Chinese Pioneers In The Northwest

 

This is not Lee Mann (or Li Man) who was born in China and came to America in 1869 at age 15. Arriving in Elk City, Idaho, he served as a packer over mountain trails, worked some placer ground and later was proprietor of a mercantile store.

In 1879, when he was 26, he returned to his native China, married and stayed only two years before returning to Idaho. He didn't return to China for 49 years (1928) and in the meantime his son had married and reared seven children. 

Li/Lee was proud to be an American and didn't want to return to China even though his wife and son never immigrated. An article in the Spokane Daily Chronicle, 7 Jul 1935, states "at Elk City he is known as an honest citizen." 

In 1930, Lee was living in Spokane, "widowed," never naturalized ("alien") and at age 76 was still employed. By 1840, he was 86, living in Grangeville, Idaho, working as a placer miner with "O" income. 

Lee died on 19 September 1942 and lies resting in the Grangeville Cemetery. 

What a story!

Railroad History Bits, Pt. 2

 

* Chicago became the nation's leading rail center by 1860

* Railroads reached the Mississippi River in 1854; first railroad bridge over the Mighty Mo was in 1856.

* West coast rail operations began in Sacramento Valley in 1856 with two locomotives that had been brought around Cape Horn by ship.

* The first railroad tunnel was built in 1833 near Johnstown, Pennsylvania; it was about 900 feet long.

* The hook-headed spike used by railroads to fasten rails to crossties was first patented in 1840.

* As of December 2021, CyndisList had 382 links under the topic of railroads............ go learn more! 

Seahorses: Our Ancestors Never Knew

 

Seahorses: What I Learned At the Seahorse Farm, just north of Kona, Hawaii: 

·         Seahorses are found in every ocean in the world; there are 53 known species our tour guide explained.

·         They can be 2 to 11 inches long, depending on species; they can live 1 to 4 years, depending on species. They have no stomach or teeth; they feed by sucking in their prey through a tubular snout; they’re patient and just wait for something yummy to drift by; they swim by means of fluttering fins on their heads and back.

·         They don’t live long in captivity; one reason is that they are monogamous; this facility is trying to breed that out of them to help the species survive.

·         They are endangered for many reasons: some cultures revere them as medicine; the coastal seas where they live are becoming more polluted; the seas are warming; they are being harvested for pets; they are harvested and dried for souvenirs!!

·         This farm raises all species here to put back into the oceans of the world or to give to aquariums (preventing ocean harvesting).

·         They are bred to be hardier, prettier (!!) and “swingers” that will mate with others so for better reproduction and survival.

·         The farm keeps them in big tanks with waters like where they live (salinity, temperature, food).

·         The farm feeds them on teeny red shrimp (opi’ula) which abundantly grow in pools in the coastal Kona lava rocks where fresh water draining through the rocks to the ocean mixes just right with seawater.

·         The farm has a 50% survival rate compared with 1% in the wild.

·         Seahorses have no eyelids; each eye is independent; they can see up to 20-feet out of water.

·         The female deposits her load of eggs into the male’s special pouch where he fertilizes them and keeps them for a 30-day gestation; on “birthday” he can deliver up to 600 fry; once born, the fry are totally on their own; once a female sees that a male is “empty” she will “fill him up again.”

·         The fry are teeny, less than ¼ inch; at the farm they are kept in special tanks with just right water and temperatures and food and they grow fast…faster than in the wild.

·         While I didn’t get to touch or really feel one, I was instructed to make a “basket” of my hands with opened fingers touching and the helper put a seahorse to curl its tail around a finger. So cool.

Want to know more? There is a great article found online in Wikipedia.

 

Genealogy Humor Time!

 

Railroad History Bits

 

Railroads were a major factor in the forming of our United States as we know them. Let's learn some history! And please think about your ancestor's timeline fitting into these bits. 

* The first railroad in the U.S. was a short track of wooden rails built in 1795 at Boston and was operated by horsepower. :-) 

* Along with horsepower, the early railroads were powered by the use of sails and a horse walking on a treadmill aboard the train. Steam soon made all that obsolete.

*In 1815, the first railroad was chartered to run between New Brunswick and Trenton, New Jersey

* Steam power was a major force for railroad locomotion until the 1950s when most U.S. railroads shifted to diesel-electric engines.

