#sir george clarke simpson

[worstjourney]

Dr. George Clarke Simpson

Simpson was from a mercantile family in Manchester – Wikipedia says they ran a department store, but somewhere I picked up the fact that they sold umbrellas, which is a narratively satisfying start for someone who would go on to become an eminent meteorologist.

Simpson nearly joined the Discovery Expedition, but was passed over for another applicant who, in the end, couldn't join.  He went to Lapland instead, and lectured on meteorology at Manchester University for a year before joining the Indian Meteorological Office in Simla.  It was while there that Scott complained to him of the difficulties they were having with the weather data from the Discovery trip: “It is full of inaccuracies and insupportable theories … It's a pity some of your Indian efficiency cannot be imported into the London office.”  He was soon to have exactly that, as Simpson applied for a post as soon as the Terra Nova Expedition was announced and was signed on immediately.

As a professional scientist with an established career, and naturally of a more serious demeanour, Simpson was out of place amongst the more boyish members of the scientific staff, and may not have been thrilled about being nicknamed “Sunny Jim” after a cereal mascot who he resembled.  Nevertheless he applied himself to his post, working closely with Wright in matters of atmospheric ionization, radiation, and the like.

The science of meteorology depends upon an extended period of continuous data collection, so Simpson hardly left the immediate vicinity of the Cape Evans hut once his lab was set up with its wide array of instruments and remote-recording devices.  The only exception was in September of 1911, when he joined Scott, Birdie, and Taff Evans “to stretch our legs” (per Scott) over in the Western Mountains.

It was expected that Simpson would stay on for the duration of the Expedition, but when the Terra Nova came to relieve them in 1912, she brought news of a cholera outbreak at the Met Office in Simla from which Simpson was on leave, which was now short-staffed and needed him back.  As he was already working closely with Wright, and the latter was most familiar with the sensitive scientific equipment, Simpson gave him a crash-course in how to keep the meteorological record going for the second year.  Soon after this, a message came through from Hut Point: Dr. Atkinson, who had been preparing to meet the returning Polar Party with the dog teams, was now needed to save Teddy Evans' life, and could Simpson please send Wright if possible, or else Cherry-Garrard, to take the dogs south in his place?  Simpson sent them both to Hut Point but stressed how much Wright was needed at base for the scientific work, so Cherry was assigned the southern journey.

Simpson was still in India when the world learned of the tragic end of the expedition.  “News of the sad disaster came to India in such dribbles that it was nearly a fortnight before I could really understand what happened.  I could not have imagined that the sad news would have affected me so much.” (Letter to Joseph Kinsey, 1913) He threw himself into figuring out how their experience of the weather could have been so different from what he had forecast, but before he could start serious work on processing the data, the First World War broke out, taking him first to Mesopotamia and then to work with the Board of Munitions.  Like the other scientists he was left to juggle the expedition scientific reports with other work after the war.  When he was finally able to crunch the data into a model of Antarctic weather, it suggested that 1912 was indeed a highly unusual year, which defied the precedent he and Scott had referred to for planning the Pole Journey. Simpson's Meteorological Report was published with the rest in the early 1920s, and he gave a lecture on it shortly after, but then left the Antarctic behind.  He became the longest-serving director of the Met Office and collected quite a list of honours, retiring as Sir George C. Simpson, KCB CBE FRS.

The establishment of automatic weather stations along the route of the Polar Journey has meant a continuous record has been made since the mid-1980s, and astonishingly it has corroborated the models made by Simpson in the 1910s without the aid of computers or satellites and with equipment we now regard as fairly primitive.  It also proves how unusual the weather encountered by the Polar Party was, with only one year up to 2001 returning data like theirs.  “He figured out that they would have made it back in about nine out of ten years.  Turns out, he was a little conservative, it was more like fifteen out of sixteen.” (Dr. Solomon)

If you, too, wanted to be a meteorologist when you were thirteen, or if you're just interested in science and the people who carry it out, I highly recommend looking up Dr Susan Solomon's book The Coldest March, which not only presents the meteorological information in a clear and engaging way (with graphs and all!) but the realities of survival in the Antarctic environment.  It's hard to come away from it without a new perspective on the Polar Party's journey.

 … But because I drafted this character profile in a rush before a big trip, I have drawn mainly from the Channel 4/WNET documentary based on her book, called The Coldest March in the UK and, rather more sensationally, Secrets of the Dead: Tragedy at the Pole in the U.S., where it is available on DVD.

#george simpson #sir george clarke simpson #sunny jim #characters #character design #terra nova expedition #scott expedition #meteorology #susan solomon #the coldest march #antarctica

[walaw717]

Sir Alexander Mackenzie (or MacKenzie, Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacCoinnich; 1764 – 12 March 1820) was a Scottish explorer known for accomplishing the first east to west crossing of America north of Mexico in 1793, which preceded the more famous Lewis and Clark Expedition by 12 years. 

The Mackenzie River is named after him, the longest river system in Canada and the second longest in North America.  Mackenzie was born in Luskentyre House in Stornoway on Lewis. He was the third of the four children born to Kenneth 'Corc' Mackenzie (1731–1780) and his wife Isabella MacIver, from another prominent mercantile family in Stornoway. When only 14 years old, Mackenzie's father served as an ensign to protect Stornoway during the Jacobite rising of 1745. He later became a merchant and held the tack of Melbost; his grandfather being a younger brother of Murdoch Mackenzie, 6th Laird of Fairburn. 

Educated at the same school as Colin Mackenzie, he sailed to New York City with his father to join an uncle, John Mackenzie, in 1774, after his mother died in Scotland.[6] In 1776, during the American War of Independence, his father and uncle resumed their military duties and joined the King's Royal Regiment of New York as lieutenants. By 1778, for his safety as a son of loyalists, young Mackenzie was either sent, or accompanied by two aunts, to Montreal. By 1779 (a year before his father's death at Carleton Island]), Mackenzie had a secured apprenticeship with Finlay, Gregory & Co., one of the most influential fur trading companies in Montreal, which was later administered by Archibald Norman McLeod. In 1787, the company merged with the North West Company. 1789 Mackenzie River expedition to the Arctic Ocean.

On behalf of the North West Company, Mackenzie traveled to Lake Athabasca where, in 1788, he was one of the founders of Fort Chipewyan. He had been sent to replace Peter Pond, a partner in the North West Company. From Pond, he learned that the First Nations people understood that the local rivers flowed to the northwest. Acting on this information, he set out by canoe on the river known to the local Dene First Nations people as the Dehcho, (Mackenzie River) on 3 July 1789, following it to its mouth in the hope of finding the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. As he ended up reaching the Arctic Ocean on 14 July, it is conjectured that he named the river "Disappointment River" as it did not lead to Cook Inlet in Alaska as he had expected. The river was later renamed the Mackenzie River in his honor. 

1792–93 Peace River expedition to the Pacific Ocean

In 1791, Mackenzie returned to Great Britain to study the new advance in the measurement of longitude. Upon his return to Canada in 1792, he set out once again to find a route to the Pacific. Accompanied by two native guides (one named Cancre), his cousin, Alexander MacKay, six Canadian voyageurs (Joseph Landry, Charles Ducette, Francois Beaulieux, Baptiste Bisson, Francois Courtois, Jacques Beauchamp) and a dog simply referred to as "our dog", Mackenzie left Fort Chipewyan on 10 October 1792, and traveled via the Pine River to the Peace River. From there he traveled to a fork on the Peace River arriving 1 November where he and his cohorts built a fortification that they resided in over the winter. This later became known as Fort Fork. 

Mackenzie left Fort Fork on 9 May 1793, following the route of the Peace River.He crossed the Great Divide and found the upper reaches of the Fraser River, but was warned by the local natives that the Fraser Canyon to the south was unnavigable and populated by belligerent tribes. He was instead directed to follow a grease trail by ascending the West Road River, crossing over the Coast Mountains and descending the Bella Coola River to the sea. He followed this advice and reached the Pacific coast on 20 July 1793, at Bella Coola, British Columbia, on North Bentinck Arm, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Having done this, he had completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico, 12 years before Lewis and Clark. He had unknowingly missed meeting George Vancouver at Bella Coola by 48 days. 

He had wanted to continue westward out of a desire to reach the open ocean, but was stopped by the hostility of the Heiltsuk people. Hemmed in by Heiltsuk war canoes, he wrote a message on a rock near the water's edge of Dean Channel, using a reddish paint made of vermilion and bear grease, and turned back east. 

The inscription read: "Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22d July 1793" (at the time the name Canada was an informal term for the former French territory in what is now southern Quebec and Ontario). The words were later inscribed permanently by surveyors. The site is now Sir Alexander Mackenzie Provincial Park and is designated a First Crossing of North America National Historic Site. In 2016, Mackenzie was named a National Historic Person.

  In his journal Mackenzie recorded the Carrier language for the first time. In 1801 the journals of his exploratory journeys were published. He was knighted for his efforts in the following year and served in the Legislature of Lower Canada for Huntingdon County, from 1804 to 1808. 

In 1812 Mackenzie, then aged 48, returned to Scotland, where he married 14-year-old Geddes Mackenzie, heiress of Avoch. 

They had two sons and a daughter. Her grandfather, Captain John Mackenzie of Castle Leod (great-grandson of George Mackenzie, 2nd Earl of Seaforth), purchased the estate of Avoch with money left to him by his first cousin and brother-in-law, Admiral George Geddes Mackenzie. Lady Mackenzie's father was a first cousin of the father of George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Mackenzies lived between Avoch and London. He died in 1820 of Bright's disease, at an age of 56 (his exact date of birth unknown). He is buried near Avoch on the Black Isle.

#alexander Mackenzie #peace river #pacific north west #exploration

[1baddmouthcrown]

1900 Booker T. Washington founds the National Negro Business League.

Washington publishes his first autobiography “The Story of my life and work” editor of the New York Age Timothy Thomas Fortune.

October Washington attends the White House for dinner with President Theodore Rosevelt.

