The Bogtrotters

Today's picture shows a band that was known as the Bogtrotters. The picture is from 1937, and it looks like a bluegrass band. The picture made me wonder about their music, so I was able to find the following recording, if you want to know what they sounded like.

Drum Major

If this is going to be band week, we have to make sure we do not forget the Drum Major. The picture above is of a drum major on the grounds of the white house. One would hope that his band is in front of him, and that he is not just standing there like lawn art.

Buggy

Welcome to Horse and Buggy Week here at OPOD. We will be looking at days back when you needed a horse go get around. Today's picture is from 1938, and shows an Amish buggy. By 1938 is was just about down to only the Amish still using horses and buggies. Around 1900 cars started showing up but buggies remained dominant. I think it was in the mid-1910's that cars stopped being a novelty and really started replacing buggies. By the 1930's I think wagons and buggies were pretty much a thing of the past.

Teddy Roosevelt

Today's picture shows Teddy Roosevelt arriving by carriage. The picture was taken in 1910, so this picture would have been after he was President. Looks like he had quiet the elegant ride.

King Edward

Today's picture shows King Edward riding in his carriage. In both this picture and the picture yesterday of Roosevelt, it is striking how 100 years ago dignitaries could travel more openly and without all the protection. Just another sign of how many ways things have changed in the last 100 years.

Horse and Buggy

Today's picture shows a horse and buggy in front of the Tyler School in Washington DC. The picture was taken in 1899. Notice how nicely all the children are dresses.

Atlanta Carriage

This picture captures the elegance of the Deep South. The picture was taken in 1899 in Atlanta, Georgia. I note that this carriage was designed to be driven by a driver, with a separate compartment for the passengers.

Cleburne Texas

This is Horse and Buggy Week, and today's picture delivers up a LOT of horses and buggies. The picture was taken on the town square in Cleburne, Texas. The picture was taken in the late 1800's. One must wonder how someone in the middle could work their way out of the square. Looks like a tangled mess.

Marshall Texas

This is an interesting picture from Marshall, Texas taken in 1939. The picture shows farmers picking up supplies in town, and loading them into a wagon. You can see several other wagons in the picture. So, in the late 30's it looks like people were still using horse and wagon, but I imaine it died out pretty quickly after this.

Balloon Flight

Today's picture shows Albert Leo Stevens after his balloon is aloft. Yesterday we saw him preparing for launch. In this picture we see the entire balloon, and we can tell that in fact the balloon is a gas balloon, not a hot air balloon. The picture was taken in 1911, so most likely the balloon was filled with Hydrogen. Hydrogen has greater lift than helium, but of course one must be concerned that Hydrogen is a highly explosive gtas.

Professor Thaddeus Lowe

This is an amazing picture of a man that could be considered the first professional aviator. The picture shows Professor Thaddeus Lowe. The picture was taken around 1861. Professor Lowe had a practical lighter than air balloon system that could take men aloft in a basket under the balloon. Professor Lowe was used extensively for surveillance in the Civil War. It was an incredible advantage for Union Forces to be able to send Professor Lowe and his associates aloft to go up and peer over at confederate troop positions. It was the first example of aerial reconnaissance. They could go up, see confederate positions, and create sketches of those positions, and then give the Union Forces incredible intelligence.

Professor Thaddeus Lowe's Civil War Balloon

Yesterday we showed a picture of balloon Pioneer Professor Thaddeus Lowe. Today we show a picture of the ground operations as his balloon is being prepared for flight. His balloons used a hydrogen gas as the lifting gas. The gas was produced by a process of partial combustion of coal or coke. One assumes that this combustion and generation is taking place in the two wagons at the left of the picture. This picture was taken at the Battle of Fair Oaks, where Lowe's flight provided valuable reconnaissance. 

Henry Giffard Balloon

This is a picture of Henry Giffard's balloon. From the people that can bee seen in the picture, you can see that this is an enormous balloon.  Giffard was one of the pioneers of ballooning, and this picture was taken in 1878 in Paris. Notice the huge gondola beneath the balloon. This appears to be sort of an Amusement Park style ride. To the left of the balloon under the canopy is a large cable mechanism. The balloon remained tethered, and would allow riders to go up in the gondola, enjoy spectacular aerial views of Paris, and then be pulled back to the ground by the cables. Amazing technology for this day and age.

Aerial View of Paris, 1878

This is an incredible Aerial View of Paris, taken in 1878. It was taken from Giffard's Balloon, which we showed yesterday. What an awesome ride this must have been for someone living in the 1870's. As we mentioned yesterday, the balloon appears to have been set up as an amusement park style ride. Anyone with the money for a ride could enjoy the spectacular view shown above.

Sudan Royal Palace

There are areas of Africa like Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania that are enjoying a time of great peace and tranquility. Such is not the case in the Sudan. Since the British left in 1956, things have been very bad. Genocide is the norm. In order to try to stabilize things the Sudan was broken into Sudan and South Sudan to try and stop the warring. That appeared to work for a while, but now Civil War appears to continue to rage in South Sudan. I would pray that the peace found in some of the neighboring areas would come to Sudan.

North Africa

Today we have a beautiful scene from North Africa. It is an evening scene showing the Nile and the pyramids in the background. What a majestic site.

