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C.W. Long Building

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California, Humboldt County, Eureka
Built in brick and cast iron for Major Charles Long, pioneer lumberman.

This program made possible through a partnership with property owners Allen Grushkin and Mark Carter and Steve Gordon, Eureka Main Street, and the Eureka Heritage Society.

(Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Buhne Building

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California, Humboldt County, Eureka
Built for Captain H.H. Buhne; Humboldt County Bank, other businesses, residences, public hall, rooftop signal service station.

This program made possible through a partnership with property owners Kelly and Kala Martin, Eureka Main Street, and the Eureka Heritage Association.

(Communications • Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Problem Solving

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Arizona, Coconino County, Walnut Canyon National Monument


Time has worn away details that once made these rooms complete. Still, bits of evidence tell us people devised ways to make their homes comfortable, durable, and suitable for changing circumstances.

Rooms were added as families grew or storage needs increased. Some rooms in Walnut Canyon show a surprising degree of remodeling at various times suggesting generations of reuse.

Regular replastering of outside walls kept moisture out and walls sound.

Inside walls were plastered too, making the room well sealed and a bit brighter. Notice the smoke-blackened wall inside this room, perhaps from warming fires. But fire was also used to fumigate and to harden the clay.

Layers of clay turned uneven bedrock ledges into smooth level room floors. As floors wore, new layers were simply applied over old. The clay floors have all eroded in these rooms.

Modern Solutions
Look at the overhang above you. With this particular room block, rain and snowmelt dripped off the rock and fell on or near the front walls. After the surface plaster eroded, water seeped into the walls and eroded the mortar between stones.

We don't know if the residents devised a way to redirect water away from the walls but you can see our solution. The "worm-like" features fixed to the rock create new driplines further out from the wall, which reduces direct erosion.

Artificial silicone driplines are an inexpensive and non-damaging preservation technique.

The front walls of these rooms have received extensive repairs over the years. No original mortar remains; all that you see here, including fingerprints, is modern.

(Environment • Man-Made Features • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

First Baptist Church of Hillsboro

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Texas, Hill County, Hillsboro
   Baptist ministry in this area can be traced to the Rev. J. M. Samford, who arrived in the vicinity in the 1840s. Hill County was formed in 1853, and Hillsborough (later Hillsboro) was chosen as county seat. The earliest recorded Baptist minister in Hillsboro was the Rev. J. M. Perry, who is said to have formed a congregation in 1855. It is unknown whether members of this congregation were participants in the formation of the congregation first known as "The Baptist Church of Hillsboro."
   The Baptist Church of Hillsboro, later the First Baptist Church of Hillsboro, was organized in 1874 and fully established in 1875. Charter members were A. M. Isaacs, Nancy and Henry Procise, Fannie and the Rev. P. G. Booth, Julia Johnson, Alabama Ponder and Julia Reavis. The congregation's establishment was aided by Baptist churches in Peoria, Towash and Union (later Hubbard). The minutes of the 1879 meeting of the Towash Baptist Association reflect that the Baptist Church of Hillsboro reported 18 members that year.
   The Hillsboro congregation's first facility, a frame structure erected for $1,400, was razed in 1905 and part of the materials were used in the construction of a new brick edifice nearby. The church grew steadily in the 20th century. In 1950 an educational building was constructed at a cost of $135,000. A new sanctuary was erected in 1963. Many legendary Texas Baptist preachers have graced the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Hillsboro, including the Rev. George Baines, Dr. George W. Truett and Dr. J. M. Dawson. The congregation continues to uphold the traditions of its founders with many programs of worship and community service.

(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

From Ocean to Alcove

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Arizona, Coconino County, Walnut Canyon National Monument


Limestone forms the massive overhang above you and the ledge you are standing on. In between, softer layers of silty limestone have retreated, eroded away. All of the cliff dwelling rooms in Walnut Canyon — more than 300 — were built in natural alcoves like this.

If you have visited Grand Canyon, you have met these rocks before. This is the Kaibab Formation, the rim rock of both canyons. Below, as in Grand Canyon, are the Toroweap Formation and Coconino Sandstone.

