Twin Ports by Trolley

Twin Ports by Trolley - Aaron Sachs , University of MN press

Who knew Trolleys could be so interesting.  It is true that there are some chapters, especially at the beginning that are for RR and Trolley buffs and require some skimming before getting to the chapters that will entertain most readers.  This is a complete history, examining all the various routes and vehicles.  Even if you do not care about which line runs to Woodland Park you can still enjoy the historic photos such as the snowy and seemingly wild landscape that passes in front of the Northland Country Club.

You will learn that the cars carried groceries and goods until frustration set in when customers were not there to claim them.  You will see mules, buses, trolley cars, tracks, and support buildings and catch glimpses of our fascinating past.  Amusement Parks on Park Point, Trolley’s as hearses, Trolley’s carrying firefighters.  

There are stories of strikes and a story of customers taking over a trolley and motorman to force the company to send another car.  We learn about Halloween pranks, rails across the ice, the Incline, and even robberies as we find our way through the neighborhoods of the Twin Ports.

Duluth Tribune - 1956

"One thing can be said for the mules that pulled Duluth's first street cars in 1883. Neither the Superior Street mud nor the deep winter snow stalled their progress.  If the going got bad enough, four mules were hitched up to the dinky cars and away they went through the drifts and swirling snow."

p21

"Able bodied men and boys swung on and off the cars as they rolled along.  Besides saving time, this practice conserved the horses' limited energy, since starting a loaded car required considerably more effort than keeping it moving.

"No one thought to change this practice, and now people were attempting to board and alight at much higher speeds.  The result was numerous injuries, including amputations."

p22

"Horsecar driver, like all teamsters, had always occupied the open front platform and were exposed to all kinds of weather.  Following electrification, the dramatic increase in speed suddenly subjected them to unprecedented wind chills, creating miserable and often dangerous working conditions.  One motorman in St. Paul actually froze to death at the controls."

Solace of Open Spaces

Nancy Lo

History of the Environment assignment 3

10/30/14

“The Solace of Open Spaces,” Gretel Ehrlich, 1985

Gretel Ehrlich’s inauguration into life on the high plains of Wyoming, and her ensuing deep resonance with the state, is the essence of “The Solace of Open Spaces.” Life there is hard – the six-month-long winters are so brutal that livestock die where they stand and when people try to leave their homes, they’re thwarted by snow-packed roads and have to turn back. And then when winter finally ends, “spring weather is capricious and mean. It snows, then blisters with heat.” (Ehrlich, 1985, p. 7) Wyoming is a state of wind and dust. Sheep herding, which Ehrlich is thrust into when another herder abruptly quits, is relentless and grueling. She came to Wyoming to make a film about sheep ranching, and while there her partner died. She withdrew from life, but Wyoming’s rhythms and vastness were therapeutic, and she found herself at home.

“Life on the sheep ranch woke me up. The vitality of the people I was working with flushed out what had become a hallucinatory rawness inside me. … The arid country was a clean slate. Its absolute indifference steadied me.” (p. 4)

Ehrlich’s descriptions of Wyoming’s landscape, animals, weather and people are unfalteringly honest – and through that honesty her love for the state and its inhabitants reveals itself. This is her personal account of a lifestyle and a state that few know. (This choosing of the lesser-knowns seems to be a trend of hers – she later spent years in Greenland, portraying its desolation and icy beauty and developing solidarity with the Inuit people and their diminishing culture.) From Wyoming’s starkness and simplicity emerges a deep connection to the land. A combination of resilience and stubbornness ties Wyoming’s residents to the state.

The title of her book rings true. This “wide-open country” (Ehrlich, 1985, p. 60) where she can see for “hundreds of miles in every direction” (p. 60) provides just the anti-nurturing nurturing that Ehrlich’s wounded heart needs. Judith Moore wrote for the New York Times: “‘The Solace of Open Spaces’ depends upon none of the cheap effects – purple sunset, the face of God in still water – that breed what theologians call ‘cheap grace,’ salvation too easily won.” (1985, n.p.) Ehrlich’s grief and suffering gradually ease, but “what Wyoming gives her comes hard won.” (1985, n.p.) After meeting and marrying a man whom she met at a John Wayne film festival in Cody, Wy., she wrote, “‘here’s to the end of loneliness,’ … not believing such a thing could come true. But it did, and nothing prepared me for the sense of peace I felt.” (Ehrlich, 1985, p. 87)