Du Bois attends the First Pan-African Conference in London and drafts letter ”Address to the Nations of the World” to the European heads of states.

Seay becomes a qualified educator and begins teaching in the Mayan village of Xcalak in Mexico.

1901 January 22 Queen Victoria passes away and Edward VII becomes King.

Garvey becomes apprentice to printer Alfred ‘Cap’ Burrowes in his native parish of Saint Ann.

Du Bois with his wife Nina and daughter Yolande ca. 1901

Washington publishes his second autobiography “Up From Slavery”.

Washington recieves honorary decorate from Dartmouth College.

Du Bois writes a critical review of WashingtonsUp From Slavery biography.

Queen Victoria passes away and Edward VII assessees to the throne.

1902 Vladmir Lenin publishes his “What is to Be Done” book.

Ras Makonnen travels to France and England.

Earnest Alfred Wallace Budge makes his first excavations at the city of Meroe.

1903 Du Bois publishes his 14 essay book The Souls of Black Folk containing his “Mr. Booker T Washington and others” essay.

Garvey leaves school after completing the 6th standard employed as compositor in the printery of Alfred E Burrows and company.

August The Second Party Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party takes place.

1904 Garvey relocates from his native parish of Saint Ann 25 miles away to Alfred Borrows print branch in Port Maria, Saint Mary.

1905 Garvey moves to Smith Village in Kingston at 13 Pink Lane, begins working for P. A. Benjamin and exceeds to the position of foreman.

April The Third Party Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party is held in London.

November 1 Tafari at 13 years old is appointed Dejazmatch of Gara Mullata by his Father Ras Makonnen.

Washington receives President Roosevelt at Tuskegee Institute.

December Du Bois purchases printing press and publishes the first African American Illustrated Weekly “The Moon”.

Budge makes more excavations at Meroe.

1906 January 23 Washington gives speech at Tuskegee Institute Silver Anniversary Lecture Carnegie Hall in New York City.

March 21 Tafari’s Dad Ras Makonnen dies in the city of Qullebi and is buried in the church of St. Michael in Harar which he founded.

April The Fourth Unification Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party is held at Folkets Hus, Nada Bantorget, Stockholm.

May 9 Dejazmatch Tafari is given Ras Darge’s governorate of Sallale and his older brother Dejazmatch Yelma son of Wayzaro Assallafatch, Empress Taitu’s niece, their father’s governorate of Harar.

Du Bois and American Civil Rights activists meet in Canada and write declaration opposing Washington’s Atlanta Compromise and form the Niagara Movement.

August The Second Niagara conference commemorating the 100th anniversary of the abolitionist John Brown’s birth, is held in West Virginia at Harpers Ferry where Brown’s raid on the federal armory took place in 18.

gubernatorial election M. Hoke Smith Democratic primary nomination campaign to defranchize black voters in Georgia.

September 22 Saturday Afternoon rioting begins in Atlanta. Newspapers in Atlanta report four separate cases of alleged rapes on white women by black men, whites take to the streets and begin attacking blacks, by midnight 10, 000 whites in the Five Points section of downtown. 

10 p.m. The first three dead are reported some people are hospitalized with five deaths, three of those being that of black women.

Governor Joseph M. Terrell eight companies of the Fifth Infantry and one battery of light artillery.

African American Alonzo Horndon’s barber shop is attacked, black men are killed on the steps of the U. S. Post Office and inside the Marion Hotel, a mob attack the center of black business’s at Decatur Street, mobs attack at Peters Street and neighborhoods.

3 a.m. to 5 a.m. Heavy rain

6 a.m. Militia deployed in 

The Le Petit journal of Paris. Black men and black women were thrown from trolley cars, assaulted with clubs and pelted with stones.  

The New York Times reports 25 to 30 black men and women dead.

September 23 Sunday Hundreds of Blacks flee the city.

A group of armed black men meet in Brownsville near Clark University to talk about the rioting, three companies of militia are sent to Brownsville, an officer is killed in the ensuing shootout and 250 blacks are disarmed and arrested.

Du Bois publishes his “A Litany at Atlanta” essay criticizing Washington’s Atlanta Compromise.

1907 Hubert Harrison begins working at the United States Post Office.

January 14 Jamaica earthquake.

Garvey elected vice president of the compositors branch of the Kingston Typographical Union organised as affiliate #98 of International Typographical Union of American Federation of Labour.

Du Bois publishes his The Horizon: A Journal of the Color Line.

Philadelphia Quaker Anna T Jeanes donates 1 milion dollars to Washington for elementary schools for Negro children in the South.

October 10 Tafari’s brother Yelma dies, Dejazmatch Baltcha is given governorate of Harar.

Budge publishes the record of his excavations at Meroe in his book The Egyptian Sudan, Its History and Monuments.

1908 March 18 Garveys Mother Sarah Richards passes away at age 56.

April 4 Tafari is given part of the governorship of Sidamo.

November 28 Garvey participates in Jamaica print worker strike.

Du Bois attends the Fourth Niagara conference.

1909 Washington tours southern Virginia and West Virginia.

May Du Bois attends the First National Negro Conference in New York where the National Negro Committee is created chaired by Oswald Villard and also publishes his biography of abolitionist John Brown who raid Harpers Ferry Western Virginia.

August-September Garvey supports Jacob Warcham's election to the city council in Kingston and speaks at political meetings on behalf of H. A. I. Simpson in the general election.

German Orientalist Dr. Carl Bezold and the Bavarian Royal Academy publish their edition of the Ethiopic manuscript the Book of the Glory of Kings/the Kebra Negast with a German translation.

December Du Bois attends the American Historical Association where he reads his Reconstruction and its Benefits and has it published in the American Historical Review.

1910 Du Bois attends the Second National Negro Conference Committee where the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is created and he becomes Director of Publicity and Research of its monthly magazine the Crisis.

Harrison writes two letters to the New York Sun critical of Washington which cost him his job at the United States Post Office.

March 3 Dejazmatch Tafari is finally given governorate of Harar.

March S.A.G. "Sandy" Cox forms the National Club of Jamaica.

April 20 Garvey is elected first assistant secretary along with apprentice tailor Wilfred Domingo, second assistant secretary of the National Club assisting with its fortnightly journal “Our Own” and also co publish “The Struggling Mass” pamphlet.

May 6 Edward VII passes away and George V assessees to the throne.

May 18 The legislative council suspend Cox for making Ill founded charges against certain public officers.

July 16 The Artisans and Labourers Union informs United Fruit Company that it intends to take August 1 Emancipation day in the British West Indies as a holiday from work.

August 1 5, 000 Jamaican's stage an Emancipation Day demonstration in Limon, Costa Rica and Garvey is 1 of 15 contestants in an all island elocution competition held at Collegiate Hall in Kingston where he protests the judges decision.

Garvey enrolls for elocution lessons with Bahamian born Dr. Robert J Love.

October Garvey travels to Costa Rica where his maternal uncle Henry Richards finds him employment as a time keeper on a Banana plantation in Limon.

November Over 700 workers recruited by the United Fruit Company in St. Kitts and Nevis arrive in Limon aboard a dangerously overcrowded vessel and are sent to outlying farms, where they face extremely unhealthy conditions. The workers return to Limon and refuse to return to work, they also demand that the British vice consul at Limon seek redress from the company. For 3 weeks the firm stand of the St. Kitts workers continues to generate the strong support of the Jamaican community.

November 17 Cox wins St. Thomas seat in the legislative council by large.

November Du Bois edits and publishes the first issue of The Crisis.

December Joseph Nathan, the leader of St. Kitts workers, is deported from Limon, signaling the end of the banana workers strike. Shorty after his expulsion and return to St. Kitts he helps to launch the labor movement in the Leeward Islands and assumes leadership of the Garvey movement in St. Kitts.

The leadership of the Artisans and Labourers Union collapses and is replaced by more militant members of the rank and file, but the new leaders are eventually deported from Limon.

Garvey publishes three issues of his Watchman journal named after George William Gordon’s journal the Watchman inspired by Psalm 127.

1851 October 8 The first case of Cholera is in Port Royal.

October 11 The first fatal of Cholera in the parish of Kingston.

40, 000 people in Jamaican die from Cholera part of the second Pandemic according to the Statistical Report of the Epedemic Cholera in Jamaica published in 1852 by John Parkin.

1864 crops are destroyed by floods in Jamaica effected by cholera and smallpox followed by a two year drought.

1865 Dr. Edward Underhill secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society in Great Britain writes a letter to the colonial office in London, the Governor of Jamaica John Eyre Underhill parish of Saint Ann petition Queen Victoria for land.

August A Baptist deacon, the Right Excellent Paul Bogle ordained by Sir George William Gordon, leads a 45 mile walk from Stony Gut in the parish of St. Thomas to Spanish town in the parish of St. Catherine, the then capital of Jamaica, to petition the Governor.

October 7 A man by the name of James Geoghegon creates a disturbance in Morant Bay court house during the trail of a man having charges brought against him for trespassing on an inactive sugar plantation, the police try to arrest Geoghegon, the obstruct and begin to fight with the police and the court house issues a warrant for those including Bogle.

October 11 Bogle leads hundreds to the court house, the confrontation between the group and the militia begins with the group attacking the militia with sticks and stones, the militia shoot and kill members of the group and at the end of this confrontation 25 people had been killed.

The parish goes into unrest, Eyre declares martial law and sends government troops led by Brigadier General Alexander Nelson to bring Bogle and those involved to the court to be tried and convicted, the militia kill innocent men, women and children totalling 439 dead, 354 people are arrested, tried and executed, some several hundred who are flogged and sentenced, the soldiers also burn thousands of homes.

Eyre has Gordon who he believes to have made the matter worse arrested in Kingston and brought to Morant Bay where he is tried under martial law, convicted and executed.

October 21 Gordon is tried and charged with high treason by Lieutenant Herbert Brand.

October 23 Gordon and Paul’s brother William are hanged.

1866 Eyre is criticized for his handling of the situation.

John Stuard Mills forms the Jamaica Committee which British Liberals.