[Diagram and photo captions read]
Notice the pattern of diagonal lines or cross-bedding in the sandstone visible directly across the canyon (and shown here). The preserved sand layers record changing wind direction.
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Formed by deposits of calcium carbonate in a shallow sea near an ancient shoreline about 250 million years ago.
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Formed in a near-shore environment of stream-deposited sediments and windblown sand dunes, about 265 million years ago. Windblown layers of sand were deposited on the downwind slope, at an angle.
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Paleogeographic map of North America with detail of Arizona. Northern Arizona had beach front property during the Permian age, roughly 286 to 248 million years ago.

(Environment • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Old Millerton Road Crossed Here

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California, Merced County, near Le Grand
From Stockton to Los Angeles via Millerton where the Friant Dam now is, was the first, and for many years the main road used by goldseekers and settlers. The route followed the edge of the hills to be near the mines and to provide a firm roadbed in wet weather and narrow river crossings.

Much of the old road was abandoned when the advent of railroads changed the route of travel but its east line between Phillip's Old Toll Ferry on the Merced and Newton's, on the Chowchilla, as traveled in the year 1864, remains the official boundary line between Merced and Mariposa Counties.

(Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Room Functions

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Arizona, Coconino County, Walnut Canyon National Monument


Most rooms in this community did not house people. Archeologists think many rooms, like the one to your left, were used to store tools, food, and water. Residents could have stored a 100-day water supply without much difficulty, given large pottery vessels and the abundant storage rooms found in the canyon.

The larger rooms here are typical of living spaces, where people slept and sought shelter from bad weather. Family size is unknown, but several people probably lived together in one room. Most work took place outside, weather permitting.

As you continue around the bend, look for the remains of a retaining wall along the canyon edge, constructed to create a "patio" workspace.

[Illustration captions read]
These cut-away illustrations offer a glimpse of various room functions, and how uses may have changed over time.

Look for an outline of a doorway between two rooms. It was blocked off while the rooms were in use.
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When undisturbed, the types of artifacts and where they are found reveal much about the common activities of life 800 years ago.

In one of these rooms, archeologists recovered knives, sandals, shaped stone cylinders, and tools for making pottery and crafting arrowshafts.

(Environment • Man-Made Features • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Confederate Cemetery

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Virginia, Fredericksburg
The Ladies Memorial Association of Fredericksburg, organized May 10, 1866, cares for the graves and honors those Confederate soldiers who died in this area’s four battles. The Cemetery was dedicated May, 1870 to 3,553 men from 14 States reinterred here.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

A Days Work

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Arizona, Coconino County, Walnut Canyon National Monument


Puebloan traditions reach far back in time and are the basis for the social organization portrayed here. What responsibilities might you have had in this community, given your age and gender?

[Photo captions read]
Hopi men plant and tend the fields; women are the expert potters and piki bread makers.
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Hopi life early 1900s

Photos: Cline Library Special Collections, NAU

(Environment • Man-Made Features • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Quest for Water

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Arizona, Coconino County, Walnut Canyon National Monument


During the spring thaw, snowmelt rumbled through the narrow passage below you. Water flowed again during the summer monsoon. Shaded pools held precious water after the flow ebbed. Walnut Creek was the lifeblood of the community.

Still, people had to store large quantities of water for the dry months. They likely supplemented their supply by packing snow into large pots and collecting runoff from overhanging cliffs.

Women and children probably had the task of retrieving water from the creek. Do you think they exchanged stories, jokes, and gossip with neighbors before heading home?

