In 1960 or so, Professor Perry C. Van Arsdale was helping his 7-year-old granddaughter researching the Santa Fe trail. He found his granddaughter's textbook to have some number of errors.
He set off to create a map of pioneer history (prior to the 1900's), using his own knowledge and information from judges, sheriffs, and descendants of historical figures. This was his start in creating
the Pioneer New Mexico map, which would contain 300
towns that no longer exist,
old trails of all sorts (including the three historic Santa Fe trails and various
camel routes), locations of minor squabbles and major battles, and because he couldn't fit everything on the maps, he also included
extensive notes in the corner of the map.
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posted by filthy light thief
on Apr 27, 2013 -
17 comments
First post, deep breath, here goes nuffin.
Judith Bingham is a multitalented British born classical singer, composer and musician. Driving home in the dark on Halloween listening to Radio Three (I'll let someone else out there explain Radio Three to our overseas cousins), I was particularly taken by her atmospheric choral setting of
'Ghost towns of the American West' a poem by
Vesta Pierce Crawford, a Mormon Utah poet associated with the University.
Despite delving much further into Mormon websites than I would usually care to venture I have not been able to find the text of the poem, if anyone out there can give a hand I'd be grateful.
Judith Bingham also wrote an opera based on the life of
Errol Flynn! Now that I would like to see.
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posted by surfdad
on Nov 28, 2007 -
10 comments
During my long and mis-spent youth, I often spent time traveling the long dusty spaces between southern New Mexico and west Texas. There's a wide patch in the road called Orogrande, New Mexico, a virtual
ghost town. I've always wondered why there'd even be a town in the middle of the desert and nowhere.
Now I know why. Forgive the numerous pop-ups (and occassional ad for boobies) won't you? This is a tremendous resource for those interested.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Jul 16, 2002 -
17 comments
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