Contrary to popular belief, huskies and malamutes do not make the best sled dogs for racing. The typical racing dog is leaner and a mix. Huskies and malamutes are good hauling dogs because of their strength, but other than the so-called “Alaska husky”, not so good for winning races.
The Iditarod Trail was established on the path between Nenana and Nome, the two towns at the ends of the 1925 diphtheria run. It was known as the Iditarod Trail because, at the time, Iditarod was the largest town on the trail.
In World War II, the civilian Nome Airport shared use of the runway with Marks Army Airfield for transfer of Lend-Lease aircraft to the Soviet Union and in 1942, for air defense of the western coast of Alaska. Today, just east of the airport, is a pizza restaurant named Airport Pizza. The pizza parlor is famous for its use of Bering Air flights to deliver pizza for free to far-flung Alaskan villages from Nome Airport.
Coming soon, a Queen biopic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwAjcU2_maI
In play:
The Soviet Union was granted a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council by agreement between FDR, Churchill and Stalin, near the close of World War II. When the USSR collapsed in 1991, the Russian Federation was soon recognized as its successor state, and got the Security Council seat.
Awesome!
In play:
In Alaska during WWII, dog mushers and their sled teams played important roles, although they are not well remembered. They led the Eskimo Scouts, the Alaska Territorial Guard, on their patrols of vast areas, especially in the vastness of western Alaska. The Alaska Territorial Guard operated from 1942 to 1947.
About four percent of all Boy Scouts earn the Eagle Scout award, the top rank in the Boy Scouts of America. Gerald Ford, Republican of Michigan, is the only President to have earned the rank in his youth, and was featured in a BSA recruiting ad after he left the White House: https://smyrnatroop422.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/ford-s.jpg
EagleRider (www.eagleRider.com) is Harley-Davidson’s motorcycle tours and rental company. They offer tours and rentals in over 100 countries. Their most popular tour in the US is Route 66.
“Midnight** Rider**” is a song by the American rock band the Allman Brothers Band from 1970. While the original version never charted, the song later became a hit for four different artists: Joe Cocker, Greeg Allman (solo), Paul Davidson (Reggae version), and Willie Nelson (Country-Western version).
Here’s the original: Allman Brothers Midnight Rider - YouTube
The May 4, 1970 shootings by Ohio National Guard troops at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio are commemorated on campus by marked-off spaces in the parking lot where the four students died, a self-guided tour with signs, a modern memorial and a small museum.
Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall album, which he recorded in 1971 but did not release until 2007, includes the song “Ohio” commemorating this event.
Only once in his long career, in 49th Parallel, did Canadian actor Raymond Massey play a Canadian character instead of an American, and usually a historical figure. He played abolitionist/insurrectionist John Brown in two films: Santa Fe Trail (1940) and again in the low-budget Seven Angry Men (1955). The character of Brown is portrayed as a wild-eyed lunatic in Santa Fe Trail, whereas he is a well-intentioned but misguided character in the more sympathetic Seven Angry Men. Massey scored a great triumph on Broadway in Robert E. Sherwood’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play *Abe Lincoln in Illinois *despite reservations about Lincoln’s being portrayed by a Canadian. He repeated his role in the 1940 film version, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Massey again portrayed Lincoln in *The Day Lincoln Was Shot *on Ford Star Jubilee (1956), a wordless appearance in How the West Was Won (1962), and two TV adaptations of *Abe Lincoln in Illinois *broadcast in 1950 and 1951. He once complained jokingly that he was “the only actor ever typecast as a president.”
In abolitionist John Brown’s October 1859 raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry WV (it was still Virginia then), the US government’s response included sending in US Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Brown was captured, tried for treason, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was found guilty on all counts, and was hanged.
Brown was 59 when he died.
Before he became a radical abolitionist, John Brown succeeded and then failed at business ventures in both Pennsylvania and Ohio. At age 42 he declared bankruptcy and at one point had twenty lawsuits filed against him.
“John Brown’s Body” was a popular Union marching song during the Civil War that portrayed him as a martyr. According to an 1890 account, the original John Brown lyrics were a collective effort by a group of Union soldiers who were referring both to the famous John Brown and also, humorously, to a Sergeant John Brown of their own battalion. Its tune was later used for Julia Ward Howe’s “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which was written when a friend suggested, “Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune?”
On July 3rd, 1890, Idaho was admitted as the 43rd state of the United States. Exactly one week later, on July 10th, Wyoming became the 44th State.
Idaho’s name comes from eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing who suggested the name “Idaho”, which he claimed was derived from a Shoshone language term meaning “the sun comes from the mountains” or “gem of the mountains”. Willing later claimed he had invented the name.
Idaho State Highway 66connects Viola with the Washington state line.
It wasn’t from George M. Willing’s wife?
George: who da ho?
Wife: Idaho
Sorry, just couldn’t resist! Play on…
Idaho Hwy 66 connects with Palouse Cove Road, which goes to Palouse WA. Palouse Falls (gImages, https://goo.gl/FPkt4T) is an area created by the Missoula glacial floods, which also created the Channeleld Scablands, carved out the Grand Coulee and the Columbia River Gorge, and fertilized the Wilamette Valley of Oregon.
Fascinating.
ETA: I love visiting this area, have only been ince so far but really want to go back. The glacial erratics are fascinating.
ETA 2: glacial erratics, gImages — https://goo.gl/USTv8V
ETA 3: damned iPhone typos!
Kayaker Tyler Brandt took his kayak off of Palouse Falls, height 189 feet, and lived to tell about it.
Palouse Falls is in southeastern Washington State. It was named the official state waterfall in 2014 after local schoolchildren petitioned the state legislature to have it thus designated.