The Committee present its cases against Brand and British Army Officer Brigadier Abercromby Nelson to the Central Criminal Court but the grand jury decline to certify these cases.

August Eyre returns to Britain.

September Thomas Carclyle forms the Eyre Defense and Aid committee.

The indictment against Eyre fails on the count that he lives in Market Drayton outside the jurisdiction of court, the council of the committee, Barrister James Fitz James Stephen travels to Market Drayton but fails to convince the Justices to endorse his case against Eyre.

The Jamaica Committee asks the Attorney-General to certify the criminal information against Eyre but are rebuffed.

Eyre moves to London.

The magistrate at Bow Street Police Court decline to arrest Eyre due to the failure of the cases brought against Brand and Nelson.

The prosecutors are successful in their application to the Queen's Bench for a writ of mandamus justified by the Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1802.

The case is presented to The Queen's Bench but its grand jury decline to find a true bill of indictment, and Eyre is freed of criminal pursuit.

1911 Harrison becomes Americas leading black socialist at the Socialist Party of America.

March Garvey in Costa Rica becomes editor of the daily newspaper La Nacionale, he writes a letter critical of the editor of the West Indian newspaper, The Times/El Tiempo, setting off protracted controversy between the two papers and later travels to Colon, Panama.

April Garvey launches a subscription for a "Coronation Fund" to celebrate the coronation of King George V, to be held on June 22.

June 7 Cox is unseated from legislative council.

June 10 Garvey resigns as head of the coronation committee organized by him and agrees to merge with the "official" coronation committee chaired by the Anglican archdeacon of Limon.

June 13 Following the demise of the Artisans and Labourers Union, a wave of intense religious revivalism sweeps over Limon. The Times weekly newspaper complains of the "vile practices which gave stirred the town during the past month the like of which has never been known in the previous history of Port Limon"

June 14 Just prior to his departure from Limon aboard the S. S. Cartago, Garvey is apprehended and escorted ashore, allegedly for unpaid debts to various creditors, including unpaid wages to the staff of La Nacion.

July 26 Du Bois attends the First Universal Race Congress in London with Sir Sydney Olivier Governor of Jamaica and Harry Johnston of the Royal Geographical Society among its attendees, joins the Socialist Party of America and publishes his “Quest of the Silver Fleece” novel.

July 31 Tafari at age 20 marries Wayzaro Manan in church ceremony.

August-September Garvey visits British Honduras gives elocution concert.

Randolph moves to New York City and studies Social Science at City College.

Cox is reelected to the legislative council at the general Election petition is fieled against Cox by Henry Cork.

1912 February 7 Edward Wilmot Blydenauthor of Christianity, Isalm and the Negro Race passes away in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Harrison campaigns for Eugene V. Debs founder of the Industrial Workers of the World, as presidential candidate, writes the Negro and Socialism for the socialist newspaper the New York Call as well as the socialist monthly the International Socialist Review, founds the Colored Socialist Club and speaks at Broad and Wall Street in front of the New York stock exchange in Manhattan.

Du Bois is forced to resign from the Socialist Party of America for breaching its rules by supporting the Democrat Woodrow Wilson in presidential campaign.

Garvey sails to London where he attends evening classes at Birkbeck College.

August Garveys sister, Indiana, joins him in London.

Julius Rosenwald begins serving on the board of directors of Tuskegee Institute.

Mc Kay publishes his “Songs of Jamaica” as well as his “Constab Ballads” for which in the same year he is awarded the Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences, Musgrave Medal.

1913 January 1 Du Bois and New York State Commission attend the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, his "The Peoples of the People and Their Gift to Man" (later renamed The Star of Ethiopia) Pageant is performed Emancipation Proclamation.

Meroe geographically was known to the Greeks as Ethiopia, according to the Greek historian Herodotus who lived during the 5th century BC Meroe had the reputation of being the mother city of the Ethiopians.

Candice the Queen of Ethiopia has also been identified with the Kandake’s of the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was centered at the city of Meroe because of the King Taharqa the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was previously centered at Napata in Nubia prior to Meroe Taharqa in the bible is mentioned as being the King of Ethiopia having assisted Hezekiah King of Judah in conflict with the Assyrians.

And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 2 Kings 19:9-10/Isaiah 37:9-10

And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea. Acts 8:27-40

674 BC Taharqa defeats the Assyrian Emperor Sennacherib at Eltekeh.

Sennacherib then defeats Taharqa.

671 BC The Assyrian Emperor Esarhaddon captures Memphis with Taharqa fleeing to in the south, takes members of the royal family as prisoners at his capital Nineveh in Assyria and places Libyan Necho I as the first of the Twenty Sixth Dynasty at Sais.

Esarhaddon on his return to Assyria erects a Stele his Stele of Nahor el Kalb and his Victory Stele at Zincirle Hayok which shows Taharqa's son Ushankhuru taken as a prisoner by the Assyrians.

Esaehaddon dies in Palestine on the way to Egypt, his son Emperor Ashurbanipal defeats Taharqa who flees to the city of Thebes, where he dies in 664 BC and is buried in Nuri, North Sudan.

The Kingdom of Kush was centered at Napata in Nubia since the time of Alara who attacked Egypt, then Kashta who extended Kushite rule to Elephantine and Thebes in upper Egypt. His successor Taharqa's Dad, Piye, invaded and conquered Egypt.

Tefnakht of Sais forms a coalition with Kings of the Delta region, persuades Piye’s ally Nimlot King of the city of Hermopolis and Herakleopolis King Peftjauawybast.

Piye army invade middle and lower Egypt Thebes Opet fesitival detailed on his victory stele at Gabel Barkal found in the Amun temple.

Piye in retaliation then relieves Herakleopolis, conquers Hermopolis after five month siege, Delta Kings of Leontopolis and Tanis.

Taharqa was succeeded by a son of his predecessor, Shabaka, Tantamani who defeated and killed Necho, and also took Thebes, which the Assyrians then retook from him.

Meroe was ruled by Kandakes from Shanakdakhete in 177 BCE to Lahideamani in 314 CE. The Mereotic city MusawwaratesSufra on the island of Meroe in the modern day Butana region was named by the Achaenid Persian King Cambyses after his sister.

Alexander the great romance by Pseudo Callisthenes.

A stele Geez of a King of the Aksumites and the Omerites/Himyar found in Meroe also provides evidence of the presence of Aksum in Meroe from the 4th century Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia.

February 25 July Hubert participates in the Industrial Workers of the World Paterson, New Jersey Silk Strike. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is arrested on the first day of the strike for. William D. “Big Bill” Haywood helps to create create strike committee.

Patrick L. Quin.

Randolph marries Widow Mrs Lucille Campbell Green, Howard University graduate.

May Chief Alfred Charles Sam AkyemAbuakwa sells shares for his Akim Trading Company in Texas, Oklahoma.

June 7 The pageant of the Paterson Strike is performed at Madison Square Garden.

Garvey begins working for Dusé Mohamed Ali as messenger and handyman at his African Times and Orient Review office on 158 Fleet Street.

October Garveys “British West Indies in the Mirror of Civilization: History making by Colonial Negroes” essay is published in the African Times and Orient Review.

Garvey travels to Scotland.

Garvey granted month long readers pass to the British Museum library, where he reads Blyden’s “Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race” as well as Washington’s autobiography Up from Slavery.

6 new small schools in rural Alabama funded by Rosenwald as part of Washington's project are built and opened.

July 20 Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association at 12 Orange Street, Kingston and holds the first UNIA meeting.

August 4 Great Britain declare war on Germany.

August Garvey meets Amy Ashwood at the Queen Street Baptist Literary and Debating Society.

Ashwood secures the property at 20 Orange Street, Kingston with her Dad's money and with Garvey establishes it as the new location of the UNIA headquarters.

August Sam’s ship the S. S. Liberia, the German steamer, Curityba, sets sail for Gambia with sixty trained men and a cargo of lumber, cement, lime, flour, agricultural implements, and household goods.

September 4 Garvey writes to appeal to Washington for support and Washington invites him to visit.

October 31 Ashwood recites Paul Lawrence Dunbars “The Lover and the Moon” at Collegiate Hall UNIA meeting.

Tsar Nicholas II makes his October manifesto.

November 12 Garvey and UNIA delegates inspect Hope Farm.

The Russian army invade Germany.

Mckay moves to the U. S. and begins attending Washington’s Tuskegee Institute.

December Sam and immigrants arrive at their destination in Bathurst, Gambia (present day Banjul) and also travel to Freetown, Sierra Leone.

1914 After 10 years of construction, the first vessel passes through the 52 mile Panama Canal waterway, in the course of the American led construction, some 5, 000 workers, most of them West Indian, perished.

May 29 Garvey now visits the Colonial Office in London requesting financial assistance to return to Jamaica.

May 31 Prince Emmanuel Charles Edwards is born.

June 17 Garvey leaves England aboard the S. S. Trent to Jamaica.

June Garvey's article "The Evolution of Latter Day Slaves: Jamaica, A Country of Black and White," is published in the Tourist: A Literary and Anti Slavery Journal, published by the Anti Slavery Society in England.

July 20 The first meeting of the UNIA and ACL is held, along with the election of officers, in Kingston, Jamaica.

July 8 Garvey arrives in Jamaica.

August 4 Great Britain declares war on Germany.

August 15 The Panama Canal is officially opened to traffic. The majority of West Indian workers chose to remain in Panama despite deteriorating working conditions and oppressive discriminatory policies.

August 28 The Colonial Office communicates the West Indian desire to send a military contingent overseas; the War Office immediately rejects the offer on the grounds that black's are required for local defense purposes and to maintain order locally.

August In Antigua, Robert and James Brown return to the island from New York; the brothers become engaged in organising the Antiguan working class.

September 8 Garvey writes to letter Washington appealing for support.

December 14 British Arny Council informs the Colonial Office that it does not consider West Indian troops suitable for service in Egypt or West Africa and offers to accept a West Indian contingent to serve as a peacekeeping force in captured territories of West Africa, causing public anger in the West Indies.

