandle is also known for crippling blizzards and Dallam County has had blizzards where the snowdrifts have been as high as 30 feet! The average first freeze date for Dallam County's second largest town, Texline, is October 12 while the average last freeze date is April 27. A few years ago, I spent the night in Dalhart in the first week of September and the temperature got down to 28 degrees that night!
Dallam County is next door to Union County, New Mexico, where I started this blog. The first Dallam County town I will write about is Texline, which is located just 8 1/2 miles from Clayton, New Mexico, the county seat of Union County.
Monday, April 8, 2013
The Town Too Tough To Die--Finale
Today, Tombstone is a tiny town of 1,400 people that lives off of its Wild West fame. Daily re-enactments of the Gunfight at the OK Corral take place. Stagecoach rides are offered along Allen Street, which is in the historic heart of downtown. The Old Cochise County Courthouse is now a fascinating museum that is devoted to interpreting the history of this legendary town. The old courthouse is a state park and has been since 1959. It is Arizona's smallest state park, but one of the most heavily visited. It sat vacant for nearly three decades after the county government moved to Bisbee in 1929.
A 3 block stretch of East Allen Street is now closed to vehicles and has been turned into a pedestrian-only street. The only vehicles allowed are emergency vehicles and delivery trucks that supply the stores in the area. Of course, the stagecoaches are also allowed. This stretch of the street was closed approximately five years ago after being discussed for several years before that, but the closure was postponed because the post office was located in that area. After the post office was moved to another part of town, the street was closed. At first, dirt was dumped on top of the asphalt to give the street more of a frontier look, but, every time it rained, the dirt turned into a sea of mud and flowed downhill, creating a horrible mess. Today, the street is still paved which does not add to the Wild West ambience at all, but the business owners do not want the pavement ripped up because they think it will make their businesses too dusty, and yet they want the street to look more authentic. Hmmmm. I think the pavement should be torn up, but I guess I really don't have a say in the matter.
One block away, there is a short stretch of East Toughnut Street that is closed to traffic. I noticed this on my visit to Tombstone last month. I am not sure what the reason for this closure is, but it does not seem to correspond to a partial closure of that street a few years ago. That closure was due to the fact that a mining tunnel underneath Tombstone has caused a portion of the street to collapse. Therein lies one of Tombstone's biggest problems today. It is severely undercut by mining tunnels that could cave in at any time because the miners a century ago cut their subterranean tunnels too close to the surface of the ground in their quest to extract as much silver
and other minerals as possible.
The Tombstone of today is a busy town, but nearly all of the employment is of the minimum wage variety. What surprises most people is the fact that the Tombstone school district is one of the poorest school districts in Arizona. After decades of holding high school and middle school classes in dilapidated facilities, they finally built a new middle school/high school combination on the edge of town, near the water treatment plant. However, they cannot afford to build outdoor sports facilities until the old high school and middle school are sold. They are currently playing baseball on the football field, on the edge of the historic district, even though the bathrooms were condemned by the city a few years ago and spectators have to use port-a-potties. They are playing baseball and football amongst abandoned buildings. The old high school is abandoned except for the gym, which is still used for basketball practice on an alternating basis between the boys and girls teams, and as dressing rooms for football games. The tennis courts at the old school are in such bad shape that they are almost unusable. Opposing teams have complained about Tombstone's sports facilities, but the athletic league knows the school district is doing everything they can to alleviate that situation.
Tombstone is a town that survives because of its legendary past. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Arizona, but there alot of problems that threaten this little town and many of the problems are the direct result of the town's legendary past.
A 3 block stretch of East Allen Street is now closed to vehicles and has been turned into a pedestrian-only street. The only vehicles allowed are emergency vehicles and delivery trucks that supply the stores in the area. Of course, the stagecoaches are also allowed. This stretch of the street was closed approximately five years ago after being discussed for several years before that, but the closure was postponed because the post office was located in that area. After the post office was moved to another part of town, the street was closed. At first, dirt was dumped on top of the asphalt to give the street more of a frontier look, but, every time it rained, the dirt turned into a sea of mud and flowed downhill, creating a horrible mess. Today, the street is still paved which does not add to the Wild West ambience at all, but the business owners do not want the pavement ripped up because they think it will make their businesses too dusty, and yet they want the street to look more authentic. Hmmmm. I think the pavement should be torn up, but I guess I really don't have a say in the matter.
One block away, there is a short stretch of East Toughnut Street that is closed to traffic. I noticed this on my visit to Tombstone last month. I am not sure what the reason for this closure is, but it does not seem to correspond to a partial closure of that street a few years ago. That closure was due to the fact that a mining tunnel underneath Tombstone has caused a portion of the street to collapse. Therein lies one of Tombstone's biggest problems today. It is severely undercut by mining tunnels that could cave in at any time because the miners a century ago cut their subterranean tunnels too close to the surface of the ground in their quest to extract as much silver
and other minerals as possible.
The Tombstone of today is a busy town, but nearly all of the employment is of the minimum wage variety. What surprises most people is the fact that the Tombstone school district is one of the poorest school districts in Arizona. After decades of holding high school and middle school classes in dilapidated facilities, they finally built a new middle school/high school combination on the edge of town, near the water treatment plant. However, they cannot afford to build outdoor sports facilities until the old high school and middle school are sold. They are currently playing baseball on the football field, on the edge of the historic district, even though the bathrooms were condemned by the city a few years ago and spectators have to use port-a-potties. They are playing baseball and football amongst abandoned buildings. The old high school is abandoned except for the gym, which is still used for basketball practice on an alternating basis between the boys and girls teams, and as dressing rooms for football games. The tennis courts at the old school are in such bad shape that they are almost unusable. Opposing teams have complained about Tombstone's sports facilities, but the athletic league knows the school district is doing everything they can to alleviate that situation.
Tombstone is a town that survives because of its legendary past. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Arizona, but there alot of problems that threaten this little town and many of the problems are the direct result of the town's legendary past.
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