Ehrlich devotes a significant portion of “Solace” to Wyoming’s people and their complexity, and through that portrayal she gives commentary on all people: “We have only to look at the houses we build to see how we build against space, the way we drink against pain and loneliness. We fill up space as if it were a pie shell, with things whose opacity further obstructs our ability to see what is already there.” (1985, p. 15) She uses nature to make comparisons: “We are often like rivers: careless and forceful, timid and dangerous, lucid and muddied, eddying, gleaming, still.” (p. 84) And she celebrates animals’ ability to co-exist with humans: “Because they have the ability to read our involuntary tics and scents, we’re transparent to them and thus exposed – we’re finally ourselves.” (p. 64)

 Wyoming’s population at the time was only 470,000, and loneliness and its effect on people is a recurring theme: “Men become hermits; women go mad. Cabin fever explodes into suicides.” (Ehrlich, 1985, p. 13). Wyoming is a land of extremes, which extends to the human relationships. Isolation and loneliness are countered by “teamwork on cold nights during calving … [that] creates a profound camaraderie.” (p. 73)

The lushness of her language creates images that are almost touchably vivid: “Thoughts, bright as frostfall, skate through our brains. In winter, consciousness looks like an etching.” (Ehrlich, 1985, p. 74) Ehrlich absorbs the land’s simplicity and comfort, and her pen spreads steady respect on the page like honey. “She weaves an inspiring and memorable relationship between the individual and nature. … [This relationship] has long been influential in the world of writing; Ehrlich explores this bond in a new light through the power of writing itself.” (Scowsmith, 2013, n.p.) Wyoming isn’t just an expansive swath of land that we experience with our eyes. It’s a place we feel, breathe, smell, taste and absorb, with Ehrlich as our guide.

People in Wyoming adapt to the environment and work with it because there is no choice. “Nature is not something which the inhabitants of SOS live with, nature is something they have to endure.” (Jalali, 2005, n.p.) It dictates the lives of everyone and everything in the book. Ehrlich exposes the reader to nature in its extremes. We feel the bitter cold and the oppressive heat, revel in the satisfaction of a hard day’s work, and witness the imprint of man and domestic animals on the parched earth. Ehrlich writes, “The water I ushered over hard ground becomes one drink of grass.” (1985, p. 90) She shapes our perception of the environment, and argues for using its resources ethically. In an interview Ehrlich said, “We are entering the Anthropocene, a time when the changing climate will cause much devastation. … Soon our planet will not be the same, and human survival will be difficult.” (T., 2013., n.p.) Through literature, she shines a light on the places that need saving.

I first read “Solace” more than 20 years ago, and reading it again feels like being pulled into a full-body embrace. Newsday wrote “Ehrlich’s gorgeous prose is as expansive as a Wyoming vista.” (1985, n.p.), and that description couldn’t be more true. In describing the transition from autumn to winter, Ehrlich writes, “We feel what the Japanese call ‘aware’ – an almost untranslatable word meaning something  like ‘beauty tinged with sadness.’” (Ehrlich, 1985, p. 127) What I felt reading “Solace” was ‘aware.’

References

Ehrlich, G. (1985). The Solace of Open Spaces. New York: Viking Penguin Inc.

Jalali, S. (2005). Oppressing Nature: A Study of Gretel Ehrlich’s The Solace of Open Spaces. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:205169/FULLTEXT01

Moore, J. (1985, December 1). What a Mountain Is. New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/01/books/what-a-mountain-is.html

Scowsmith, K. (2013, August 12). The Immensity of Small Things: A Literary Review of Gretel Ehrlich’s Solace of Open Spaces. The Haberdasher. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://lehab.org/2013/08/12/the-immensity-of-small-things-a-literary-review-of-gretel-ehrlichs-solace-of-open-spaces/

T., J. (2013, March 18) The Q&A: Gretel Ehrlich Embracing Impermanence. The Economist. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/03/qa-gretel

Of Wolves and Men by Barry Holstun Lopez

Review By Amber Taylor 

She is enrolled in my Environmental history course

This is one of my favorite books

It has been out a long time (1978) but still remains an important classic

I chose to read Of Wolves and Men because I have always been fascinated with wolves and their plight on this Earth. A few years ago I read the book Arctic Dreams by Lopez and knew I could count on him to give a detailed, informational, and realistic outlook on wolves and their historically complicated, tense, and mysterious relationship with mankind. “In the past twenty years, biologists have given us a new wolf, one separated from folklore. But they have not found the whole truth…No one—not biologists, not Eskimos, not backwoods hunters, not naturalist writers—knows why wolves do what they do” (Lopez, 1978, p. 4).