1915 Sam and immigrants arrive at Saltpond on the Gold Coast present day Ghana.

Harrison publishes his own version of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.” entitled “The Black Man’s Burden.”

February Garvey wins first place in elocution contest at Collegiate Hall for his recital of “Catham on the American war of independence.”

April 12 Garvey writes to Bascungoth informing of his to America and requesting his assistance.

May 17 The UNIA Reading Room in Kingston is opened.

Du Bois publishes his “The Negro” book, his “The African Roots of the War” essay in the Atlantic Monthly and article numbering 2, 732 lynching’s from 1884 to 1914 in the Crisis as well as fights with the NAACP to band “The Birth of a Nation” film for its portrayal of black men.

Russia Tsar Nicholas assumes Commander in Chief.

September 8 Dr Leo Pink, Jamaican dentist writes letter to the Daily Chronicle requesting an accounting of UNIA funds.

October 11 Monday, 13 Wednesday and 15 Friday Du Bois’s “The Star of Ethiopia” pageant of the history of the Negro Race from 50,000 B.C to 20th century written, produced, and directed by Du Bois himself, presented by the Horizon Guild and the National Pageant and Dramatic Association is performed at the American League Ball Park in Washington D. C. to commemorate the 13th amendment.

October 15 Leonard Percival Howell witnesses the murder of his neighbor by her Husband, his parents refuse to let him testify as a witness, Howell travels to Panama.

November 15 Washington collapses in New York diagnosed with Brights disease dies of Hypertension.

November 22 Garvey delivers address on life and walk of the late Washington at special UNIA memorial meeting.

1916 February 29 Robert Russa Moton, newly appointed principle of Tuskegee Institute, on his visit to Jamaica, receives lengthy

March 7 Garvey departs from Jamaica to New York on the S. S. Tallac.

March 23 Garvey arrives in New York.

April issue of the Crisis magazine article covers the lynching of six in Lee County, Georgia.

April 25 Garvey heads to the NAACP offices at 25 695th Avenue in search of Du Bois.

Garvey visits the Tabernacle Church of Billy Sunday at Broadway and 168th Street.

May 9 Garvey holds his first public lecture in New York City at St Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery where he becomes overwhelmed whilst speaking and falls off the stage.

Garvey 38 state tour.

May 16, 18 and 20 8 P. M. Du Bois’s “The Star of Ethiopia” portrayed by 1010 Actors in Costume 53 Musical Numbers Full Brass Band is performed at the 100th General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church held in the CONVENTION HALL BROAD AND ALLEGHANY AVENUE, Philadelphia. Lucien B. Watkins publishes his “The Star of Ethiopia” poem.

Meroe geographically was known to the Greeks as Ethiopia, according to the Greek historian Herodotus who lived during the 5th century BC Meroe had the reputation of being the mother city of the Ethiopians. Candice the Queen of Ethiopia has also been identified with the Kandake’s of the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was centered at the city of Meroe because of the King Taharqa the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was previously centered at Napata in Nubia prior to Meroe Taharqa in the bible is mentioned as being the King of Ethiopia having assisted Hezekiah King of Judah in conflict with the Assyrians. And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 2 Kings 19:9-10/Isaiah 37:9-10

Egyptian Pharaoh Taharqa's pyramid at Nuri.

And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea. Acts 8:27-40 674 BC Taharqa defeats the Assyrian Emperor Sennacherib at Eltekeh. Sennacherib then defeats Taharqa. 671 BC The Assyrian Emperor Esarhaddon captures Memphis with Taharqa fleeing to in the south, takes members of the royal family as prisoners at his capital Nineveh in Assyria and places Libyan Necho I as the first of the Twenty Sixth Dynasty at Sais. Esarhaddon on his return to Assyria erects a Stele his Stele of Nahor el Kalb and his Victory Stele at Zincirle Hayok which shows Taharqa's son Ushankhuru taken as a prisoner by the Assyrians. Esaehaddon dies in Palestine on the way to Egypt, his son Emperor Ashurbanipal defeats Taharqa who flees to the city of Thebes, where he dies in 664 BC and is buried in Nuri, North Sudan. The Kingdom of Kush was centered at Napata in Nubia since the time of Alara who attacked Egypt, then Kashta who extended Kushite rule to Elephantine and Thebes in upper Egypt. His successor Taharqa's Dad, Piye, invaded and conquered Egypt.

Pharaoh Piye's pyramid at El-Kurru.   

Tefnakht of Sais forms a coalition with Kings of the Delta region, persuades Piye’s ally Nimlot King of the city of Hermopolis and Herakleopolis King Peftjauawybast. Piye army invade middle and lower Egypt Thebes Opet fesitival detailed on his victory stele at Gabel Barkal found in the Amun temple. Piye in retaliation then relieves Herakleopolis, conquers Hermopolis after five month siege, Delta Kings of Leontopolis and Tanis. Taharqa was succeeded by a son of his predecessor, Shabaka, Tantamani who defeated and killed Necho, and also took Thebes, which the Assyrians then retook from him. Meroe was ruled by Kandakes from Shanakdakhete in 177 BCE to Lahideamani in 314 CE. The Mereotic city MusawwaratesSufra on the island of Meroe in the modern day Butana region was named by the Achaenid Persian King Cambyses after his sister. Alexander the great romance by Pseudo Callisthenes. A stele Geez of a King of the Aksumites and the Omerites/Himyar found in Meroe also provides evidence of the presence of Aksum in Meroe from the 4th century Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia.

June issue of the Crisis in “Waco Horror” article covers the lynching of mentally impaired 17 year old Jesse Washington in Waco, Texas.

September 27 the day of the feast of Masqal, nobles, army, the Archbishop Abuna Mettewos, Etchage Walda Giyorgis and priests assemble at Palace disposing of Emperor Lij Iyasu of Ethiopia and proclaim Zawditu his aunty, Menelik’s daughter as Empress with her cousin DejazmatchTafari assuming the rank of Ras, Crown Prince and hier to the throne as well as Regent Plenipotentiary.

Randolph and Chandler Owen drop out of college and jointing the Socialist Party.

December Russia Grigori Rasputin murdered by Prince Yusopor.

1917 January Randolph and Owen publish the Headwaiters and Sidewaiters Society of Greater New York’s monthly magazine the Hotel Messenger.

January 30 The UUU is registered as a friendly society in Barbados.

Garvey's "West Indies in the Mirror of Truth," article is published in Chicago in the Champion Magazine.

February 11 Sunday Zewditu is anointed with the oil of kingship by Abuna Mettewos with Tafari previously Dejazmatch assuming the rank of Ras, Crown Prince, hier to the throne and Regent Plenipotentiary.

Garvey along with 13 others form the Harlem, New York branch of the UNIA becoming its first members.

Randolph who had stepped down from his stepladder in Harlem to let Garvey speak earlier in the year founds the Messenger monthly magazine with Owen, Randolph also becomes President and Executive Secretary of the Independent Political Council.

March 25 Garvey speak on “The Negroes of the West Indies, after 78 years of Emancipation.” With a general talk on the world position of the race.at the Big Bethel African Methodist Espicopal Church Corner Auburn Avenue and Butler Street in Georgia, Atlanta.

the handbill reads BIG MASS MEETING A CALL TO THE COLORED CITIZENS OF ATLANTA GEOGRIA To Hear the Great West Indian Negro Leader HON. MARCUS GARVEY President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association of Jamaica, West Indies. Big Bethel A.M.E. Church Corner Auburn Avenue and Butler Street SUNDAY AFTERNOON, AT 2 O’CLOCK MARCH 25, 1917 He brings a message of inspiration to the 12,000,000 of our people in this country. SUBJECT: “The Negroes of the West Indies, after 78 years of Emancipation.” With a general talk on the world position of the race. An orator of exceptional force, Professor Garvey has spoken to packed audience’s in England, New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinatti, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville and other cities. He has travelled to the principal countries of Europe, and was the first Negro to speak to the Veterans’ Club of London, England. This is the only chance to hear a great man who has taken his message before the world. COME OUT EARLY TO SECURE SEATS. It is worth travelling 1,000 miles to hear.

March Tsar Nicholas II resigns.

April 26 'Mayor Fred W. Moflman arrived in the city on a trip from St. Louis. In New Orleans he was met by Mayor Behrman and the New Orleans Board of Trade. For months the Farmers of Louisiana were frightened out of their wits over the everyday migration of Negroes from great farming centers of the State. They wrote to the papers, they appealed to the Governor, the Mayor and the Legislature and the Board of Trade to stop the Negroes going away, but up to the 26th of April nothing was done to stop the people excepting the Railway Companies promising to use certain restraint on the rush of people obtaining passages on the trains by Railway orders sent to them from the North. At this time Mayor Mollman arrived and the Farmers and Board of Trade met him and asked his help in discouraging the Negroes from going North and especially to East St. Louis. In an interview given out to the New Orleans press he said that the Negroes from the South were reaching St. Louis at the rate of 2,000 per week, and that they were creating a problem there. He said that some of the largest industries in the country were established in East St. Louis and there were strikes for the last few months. He believed the labor conditions in East St. Louis were responsible for the number of Negro laborers going to that city. When the strikes started, he said, United States District Judge Wright issued an injunction restraining the strikers from intimidating the laborers who took their places. This order prevented uprisings and riots. "Conditions are very bad in East St. Louis," he said, "because many plants are suffering for the want of labor. However, our city is growing and we have a population of 85,000 persons. During 1916 we gained 1,600 in population." His interview did not make pleasant reading for the Farmers and others interested in labor in New Orleans and Louisiana so that the very next day he appeared at the Board of Trade where he met the Farmers and others and in discussing the labor exodus with them, he promised that he would do all he could to discourage Negroes from Louisiana going into East St. Louis as the city did not want them. His interview on the first day was an encouragement to the Negroes to go to East St. Louis, as there was work for them, owing to the inability of the various plants to get labor. On the second day when he was approached he said East St. Louis did not want the Negroes, and he then promised to do all in his power to prevent them going there. His remarks to the people whom he met were published under big headlines in the News papers, so that the Negroes could read that they were not wanted in East St. Louis, but that did not deter the blackmen of Louisiana who were looking for better opportunities in the land of their birth going about the country looking for better conditions than the South offered with lynching and Jim Crowism. The Negroes still continued their migration North. The Mayor of East St. Louis returned to the city after making his promise to the Farmers, Board of Trade and others who were interested in Negro labor.'

