NOSTALGIA AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE".....Yogi Berra, catcher, N Y Yankees.......
I firmly feel, being the romantic that I am, and with a powerful imagination and memory, that nostalgia is a good thing and meditating on ancient memories can be fun and arouse deep emotions. Who does not feel imminent tears, and wonder for hours what life was like in the old days. There was one constant theme when I was a youngster fishing and wandering along the Mississippi River, and it was a reference by old guys about the greatness of outdoor situations in the "Old Days". "You should have seen the duck hunting in the 40's in the Cannon bottoms, the sky was full of them. The walleyes and pike in Lake Pepin, west of Stockholm Wisconsin, were 10 pounds and more, and full limits were had every time old Morris Anderson, went out to fish, trolling in his 10 h p motor. Oh, yes there were pheasants around way back in the 40's, now they have moved to South Dakota. One thing about life and nature, it doesn't sit still, it constantly changes, mostly in a circle. The American Indians had deep feelings about this, and made their teepees and ceremonial grounds in a circle.
Right now I can remember sitting on a high bluff above Red Wing Minnesota, with a copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" in my pocket, watching a steam train chug up the Mississippi River Valley, blasting its steam whistle as it entered the depot in the town. What a sight that was and the sounds, feelings and memories it brings up, the deep soul of that experience, is part of American History. The big steam engines were an amazing work of engineering and a few still exist in the Rocky mountains and take tourists on rides in high mountain towns over high passes. People do not soon forget that experience.
The cool thing about these old freight trains was, the bums and hobos who rode the rails from Chicago and points south, up to access the summer work in the oats, wheat, and barley fields of the farm country, between Wisconsin and North and South Dakota. The Federal government recognized the need for these migrant workers and allowed the hobos to ride with no interference to provide for the workers needed to help the growers to turn their crops into a commodity that could be sold through the giant grain mills along the Mississippi River, to the Chicago Board of Trade in Commodities. The large cities in the Mid West were produced by the need for grains in the nation for food and feed for cattle and bread for the people. Massive railroad centers in Minneapolis, and Chicago, as well as Milwaukee and St Louis, were built to move this large supply of grain.
Cattle were moved from Texas by drovers to Dodge City Kansas, to be shipped by rail to Chicago where the giant stock yards were built. The beef for food consumption in the U S rotated through this network of railroad centers to the food distribution centers. This is all part of the expansion of America to the west that followed the construction of rail roads all the way, eventually, to the west coast. The colorful history of cowboys, gunslingers, outlaws, mountain men and pioneering homesteaders was created by this same need for cattle and grains, which thrived in the new American west. Legendary outlaws like Jesse James, the Younger brothers, and Bonnie and Clyde, evolved from this colorful time, as a by product of law and order moving slowly to the towns being built by the rail road expansion. Novels were written about these people, legends were created, and more will be written in the future.
"East are the remembered Kings and forgotten Sepulchers, West is the golden grass. "
I firmly feel, being the romantic that I am, and with a powerful imagination and memory, that nostalgia is a good thing and meditating on ancient memories can be fun and arouse deep emotions. Who does not feel imminent tears, and wonder for hours what life was like in the old days. There was one constant theme when I was a youngster fishing and wandering along the Mississippi River, and it was a reference by old guys about the greatness of outdoor situations in the "Old Days". "You should have seen the duck hunting in the 40's in the Cannon bottoms, the sky was full of them. The walleyes and pike in Lake Pepin, west of Stockholm Wisconsin, were 10 pounds and more, and full limits were had every time old Morris Anderson, went out to fish, trolling in his 10 h p motor. Oh, yes there were pheasants around way back in the 40's, now they have moved to South Dakota. One thing about life and nature, it doesn't sit still, it constantly changes, mostly in a circle. The American Indians had deep feelings about this, and made their teepees and ceremonial grounds in a circle.
Right now I can remember sitting on a high bluff above Red Wing Minnesota, with a copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" in my pocket, watching a steam train chug up the Mississippi River Valley, blasting its steam whistle as it entered the depot in the town. What a sight that was and the sounds, feelings and memories it brings up, the deep soul of that experience, is part of American History. The big steam engines were an amazing work of engineering and a few still exist in the Rocky mountains and take tourists on rides in high mountain towns over high passes. People do not soon forget that experience.
The cool thing about these old freight trains was, the bums and hobos who rode the rails from Chicago and points south, up to access the summer work in the oats, wheat, and barley fields of the farm country, between Wisconsin and North and South Dakota. The Federal government recognized the need for these migrant workers and allowed the hobos to ride with no interference to provide for the workers needed to help the growers to turn their crops into a commodity that could be sold through the giant grain mills along the Mississippi River, to the Chicago Board of Trade in Commodities. The large cities in the Mid West were produced by the need for grains in the nation for food and feed for cattle and bread for the people. Massive railroad centers in Minneapolis, and Chicago, as well as Milwaukee and St Louis, were built to move this large supply of grain.
Cattle were moved from Texas by drovers to Dodge City Kansas, to be shipped by rail to Chicago where the giant stock yards were built. The beef for food consumption in the U S rotated through this network of railroad centers to the food distribution centers. This is all part of the expansion of America to the west that followed the construction of rail roads all the way, eventually, to the west coast. The colorful history of cowboys, gunslingers, outlaws, mountain men and pioneering homesteaders was created by this same need for cattle and grains, which thrived in the new American west. Legendary outlaws like Jesse James, the Younger brothers, and Bonnie and Clyde, evolved from this colorful time, as a by product of law and order moving slowly to the towns being built by the rail road expansion. Novels were written about these people, legends were created, and more will be written in the future.
"East are the remembered Kings and forgotten Sepulchers, West is the golden grass. "