(Environment • Native Americans • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

First Baptist Church of Corsicana

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Texas, Navarro County, Corsicana

   Originally known as the United Baptist Church, this fellowship was established through the leadership of the Rev. Noah Turner Byars, a pioneer preacher and founder of the Trinity River Baptist Association. The church organizational meeting was conducted in 1848 with early Texas Baptist leaders Judge R. E. B. Baylor and the Rev. Z. N. Morrell presiding.
   Worship services were first held in a community building shared with the local Presbyterian and Methodist congregations. In 1865, during the pastorate of the Rev. S. G. Mullins, the members moved to a vacant store at the corner of Third Avenue and Eleventh Street, where they worshiped for ten years. Sanctuaries were constructed at two other sites before the church moved to this location in 1901. An educational building, added later, was named for an early member and benefactor, Kate Stiteler McKie.
    Prominent pastors here have included the Rev. W. B. Bagby, first Southern Baptist missionary to Brazil, and the Rev. J. Howard Williams, later president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Active in mission work, the church has served as sponsor for four area congregations: Memorial, Calvary, Northside, and Iglesia Bautista Calvario.

(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

O. Henry House

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Texas, Bexar County, San Antonio
(top marker)
O. Henry House

Typical of the homes of early German settlers, this two-room dwelling was built by John Kush about 1855. It originally stood on south Presa Street. It was occupied in 1895-96 by William Sidney Porter, who gained national renown as the short story writer O. Henry. Here he issued a weekly humorous newspaper, "The Rolling Stone". In 1960 the structure was moved to this location by the Kush Family and the Lone Star Brewing Company.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
(bottom marker)
The O. Henry House Museum

O.Henry was born at Polecat Creek, North Carolina and moved to Cotulla, Texas in 1883 for health reasons. He then came to San Antonio and rented this house for $6.00 a month. Fascinated by San Antonio’s multi-cultural community, O.Henry chronicled the languages and culture of the native populations, spending many happy and productive hours in “cantinas” (saloons) which once stood on this site. O.Henry published a humorous, tabloid newspaper, called The Rolling Stone, which he filled with poems, stories and caricatures of people and races, and for which he was admonished by early German settlers, causing the newspaper to have grave financial problems. San Antonio was the setting of several of O.Henry’s stories including A Fog in Santone, The Higher Abdication and Hygeia at the Solito.

Moving to Austin in 1898, O.Henry worked as a teller in a bank to augment his income, at which time he was convicted of embezzlement. He served three years in prison where he wrote prodigiously and memorized every word in the dictionary.

O.Henry was gifted in his ability to capture the essence of a city by understanding the hearts of people in all walks of life. His wit, skill with words, unusual plot twists and surprise endings brought him international fame. He died in New York in 1910.

In 1998, Wallace and Mary Friedrich Rogers regained ownership of her grandfather’s old Buckhorn Saloon Museum (which included the historic O.Henry House) from the Lone Star Brewing Company. The Rogers then donated this house as a charitable contribution to the Lee and Zachry Carter Memorial Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation.

Chief Probation Officer L. Caesar Garcia of the Bexar County Adult Probation Department is helping his probationers by using O.Henry’s life example as a teaching aid. Probationers get credit for doing their Community Service by acting as docents in the O.Henry House. Following O.Henry’s example of using his own jail time to sharpen his writing skill, the docents utilize their probation period in a constructive way, perhaps discovering their own latent talents.

(Arts, Letters, Music) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Texas & Pacific Railway

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Texas, Taylor County, Abilene
Chartered March 3, 1871, by Act of U.S. Congress, to build a railroad to the Pacific Coast, the Texas & Pacific Railway Company, under leadership of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, President, began construction across West Texas in 1880. General Grenville M. Dodge, civil engineer and builder of the Union Pacific was in charge. The first train reached the Abilene area in early January 1881 and a station opened for business here on February 28, 1881. The office was in a boxcar at the present Pine Street overpass.

As a policy during its era of construction, the Texas & Pacific promoted the settlement of West Texas. Encouraged by local ranchers, agents of the railway held on March 15, 1881, the first auction of lots in Abilene townsite. On that day 178 lots were sold for $27,550.00. The wisdom of the purchases has since been well confirmed, for Abilene is now the business, agricultural, transportation, medical, educational and cultural center for Central West Texas.

(Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Little Church of La Villita

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Texas, Bexar County, San Antonio
In 1846, the Rev. J.W. De Vilbiss bought a Methodist Church site (across street) in this block. He set up a bell, to denote worship site, but did not build when lot title proved defective. In 1879, German Methodists erected this Gothic Revival Church. A workman called Olaf, a Norwegian sailor, carved pegs and hinged the lancet-shaped casement windows.