Alexandria Egypt

Today we have another picture from North Africa. Today's picture shows the airport at Alexandria, Egypt as it was in the year 1936. Again, I love the magnificent old passenger biplanes.

Zanzibar

Today we have a picture from Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a small island off the coastline of Tanzania. Interesting that this picture appears much more cosmopolitan than most we have seen in this series. It looks more like North Africa to me than East Africa. In any event, we see a Banana stand with several British people walking around.

Arriving in Sudan

Ah yes, back in the day when travelling by air was something fine and elegant. The picture above shows the interior of the airplane we pictured yesterday. Look how fine everything looks and what an adventure it must have been back then to travel. I like being somewhere, but the act of travel itself has now become nothing short of a nightmare.

The New and the Old

Today's picture might be my favorite one of our Africa Series. I love pictures like this that show the new and the old in the same picture. We see the man on the donkey doing things the way they have been done for thousands of years, and then we see the fancy car in the background. A striking picture from 1936 Sudan.

Shambat Sudan

Today's picture is from 1936 and it shows a remote area near Shambat, Sudan. I like how we see a time and place where the humble donkey was still the prime mode of transportation. Interestingly there are still part of Africa where the Donkey is still King of the Road.

Below is an amazing picture from a remote region of Kenya known as Pokot. In Pokot the Donkey is still King of the Road. This region is known for milk productions and all the little farmers and families have a milk cow or two. The interesting thing is that they milk their cows, load the milk onto their donkey, and then the donkey walks to milk to the dairy on his own. He goes right to where he is supposed to, and waits in line till he is unloaded and then walks home. We also see that people will take their donkey to a water hole, load him with water, and then the donkey will walk the water home on his own, and just stand by the house waiting for someone to unload him. Really amazing. The picture below shows the donkey's going on their own to deliver the milk to the dairy.

Water from the Nile

Today's picture shows the age old tradition of gathering water from the Nile. The picture was takein Sudan in the year 1936, but it could of just as well been 136. Things change slowly in this part of the world, and scenes like this can still be seen today.

Tribesmen by Aeroplane

This is another one of those pictures I love showing the clash of the new and the old. We see traditional African warriors, but in the background a modern (in 1936) British Imperial Aeroplane. What an amazing site the plane must have been to the tribesmen the first time they saw it.

On a warm, sunny day my brother Drew and I climbed the long-abandoned but well-used Firewarden's Trail to the summit of Mount Hale (4054 ft.). This is a scenic "back-door" approach to the nearly viewless summit, passing through seemingly endless glades of white birch that grew up after a massive 1903 forest fire. On the way down I veered off-trail to a ledge with a long view up the Little River valley.

We started off with a 0.8 mile stroll up the North Twin Trail on the bed of the Little River logging railroad, which operated in this valley for a few years in the 1890s.

At the first river crossing we continued on the heavily-used unofficial path that bypasses the first two crossings, enjoying some nice views of the Little River. After crossing a side stream we reached the point where you hop up onto the Firewarden's Trail..

I've been on the Firewarden's Trail several times over the years. It was once a tractor road that served the fire tower atop Mount Hale, at which time it was known as the Mount Hale Trail and was described in the AMC White Mountain Guide. The lower part leads through fine hardwood forest.

A beautiful, mellow woods climb.

Before long we began ascending through the birch glades for which the trail is locally famous. Years ago the abandoned trail was "rediscovered" by backcountry skiers, and has become fairly well-known among hikers as well.

This is one of the largest birch stands in the Whites.

After hiking the rough Hi-Cannon Trail to Cannon Mountain the day before, Drew was enjoying the mellow grade, good footing and gorgeous forest. 

The birches extend to nearly 3600 ft. in elevation!

Then there is a quick transition to a high-elevation softwood forest of mainly balsam fir.

A corridor through the conifers.

One of the old poles that held up the warden's telephone line.

Old barrels rusting in the woods near the mountain's northern subsidiary summit.

Drew on his 30th NH 4000-foot summit!

The big summit cairn is known for its magnetic rocks, always fun to test with your compass.  The views are now almost completely gone on Hale's summit. If you stand atop the cairn you can barely see the tippy-tops of Mount Willey and the Twins. Under a broiling sun we searched in vain for a geocache located here.

The fire tower was built in 1928, abandoned in 1948, and dismantled in 1972.

A weather-beaten USGS reference mark.

On the way down I investigated this clearing off the trail, which looked like a possible old logging camp site.

A moose had bedded down here.

Drew waits beside a tall stand of hobblebush.

Drew then continued down while I birch-whacked up to a familiar ledge on the west ridge.

A fine perch!

The ledge offers an unusual view far up the remote Little River valley. A few years ago my bushwhacking friend John "1HappyHiker" Compton bushwhacked all the way up to the head of the valley and up to the ridge between Mount Guyot and South Twin. I've used this valley three times for winter ascents of Zealand Mountain. It's a marvelous area for whacking.

Mount Guyot at the head of the valley. Zealand Mountain on the left and spurs of the Twin Range on the right.

South and North Twin across the valley.

A nice spot to hang out in the sun for a few minutes.

Marvelous birch-and-fern glades behind the ledges.

Evening light on the lower Firewarden's Trail.

An upstream view of the Little River. It was a great day on the birch-wooded slopes of Mount Hale.