Although Lopez travels the world in order to research cultures, lands, and stories for his books, he always returns to his home in Oregon in order to write about what he has seen and experienced. He brings a unique viewpoint to his writings and “[they] have frequently been compared to those of Henry David Thoreau, as he brings a depth of erudition to the text by immersing himself in his surroundings, deftly integrating his environmental and humanitarian concerns” (Steven Barclay Agency, 2014).

In April, 2010, Lopez was a guest on PBS’s “Bill Moyer’s Journal, where they discussed spirit, the human condition, and nature. Lopez describes his inspiration as nature, but not his subject. “I'm not writing about nature. I'm writing about humanity. And if I have a subject, it is justice. And the rediscovery of the manifold way in which our lives can be shaped by the recovery of a sense of reverence for life" (PBS, 2010).

Lopez begins with a thorough and scientific overview of the wolf, describing in great detail their origins, social structures, modes of communication, hunting tactics, and territories. My favorite part of this entire book lies in the first few pages, when Lopez begins with the words “Imagine a wolf moving through the northern woods” (Lopez, p. 9). What follows is an incredible narrative that follows this wolf through his day’s endeavors. We watch as the wolf encounters other animals, stops to smell the air on a passing breeze, and joins his beautiful harmonics with those of his sister, who is over a mile away, before being reunited with her in a playful and joyous reunion. Throughout this narrative, the reader is able to sense the important role this wolf plays in his surroundings.

               The wolf is tied by subtle threads to the woods he moves through. His fur                carries seeds that will fall off, effectively dispersed, along the trail some miles   from where they first caught in his fur. And miles distant is a raven perched             on the ribs of a caribou the wolf helped kill ten days ago...A smart                snowshoe hare that eluded the wolf and left him exhausted when he was                a pup has been dead a year now, food for an owl. The den in which he was                born one April evening was home to porcupines last winter. (p. 10)

The rest of the first chapter is dedicated to giving an in-depth and interesting account of wolves: how they have adapted to their different environments, what their current (as of the late 1970’s) status is in different parts of the world, the genetics and nomenclature of the various wolf subspecies, body and coat descriptions, and physical abilities such as endurance and agility.

               Wolves spend an average of eight to ten hours of every twenty-four on the        move, mostly the crepuscular hours. They travel great distances and have                tremendous stamina. One observer followed two wolves who broke trail                through five feet of snow for 22 miles in British Columbia. The animals                paused in their tracks, but never laid down to rest. (p. 25)

Other topics discussed in this chapter are pack and litter sizes, the raising of pups, and the many ways that wolves are killed and occasionally have been found to survive the harsh realities of their ways of life. Wolves are often parasitized, get cancer, susceptible to a number of diseases, suffer from malnutrition, and are injured during hunts, especially by moose, but do not always succumb to these maladies. “The point of all this is that the woods is a hard place to get on, and yet the wolf survives” (p. 30).

Social structure and communication are the focus of chapter two, and the differences between males and females, alpha and beta, and discipline are highlighted. Lopez points out that much of what has been observed and studied in the greatest detail is of captive wolves, but fieldwork has been able to confirm these findings in many cases.

               The wolf is a social animal; it depends for its survival on cooperation, not                strife…The social structure of a wolf pack is dynamic—subject to change,                especially during the breeding season—and may by completely reversed                during periods of play. It is important during breeding, feeding, travel, and       territorial maintenance, and seems to serve a purpose when wolves gather to           reassure each other of the positive aspects of their life-style as reflected in      this social order, one that enhances survival by collective hunting and natural      population control. (p. 33)

Wolves have a vast array of communications, including howling, which has numerous pitches and tones in itself, whining, squeaks, growling, posture signaling, facial gestures, submissiveness, scent marking, fighting, and ousting members of the pack.

               There has been more speculation about the nature and function of the wolf’s howl than the music…of any other animal. It is a rich, captivating sound, a                seductive echo that can moan on eerily and raise the hair on your head.                Wolves apparently howl to assemble the pack…pass on an alarm…locate                each in a storm or in unfamiliar territory, and communicate across great                distances. (p. 38)

Chapter three addresses the hunting and territory of wolves. “The wolf spends perhaps one-third of his life in pursuit of food. It is a task for which he evolved and to which he is well suited” (p. 54). Wolves will commonly take the young, sick or injured when hunting, and “vary their tactics slightly to hunt each species of prey, adapting primarily to terrain and somewhat less to the sort of prey” (p.59). Wolf territories are fluid and depend on many factors, such as prey availability, seasons, and denning sites.