April 27 Friday Mayor Mollman appeals before the Board of Trade where he makes his statement of promise

April Lenin returns to Russia from exile in Switzerland and later also flees to Finland.

The United States enter WWI.

May 4

May 5 The New Orleans Board of trade elects Mr. M. J. Sanders its president, and Mr. W. P. Ross as delegates to attend a transportation conference at St. Louis to be held on May 8-9.

May 8-9 The transportation conference is held at St. Louis at which several prominent men interested in the labor condition of the South were present as messrs.

May 28 East St. Louis. White employees of the Aluminium Ore Company vote for labor strike, the Company employ hundreds of blacks, 3, 000 white men begin rioting.

Crowds of white men after leaving the city council stopped street cars and dragged Negroes off and beat them.

May 29 Night 3 Negroes and 2 white men are shot. An investigation of the affair resulted in the finding that labor agents had induced Negroes to come from the South.

Governor Frank Orren Lowden summonds the National Guard subdue to riot.

'One thing I do no[w?] know; the first riot started on May 28 after a conference of labor leaders with Mayor Mollman. On that day, May 28, crowds of white men after leaving the City Council stopped street cars and dragged Negroes off and beat them. Then the night following three Negroes and two white men were shot. An investigation of the affair resulted in the finding that labor agents had induced Negroes to come from the South. I can hardly see the relevance of such a report with the dragging of men from cars and shooting them. The City authorities did nothing to demonstrate to the unreasonable labor leaders that they would be firmly dealt with should they maltreat and kill black men. No threat was offered to these men because Mayor Mollman himself had promised to do all he could to drive the Negroes out of East St. Louis, and to instill fear in the hearts of the people in the South so as to prevent them coming North. On the 29th of May, a day after the first disturbance, and when three Negro men had been killed, Mayor Mollman sent a dispatch to Governor Pleasant of Louisiana advising the Negroes of Louisiana to remain away from East St. Louis. This news item from the "Call" of May 31 which I will read will speak for itself.

May Garvey returns to New York from his speaking tour.

Harrison founds the Liberty League and Voice newspaper.

June 12 Harrison and Garvey speak at Harrisons Liberty League of Negro Americans meeting to petition the government again lynchings and disenfranchisement at the African Methodist Espicopa lBethal Church on 52-60 West 132ND.

The handbill which also details Chandler Owen as one of the speakers reads STOP LYNCHING AND DISFRANCHISEMENT IN THE LAND WHICH WE LOVE AND MAKE THE SOUTH “SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY” A Mass Meeting OF COLORED CITIZENS WILL BE HELD AT BETHEL CHURCH, 52-60 West 132ND Street On TUESDAY, JUNE 12th, at 8 P. M. UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE LIBERTY LEAGUE of Negro-Americans To take steps to uproot these two evils and “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” IF YOU BELIEVE IN NEGRO MANHOOD IF YOU BELIEVE IN NEGRO WOMANHOOD IF YOU LOVE YOUR COUNTRY IF YOU LOVE YOUR RACE The meeting will be addressed by MR. HUBERT H. HARRISON MR. CHANDLER OWENS REV. DR. CLAYTON POWELL other prominent ministers and laymen.

June 15 The United States congress pass the Espionage Act of 1917.

July Race riot in East Saint Louis, Illinois, on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri.

The East St. Louis Riot, or rather massacre, of Monday [July] 2nd, will go down in history as one of the bloodiest outrages against mankind for which any class of people could be held guilty. (Hear! hear.) This is no time for fine words, but a time to lift one's voice against the savagery of a people who claim to be the dispensers of democracy. (cheers) I do not know what special meaning the people who slaughtered the Negroes of East. St. Louis have for democracy of which they are the custodians, but I do know that it has no literal meaning for me as used and applied by these same lawless people. (hear! hear!). America, that has been ringing the bells of the world, proclaiming to the nations and the peoples thereof that she has democracy to give to all and sundry, America that has denounced Germany for the deportations of the Belgians into Germany, America that has arraigned Turkey at the bar of public opinion and public justice against the massacres of the Armenians, has herself no satisfaction to give 12,000,000 of her own citizens except the satisfaction of a farcical inquiry that will end where it begun, over the brutal murder of men, women and children for no other reason than that they are black people seeking an industrial chance in a country that they have laboured for three hundred years to make great. (cheers)'. Garvey “The conspiracy of the East St. Louis Riots” July 8.

White men in a Ford drive by and fire shots at blacks, an hour later a journalist and two police men also drive by in a Ford, blacks open fire on car killing one officer, thousand of whites begin rioting.

An example of what the guardsmen encountered, and themselves enjoyed, was the beating of colored women by white girls. This sort of thing was common. It resulted in the death of several Negro women. Six girls, according to the report pursued a colored girl around the main railway station. A mob formed behind the girls who were screaming frantic epithets at the terrified black girl. "Send them back to Africa." "Kill them all." "Lynch them," shouted the young amazons. Suddenly the crowd swept from the trail of the girl. A yell then arose. "There is one." It was a Negro walking on the railroad track. Before he realized his peril he was killed. Half a dozen pistols cracked and the man dropped without a chance to run. (groans) Two white girls, neither more than 17 years old, the report said, were cheered when they dragged a colored girl from a street car, removed her slippers and beat senseless with the sharp wooden heels. Some reports said black women were stripped by white women for the amusement of the crowd. (Cries of shame!). Garvey “The conspiracy of the East St. Louis Riots” July 8.

The National Guard do nothing.

Congressional Investigating Committee reports 39 blacks and 9 whites dead, although more accurately hundreds more are believed to have died, 6 thousand blacks are left homeless after their neighborhood burned.

The NAACP reports 100-200 deaths. Ida B Wells reports in the Chicago Defender 40-150 dead.

The Southern Railway Company warehouse is burned with 100 car loads of merchandise leaving them at an estimated loss of $525, 000. White owned theatre $100, 000 as well as 44 freight cars and 312 houses, with a concluded estimate of $400, 000 property damage.

July 4 The Anti Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society demands that the postwar reconstruction of Africa recognize the interests and wishes of the native inhabitants; the resolution is forwarded to the representatives of the Allied and Neutral powers.

July 8 Garvey makes his “The conspiracy of the East St. Louis Riots” speech at Lafayette Hall in Harlem, this speech is also printed and distributed in pamphlet form.

July 28 Du Bois and NAACP organise and lead the “Silent March” of 10,000 Negro New Yorkers down Fifth Avenue to protest the East St. Louis race riot, Du Bois travels to St. Louis to report on the riots and receives commission in army.

July Public debate intensifies in the West Indies regarding the denial if military commissions due to color prejudice, increasing apathy and resistance to military recruitment in the region.

August 3 The Committee on Rules and House of Representatives 65th Congress issue hearing for the riots at St. Clair Country court, 10 white defendants and 24 others, Dentist Dr.LeRoy Bundy is charged with inciting riot.

August 10 Lenin arrives at Helsinki where he hides away in safe houses belonging to Bolshevik sympathisers.

September Du Bois in the Crisis publishes his “The Massacre of East St. Louis" article.

September Army Order #1/1918 institutes a 50℅ pay increase throughout the British Army, but excludes members of the BWIR.

October 16 Lenin returns to Russia.

November 2 The British cabinet issues the Balfour Declaration, supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

November 6 (October 24th/25th) Bolshevik Marxist majority of the Russian Social Democratic Party founded by Lenin seize power in Petrograd.

December In British Guiana, Hubert Crichlow leads a campaign for a general wage increase.

[celticnoise]

IT was the season from Paradise, the campaign that will be etched forever in Celtic history. Jock Stein, after leading the club to their first title win since 1954, took his confident troops into 1966/67 and the fans were holding their breath in anticipation of what lay ahead.

No-one could have dreamed about what they were was about to witness.

Author Alex Gordon captured the club’s magical ten all-conquering months in his book, ‘That Season In Paradise’.

Today CQN, takes an exciting look at the hooped heroes from another era in a series of EXCLUSIVE extracts from Alex’s tribute tome. We hope you enjoy them.

CELTIC PARK was bathed in kaleidoscopic splendour as sunshine gaily bounced around the famous old ground on the Saturday afternoon of August 6 1966. At precisely three o’clock, the pre-match frenetic atmosphere generated by sixty thousand eager supporters was punctured by a shrill from referee Bill Anderson’s whistle which set in motion the most epic season in the history of Celtic Football Club.

Those in attendance that day could never in their wildest dreams have imagined how the following ten months would develop; how a glorious jigsaw would come together with such extraordinary perfection.

The sheer preposterousness of Celtic winning the most glittering prize European football had to offer would not have been entertained or the ludicrous thought voiced by anyone with a double digit IQ.

Manchester United, the most glamorous of all English teams, provided the opposition and on show were three of the most flamboyant performers to grace the beautiful game. There was strutting, stylish Scotsman Denis Law, the aptly-named George Best, a rare combination of Irish guile and grit, and the dashing, debonair Bobby Charlton, winner of a World Cup medal with England only the previous week.

PRIZE GUYS…manager Jock Stein and Billy McNeill celebrate another triumph.

In the middle of the park, there was another of Sir Alf Ramsey’s Wembley heroes, gap-toothed Nobby Stiles, a notoriously combative performer, and United’s captain-for-the-day Pat Crerand, the accomplished former Celt whose right foot was the baton that conducted the United orchestra.

