Children on the Mountain, Children in the Trees

Though I have visited the graveyard at the ghost town of Elkhorn, Montana many times, I am always a little troubled as I leave there.

I think of the children.

Elkhorn thrived in a narrow mountain valley near Helena in the last half of the 1800s and reached a population of 2500 during the peak of silver production.  Elkhorn grew, as most mining towns did back then, in fits and starts, and with a mix of shacks and fancy commercial buildings.  Elkhorn, however, was different in that whole families of European immigrants came to populate the town rather than the usual flurry of single raucous men.  At one point, the town boasted over a dozen saloons, three hotels, a two-lane bowling alley, and Fraternity Hall—which is pictured below.

The immigrants carved an honest community from the wood and stone of the nearby mountains.  Elkhorn bustled until the silver crash of 1893.  The saddest episode, though, befell Elkhorn in the latter half of 1888 and extending into the early months of 1889.  A diphtheria epidemic began taking the lives of the town’s children one by one and two by two.  Many families lost multiple children.  Mother’s and daughters perished side by side.  Few families were spared.

The graveyard at Elkhorn can be found on a mountain above the town and is now overtaken by the forest.  Many of the grave markers were made of wood and have long since been reclaimed by the elements.  The stone markers and an occasional fence still stand—often aslant amidst upright pine and fir trees.   You can still find the names and ages of many children on the mountain there.

The arched tombstone pictured below is for Beatrice and Clara (aged 3 and 5). 

All of the photographs posted today were taken yesterday afternoon while Martha and I visited the Elkhorn during a rainstorm.

--Mitchell Hegman     

Modesty

Modesty in all things…except kissing and uprooting weeds.

--Mitchell Hegman

Blue Virgin’s Bower

Posted today is photograph taken on a hike along the upper switchbacks of Refrigerator Canyon Trail yesterday (6-11-2013).  The whole forest is vividly green following weeks of good rain.  Some of the patches of balsamroot flowers stand waist-high.

--Mitchell Hegman

Like Forces Repel (the not-too-technical version)

In nature, like forces repel.  The often cited example is the like poles of magnets, which readily push away from each other when they are brought near enough that their lines of flux meet.  Similarly, two negative sub-atomic particles of the same sort will repel. 

In human behavior, however, two negatives readily attract.  Quite often, they will cohabitate for over twenty years and steadily produce offspring for the whole time.  Their offspring will likely set fire to your lawn furniture while they are young children, steal cars from your neighborhood as young adults, and then eventually marry into your own family.  

--Mitchell Hegman

A Summer Sundog

While out for a walk the other day, I glanced up into a pine tree and noticed that a fairly vivid sundog was on display; this one caused by ice crystals held aloft with the high cirrus clouds. Fortunately, I almost always have my camera with me, whether afoot or in an automobile.  No exception to that the other day.

Here are a couple of images that I captured. 

 

 

--Mitchell Hegman

Strange Facts about the Human Body

1.      The risk of heart attack is greatest on Monday—thought to be partially true because people at risk have too much fun on the weekend.

2.      People are taller in the morning than they are in the evening—due to compression of cartilage in the joints of the bones.

3.      The bones in your feet account for one quarter of the number of bones in your entire body.

4.      An estimated 32 million bacteria reside on every square inch of human skin.

5.      Fear increases the production of earwax.

6.      People who are right-handed live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people—due mainly to left-handed accidents in a mostly right-hand intended world.

7.      Your ears never stop growing.

8.      The largest human cell is the egg in a female and the smallest human cell is sperm in a male.

9.      Your chances of having a bad dream increases as the temperature of the room in which you sleep decreases.

10.  The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot repair itself.

--Mitchell Hegman

Thanks to:

 

http://www.businesscreditcards.com/bootstrapper/100-weird-facts-about-the-human-body/

In My Velvet Dream

Our lovemaking is like slow boxing

We throw fakes and soft punches

And then merge together like cross-ripples on a velvet sea

Like kittens falling into silk pillows

Please don’t speak to me baby

Don’t hesitate

Or drop aside

Your skin is the open plain upon which I run

Deliciously out-of-breath

My hands are no longer mine

My lips

My thoughts

These all belong to you

--Mitchell Hegman