              

               A pack at the edge of its territory might permit a wounded prey animal to                escape if it flees across that border into another pack’s territory. A wolf pack     is repelled by the fresh scent marks of a neighboring pack. The boundary is           defined from both sides of the fence; that is not an idea to be taken lightly is           evidenced by the number of trespassing wolves that are killed. (p. 64)

As he wraps up part one, Lopez writes about the unique and varying relationships wolves have with the other species. Using caribou as both prey and snowplows, feasting on other animals’ kills, using fox burrows for their dens, and their rather odd social repertoire with ravens. “The wolf seems to have few relationships with other animals that could be termed purely social, though he apparently takes pleasure in the company of ravens” (p. 67). From these descriptions of normal ecological relationships, Lopez introduces us to the one relationship that has never ceased to cause strife for the wolf: “the wolf’s most important and dangerous relationship must be his relationship with man” (p. 69).

The brilliant narratives about the wolf as a complex, intelligent, beautiful, whimsical, mysterious, and social creature that is an important top predator in its environment serve as a foundation for the rest of the book. Lopez describes the numerous ways in which it has been misunderstood and persecuted throughout history. He seeks to bring an awareness to the plight of the wolf, attempting to weave an understanding of their significance and presence in the natural world.

Throughout folklore of the Middle Ages, religious writings, the settlement of North America, and the more recent history of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, wolves have been described as cowardly, bloodthirsty, evil, killing machines. They have been condemned by ranchers, religion, hunters, and even children’s stories. The stories of how and why wolves have been killed throughout history were very hard for me to read. It was not just killing, it was also a torturous massacre.

I will not go in to depth about these stories as they are disheartening in that I am sure some of these practices continue today. It is disturbing that for thousands of years people were so full of hate for another living creature about which they knew nothing. What they did know, however, was fear of the unknown.

               [Killing wolves] is the violent expression of a terrible assumption: that men

               have the right to kill other creatures not for what they do but for what we

               fear they may do. Killing wolves has to do with fear based on superstitions…                                                                                                                                          

               At a more general level it had to do, historically, with feelings about            

               wilderness. To celebrate wilderness was to celebrate the wolf; to want an

               end to wilderness and all it stood for was to want the wolf’s head. (p.140)

Wolves were and continue to be killed for numerous reasons, including protection of livestock and domestic animals, bounties, hunting and sport, saving wildlife that is unable to defend themselves (yes, people actually believe this), and for nothing more than someone feels like doing it.

               It was against a backdrop of…taming wilderness, the law of vengeance, protection of property, an inalienable right to decide the fate of all animals without incurring moral responsibility, and the strongly American conception of man as the protector of defenseless creatures, that the wolf became the enemy. (p. 148)

On a positive note, Lopez goes in to great detail about the Eskimos and Native Americans cultures and their relationships with wolves. They have a deep reverence and respect for these creatures that goes beyond the basics of their biology and hunting abilities. Their kinship with wolves has been born from keen observation and an understanding and awareness of the wolf’s place in nature, their environment, and the universe as a whole. These cultures seek to learn from the wolf, its interactions with the land and each other, how they hunt and work together, and their spiritual connectedness to their surroundings.

               We do not know very much at all about animals. We cannot understand them except in terms of our own needs and experiences. And to approach them solely in terms of the Western imaginations is, really, to deny the animal. It behooves us to visit with a people with whom we share a planet and an interest in wolves but who themselves come from a different time-space and who, so far as we know, are very much closer to the wolf than we will ever be. (p. 86)

                

Although the optimistic viewpoints on wolves are increasing, there are still an overwhelming number of people that see them as a nuisance animal that has no logical or necessary place in this world. The mystery of an animal or part of nature should be admired, not feared. Everything has its place and is intimately interconnected.