United were not a disintegrating collection of all-stars. These were full internationals in their prime in an assembly which also included Northern Ireland’s iconic goalkeeper Harry Gregg as well as tricky and elusive left-winger John Connelly, who had also figured in England’s World Cup sortie.

This was to be no friendly confrontation. Back then, these encounters were treated like mini-internationals and Scottish and English teams tended to go head to head with frightening verve and relish. Besides, Celtic and United were led by two men, Jock Stein and Matt Busby, who were never comfortable with anything else other than first place. They were close friends, an ally ship brought about during their days in the Lanarkshire mines, but there was to be no love lost on the field of combat where men had to prove themselves.

After fifteen spellbinding minutes, Celtic had thumped in three goals on their rumbustious way to a deserved 4-1 success. Eyes were opened and hopes were raised by all who witnessed the spectacle. Expectation levels, though, were not heading for stratospheric boundaries; not at this embryonic stage, anyhow.

Ironically, it was Bobby Lennox who got the ball rolling with the opener in the seventh minute as he first-timed a devastating drive that left Gregg groping helplessly on its unstoppable way towards the rigging. It was Lennox, of course, who had got the final goal of the previous campaign when he netted in the last minute against Motherwell for a 1-0 triumph to ensure twelve years of wandering aimlessly in the championship wilderness had, at last, come to a thankful halt.

And it was Lennox who would score the goal against Real Madrid that gave Celtic a 1-0 victory in Alfredo di Stefano’s Testimonial Match in front of 120,000 approving supporters at a Bernabeu Stadium which was engulfed in rapturous applause for the new European champions.

ON THE RUN…the unstoppable Bobby Lennox.

In between the encounters with Manchester United in August 1966 and Real Madrid in June 1967, Celtic’s journey through football had been fairly memorable.

On a bright and clear afternoon in the east end of Glasgow against the Old Trafford luminaries, Bobby Murdoch clattered in a second three minutes following Lennox’s strike and, after David Sadler had pulled one back, Joe McBride zipped a third low in at the left-hand post. A confused Bill Foulkes, the Old Trafford side’s veteran centre-half, tucked the ball into his own net just after the hour mark for the fourth.

The final scoreline was immaterial. Simply put, Celtic had been imposingly majestic; a structured unit playing with skill, pace, sophistication, cohesion and penetration against strong opponents who would prove their own qualities that season on their way to winning the English First Division title. However, Manchester United were discovered to be inadequate against a blisteringly imaginative Celtic side, who, on the evidence of this supreme showing, had sent out a message only the foolish in football would choose to ignore.

Nine of the players wearing green-and-white hooped jerseys that day would realise the joy of becoming part of the first British team to win the European Cup on another sumptuous occasion in Lisbon on May 25 1967: Ronnie Simpson, Tommy Gemmell, Bobby Murdoch, Billy McNeill, John Clark, Jimmy Johnstone, Stevie Chalmers, Bertie Auld and Bobby Lennox.

FIST IN TIME…Ronnie Simpson in action.

Willie O’Neill dropped out when Stein moved Gemmell to left-back to accommodate Jim Craig on the right flank. Alas, McBride, after rampaging to thirty-six goals before Christmas, was forced into submission with a persistent knee problem. Willie Wallace, bought for only £30,000 from Hearts before the turn of the year, effectively took his place.

Ronnie Simpson, the weathered and worldly old pro, had begun his career at the age of fourteen and eight months as an enthusiastic amateur for Queen’s Park in a Summer’s Cup-tie against Clyde at Hampden in June 1945. Just over twenty-one years later, and across his home city of Glasgow, he was patrolling the Celtic goal-line and sensing something special might be around the corner.

He put it this way, ‘Manchester United were an experienced European Cup side which could be brilliant in its day, but played most of its football off the cuff. We hit them hard. We won 4-1 and what a starter for our fans. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, sang the whole afternoon and really let themselves go every time we put the ball in the United net.

‘The appetite had been whetted, We were running freely, taking our scoring chances, playing with plenty of method, strength and confidence and had shown that our close-season tour of the United States, Canada and Bermuda had only made us a closer-knit team. We looked 1967 straight in the eye with nothing but confidence.’

Many years after the ruthlessly-efficient disassembling of the acclaimed Old Trafford line-up, Bobby Lennox observed, ‘I thought that win would help to kick-start what would be a wonderful season.’

Who would have believed such a breathtaking gift for the masterly understatement had been bestowed upon the wee chap from Saltcoats?

TOMORROW:  A GUY NAMED JOE

https://ift.tt/2WoviFG

#CelticNoise #Celtic #CelticFC #CelticQuickNews

[hamiltongolfcourses]

British Open

British Open, officially the Open Championship or the Open, one of the world’s four major golf tournaments—with the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, and the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship—and the oldest continually run championship in the sport. Best known outside the United States as the Open Championship or, simply, the Open, it has been held annually (with a few exceptions) on various courses in Scotland, England, and—on one occasion—Northern Ireland since 1860. History The first Open Championship was played on October 17, 1860, at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. A field of eight professionals played three rounds of Prestwick’s 12-hole course in one day. Willie Park, Sr., won the inaugural tournament and was presented with the Challenge Belt, a silver-buckled leather belt that each champion was to keep until the following Open. The tournament was opened to amateurs in 1861. In 1863 a purse of £10—which was to be shared among the professionals who finished in second, third, and fourth place—was introduced, and a first-place cash prize of £6 was added in 1864. In 1870 Tom Morris, Jr., won the Open for the third consecutive time and was thus allowed to keep the Challenge Belt permanently. As there was no award to present to the winner, the Open was not held again until 1872, when it was determined that the winning golfer would receive the Golf Champion Trophy, now commonly known as the Claret Jug. In 1892 the Open became a 72-hole event (four rounds of 18 holes), and in 1898 a cut (reduction of the field) was introduced after the first two rounds of play. The Open has always been dominated by professionals, with only six victories by amateurs, all before 1930. The last of those was Bobby Jones’s third Open, which was part of his celebrated Grand Slam (four major tournament victories in one calendar year). The popularization of golf in the mid-20th century produced a string of noteworthy Open champions, including England’s Sir Henry Cotton (winner in 1934, 1937, and 1948), South Africa’s Bobby Locke (1949–50, 1952, 1957), Australia’s Peter W. Thomson (1954–56, 1958, 1965), and the United States’ Arnold Palmer (1961–62) and Tom Watson (1975, 1977, 1980, 1982–83). Watson’s final win in 1983 ended an era of U.S. domination, during which American golfers won 12 times in 14 years. For the next 11 years there was only one American winner, with the Claret Jug going to Spain’s Seve Ballesteros, Australia’s Greg Norman, and England’s Nick Faldo, among others. In 1995 the Open became part of the PGA Tour’s official schedule. American John Daly won that year after a play-off with Italy’s Costantino Rocca, beginning another period of American supremacy at the Open in which 10 of the next 13 winners hailed from the United States, including Tiger Woods, who won three championships (2000, 2005–06). Subsequent years saw a number of victories by golfers for whom the Open was their first major tournament triumph, including Paul Lawrie in 1999, David Duval in 2001, Ben Curtis in 2003, and Padraig Harrington in 2007. Another notable Open champion is Jack Nicklaus, who won in 1966, 1970, and 1978 and placed in the top five 16 times, including seven second-place finishes. Harry Vardon won the Open six times—more than any other player—and four golfers, including Thomson and Watson, won five championships. South African Gary Player, who won the title in 1968 and 1974, holds the record for the most appearances in the Open, with 46. Courses The Open Championship has always been played on links courses (mostly treeless golf courses that are built along a coast and retain the natural uneven terrain of their locations). From 1860 to 1870 the Open was played exclusively at Prestwick Golf Club. Since 1872 it has been played at a number of courses in rotation. Initially the three courses were Prestwick, St. Andrews, and Musselburgh, all located in Scotland. The nine courses in the current rotation are the Old Course at St. Andrews; Carnoustie Golf Links in Carnoustie, Scotland; Muirfield in Gullane, Scotland; the Ailsa Course at the Westin Turnberry Resort, outside Girvan, Scotland; Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland; Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England; Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England; Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lytham St. Annes, England; and Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England. The Open is a unique event and is of great importance to professionals and amateur golfers alike, as well as to fans of golf. Unlike the play of other majors—which are typically contested in sunny locales in the United States—the outcome of the Open is often influenced by the weather. On a links course, morning and afternoon tee times can produce vastly different playing conditions, depending on the breeze that comes in off the sea. The weather is just one of the many unique features of the Open that combine with its long history and prestigious reputation to make it an event unparalleled in golf. This author, who experienced a warm reception from his home crowd when he finished second to Tiger Woods at St. Andrews in 2005, looks forward to competing in the Open every year. To him, the Open is pure romance and theatre, and it truly is a special event that every golfer dreams of winning. British Open Winners year winner* 1860 Willie Park, Sr. 1861 Tom Morris, Sr. 1862 Tom Morris, Sr. 1863 Willie Park, Sr. 1864 Tom Morris, Sr. 1865 Andrew Strath 1866 Willie Park, Sr. 1867 Tom Morris, Sr. 1868 Tom Morris, Jr. 1869 Tom Morris, Jr. 1870 Tom Morris, Jr. 1871 not held 1872 Tom Morris, Jr. 1873 Tom Kidd 1874 Mungo Park 1875 Willie Park, Sr. 1876 Bob Martin 1877 Jamie Anderson 1878 Jamie Anderson 1879 Jamie Anderson 1880 Bob Ferguson 1881 Bob Ferguson 1882 Bob Ferguson 1883 Willie Fernie 1884 Jack Simpson 1885 Bob Martin 1886 David Brown 1887 Willie Park, Jr. 1888 Jack Burns 1889 Wille Park, Jr. 1890 John Ball 1891 Hugh Kirkaldy 1892 Harold Hilton 1893 William Auchterlonie 1894 J.H. Taylor 1895 J.H. Taylor 1896 Harry Vardon 1897 Harold Hilton 1898 Harry Vardon 1899 Harry Vardon 1900 J.H. Taylor 1901 James Braid 1902 Sandy Herd 1903 Harry Vardon 1904 Jack White 1905 James Braid 1906 James Braid 1907 Arnaud Massy (France) 1908 James Braid 1909 J.H. Taylor 1910 James Braid 1911 Harry Vardon 1912 Ted Ray 1913 J.H. Taylor 1914 Harry Vardon 1915–19 not held 1920 George Duncan 1921 Jock Hutchison (U.S.) 1922 Walter Hagen (U.S.) 1923 Arthur Havers 1924 Walter Hagen (U.S.) 1925 Jim Barnes (U.S.) 1926 Bobby Jones (U.S.) 1927 Bobby Jones (U.S.) 1928 Walter Hagen (U.S.) 1929 Walter Hagen (U.S.) 1930 Bobby Jones (U.S.) 1931 Tommy Armour (U.S.) 1932 Gene Sarazen (U.S.) 1933 Denny Shute (U.S.) 1934 Henry Cotton 1935 Alf Perry 1936 Alf Padgham 1937 Henry Cotton 1938 Reg Whitcombe 1939 Dick Burton 1940–45 not held 1946 Sam Snead (U.S.) 1947 Fred Daly (Ire.) 1948 Henry Cotton 1949 Bobby Locke (S.Af.) 1950 Bobby Locke (S.Af.) 1951 Max Faulkner 1952 Bobby Locke (S.Af.) 1953 Ben Hogan (U.S.) 1954 Peter Thomson (Austl.) 1955 Peter Thomson (Austl.) 1956 Peter Thomson (Austl.) 1957 Bobby Locke (S.Af.) 1958 Peter Thomson (Austl.) 1959 Gary Player (S.Af.) 1960 Kel Nagle (Austl.) 1961 Arnold Palmer (U.S.) 1962 Arnold Palmer (U.S.) 1963 Bob Charles (N.Z.) 1964 Tony Lema (U.S.) 1965 Peter Thomson (Austl.) 1966 Jack Nicklaus (U.S.) 1967 Roberto de Vicenzo (Arg.) 1968 Gary Player (S.Af.) 1969 Tony Jacklin 1970 Jack Nicklaus (U.S.) 1971 Lee Trevino (U.S.) 1972 Lee Trevino (U.S.) 1973 Tom Weiskopf (U.S.) 1974 Gary Player (S.Af.) 1975 Tom Watson (U.S.) 1976 Johnny Miller (U.S.) 1977 Tom Watson (U.S.) 1978 Jack Nicklaus (U.S.) 1979 Seve Ballesteros (Spain) 1980 Tom Watson (U.S.) 1981 Bill Rogers (U.S.) 1982 Tom Watson (U.S.) 1983 Tom Watson (U.S.) 1984 Seve Ballesteros (Spain) 1985 Sandy Lyle 1986 Greg Norman (Austl.) 1987 Nick Faldo 1988 Seve Ballesteros (Spain) 1989 Mark Calcavecchia (U.S.) 1990 Nick Faldo 1991 Ian Baker-Finch (Austl.) 1992 Nick Faldo 1993 Greg Norman (Austl.) 1994 Nick Price (Zimb.) 1995 John Daly (U.S.) 1996 Tom Lehman (U.S.) 1997 Justin Leonard (U.S.) 1998 Mark O'Meara (U.S.) 1999 Paul Lawrie 2000 Tiger Woods (U.S.) 2001 David Duval (U.S.) 2002 Ernie Els (S.Af.) 2003 Ben Curtis (U.S.) 2004 Todd Hamilton (U.S.) 2005 Tiger Woods (U.S.) 2006 Tiger Woods (U.S.) 2007 Padraig Harrington (Ire.) 2008 Padraig Harrington (Ire.) 2009 Stewart Cink (U.S.) 2010 Louis Oosthuizen (S.Af.) 2011 Darren Clarke 2012 Ernie Els (S.Af.) 2013 Phil Mickelson (U.S.) 2014 Rory McIlroy 2015 Zach Johnson (U.S.) 2016 Henrik Stenson (Swed.) 2017 Jordan Spieth (U.S.) 2018 Francesco Molinari (Italy)

