Monday, June 20, 2022

East meets west

TL;DR --  One thing that technology will allow us to do is keep up with the times and its events; too, though, if done right, we can tie together stories about matters in ways not possible before. In fact, as we have seen, we will be able to recreate (Meta's one good attribute, so far) events, and do so in ways that are almost real. On the other hand, we will see tragedy as well as triumphs. This is a case of the former. 

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We will have several themes which will be described as we organize our work. Technology will be an important one. In fact, we will have a separate blog for posts of a detailed nature. But, technology is also cultural, so we'll address those aspects here. This week, we saw Yellowstone River flooding in the area of Gardiner MT due to the combination of snow melt and heavy rain. On flat ground, we would say 'flash flood' which comes unexpectedly and is gone before you notice (unless you are in its path). What is noticed is the aftermath. Gardiner MT has an 'i' and is where Gardner River feeds the Yellowstone. 

Gardiner MT
before the Gardner River
went on a rampage

In that area, there are lots of New England names, such as Conant Creek, Harvard Mountain, and more than we want to look at now. Fly over the region with Google Maps and see what I mean. In most cases, what you are looking at was seen or even had footsteps put on by the early wanders. 

We wrote of the Gardner River under our theme of the early western life as influenced by the long arm of New England. We had been looking at U.S. rivers in toto, especially with a view to the major carving of the land that was managed, in part, out of St. Louis. We noted that Jedediah Strong Smith, an early guy, passed through that little burg. Johnson Gardner was of the same timeframe. The movie, The Revenant, is about another Gardner, but Johnson Gardner was there. We will explore more about these fellas and their peers, some of whom left their names on the landscape in a larger scope. Actually, the following generation was of Bridger, Pike, and a whole lot more. 

Before going on, here is material related to Johnson Gardner, the so-called Mountain MenGardiner MTJedediah (WikiTree; Jed has a huge following out of Berkeley CA), and more, such as Grizzly Adams (cousin of the ones who were husband to and son of Abigail). 

In this post, several names have been mentioned. We show family information via WikiTree when we can. Besides technology, and the early west (say, Lawrence KS as project of Massachusetts), we will look at nautical themes (the Carolinas, say). There will be more discussion about this. 

Following up, though, the Smithsonian wrote about Gateway Towns and what this flooding may mean. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/20/2022

06/20/2022 --

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