Alaska -- Day 9

It's cold outside. We're cold. It was 42 degrees outside when we woke up this morning. And it was 43 and the wind was blowing at 9:30 am when we left Helena. In the next couple of days, we are expecting snow. But it was another day of beautiful scenery as we drove north to Great Falls--only 80+ miles away.







We cris-crossed the Missouri River a number of times during the trip.



After getting unhitched and set up, we drove into town to visit the Charles M. Russell Museum.



Russell, born in 1864 in St. Louis, traveled to Montana in 1888 and spent most of the rest of his life here. After working for various outfits while developing his skills as an painter,by 1893 he a full-time artist. It is interesting to see how his skills in drawing and painting people and animals developed from 1890 on. He did many small paintings and often included illustrations in his personal correspondence. I loved this small, detailed painting of a cowboy on a horse holding a bottle of liquor.



This painting is by O. C. Seltzer, a close friend of Russell. They often went on sketching together and you can see similarity in their styles. This is a painting of a prospecter.



After marrying, he and his wife built a house in Great Falls and he also built a log cabin studio where he painted and met with friends.



The American Buffalo or Bison was central to the lifestyle of Plains Indians, who Russell came to admire and often painted. The museum had a major display about the buffalo. Local native Americans often drove buffalo herds over a cliff so they could be killed to provide for the tribe. One part of the display was this statue of a buffalo which we thought was quite interesting.







As almost everyone knows, the immense herds of buffalo that once lived on the plains of North America were nearly wiped out. This photo shows buffalo bones that were harvested and shipped to Detroit, MI, for use in producing fertilizer, charcoal and other items.



This sign from the museum explains what was going on much better than I can.



Other displays included detailed paintings on hides



and Plains Indian headdresses.



We had visited this museum eight years ago on our first trip to Alaska. I think I absorbed a lot more on this visit.

The Old Frontier

Monday it was hot and fairly windy, so we decided to find indoor activities for the day. First we visited the outstanding Arizona History Museum in Tucson. Arizona didn't become a state until 1912, so it truly was part of the frontier less than 100 years ago. The museum has excellent exhibits showing life in Tucson in the 1870s, early transportation in the area, a lot of information on the work done by the CCC in the 1930s and early 1940s, and a description of the conflict between the U.S. Army and the Apache Indians, including the life of Geronimo. I know I'd rather travel across the state in our Chevy 2500HD 4X4 truck than in this stagecoach.



So many Arizona county sheriff's offices used Studebakers that the company finally named one model The Sheriff. Can't you see the deputy chasing the bad guys in this car?



I wouldn't have been very happy if this was the best shopping I had available.





How about this for a stove?



I'll bet we would enjoy the bread baked in this horno.



The exhibit on Exploring 1870's Tucson is a hands-on exhibit for curious people of all ages. Don't I look uncomfortable carrying this water olla on my head, using a head ring?



John doesn't look much better with this basket. But it really was pretty comfortable.



Gold, silver and copper mining have played a big part in Arizona's history and development. Here you can see what an ore crusher looked like.



This diorama shows what it was like when the U.S. Army brought some camels to the Arizona desert and tried to use them as pack animals. That experiment didn't last too long. In the end, some of the camels were let loose to live on their own. Can you imagine encountering one while hiking?



During the Spanish Colonial period, many exquisite things were imported from around the world. Look at these silver items.



The war between the Apaches and the United States was one of the tragic periods of our history, with terrible things done by both sides. Geronimo was a warrior chief who refused for many years to live on a reservation in Florida. When he finally surrendered, he ended up spending 27 years in prison in Texas. This picture is from a photograph of his band of Indians, taken in 1886.



One exhibit showed how early residents escaped the heat in Arizona. One method was to sleep on a cot outdoors, using wet sheets.



The CCC played a big role in development of the national parks and forests in Arizona, especially at the Grand Canyon and Colossal Cave, as well as building forest roads and fighting forest fires. The CCC workers even did anthropological excavation here!

After leaving the museum, we went to the Tucson Mall and spent two hours shopping--me for clothes, John for shoes. Would you believe neither of us bought a thing?

I also have to share these two pictures, one of the full moon rising above the Catalinas Saturday night and the other of the blooming Palo Verdi.