* Early rails were built of wood with strips of iron attached on the top. By 1850, most track was made of iron and soon of steel.

* Andrew Jackson was the first U.S. president to travel by rail; he went 13 miles in 1833.

* The greatest period of growth for U.S. railroads was during the country's westward expansion, especially during the 1870s and 1880s. 

Banana Facts & Bet You Didn't Know

 

Bet you had no clue that about 60% of your genes have a recognizable counterpart in the banana genome. (Google) 

Did our ancestors (in the U.S.) eat bananas? Yes, possibly after "1870 when Capt. Lorenzo Baker brought bananas he had purchased in Jamaica to sell in Jersey City." But also just as possible bananas were brought to the Americas by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. "Bananas did not make their way to the U.S. until the 1800s when sailors brought banana shoots home from the Caribbean." (Google)

*There are over 1000 varieties of these fruits grown in 150 countries.

*Bananas were also cultivated as a source of fibres that were treated and made into cloth. 

* Bananas grow on a tree, right? Wrong. The "trunk" is actually a false stem for the largest herbaceous flowering plant.

* Bananas float in water, as do apples and watermelons.

Railroads Advertised For Settlers

 

Public Attention Is Now Largely Directed To The

Vast New Regions Opened For Settlement By The

Completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad

Through Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Northern Idaho, Washington And Oregon;  THERE ARE:

* New towns growing into important trade centers

* Large unoccupied areas of fertile lands.... wheat farming

* Extensive grazing ranges for stock

* Rich mineral districts and heavy bodies of timber

* Navigable rivers, lakes and "innumerable water powers"

* Profitable fisheries

* Exceptional opportunities for Merchants, Manufacturers, Professional Men, Mechanics and Traders to Engage in Business

Is is any wonder that settlers, your ancestors and mine, flocked west in droves???????? The railroad offered something for everybody. 

Spokane the Lilac City

 

According to a 2014 news story on KXLY.com, lilacs are not native to the Spokane area. According to local legend, the first lilac was brought here from Minnesota in 1882, but a Spokane Historical website, J.J. Browne planted the first lilac bushes in his yard in 1906. John W. Duncan planted 128 lilac bushes in Manito Park in 1912 which "which sparked a lilac craze as the city encouraged gardeners to plant the fragrant bushes." 

It makes good sense to me that the early settlers to the area would bring starts of their favorite plants with them. Many families have stories of just that....... "That plant was great-grandma's, she brought it on the wagon train." Knowing they would never return "back there," they brought along tangible memories of that home. 

Tromping around Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge with retired manager, Nancy Curry, we explored the barely visible markers to locate old homesteads. In most cases, a lilac bush is all that's left. 

(Photo from my yard,  Donna)

Spokane Airport & The Sun-God

 

If you're returning home on Alaska Airlines, right as you head for baggage claim, there is a plaque on the wall that I never noticed before and bet you didn't either.  It reads:

SPOKANE SUN-GOD

Artwork by Tom Quinn, Spokane

Given no more than a second thought today, non-stop air service was once viewed as nothing more than a dream until two Spokane natives, a donated plane and a nation enamored with flight changed the course of history.

On August 15, 1929, the Spokane Sun-God, a 1929 Buh CA-6 sesquiplane, lifted off from Spokane's Felts Field beginning a journey that would stand as the first ever non-stop transcontinental round-trip flight. 

From takeoff to touchdown the Sun-God covered 10,000 air miles and set a world distance record for a non-stop flight of 7,200 point-to-point miles in just five days.

From Spokane to San Francisco to New York and back to Spokane, pilots Nick Mamer and Art Walker battled lack of sleep, forest fire smoke, harrowing mid-air refueling, non-existent radio communication and equipment failure. The challenges merely served to spark the determination that would give wings to their journey.

On August 20, 1929, more than 10,000 spectators packed Felts Field to watch the Spokane Sun-God safely end its remarkable sojourn more than 120 hours after it began. Considered pioneers by many for their efforts, Mamer's and Walker's trip aboard the Spokane Sun-God set a precedent that helped shape the future of air travel.

An art project of Spokane International Airport

and the City of Spokane Arts Commission.