After
checking out from the motel this morning, I drove up into Echo Canyon, where the Mormon
Militia held off the US Army for the winter of 1857-58 in their attempt to keep
President Buchanan from replacing Brigham Young as Territorial Governor with
his appointee - Alfred Cumming. The narrow
canyon was a great place for a handful of Mormons to thwart 2,500 American
soldiers.
This
Mormon Rebellion between the LDS Theocracy and the United States is an amazing,
and generally untaught, period of US history, and rarely do the histories portray the militias as Traitors against the U.S.A.
There were few birds here, but the ground squirrels were busy.
 |
| Uinta Ground Squirrel - Urocitellus armatus |
I am
not absolutely certain that my Savage and Anderson ancestors passed through
here in 1846 and 1847, but many of the wagon trains did, so that they could
re-provision.
 |
| Gotta wonder whether this is what Great-Great-Grandma saw . . . |
I do
know that my Great-Great-Grandmother Lucy Savage walked across the continent
with her Uncle Towner Savage in 1846, and that my Great-Great-Grandfather James
Mechlin Anderson rode his Morgan horse across the Oregon Trail in 1847. My grandparents published an article on
James’ journey in the Oregon Historical Register in 1959. I transcribed the original handwritten
document and it is online Here.
 |
| Groshon Creek flows through the Park |
The
museum and grounds are pretty amazing, having considerable primary documents
from and about the famous Mountain Man Jim Bridger, as well as displays
documenting travel through this country from the local tribes, through the
wagon trains, to the Lincoln Highway.
 |
| The Black-and-Orange Cabins |
I
was very impressed with the museum, and especially with the helpfulness of Linley Mayer,
manager of the park, and highly recommend a stop at this historical gem!
 |
| Linley - a most professional and friendly Park Manager! Give her a Raise! |
As
far as birding, the cool species I saw here included a flock of Red Crossbills
having a go at the blue spruce cones.
 |
| The crossbills were flagged as unusual by eBird |
I
continued west and got off the freeway after looking ahead to see the grill of
a truck pointing in my direction!!
 |
| You never want to see this when you're zoning out on a long drive . . . |
Fortunately, it was being towed, and not coming toward me.
As I
took a side drive into the Pawnee National Grassland.
I was hoping but not succeeding
to find longspurs and pipits. There were
other birds to see, however.
 |
| I will never tire of hearing the Western Meadowlark sing! |
As
well as the prairie Pronghorns.
The
fossil fuel industry is pretty obvious in the Rocky Mountain states.
 |
| Little oil pump on the prairie . . . |
The sun was setting as I left the grasslands.
 |
| Energy - not powered by the sunset |
I made it as far as Sterling,
Colorado and pulled into the Ramada by Wyndham, east of the Correctional
facility, to spend the night. I was
amused by the sign on the motel door, which made me wonder what I would do if I
were a teetotaler?
 |
| Well, if you insist . . . |
Echo Canyon eBird Checklist is Here
Fort
Bridger State Museum eBird Checklist is Here
Pawnee
Grasslands eBird Checklist is Here
Pawnee
Buttes eBird Checklist is Here
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