I'm Sorry, Heather

[digitS']

It is going to be so cold in Montana tonight!

You remember back in the early days when the teevee weather person would tell us where it was the hottest and coldest in the 48 widersprüchlicher states? It was always in AZ or TX for the hottest and CO, WY or Cutbank, Montana for the coldest!

Everyone got tired of this after awhile. Foremost, I suppose, were the miserable people in Cutbank . . .

Well -- Cutbank is headed for another bite of cold weather and this one, the Weather Service says, will be a record for March 2nd: -31°f. Yes, I'm sorry that it has come down to that! At the moment, it is only -16° in Cutbank. but you'd think they might have suffered enough.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

Heh, who cares about the people of Cut Bank, I'VE SUFFERED ENOUGH!!

Actually, i think most of the country has suffered enough for one winter!! On a brighter note, we have had some miracles lately in western Montana. Yesterday there was an avalanche right off Mount Jumbo and into the city of Missoula, as far as I know its never happened before. Totally completely obliterated one house, and buried 3 people. They were all found alive last night!!! Just unbelievable. Buried in an avalanche, temperatures in the negative teens, and they didnt even find the last lady until HOURS after the avalanche had come down.

Then, there was news that 2 skiers were missing on a ski resort outside Missoula. They were out there all night, in a blizzard, with temps into the negative 20s. They are still alive this morning! Apparently they havent found them yet, but made contact by cell phone. Just miraculous. So...along with all the cold and snow, a little good news to brighten your day!

 

[thistlebloom]

Scary! Anywhere close to your place?

I hope those folks are thankful to God that others were praying for their safety.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Missoula's about 2 hours south of me. But our avalanche danger is extreme all over the northern Rockies. We've had several avalanches locally in the past few weeks that buried or partially buried people, but they made it out alive, one was 5 people, one was a group of 3. Also had some deaths, one snowmobiler over toward you guys in Idaho, actually. No backcountry skiing or snowmobiling for me this year!!

 

[digitS']

I saw that, Heather.

It could have been very tragic for that family. The 8 year old was the last to be found. The local news was following it but the "extraction" of the child and transport to the hospital was the last I saw of it.

There must be some MT locations with record February snowfalls.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

Definitely record low temps!! Just read that our local ski resort has closed the lifts to the Summit, for the 2nd day in a row, due to the extreme winds and low temps. Supposedly it is -52 counting the wind chill at the summit.

Oh, and the latest news is they located the lost skiers. Just wow.

 

[digitS']

I am curious about something. Since Nifty has never put a "test forum" on TEG, i'll try it here.

The last time, it didn't work . . . or, it only worked for me . . . or, it changed later . . . or, something:

Sooo Cold!!
Sooo Cold!!
Sooo Cold!!
Sooo Cold!!
Sooo Cold!!

_________

 

[PhilaGardener]

In spite of all our complaining, I must say I am in total awe of the First Peoples who had to survive (or not, I suppose) weather like this on the western plains with only their resourcefulness and their wits to keep them warm.

 

[baymule]

In spite of all our complaining, I must say I am in total awe of the First Peoples who had to survive (or not, I suppose) weather like this on the western plains with only their resourcefulness and their wits to keep them warm.

And they did it with spears and bows and arrows.

 

[digitS']

I'm gonna climb up on my Paint . . . You know, maybe I can find a picture of him . Willy. Oh gosh, makes me feel a little teary . . .

Anyway, I'd like to say a thing or 2 about Native Americans. Any contemporaries who live closer to that life right now should feel free to just jump in and say something.

They lived in all the best places! Don't you believe for a moment that they were off in some miserable hinterland, with no water, no nothing! Oh, they were there - when they wanted to be and when there was something, and some reason for them to be there. The Native American ended up in the most difficult places to live because of the decisions of the European Americans or the desire of the Indians to get the heck away from the "Settlers!" Usually, it was a combination of the 2 reasons.

Of course, the classic example is the Trail of Tears, but let's not go there. I don't know a whole lot about that ethnic cleansing (don't even care for that term but it is more polite than some others). Let me just use examples from right around here. I'll stretch my imagination just a little but not too much.

The Spokanes & Coeur d'Alenes were here. The Coeur d'Alenes mostly tried Peace. They found some whites, Catholic missionaries, and said, "Please help us with what we see coming at us!" I think they got some help but the Mining Industry still showed up and trashed their land real, real good."

The Spokanes made the mistake of allowing a few renegade Yakima and Palouse to live close to them. These "renegades" would be called "terrorists" these days but either term is probably more for convenience than an honest description. See, if a government was an enemy of their enemy, these people would be called "freedom fighters." I don't know, maybe they were written up in the British newspapers as freedom fighters.

Be that as it may, these people who were willing to cause the US military some serious trouble were not related to the Spokanes but I think they kind of inspired them. The result of this resistance -- no negotiation for a reservation. By Presidential decision, the Spokanes were pushed downriver to cold, hilly, lightly-forested country at the mouth of the river. Probably couldn't figure how to push them right into the water until the big dams were built and that flooded what little level land was there.

The Spokanes were given the name of their chief Spokane, it wasn't the name of the people themselves. Spokane's son was Spokane Garry. Spokane Garry said, "I'm not leaving. You can't push all of us onto that one piece of land. I won't fight but I'm not leaving." There were some others that didn't move downriver but it was mostly his family that stayed right with him, at Spokane Falls. The whites built a city almost right on top of him! They just divided up the land, by their own rules, and started building streets & laying bricks. Many of the Spokanes moved east to live with the Coeur d'Alenes. It didn't make the Coeur d'Alenes too happy because they didn't have a lot to share but, the Spokanes were related.

Spokane Garry's daughter said, "Well, I'll see if I can play their little game." She applied for a homestead. Hah!

One day she arrived home to her land to find a couple of tough characters had "jumped her claim." The lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court where it was decided that she couldn't file for a homestead, she was an Indian! The toughs had already sold their "claim" to a fine city father. He had the unlikely (or, likely) name of Mr. Lewis Clark.

We still "celebrate" a couple of Mr. Clark's landmark buildings around here. One is the Clark Mansion on Hayden Lake. Another is the "American Legion Building" in Spokane. These ironic names just really trouble me.

Mr. Clark was the guy who paid the lawyers in that homestead "rights" case. He later fell on some hard times - living a little too lavishly, is my guess. At his winter vacation home, a hotel in southern California, he took his wife to the train station one morning for a visit to her family. The old fellow then just disappeared. You see, the creditors were closing in on him. There were rumors, espoused by family, that he had gone off to South America to make a second fortune! Hogwash! I know what happened to the little coward. He went off into the California desert about 125 years ago and shot himself.

Steve
dang, that chamomile tea didn't have the effect i was hoping for!