I like to take photographs..well most of you know that already. Sometimes I see things in photographs that I don’t like.
Do you see it? The four wheeler tracks. In years to come will these tracks be like the wagon wheel ruts that the pioneers left behind…some of which are still visible?
The Tall Grass Prairie plants..how long will they survive?
These are in our wildflower area. The land we live on must have been part of the prairie at one time..long ago ..maybe buffalo bellies were tickled by native flowers and grasses.
A remarkable fifteen year old girl left behind a sketch of her life in 1862. She lived along the Minnesota River during “The Sioux Massacre”/Dakota Uprising/ U.S. – Dakota Conflict. I am honored to share Catherine’s story on the Hubbard County Historical Museums Blog. I am transcribing it just as it was written. I am trying to boost the readership..so it will be a.. too be continued kind of a blog over the next ten days. I may not have time to write every day. My hope is to create some conversation throughout the community and promote our Civil War Sunday and our upcoming program “The Dakota Conflict.” Here is the link to 150 years ago: Part One.
So what are you leaving behind..tracks in the ditch? Wildflowers? Or stories that will be read in the future? :)
I am an avid ATVer, and when is see stuff like that I get WHITE HOT!!! Now you've got me started, we work so hard to get trails in our area that don't leave footprints. Any road routes to trails that are blacktopped, riders must, ride on blacktop for that very reason. Jerks like that ruin the chances of our sport growing. There is plenty of room in the woods for everybody, if everybody would just be a little considerate. Oh gosh now you got me going. I'm all fired up and its only 6am.
ReplyDeleteI hope I leave some good memories and some laughter.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
I love to take pictures too, as you know. I hope I leave some beautiful images of magnificent forests and mountains. It amazes me that you post something interesting almost every single day, so you have stored up some days off in my ledger. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures. I love the wagon wheels - it's amazing how long they stay there.
ReplyDeleteThink about the "footprints" you are leaving in cyberland - your wonderful blogs and photos. I read every one of your blogs (Forgotten Old Photos, Far Side of Fifty, Far Side of Fifty Photos, and the Hubbard County Museum) whenever they are updated. I look forward to each post.
ReplyDeleteThrough my quilting and other crafting and my blog, I am leaving a part of myself, too.
It is interesting to think about the legacy one leaves behind. Certainly, there are the obvious; our blogposts, photos, maybe even the voice maibox recording on our phones. But what are the things we will be remembered for that were purely unintentional? A word, a deed... who knows. I guess we'll never know...darn!
ReplyDeleteI love that you are transcribing Catherine's story.
I hate that people are so unaware of the lasting impact of riding, even walking, on fragile prairie areas.
Well that's one story I am going to go and read, could you imagine? My grandparents were pioneers, living in the bush most of their lives, the isolation would kill me before anything else ever did.
ReplyDeleteI've read encounters of the uprising before, and so look forward to reading this one.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
I will absolutely love following this story! What will I leave behind? I hope just gentle footprints and joyful memories!
ReplyDeletePeace,
Muff
I will read your Dakota Conflict as I've done some reading before .
ReplyDeleteNice post
ReplyDeleteI hope I leave only happy memories behind. I try!
ReplyDeleteNow I have a working computer again am enjoying all your recent posts. Thanks also for your kind words, Connie. As soon I'm caught up I'll be posting on Troutbirder II a review of Through Dakota Eyes - A Narrative Account of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. Edited by Gary Clayton Anderson. It was loaned to me by a friend who grew up on a farm near Morton. Looking forward to reading more....
ReplyDeleteI am interested in reading it as I know nothing about it. Iowa had various Indian conflicts that I have just recently learned about in our area.
ReplyDeleteHey I am hooked. Leave the story hanging and one must return.
ReplyDeleteI'm terrible about engines...noise and tracks but they help many in emergencies too. I used to sit on my farm during a blizzard loving the peace and quiet and with a cozy fire going and something on the stove only to hear the snowmobiles running all over and in the morning my beautiful front yard would be covered in tracks instead of pure unadulterated snow. There's good and bad in everything and there were many times that if I needed help they would have been the only ones able to get through. The older I get the more the lines blur into gray as opposed to the black and white of my youth.
ReplyDeleteI journal every morning for an hour. I fill both sides of a sheet of notebook paper and have for 18 years now but it isn't anything interesting but then I enjoy it and it makes me appreciate my life as plain as it might be. I'm sure the pioneers didn't think their lives were that interesting either although they were! Especially with Indians and weather and survival was so much harder then. It's amazing that any of them had time to write. Thanks for transcribing...I was on the edge of my seat and can't wait for the next installment!
Oh my, Connie! I am way behind reading blogs and so I just got here so many days later and have just read the first five installments of Catherine's diary. I am amazed at how well-informed she was in the first place at such a young age and then how she wrote everything out in such plain detail--as if she knew this was being written down for historical reference if it survived, you know? What a brave and inspiring girl! I can hardly wait to read the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason you have landed there at the museum, my fair lady. So that you could discover these treasures and share them with the world. You are leaving a fine footprint, indeed.
It is sad about the prairieland. All the wild land I grew up next door to is now housing, softball fields, a school and a football field. It will take more than ditches by the road to save it, that's for sure. It's a sad thing what little respect we have as a species for the earth in general...well, and for each other, for that matter. Disrespect, fear, killing...exactly what that young girl was living through back then. And we never seem to learn much from each other, do we?