I fell down the rabbit hole. I'll admit I'm not much of a
scholar. Takes too much attention to
detail. Plus there's all that footnoting
and bibliography that has to be dealt with.
As anyone who actually knows me, primarily my children will tell you, I'm
much more likely to just pull it out of my pocket. (and yes, I did clean that statement up so I could appeal to a
wider audience..........?) The three of you who found this blog can go
ahead and share it with your friends.
Anyway, part of the Grand Canyon experience is recent history and that includes
Mary Colter[3], the
Fred Harvey Company[4],
the need for water[5],
El Tovar[6],
mining[7],
telephones[8],
and transportation[9]. This is a partial list, but you know, the
junk I'm interested in, in an everyday sort of way. And I was asked
questions. I had no answers. Perhaps
there are no answers, but that is what I want to find out. I don't know who did the metalwork in El Tovar,
or for Bright Angel Lodge[10],
or for that matter any of the other metalwork. My task, as I see it, is to try to discover what I can about the metalwork of
the Grand Canyon.
So here I am. Deep in the rabbit hole with very little
information about the things I was originally looking for. As yet I have few answers to the questions
about the Grand Canyon, but I did find this.
These are architectural fragments from excavations at
Jamestown, Virginia. The excavations
took place in 1934 and 1935, Jamestown Island Colonial National Monument. [11]
The excavation uncovered fragments of
old wrought iron hardware. One of the
two buildings was thought to be a warehouse. It was long and narrow, near the shore and, of
course, erected in the 17th century. Not
much of it remained. The other was a
house built by Edward Champion Travis after 1755. It is possible it stood until 1803.
 |
| This is the description from the original report filed of the hardware in the house. I wish I could touch it. |
 |
| Hardware from the house |
 |
| Hardware from the house |
 |
| Picture of hardware from the house |
 | ||
| This is the description of the warehouse. |
 |
| Hardware from the warehouse. There were no pictures. |
The thing is, there are records of blacksmiths in colonial
Virginia. I am hoping the same is true of the Grand Canyon. I will keep searching and will keep posting
asides as well. This will be a long and
winding road.
As I discover more, I
will share it with my fan...Hi Bob!
How's the family? If anyone else
stumbles on this, ...hey! How's it going?
I hope you enjoyed this and come back ....please.
Now back to work.
j
[1]
The hike was with the Grand Canyon Field Institute and was lead by a geologist
named Brian Gootee with the assistance of Thea Gavin who is a poet. They had so much information about the
canyon. Historical information from
geological to original occupants to later occupant, as well as, an enormous
amount of knowledge about the plants, animals and almost anything you could
think of really in and around the canyon.
[2] In
addition to Brian and Thea (you should look them up, although I could make them
links to themselves) I want to thank the rest of the very small staff at GCFI
and my fellow hikers.
[3] MaryColter was an architect and designer who worked for The Fred Harvey Company and
the Sante Fe Railroad and did a lot of work at the Grand Canyon, including
designing Phantom Ranch. This is the
Wikipedia link to information on her but look further. She was interesting.
[4] TheFred Harvey Company was basically a hospitality company that worked with the
Santa Fe Railroad to create restaurants and hotels along the rail lines and in
the rail stations. Again this is a linkto the Grand Canyon Lodges page. It has
a bit about Fred Harvey. Again...this
stuff is interesting. Go look it up.
[5] The
history of water in the desert and the history of water at the Grand Canyon are
way too complicated for this footnote but as part of my process and my look
into technology at the Canyon, I will be revisiting this topic.
[7] Mining
is a huge part of the history of the Grand Canyon. On the hike down the south Kaibab, Brian
showed us a breccia pipe. This one was radioactive
which I learned after I peed on it. Hey,
it's hiking.
[8] The
trans-canyon telephone line is another story I will follow while here in the
rabbit hole. All I will say at this
point is it in the National Register of Historic Places.
[9] All
the ways that people arrived at the Grand Canyon and traveled the Canyon are
fascinating. Again, you will have to
wait for this.
[10]Virginia
L. Gratton Mary Colter Builder Upon the
Red Earth.(1992) There are some artisans who worked with
Mary Colter who are named. Earl Altaire
painted furniture for La Fonda in Santa Fe. Olive Rush did murals and painted
glass. Colter used a master carpenter
named E.V. Birt. Arnold Ronnebeck did
sculptured tiles. Dorothy Stauffer did
a mural. Guy Gowan was a ceramic
sculptor who worked with Colter on the Fred Harvey tableware. Colter's secretary was named Sadie
Rubins. Fred Greer painted decorative
motifs of sand paintings. Fred Kabotie
painted Hopi Room in the Watchtower.
Hildreth Meiere painted murals in Kansas City Union Station. Interestingly the tinsmith goes unnamed, and
the only mention of a blacksmith is in reference to aprons being used to upholster
furniture.
[11] Architectural Remains, Unit B, Sub-unit 62, Jamestown, James City
County, VA. Library of Congress. (1933) HABS
VA,48-JAM,4- and HABS VA,48-JAM,3-
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