Jet Lowe in Cleveland

In the summer of 1979, Jet Lowe took a series of photographs of these huge machines used to unload ore from ships on Lake Erie. In this photograph, you can see a ship  (the George M. Carl) docked to the left of the massive Hulett ore unloaders.  Downtown Cleveland is in the distance.

Pennsylvania Railway Ore Dock, Lake Erie at
Whiskey Island, approximately 1.5 miles west of
Public Square, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, OH

The unloader operator could drop the ore directly into waiting rail cars for immediate shipping, or deposit it in the storage yard to the left.

Horseshoe Curve, Altoona, Pennsylvania

Altoona, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1934

 

(Click the image for a larger version.)
This photograph is from the panoramic photograph collection of the American Memory project at the Library of Congress. The horseshoe curve carried the Pennsylvania Railroad at a reasonable grade through the Allegheny Mountains. Designed by John Edgar Thomson (who soon become president of the PRR) and Herman Haupt (who later started digging the Hoosac Tunnel in western Massachusetts and was a Union general in the Civil War) designed the  curve. The horseshoe curve opened on Feburary 15, 1854.

Here's the satellite image from above (via Google Maps). Click the image to view the map itself.

Nicaragua

A year ago, my daughter Libby asked me if I wanted to go with her and some of her friends to Nicaragua to build a house. The last I had heard of Nicaragua was during the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, when the US was funding an effort to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. Since then, the Nicaraguans have overcome the Contras, the Sandinistan government has been voted out, and voted back in again. Daniel Ortega, one of the Sandinista leaders and the former President, is also the current President of Nicaragua.

We built a house in Guanacastillo, a rural area in the town of Nindiri, about 45 minutes south of Managua. Our home for the week was the small village called Papayal, which consists of a small church, where we slept, a two-room schoolhouse constructed by the government, and the teacher's house -- by far the nicest house in town.

We worked through an organization called Bridges to Community, which has worked on a number of projects throughout Nicaragua, including water projects, medical clinics, house-building, and school-building.

Papayal School, Nicaragua, February 2010

The kids have a great time in school, and they all show up with clean white shirts and navy blue pants or skirts.

Guanacastillo, Nicaragua, February 2010

The houses that Bridges to Community builds are simple but practical. The foundation is concrete on a base of crushed stone for earthquake resistance. The walls are concrete block with steel-and-concrete post-and-beam construction. And the roof is sheet steel welded to steel roof beams for hurricane resistance. Each house has two windows and two doors and a tile floor.

Papayal School, Nicaragua, February 2010

During the week it takes to build a house, you get to know the school kids, the masons, the family for whom you are building the house, and assorted other characters and hangers-on.

 Building Rosa's House, Guanacastillo, Nicaragua, February 2010

If you've read this far and you'd like to contribute to the work that Bridges is doing, go to our FirstGiving web site: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/bacher/bridges-to-community-inc. Thanks.

Franconia Ridge

Lonesome Lake, New Hampshire, October 16, 2010

It feels like fall here in southern New Hampshire, but it's already early winter in the mountains. I went hiking with my son last weekend in Franconia Notch. We stayed overnight in the Appalachian Mountain Club hut at Lonesome Lake. As we climbed up the shoulder of Cannon Mountain toward the lake, we started seeing snow at about 2500 feet. The boardwalk over the bog on the north side of the lake was slippery, but we made it to the hut without falling in.

We couldn't see anything beyond the lake that afternoon, but in the morning, we had this wonderful view of the Franconia Ridge across the valley.

Connecticut River Ferry at Rocky Hill

When I'm driving back from New York to New Hampshire, if I have enough time, I like to get off Interstate 91 and take the Connecticut River ferry from Rocky Hill to Glastonbury. Ferries are fun, and this is one of the smallest I've seen. The other small ferry I remember is the cable ferry crossing the Missouri River in Montana: the Virgelle Ferry. The Connecticut River ferry itself is an unpowered barge.  A small tugboat maneuvers the barge in a wide sweep across the river:

Rocky Hill, Connecticut, September 2010. Photo by Ed Bacher

As always, you can click the pictures to see a larger image.

This ferry carries three cars, or two cars and about 20 cyclists:

Rocky Hill, Connecticut, September 2010. Photo by Ed Bacher

There's also a great hot dog and hamburger stand on the Rocky Hill side, so if you have to wait, you can have a snack and watch the ferry come and go.

Update: I discovered a wonderful photograph of the Virgelle Ferry (mentioned above).

Libby at the Souhegan River

Souhegan River, Amherst, New Hampshire, March 2010

My daughter Libby took this photograph last month with her phone.  She wanted to make sure I gave her credit for the photograph, so here it is. She shows a nice eye in this picture, getting the reflections of the trees.  And getting Cody to walk right down the yellow line was a masterful touch.

Souhegan River Flood II, 2010

Souhegan River at Boston Post Road in Amherst, New Hampshire.  Just at its banks at 7.33 feet on the Merrimack gauge and 3140 cfs flow on the same gauge. You can see the top of the stairs for the canoe launch on the opposite bank. In the summer, this river sometimes gets down to 80 cfs.