Episcopal diocese of West Texas bought church in 1895; City of San Antonio acquired title in 1945.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962

(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Oge House

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Texas, Bexar County, San Antonio
One of early stone residences of San Antonio. First floor and basement were built as early as 1857 when place was owned by Attorney Newton A. Mitchell and wife Catherine (Elder).

Louis Oge (1832-1915) bought house in 1881, after migrating (1845) to Texas with the Castro Colony, serving in Texas Rangers under W.A.A. ("Bigfoot") Wallace, and making a fortune as a rancher. He was a San Antonio business leader and served as alderman and school board president. He had leading architect Alfred Giles enlarge and remodel the house in Neo-Classical style.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971

(Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Emigrants' Crossing

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Texas, Reeves County, Pecos
One of the few spots where pioneer travelers could cross the Pecos River by fording. At Emigrants' Crossing, the deep, treacherous river flows over exposed rock. It is one of only three fords in a 60-mile segment of the stream, and was the one favored by parties migrating in 1849 from the eastern United States to west coast gold fields.

Often called the California Emigrants' Crossing, or the Red River Trail crossing, it was also the one used in 1858 by coaches of Butterfield Overland Mail, which had an adobe station and a high-walled adobe corral there.

(Settlements & Settlers • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Mrs. Lillie W. Cole

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Texas, Reeves County, Pecos
Outstanding and dedicated teacher; public benefactor.

Born in Lavernia, Texas. Came to Pecos, 1906, with husband Wylie Moffitt Cole. They had two daughters.

Widowed in 1912, started teaching career which lasted for 27 years.

(Education) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Spanish Explorers

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Texas, Reeves County, Pecos
Antonio De Espejo in 1583, after exploring among pueblos in New Mexico, reached the Pecos River southeast of Santa Fe. He Named it Rio de Las Vacas (river of cows), for the abundance of buffalo. On his return route to Mexico he went down the river to near the present town of Pecos. Jumano Indians led his party to their camp on Toyah Lake. He then went down Toyah Creek and through the Big Bend.

While Espejo was first to explore the Pecos, Castano de Sosa, on his way into New Mexico in 1590, was the first European to travel its full length.

(Exploration) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Reeves County-Pecos, Texas

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Texas, Reeves County, Pecos
Flat, arid, grassy land with a moderate water supply from the Pecos River and springs in Toyah Valley. Yuma Indians are thought to have done irrigated farming here in 16th century. Mexicans later raised vegetables, grain.

Cattlemen moved in during the 1870s. Texas & Pacific Railway opened route to El Paso in 1882. Farmers, merchants, mechanics settled in Pecos City and Toyah. County was organized in 1884.

Modern irrigated agriculture began about 1900. Only dam on Pecos River in Texas was built in this county 1935. Privately owned deep wells are also used.

(Agriculture • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Pecos Cantaloupe

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Texas, Reeves County, Pecos
Nationally famed melon, originated in this city. Residents from 1880s grew melons in gardens, noting sun and soil imparted a distinctive flavor. Madison L. Todd (March 22, 1875-Sept. 10, 1967) and wife Julia (Jan. 30, 1880-Feb. 5, 1969) came here from east Texas and New Mexico. In 1917 Todd and partner, D.T. McKee, grew eight acres of melons, selling part of crop to dining cars of Texas & Pacific Railway, where Pecos cantaloupes first became popular and in wide demand. McKee soon quit business, but Todd remained a leader for 41 years.

Famed lecturer Helen Keller, Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson and many other distinguished persons have ordered and appreciated Pecos cantaloupes. Exclusive clubs in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and other cities are regular clients of Pecos growers.

Genuine Pecos cantaloupes begin ripening in July and continue on the market until late October. The varieties are the same as those grown in other areas. Climate, soil and special cultivation methods account for the distinctiveness of Pecos melons. 2,000 acres are now planted annually.

M.L. Todd was known in his later years as father of the industry. He and his wife and family were leaders in civic and religious enterprises.

(Agriculture) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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