Hopefully, with continued education, and books such as Of Wolves and Men, these outlooks can be gradually altered and overcome. In his epilogue, Lopez leaves us with a thought provoking and impactful statement:

               To allow mystery, which is to say to yourself, ‘There could be more, there                could be things we don’t understand,’ is not to damn knowledge. It is to take      a wider view. It is to permit yourself an extraordinary freedom: someone else       does not have to be wrong in order that you may be right. (p.284)

The following are excerpts from other reviews of Of Wolves and Men:

              

               Of Wolves and Men is not just about wolves, but about how little is actually known about wolves—in other words, Lopez is interested in the mythologies that circulate around wolves. And, of course, humans are the creators of mythologies, so the book is just as much about humans. The book is also about how humans visualize wolves: Lopez’s writing is woven around visual culture, from historical photographs, to an Eskimo print of wolves eating a caribou, to illustrations of the wolf and the crane attached to the eponymous Aesopian fable. (Schaberg, 2010)

              

               Of Wolves and Men has helped raise our awareness of animals as fellow

               sentient beings with whom we share our planet and sharpened our

               understanding of how all creatures play essential roles in the spectacular,

               infinitely complex dance of life. (Seaman, 2004)

References:

Lopez, Barry. (1978). Of Wolves and Men. Touchstone, New York, NY.

PBS. (2010). Bill Moyer’s Journal: Barry Lopez. Retrieved November 2014 from http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04302010/profile.html

Schaberg, Christopher. (2010). What is Literature? Of Wolves and Men. Retreived November 2014 from http://whatisliterature.blogspot.com/2010/05/of-wolves-and-men.html

Seaman, Donna. (2004). Chicago Tribune. Perspectives on the Worlds of Wolves and Human Beings. Retrieved November 2014 from http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/Week-of-Mon-20040517/025231.html

Steven Barclay Agency. (2009-2014). Barry Lopez: National Book Award Winner,

Author of Arctic Dreams and Resistance. Retrieved November 2014 from

http://barclayagency.com/lopez.html#

Mississippi Solo by Eddy Harris.

What a grand adventure and such excellent writing.  I could not stop reading.  Check out the website too http://www.eddyharris.com/books/mississippi.htm

Since I have paddled the upper 1000+ miles and I have been on boats all the way down to New Orleans the places and sights were familiar and like an album in my head, but the experience that Eddy has was singular in many ways.

The river has numerous challenges - wind, current, meanders, barges, ships, boats, snow, rain, and rising and falling levels - that affect the most accomplished paddlers. This is a river that Mark Twain struggled to define in Life on the Mississippi and even with all the levees, locks, dams, wing dams, and control structures that give the sense of human's being in charge - it will always be the river that makes the final decision.  It is relentless and timeless. Into this maelstrom Eddy chose to test himself.

He did not own or know how to canoe when he began.  He just knew he wanted to do this and as all adventurers can attest - explaining why you are going to do something is more difficult that tell the story afterward.

It is a voyage of personal discovery.  Eddy learns the canoe, becomes one with the river and shares many of the people he encountered along the way.  His adventure is cloaked in philosophical enlightenment.

I can only suggest that you grab a cup of coffee and slip in to his adventure.  Better yet - sit by the river while you read!

Here is an excerpt.
"  A red fox scurried down to the edge of the water and ran along the shore. He kept pace with me and seemed to be watching me, keeping up with me. I had never seen a fox in the wild before. I didn't want him to ever go away. I didn't want this day to go away.

This feeling. Just a few years longer. Just a few more hours, minutes, moments. I hope that when I die I have those words on my lips: just a minute more. Not out of fear of death or out of wanting to live on and on, but because I will have been so thrilled with this life with all its ugliness and pain which does not in the least overshadow the warmth and glowing of peace and joy and moments like this morning on the river, and I will ask for just a few more minutes of it. The fox knew I was there and kept looking my way. Agile and funny little creature. And then he was gone."

Hancock, MI - one of the Images series

Images of America Hancock

By John Haeussler

Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S. C.

2014

The Images of America Series is a wonderful collection for families with tie to the local area – it is like a genealogy of a place.  The interest is local, but also fun for tourists and historians.  In the Hancock book we get a glimpse of the area that was a true frontier landscape where mining was just as intense as the gold fields out west.  This neighbor across the lake to Houghton had an isolated existence compared to Houghton where trails did not cross over water.  It was a railroad hub without access to the rest of the state.

This is the story of mining as well as a town, of fires, strikes, and changing times with some particular gems like the Ringling Brothers elephants going down Quincy and the inside of the harness and buggy shop.  My favorite is the Mitchell’s Furniture Store with chairs hanging from the ceiling. You can find vehicles from across the decades and a changing array of storefronts, but the most fun for me was in the recreational photos and the simple fun that combined outside and exercise.