Amherst, New Hampshire, April 1, 2010

Souhegan River Flood, 2010

No school today in Amherst.  The school is just beyond the river:

Amherst, New Hampshire, March 15 2010

Amherst, New Hampshire, March 15 2010

The gauge below (from the USGS) indicates that the river may be cresting soon:

Atlantic Interview with Tim Gautreaux

Another old interview with Tim Gautreaux, this one from The Atlantic: Tim Gautreaux interview.

I just set a couple characters against each other on the first page, and next thing I know, the story is "about" some idea that interests me -- and that is the theme.

Robert Birnbaum interviews Tim Gautreaux

This is not hot news, but while we're on the subject of great interviews of great authors, check out Robert Birnbaum's interview of Tim Gautreaux. Birnbaum's interviews are great reading, as are Gautreaux's books.

John Jurgensen Interviews Cormac McCarthy

John Jurgensen interviewed author Cormac McCarthy (author of All the Pretty Horses and The Road) in the Wall Street Journal.  McCarthy is a writer of prose that is both muscular and lyrical.  In the interview, McCarthy talks about many things, including the difference between making movies and writing novels.

Dick Pearce and I made a film in North Carolina about 30 years ago and I thought, "This is just hell. Who would do this?" Instead, I get up and have a cup of coffee and wander around and read a little bit, sit down and type a few words and look out the window.

WSJ interview with Cormac McCarthy

Charlie Manuel in Philadelphia

Shibe Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1911

I think you have to give Charlie Manuel a great deal of the credit for the Phillies' success over the past few years. Yes, they have a great core of players in Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Chase Utley, along with some rising stars like Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino. But Manuel has managed each year to get the team to the end of the season healthy and strong. It really paid off last year. While it's unrealistic to expect the Phillies to repeat as World Series champs this year, it looks pretty good for the division championship (but Phillies fans can never count their chickens, not after 1964). Thank Charlie Manuel for handling the team with great skill and a good sense of pace over a long season.

The photograph is from the Library of Congress photostream on Flickr.  It shows people waiting to get tickets to the 1911 World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the New York Giants.  The A's ended up repeating as series champs in six games. Phillies fans can always hope.

Downturn Over? Motel 6 Index Rises

Yesterday morning, the Motel 6 Nashua rate went up to $59.99 from the usual $49.99.  When I came home in the evening, the rate was up to $89.99, the highest I've ever seen it.  Is the recession over, or are the leaves really starting to turn?

Poughkeepsie Railway Bridge Reopening

Poughkeepsie, New York, March 2008

The massive railway bridge over the Hudson River is opening once again as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge. For more details, see http://www.walkway.org/.

Update (25 Feb. 2011): they have a link to the text of a short piece on the bridge by Ian Frazier here: http://www.walkway.org/dynamic.php?id=newyorker.

Jet Lowe in Northampton

This bridge, built in 1897, carried the Boston & Maine Railroad across the Connecticut River just above Northampton. Today it is part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail. Jet Lowe took these pictures in 1984 for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).

See also my earlier post about this bridge.

Detail view looking north
Detail view looking East showing lattice truss configuration and bridge plate at far right

Portland in the Rain

I'd forgotten how rain can make any street into a reflecting pool, maybe even worth a photograph. Hurricane Danny helped me remember this.

Rainy street. Portland, Maine.

Rainy crosswalk. Portland, Maine.

Howard Frank Mosher Blog

Howard Frank Mosher, who is one of the best and most accessible contemporary novelists, has a blog: The Kingdom Journal. He's not prolific, but it's well worth reading.

In his post about spring reading, he mentions the author Tim Gautreaux, a Louisiana writer of short stories and novels. I picked up a copy of Gautreaux's novel The Clearing, and I can see why Howard Frank Mosher likes him so much: he's a fantastic writer and storyteller who evokes the atmosphere of a bayou logging camp in the 1920s with a fine touch.

Window, Exeter, New Hampshire

Window, Exeter, New Hampshire March, 2009

Boston & Maine Workshops

Boston & Maine Railroad Shops, Billerica, Massachusetts
Boston & Maine Railroad Shops - Windows, Billerica, Massachusetts

Iron and Steel, Birmingham, Alabama

Tenn. Coal Iron & R.R. Co.'s furnaces at Ensley, Birmingham, Ala., 1909

From the panoramic photograph collection at the Library of Congress.

Steelmill and workers' houses. Birmingham, Alabama.

Walker Evans took this iconic photograph of the TCI steel mills in March of 1936 for the Farm Security Administration (FSI).

1. Jack E. Boucher, Photographer, March 1974. GENERAL VIEW FROM THE EAST SHOWING THE 'PIG MACHINE', THE #1 CASTING SHED AND THE #1 FURNACE IN THE FOREGROUND.
HAER ALA,37-BIRM,4-1
Jack Boucher took this photograph of the Sloss Steelworks in 1974 for HABS/HAER.

121. Close up view of 1929 Allis-Chalmers steam turbine with engine housing removed.
HAER ALA,37-BIRM,4-121

Jack Boucher took this photograph in 1974 for HABS/HAER.