In 1883 Mrs. Gilpin's Frugalities Remnants, and 200 Ways of Using Them was published under the authorship of Susan Anna Brown.  The book contains no explanation as to whom Mrs. Gilpin is and why one should care to follow her program of frugalities, other than the obvious one of saving money.  Yet, the book apparently did well.  Essentially Frugalities is a cook book with a variety of recipes like Veal Ragout, Mock-Turtle Soup, Cabbage Jelly, Tongue on Toast, and Zephyrs.
As an example I have included the recipe for Fish on Toast.  I'll pass on that one but you might find it of interest.

Fish Toast.--Take cold boiled fish of any kind, pick it into flakes and heat in enough water to moisten it; add a bit of butter, and season with pepper and salt.  When it is hot, pour it on slices of buttered toast, and garnish with hard-boiled eggs, cut in slices.

The above monument was erected at the crest of the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains in modern Wyoming.  The monument was erected by Ezra Meeker, who had traveled the Oregon Trail as a young man and became the father of the movement to protect places associated what was the great adventure of his younger days.  Ezra and his team of oxen traveled the trail numerous times promoting trail preservation.  He also drove the trail and flew the trail and had he thought about it he might have tried to ski the trail.  Ezra is a classic example of what one dedicated person with a passion can do. Due in no small part to his efforts and those he inspired the Oregon Trail was designated by Congress as a National Historic Trail.

It might surprise the reader to know that Sacajawea, the only woman to accompany the Corps of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean and back is hardly mentioned in the journals.  Today she is famous, and even graces her own coin.  In 1805-1806 she was treated as one of the least mentionable members of the Corps often being called by the name of Janie.  

The April 28, 1806 journal entry does mention Sacajawea and here is the appropriate part.

"Fortunately thee was among these Wollawollahs, a prisoner belonging to a tribe of Shoshonee or Snake Indians, residing to the south the Multnomah, and visiting occasionally the heads of the Wollawollah creek.  Our Shoshone woman, Sacajawea, though she belonged to a tribe near the Missouri, spoke the same language as this prisoner, and by their means we were able to explain ourselves to the Indians, and answer all their inquiries with respect to ourselves and the object of our journey.  Our conversation inspired them with much confidence, and they soon brought several sick persons, for whom they requested our assistance.  We splintered the broken arm of one, gave some relief to another, whose knee was contracted by rheumatism, and administered what we thought beneficial for ulcers and eruptions of the skin, on various parts of the body, which are very common disorders among them.  But our most valuable medicine was eye-water, which we distributed, and which indeed, they required very much: the complaint of the eyes, occasioned by living on the water, and increased by the fine sand of the plains, being now universal."

As can be seen in this example, the person becomes secondary to the acts.  Her translation abilities had helped the Corps on more than one occasion but the person doing the translating is hardly important enough for the captains to mention.  It is most unfortunate because we have so many questions about Sacajawea the person.

Good news for the fans of 'Dem Bon'z.  Work is proceeding on the sequel, 'Dem Dry Bon'z.  We anticipate a summer release for the exciting sequel.  Bounty hunter Jim Lowe receives a special package containing human bones inscribed with a message from You Know Who.  Is Jack the Snipper back from the grave or did he have a partner who is now determined to have his revenge?  Joyce Smith reassembles her team to hunt for an evil that would not die.

Caspar Wever Collins was a Lieutenant in G Company of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry during the latter part of the Civil War.   The 11th was one of the units scattered about the Rocky Mountain West guarding the Oregon, California, and Overland Mail routes as well as the telegraph system, mainly in modern Wyoming.  Though an accomplished artist, who drew detailed illustrations of many military posts, he is remembered more for his tragic death than his life.  Caspar was the son of W.O. Collins the Colonel of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and was unlucky enough to be at Platte Bridge Station on July 26, 1865.  That day Indian warriors practiced the same strategy that worked so well at the Fetterman Fight to lure the army from the protective cover of a fortified position.  In this case the trap was sprung too early and most of the soldiers escaped.  The officers of the station refused to lead troops to protect a supply train and Caspar Collins, who was passing through, was given the assignment.  Young Collins was on a borrowed band horse that panicked when firing started, carrying him headlong into a group of warriors and his doom.   Caspar's sacrifice was commemorated and the town where Platte Bridge Station stood, became Casper, Wyoming.  It is not clear why the town spells his name incorrectly.

The above image appears to be an inscription left by Collins on July 6, 1864.  The inscription is from the Overland Mail Route at a sulphur spring.  In July of 1864 Caspar accompanied his father on a tour of the posts along the mail route, making it likely that this is an authentic Casper Collins inscription.  

Saulk headman Black Hawk is somewhat of a familiar stranger in history.  His name has been attached to the short 1832 conflict whereby Saulk, Ho-Chunk, Meskwaki (Fox), and Kickapoo warriors fought to redress issues that had arisen with the settlement of whites on lands controlled by those tribes.  However, American History tends to emphasize how the war influenced American Civil War leaders Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis or Mexican War leaders Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, than deal with this as another in the seemingly endless enforcements of acquisitions of Indian lands in the 19th Century.