[neander97]

Beaver Tales: The Fur Trade in the Old West

The beaver exhibits a deceptively unimpressive demeanor. Judged simply by its appearance, one would be tempted to lump this dumpy looking creature--squinty eyes, webbed toes, naked, scaly tail and all--together with other such uninspiring creatures as the guinea pig or hamster. Such would be a mistake. Seldom has a single creature played such a profound role in influencing the history of a continent and its peoples. Men conquered vast oceans, wove their way across trackless wildernesses, waged wars, and debauched entire cultures, all in pursuit of the beaver. Beaver furs and beaver castoreum were the source of vast fortunes. The mere presence or absence of beaver determined the boundaries between great nations. Just as a desire for gold and silver drove the Spaniards to explore and exploit Mexico and Central and South America, a burning lust for beaver furs drove British, French, and American entrepreneurs across the length and breadth of what is now the United States and Canada. The beaver was the North American equivalent of the Incan silver mines, indeed, for nearly two centuries beaver fur was as good as gold.

At one time, beaver colonies were found in nearly every stream from the Rio Grandè to the Arctic Ocean. Estimates on total numbers in pre-Colombian North America range from 60 to 400 million. One biologist, Robert J. Naiman of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, estimates that in 1870 there were at least 10 million beaver within the boundaries of present day Canada.

No one can accurately estimate the number of beaver harvested in North America during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. In 1824 Alexander Ross of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) led a twenty-two man expedition from Flathead House on a short excursion into the Bitterroot drainage. On one single, but notable, day the Ross party harvested 155 beaver, and returned to the base a short while later laden down with over 5,000 pelts. In 1854, nearly twenty years after the bottom fell out of the beaver market, over 500,000 North American beaver pelts were auctioned of in London. HBC records show that from 1853 to 1877, again long after the demand for beaver fur had dramatically declined, the company sold some three million beaver pelts.

In addition to its other unique qualities, the beaver is gifted with a system of behavioral culture that is solidly embedded in instinct. The strength and endurance of this creature's instinct is amply demonstrated by the natural history of the beaver population of the River Rhône in France. A beaver colony constructs its dams, ponds, and lodges by communal effort and only does so when local populations reach a level sufficient to insure that adequate numbers of beaver are present to construct and maintain these structures. By the end of the 16th century the seemingly insatiable demand for beaver fur had pushed the Rhône's beaver to the brink of extinction. For over three hundred years a small remnant population of beaver clung to survival in the Rhône drainage. Although the beaver managed to survive, populations in the Rhône never reached the level at which dams and other structures were constructed. In the post-World War II era the French government placed a ban on the hunting and trapping of these beaver and took other steps to restore the indigenous beaver population of the Rhône drainage. Granted this protection, within decades the Rhône beaver made an astonishing recovery. After three centuries the Rhône's beaver population once again neared historic numbers, and once again, when the population was sufficient to supply the requisite labor, these beaver began to construct dams, ponds, and lodges. For hundreds of years no Rhône beaver constructed a dam or lodge. When at last, however, the time was ripe for such construction, the communal behavior necessary to initiate and guide construction was still there, firmly embedded in the beaver's instinctive culture.

In 1818 and again in 1823-24, Great Britain had expressed its willingness to yield to the United States its claims to a sizable portion of what was then known as the Oregon Country. Britain's offer included that part of Oregon which lay to the south of line extending along the 49th parallel to the Columbia River and down that river to the sea. Well aware of its government's intentions, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) launched a campaign to exterminate the entire beaver population of the southeastern quarter of the Oregon Country. The HBC not only desperately wanted to harvest these beaver before American trappers and traders arrived on the scene, but hoped in so doing to create a "fur desert," a cordon sanitare, to protect their valuable fur-monopoly in the Pacific Northwest. In 1824 Sir George Simpson, governor of HBC's Columbia Department, described the Snake River country as "a rich preserve of Beaver . . . which for political reasons we should endeavour to destroy as soon as possible."

To implement its "scorched earth" policy, the HBC relied upon the Snake River Brigade system, an institution inherited from the old Northwest Company (NWC). From 1818 to 1821 Donald MacKenzie led these year-long trapping expeditions from the NWC's advance base at Fort Nez Perces into the upper Snake River country. After taking over the NWC in 1821, the HBC relocated the brigade's base of operations to Flathead House, near present day Thompson Falls, Montana. From 1822 to 1824 Michel Bourdon, Finian McDonald, and Alexander Ross led large brigades of "engagés" and free-trappers from Flathead House into the central Rockies. Typically, the brigades departed Flathead House in mid-winter and followed the Missoula (Clark Fork) River upstream to the Bitterroot before crossing Gibbons Pass into the headwaters of the Missouri (a blatant incursion into American territory), all the while harvesting as many beaver as possible along the way. From the Three Forks country, the brigades crossed into the Salmon River drainage, via Lemhi Pass, then to the Big Lost River and, finally, to the Snake River where the spring hunt commenced. The brigades trapped the rich beaver streams of southeastern Idaho or worked westward along the Snake to the Boise, Payette, and Weiser rivers. In November, their circuit complete, the brigades returned to Flathead House to turn in their beaver and re-equip for the next expedition.

Although profits under the leadership of Messrs. Bourdon, McDonald, and Ross were respectable, over 4,000 beaver were taken in 1823, Governor Simpson believed that too little was being done to hasten the region's beaver along the path to extinction. The Governor, accordingly, placed the Snake Brigade under the command of the most ruthless and dedicated man in HBC's employ, Peter Skene Ogden. From 1825 to 1832 Ogden and his successor, John Work, transformed the Snake River Brigade into a highly profitable commercial enterprise and powerfully effective political tool.

Every year from 1825 to 1832 the Snake River Brigade, generally consisting of at least 100 men and 300 horses, departed Fort Vancouver, Fort Nez Perces, or Flathead House in the late summer or early autumn. Although the brigades often ranged far afield, in 1827-28 for example Ogden pushed as far south as the Gulf of California, the brigades always returned to the Snake River country and, always stripped the region bare of beaver.

