Unique Construction

Ever see any building built like this?

Why?  Why, why, why?  I'm always wondering why people do what they do.  You have to admit that this looks like a pretty solid piece of construction...  But why pay to have the lumber milled into boards?  And then stack them this way?  Insulation from northern winters?  Hmmm.

Well.  Keep walkin,' Granma...

Ah, ha!  It's a JAIL!  The Prescott City jail to be exact.  It was built in 1903 to hold "those arrested for being drunk, disorderly, or misconduct."  The planks weren't just stacked on top of each other; they were spiked together.  AFTER it was completely built, then they sawed out the door...  Pretty cool, huh?

More of "our" roses

 

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Old Growth Wood

Standing on the doorstep of the doctor's office we see a cross section of an enormous tree trunk strapped to the side of a home.

(I don't like the picture of me so I made it as small as possible and still get the story across...)

This was logged in 1970 from the Mt. Baker National Forest in the Cascade Mountains of central Washington.  According to the growth rings, the tree probably germinated in the year 1200.  That's not a typo:  1200 A.D.  That was during the Middle Ages!  That was during the Crusades in Europe! (Think "Indian Jones and the Last Crusade," when he and his dad (Sean Connery) were searching for the Holy Grail, Jesus' cup from the Last Supper.  If you don't know what the Last Supper was all about, go to any of the Gospels in the New Testament:  Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  That's the meal Jesus had just before Judas betrayed Him to the Romans and He was tried - against all laws of the day - kind of Kangaroo court style - and He was crucified.  Did you know the Christians were crucified by the thousands back then?)

This tree exhibited in Walla Walla was almost 800 years old when they cut it down.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Another rose from "our" garden

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Doctor John?

This cabin was relocated from Abadie Street here in Walla Walla.  From an 1860's business directory we learn that Walla Walla had almost two dozen doctors.  Remember, more millionaires lived in Walla Walla at that time than anywhere else in the state.  Not that the doctors were millionaires, but the residents apparently could afford the very best...  Dr. Blalock served this area for 53 years and delivered 6,000 babies!

Located just outside the doctor's office was his medicine garden full of Echinacea.  For eons they have used the whole plant, roots and herb, to treat everything from infection to malignancies.  No medicinal garden would be worth much without this all important plant.  Granpa even takes echinacea today - buys it at Wal-Mart...

If you go back to our earlier post of January, 2012, "Bethabara," and some of the posts around that time, you'll find out how terribly important a medicinal garden was back then.  It was, in fact, probably one of the first things folks did when they decided to settle in.

Another rose from our wonderful rose garden home!

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The Museum - From the Outside

There is a whole settlement at Fort Walla Walla.  The humidity around here has been, like, 18%, so I'm guessing the structures built in the late 1800's are still around and in pretty good shape for that reason.  The first one we happen onto is the blacksmith's shop.  (I actually think this one is new construction.  Shhh.)

Then the school, Union School, District 26, 1867.

They had a barbershop complete with one of the oldest barber chairs in the northwest, circa 1870.  It's out of an old Walla Walla barber shop on Alder Street.  You could get a shave and then, for an extra 25 cents, a bath!

They also had some personalized shaving mugs.  Granpa and I had just watched a TV show about antiques, and it showed some shaving mugs that were worth $20,000 now!

I could probably knock together the lil' one if I had to, the other one?  Not.  See the children seated at the table to the left?  They're school is just out of the picture.  Must have been too stuffy inside...

This woman is the poet laureate of the Baker City wagon train.  I asked if she'd send me a copy of the poem she wrote about their adventures, but I've not received anything yet.  If I ever do, I'll blog it for you.

At the livery stable we found two cool side-saddles:

The second one is a bit worse for the wear, eh?  But you see how one has two "horns" and the other only one.  I honestly believe a woman had to be a better rider than a man to stay on a horse at any speed with only one foot in the stirrup and trying to hold on to the horn(s) with her legs...

And speaking of stirrups...

I like the "platform."  I've never seen that before.  I have a small foot by today's standards: size 6 and very narrow.  But look at the size of that stirrup compared to my foot!  Even barefooted it would never fit!

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Fort Walla Walla, Washington

Just blocks from our home in Walla Walla is an expansive museum of old Fort Walla Walla.  The weekend we decided to check it out was very fortuitous:  a wagon train arrived overnight!

This train started in Baker City, Oregon and came through unpaved territory, literally over rocks and through rivers and the Blue Mountains.  They were on the trail two weeks and were completely authentic.  Seems these types of wagon trains are not unusual in this region in this day and age.  How awesome!

The completely authentic (not replica) wagons... (Fancy that! just about the same braking system we use on cars nowadays, huh?)

... were pulled by mules or horses

If you go back to our blog post, "In A Covered Wagon," from November of last year, you'll see that there were as many different makers of wagons then as we have car makers now.  They had different uses just as our car models have now, so they came in different widths and heights, and with different suspensions and braking systems. 

I'm certain that as improvements were made men, then as now, had to upgrade to the latest and greatest...

Only a few years ago men would "kick the tires" of a car before they bought it.  This originated back when the wooden wheels had an iron rim.  Men would kick the wheel to see if the rim was on good and tight.  Even today there are some who "kick the tires."

Pickup beds are getting so high off the ground nowadays that I'm considering getting a ladder just like they did back when beds HAD to have high ground clearance:

You might be wondering what the pole is on the side of the wagon.  When they needed super brakes, they would slide that pole through the spokes of two front or two rear wheels (or both) so that they would slide rather than roll down an embankment thus keeping the wagon from running over the horses.

Another rose from our patio.

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