Relationships between the cultures had been spotty.  Many of the tribes had sided with the British during the War of 1812.  The treaty of 1804 had ceded lands to the United States and as the sales of those lands progressed tensions mounted.  The "British Band," as the Indians were called, at first enjoyed success, crossing into Illinois and Wisconsin but eventually numbers won the day and the Tribes were rounded whipped at the Battle of Bad Axe.  The war was used by many to spur the removal of tribes across the Mississippi.  Oddly removal west of the Mississippi had been the issue that led to the war in the first place.

Black Hawk was among the leaders who escaped.  He later surrendered and was imprisoned for a year.  His autobiography was taken down by Antoinne LeClaire, and remains an historical and anthropological gem. Here is an example of Black Hawk remembering a courting ritual, 

"Our women plant the corn, and as soon as they get done, we make a feast, and dance the crane dance, in which they join us, dressed in their best, and decorated with feathers.  At this feast our young braves select the young woman they wish to have for a wife.  He then informs his mother, who calls on the mother of the girl, when the arrangement is made, and the time appointed for him to come.  He goes to the lodge when all are asleep, (or pretended to be.) lights his matches, which have ben provided for this purpose and soon finds where his intended sleeps.  He then awakens her, and holds the light to his face so that she may know him- after which he places the light close to her.  If she blows it out, the ceremony is ended, and he appears in the lodge the next morning, as one of the family.  If she does not blow out the light, but leaves it to burn out, he retires from the lodge.  The next day he places himself in full view of it, and plays his flute.  The tune changes, to let them know he is not playing for them.  When his intended makes her appearance at the door, he continues his courting tune, until she returns to the lodge.  He then gives over playing, and makes another trial at night, which generally turns out to be favorable.  During the first year they ascertain whether they can agree with each other, and ca be happy-if not, they part and each looks out again.  If we were to live together and disagree, we should be as foolish as the whites!  No indiscretion can banish a woman from her parental lodge- no difference how many children she may bring home, she is always welcome- the kettle is over the fire to feed them."

Funerary oration is an art form that has been with humans at least as long as writing.  Modern funerals tend toward anecdotal compendia of the deceased's loved ones.  Only state funerals tend to maintain the lofty oratory of days passed. In 1817 John Bradbury published a little known work called Travels in the Interior of America, in the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811.  The book detailed his adventures in the American Mid-west  focusing on the Missouri River, Ohio River, and with some mention of the Platte River.  In the appended material for that work is a fine example of recorded Native American oratory.  The time is July 14, 1813.  The place is Portage des Sioux.  The occasion is the funeral of Teton chief Black Buffalo.  The speaker is Maha chief Big Elk.

"Do not grieve-- misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men.  Death will come, and always comes out of season;-- it is the command of the Great Spirit, and all nations and people must obey.  What is passed, and cannot be prevented, should not be grieved for.  Be not discouraged or displeased then, that in visiting your father here, you have lost your chief.  A misfortune of this kind may never befal (sic.) you, but this would have attended you perhaps at your own village.  Five times have I visited this land, and never returned with sorrow or pain.  Misfortunes do not flourish particularly in our path-- they grow everywhere.  What a misfortune for me that I could not have died this day, instead of the chief that lies before us.  The trifling loss my nation would have sustained in my death, would have been doubly paid for by the honours of my burial-- they would have wiped off every thing like regret.  Instead of being covered with a cloud of sorrow-- my warriors would have felt the sunshine of joy in their hearts.  To me it would have be a most glorious occurrence.   Hereafter, when I die at home, instead of a noble grave and a grand procession, the rolling music and thundering cannon, with a flag waving at my head, I shall be wrapped in a robe, (an old robe perhaps) and hoisted on a slender scaffold to the whistling winds, soon to be blown down to the earth-- my flesh to be devoured by the wolves, and my bones rattled on the plains by wild beasts.  Chief of the soldiers-- your labors have not been in vain:-- your attention shall not be forgotten.  My nation shall know the respect that is paid over the dead.  When I return I will echo the sound of your guns."

There's nothing like the sight of friends coming together to greet the day and share a meal.

April 22nd marks a grim milestone for humankind.  It was on this date in 1915 the German Army first effectively deployed chorine gas to break the stalemate on the Western Front.  An abortive attempt at gassing the enemy took place at the Battle of Bolimov but the cold was so intense that the gas had liquified.   Near Gravenstafel the Germans opened up over 5,700 ninety pound cylinders of deadly chlorine.  A deadly cloud drifted toward the French lines and the results were a disaster.  The French suffered approximately 6,000 casualties from the gas and the more conventional methods of reliving death.  The gas, settled in the deep trenches, forcing soldiers to choose between painful asphyxiation or abandoning the shelter of their earthworks.  The gas cleared an area of roughly four miles but the Germans had not planned for success.  Additional gas attacks followed in the next few days, but even the German troops were a little leery of occupying gas enveloped positions.  The allies quickly developed countermeasures to this new weapon of mass destruction.  One of these was to wear cotton soaked in urine over the face.  Soon soldiers, dogs, and horses alike had gas masks to protect them from chlorine and the family of new gas weapons to come.

Join me in calling in an aerial drop of fire retardant to blow out the 2,768 candles on Rome's birthday cake!

Sing along with me (to the tune of Happy Birthday to You a.k.a. Good Morning to You)

Happy Birthday to Rome.
Happy Birthday to Rome
Happy Birthday Eternal City
Happy Birthday to Rome

And Many More