Under this unceasing pressure, HBC's plans came to fruition. The impact of a dozen or more years of relentless trapping drove the Snake River beaver population to the brink of extinction. In other lands under its control the HBC practiced strict conservation policies. The Company prohibited its trappers from returning to a stream for two or three years after they harvested its beaver, a rotation policy that seemed quite adequate. Modern studies have shown that if disease or habitat destruction are not a factor, beaver are able to repopulate a depleted watershed within three to five years. The Company's ruthless exploitation of the beaver resource in the Snake River country, did indeed, create a barrier that prevented American trappers from entering the Pacific Northwest. One American fur-entrepreneur, William Ashley of the Ashley & Henry Company, estimated that the HBC harvested over 85,000 from the Snake River drainage during the mid 1820s. The HBC's success was, however, a relative one. By the early 1830s just as the Snake River fur desert came into being, the bottom dropped out of the beaver market and in 1846, with the signing of the Buchanan-Pakenham Treaty, Great Britain ceded over half of the Oregon County to the United States and the HBC was forced to abandon its operations south of the 49th parallel.

From the beginning of time humans have worn furs, and from that time, furs have been the subject of symbolism, controversy, and myth. The man or woman draped in fur projects the very image of wild primordial potency, calling to mind some great conqueror of the wild, a slayer of fearsome beasts. Indeed, it was often believed that furs imparted certain qualities and characteristics to those who wore them. A rabbit or polecat coat might shield one from the cold, but it surely lacked the "sex appeal" of a coat made of the leopard's pelt. In the time since humanity has grown civilized, furs have came to symbolize other symbols of potency, most notably monied wealth and political power. The Sung emperors readily decapitated any commoner audacious enough to be caught wearing garments made from sea otter fur, a fur ostensibly reserved for those of royal blood. Throughout the Middle Ages, kings and religious leaders passed laws and edicts regulating the wearing of furs. In 1127 the Westminster Church Council specified that winter wear for abbesses and nuns be limited to fur garments made of lamb skin and cat fur. Edward III, King of England (1327-77) decreed that only the royalty, the nobility, and those who donated at least £150 per annum to the Church could wear such rare and expensive furs as ermine and sable. Our myths and legends are replete with "fur lore," from the lion skin loin cloth of Hercules to Davy Crockett's coonskin cap. In the original French version of the old fairy tale, Cinderella's slippers were made of squirrel fur (vair) and not of glass (verre). However, of all furs, and items of apparel made from fur, none has had an impact on history comparable to the beaver hat.

For well over two centuries in Britain, Western Europe, and North America the very word style was defined by the quality of one's beaver hat and by the grace with which one wore his beaver topper. Before the introduction of the umbrella to Europe, beaver headgear provided more than just an elegant means by which to stay dry. The wealth of a man or woman was visibly displayed in the quality of their beaver hat. One's social position was revealed by their familiarity with the etiquette surrounding the wearing and display of their headpieces. After all, to elegantly doff one one's beaver and bow with grace and ease was surely the mark of social and class distinction. Beaver hats became all the rage in Stuart England, the fashion being adopted from the beaver bonnets worn by Swedish cavalrymen during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). From the early 1600s to the mid-1800s, if it was not a beaver, it was not a hat--but merely something that covered one's head.

But surely such a mark of distinction, such a symbol of wealth and status, was not some scrap of shaggy fur worn on the heads of these handsome beau brummels and elegant grandams. Surely not the Crockett model, with the creature's head and tail still attached In fact the beaver hat was not made from the creature's thick outer fur, but from its barbed, fibrous under-hair which was chemically treated, mashed, pounded, rolled, and turned into felt (it was, of course, the effects of the mercury used into producing felt that led to the expression "Mad as a hatter").

The production of felt is an ancient technology, probably first discovered by the nomadic peoples of Central Asia who covered their tents and wagons with water-resistant cloth made of wool felt. The Greeks and Romans also made water-proof tarpaulins and other materials from felt. The manufacture of felt eventually became the specialty of artisans in the bazaars of Constantinople. From there the secret of producing felt was brought to Western Europe, mainly to France, by the Crusaders. In later centuries, the finest felt cloth, and thus hats, was produced at Rouen, Caudebec, and other Norman towns. The most skilled French hatters were the Huguenots (French Protestants). Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries Huguenots hatters, fleeing the persecution of their Catholic neighbors, carried their art with them into exile to such places as London. It was, then, the presence of the Huguenots hatters in London, who incidentally specialized in the production of beaver felt, combined with the sex appeal of the Swedish cavalry's beaver bonnets that first sparked the beaver hat craze in England.

On average, the beaver weighs between 40 and 60 pounds, although Vernon Bailey of the U.S. Biological Service once caught a 110 pound beaver on the Iron Ore River in Wisconsin. Bailey's specimen was, however, a mere pygmy when compared to the beaver's Pleistocene ancestors. These giant beaver often measure over nine feet long and weighed more than a modern day grizzly bear. The beaver's broad scaly tail, which is usually about twelve inches long, six inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch thick, is admirably suited for use as a rudder while swimming and as a prop when the beaver stands on its hind legs while gnawing through trees. Contrary to folk-wisdom, the beaver does not use its tail as a trowel when applying mud to its dam or lodge.

The beaver is truly an eating machine, for it must spend the majority of its waking hours chewing with its chisel-like teeth. The beaver is equipped with four self-sharpening incisors, coated with bright orange colored enamel. If these incisors, which can reach lengths of seven inches or more, are not kept ground down by constant gnawing, they can eventually grow into the beaver's skull, resulting in death. While beavers can gnaw through a six inch tree in five minutes, they have been known to drop trees as large as 42 inches in diameter. One source estimates that, depending upon its habitat, a single beaver can drop as many as 200 trees per year.

The beaver, a strict monogamist, typically mates in February and produces from two to fours cubs or kits in late May or early June. After about two and a half years the kits reach maturity and are driven from the lodge by their parents. Depending upon local conditions, these displaced young adults often establish their own colony in close proximity to their parent's lodge.

Prime beaver habit consists of slow moving streams and small lakes with clay banks that are well wooded with aspen or cottonwoods and willow. Streams that flow through constricted valleys with high flood potential and streams with a gradient of more than 12% are generally avoided. In the Rockies, the beaver habitat encompasses a wide altitudinal range, from the foothills to alpine streams at the 10,500 foot level. On the Great Plains, the beaver generally inhabits sluggish streams with clay or alluvial banks, where the beaver relies on lodges dug into stream banks. One the main factors involved in determining the distribution of beaver populations is the availability of its preferred food sources. The beaver's favored foods include aspen, birch, elder, willow, and cottonwood as well as such aquatic plants as sedge, cattail roots, and water lilies. While conifers are not eaten by beaver, they are, at times, used to construct dams and lodges.

In addition to its pelt, the beaver was also valued for its pear-shaped perineal scent glands. These glands, which contained an orange-brown alkaloid-based substance called castoreum, were highly prized as for their use in medicinal compounds. Solomon was reported to have used castoreum for his migraines. Both Hippocrates and Pliny the Elder prescribed castoreum compounds for the treatment of hysteria. Through the Middle Ages castoreum was used to treat various symptoms of mental illness, as an anti-spasmodic to treat epilepsy, and a "cure" for tuberculosis. In 1685 Johannes Franco, an early advocate of "scientific medicine" noted that "Castoreum destroys fleas; is an excellent stomachic; stops hiccough; induces sleep; strengthens the sight; and taken up the nose it causes sneezing and clears the brain." Although castoreum may not have been the miracle drug touted by Franco, there may actually be some valid basis for these claims. Laboratory tests have revealed that castoreum contains substantial amounts of acetylsalicylic acid, the main component of aspirin.

Castoreum also was highly valued by beaver trappers, who used the substance to create a scent lure that drew the beaver to their traps. Once the trapper had located a likely site and had set his trap under water, he then dipped a twig into his supply of scent (castoreum) and hung the twig above his trap. The beaver, being an extremely territorial creature, smelling the castoreum and believing that his territory had been invaded by a stranger would swim toward the scent. Then, while attempting to reach the castoreum-coated twig, the beaver was, all too often, caught in the trap.

Recommended Readings:

Blanche, Norcross, E. THE COMPANY ON THE COAST (1983).  Chittenden, Hiram Martin. THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE OF THE FAR WEST, vols. 1 & 2 (1935/1986). Dale L. Morgan, JEDEDIAH SMITH AND THE OPENING OF THE WEST (1953/1964).  Dale, Harrison Clifford. THE EXPLORATIONS OF WILLIAM H. ASHLEY AND JEDEDIAH SMITH, 1822-1829 (1941/1991). Deconde, Alexander. A HISTORY OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY: GROWTH TO WORLD POWER, 1700-1914, vol. 1 (1978). Galbraith, John S. THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY AS AN IMPERIAL FACTOR (1957). Goetzmann, William H. EXPLORATION AND EMPIRE: THE EXPLORER AND THE SCIENTIST IN THE WINNING OF THE AMERICAN WEST (1966). Merk, Frederick. THE OREGON QUESTION: ESSAYS IN ANGLO - AMERICAN DIPLOMACY AND POLITICS (1967). Newman, Peter C. COMPANY OF ADVENTURERS, THE STORY OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY (1985). Newman, Peter C. CAESARS OF THE WILDERNESS: THE STORY OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY (1988). Rich, Edwin E. HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, 1670-1870, 3 vols, (1961). Rich, Edwin E. THE FUR TRADE AND THE NORTHWEST TO 1857 (1967). Ross, Frank E. "The Retreat of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Pacific Northwest," CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 18 (September 1937). Wishart, David J. THE FUR TRADE OF THE AMERICAN WEST (1979).

#north american beaver #castor canadensis #fur #pelt #plew #felt #castoreum #trapping #trapper #mountain men #hudson's bay company #northwest company #ashley & henry company #peter skene ogden #neander97