A rare 38 star US Flag appeared at the annual Mount Vernon, Iowa antique fair on Independence Day. The sign next to the flag reports it to be from 1875 when US Grant was the President. The flag's asking price was $475.
A replica of the Bennington flag served as the US Bicentennial flag in 1976. This one was available for $45.
Like the crop circles found in England this circular impression begs for an understanding from Bertram, Iowa. It is round in nature with no burn marks or related smells in the area. Could it be the work of aliens or natural earth-bound forces trying to tell us something? Despite those characteristics this meadow grass feature is probably a manmade harvest built by a nearby farmer and his thatching equipment. But, still...could it possibly be from another world?
Ah, its finally back - the cool breezes of conditioned air. Thanks to the AC technician who came to examine why the older-than-it-should-be central cooling unit shut down on Friday evening. Turns out it was not a faulty compressor or blown fuse. The air conditioner stopped working because a mouse or chipmunk chewed some wires inside the unit. After replacing the wires and securing the housing, the AC unit roared back to life, hopefully doing its thing for the rest of the summer.
Shiny rails indicate a still active rail line passing through Vinton, Iowa. The old Vinton Depot is a favorite photo target and is now a historical museum. The depot building, which was once part of the Rock Island Line, will be featured in a future posting but for now I am quite taken by the detail in this image.
On a rail bed, called ballast and made up of hard rocks typically quartzite, is an almost submerged cedar or Douglas fir tie. Upon the tie is an iron brace which shores up the rail line. Two railroad spikes anchor the brace on the exterior of the track. There is an interior brace and spikes opposite the exterior brace however they cannot be seen from this viewpoint.
One can often find spent spikes or brackets along the tracks, garage sales, thrift shops or as repurposed artwork. Technically these items belong to the railroad and are often rounded up near the tracks and hauled away for salvage.
Happy Flag Day from a small cemetery in Lisbon, Iowa. Freedom on display.
An annual validation of Spring. Mow them or let them be? Doesn't really matter. They will be back again.
Union Pacific's locomotive 7271 pulls a long line of empty coal cars through Mount Vernon, Iowa westbound. More than likely the UP is on its way to the coal fields near Gillette, Wyoming. At the end of this train was another locomotive pushing this long line of empties.
Nothing like a cool front pressing through the region to build these cumulus beauties in the late afternoon. While the sun was setting to the west, these clouds developed ahead of the front. Storm clouds in the west moved in two different directions on Monday evening. These pillows of white were the best, most dramatic of the bunch.
A big thanks to all who defended our freedoms. These particular WWII markers reside in a small cemetery in Lisbon, Iowa. While the property is small in size one of the cemetery's military heroes had been featured in my blog previously, Orian Owens as well as the Gettysburg battlefield boulder.
River commerce is alive and well on the Mississippi River. Barge traffic is quite common along this portion of the river at Muscatine, Iowa where grain and other terminals are located. Marquette Transportation Company's Jacob Michael Eckstein, an inland towboat positions a 15 barge array for the journey northward.
According the U.S. Coast Guard database, the Eckstein was once called the Seminole Princess. The vessel was built in 1984, is listed as 130 feet long and hails from St. Louis, MO. More data can be found here.
The Pearl Button is a modern day, old-time looking excursion boat located in Muscatine, Iowa. When visiting southeast Iowa I am on the lookout for the paddlewheeler cruising on the Mississippi River. While the boat seems to be always present at its dock, I did see a crew member preparing the boat with supplies for an excursion a few years ago. The Pearl Button's website indicates that the boat is available for river cruises but has no set schedule. For scheduled cruises, boats like the Riverboat Twilight can be accessed in LeClaire, Iowa, home of the History Channel's American Pickers on the Mississippi River. And for even longer cruises you can jump onboard other lines at St. Paul, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans and other ports on the great river.
The Pearl Button is docked at Muscatine's city dock landing. Attached to a floating dock which is anchored by three huge poles, gives the Pearl Button plenty of room to stay put should (and when) the river floods. On this day the Pearl Button remained docked while the Riverboat Twilight, sport boats and barges passed by on Old Man River.
This 34 star US flag flew during opening ceremonies of the first railroad bridge in Davenport, Iowa. The date was April 21, 1856 - 160 years ago today. See it at Davenport's Putnum Museum.
There's an old dump adjacent to the Cedar River in Cedar Falls, Iowa. As the sandy soil erodes, a mix of industrial and residential discarded material surfaces. Present in this image are fragments of coal and a large iron I-stake. A few steps away are shards of glass from broken small bottles and various busted ceramic pottery. Its an interesting area but be sure to wear thick footwear. Clues from the marks on the ceramics and other material suggest that the majority of the dump contains items from the late 1800s. About three feet away from this stake is where lucky Noah (see previous post) found the clay pipe bowl.
Meet Noah. He and his buddies were out exploring the river parks in Cedar Falls on Sunday. I was out looking for anything interesting to photograph when Noah and his buddies stopped by. While we were talking about photography Noah happened to look down at his feet. There he picked up two items on the Cedar River shore line. One item was a cattle bone that was cut into a ring or letter "O" shape. Next to that was this bit of history.
Noah picked up a clay pipe bowl without the stem. He handed it to me to examine and I cleaned it of sand. You have a clay pipe fragment from 1850 - 1900 I told him. The bowl is unbroken and in good shape. He offered to give it to me but I declined. I explained that he had found something special and should keep it. We looked up similar pipe fragments on eBay to discover a lot of 16 clay pipe bowls (without stems) are going for $80, so about $5 a piece.
Noah planned to show it to his history teacher today but more importantly he seemed to get real serious about "treasure" hunting especially since he actually found something cool.
