Going Out in Style

A dark subject for today - the last ride. Sometimes around 42N country you may see an atypical funeral procession compared to the more common automotive hearse and line of followers. Sometimes the ride from the service to the cemetery involves horse drawn wagons because the deceased was connected to farming, ranching, or other horse-related occupations.

This horse-drawn hearse was built in the 1890s and used from 1903 to 1913 in the small town of Spillville, Iowa. It was last employed in an official capacity during 2001. An interesting feature of this enclosed glass window wagon is a set of encased ball bearings for moving caskets in and out.

So in the end you could order the following: hitch a dark horse or two to this hearse, put a driver on the seat with a dark duster and stove pipe hat, then roll in a simple wooden casket. This is what people a hundred years ago opted for to travel in style to their final resting place. Its still an option. Know that.

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A Postcard from the Road

What are the odds in finding a 42N postcard these days?  Pretty much zero -unless I create one. So here is a road scene from US Route 151 southbound near Springville, Iowa that I took yesterday and transformed it into a postcard. Sidebar: I am looking into how to create those multi-photo images that make up letters and numerals you see on state greeting cards.

With above average rains for the summer and relaxed state maintenance budgets, Queen Anne's Lace can be seen flourishing in the median along much of the highway. Though considered a noxious weed by the USDA, the Iowa DOT uses the June through August bloomer as a decorative element to slow grass growth. Queen Anne's Lace is considered a carrot growing in a land filled with corn and soybeans. Know that.

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Look in the Sky. Its a Bird. Its a Plane. Its Actually a Brunner Winkle Bird

Look around 42N country and you will find surprises. At the back of a hanger located close to small town Iowa is this modest looking biplane. But this is no ordinary biplane. Its a Brunner Winkle Bird - a what you ask?

A Brunner Winkle Bird is a one of the first few models of non-military biplanes made for recreational use. The company produced some 240 of the Bird models from 1928 to 1931. Because of the plane's reliability and simplicity, Charles Lindbergh taught Anne Morrow Lindbergh to fly in a Bird at the Long Island Aviation Country Club in Hicksville, NY.

Today's hanger tour yielded a restoration work in progress. Someone is performing maintenance on the Bird's engine by removing the pistons for cleaning. While each piston is carefully marked so that parts are not mixed up, an examination of the piston heads reveal layers of carbon buildup. Although cleaning may sound like a daunting task the actual process is straight forward and can lead to a pickup of horsepower for this 90-hp rated engine.

Right now this Bird isn't going anywhere fast. The pistons, overhead cylinder heads and various parts look like they were just pulled. If you were an 80 year old plane you would want someone to keep your engine and working parts in great condition. Once cleaned, repaired, re-assembled and checked out, the engine will be good for more hours of 88-105 mph cruising around our favorite latitude. Know that.

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Timetable for Riding on the City of New Orleans

In 1972, singer Arlo Guthrie put Illinois Central's Chicago-to-New Orleans rail streamliner on the national map with a recording of a song written by Steve Goodman. Riding on the City of New Orleans is basically about the demise of traditional rail passenger service.

Recently 42N found an Illinois Central timetable for passenger service. In 1966, the line ran multiple routes primarily throughout the middle portion of the USA. In addition to the City of New Orleans the IC passenger streamliners included names like the Panama Limited, City of Miami, Green Diamond, Land O'Corn, Chickasaw, Southern Express, Louisiane, Northeastern Limited, Southwestern Limited, No. 108, and the Hawkeye.

Lyrics to the song (found here) describe leaving Chicago on Monday morning with 15 sacks of mail, pulling out of Kankakee, and then running down to the Mississippi Delta. This April 1966 timetable lists the City of New Orleans leaving Kankakee at 8:40 A.M. for all you railroad purests.

Today the train runs as a part of Amtrak and delivers passengers from the Windy City to the Big Easy and back. A modern timetable can be found here. Know that.

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Abandoned Nineteenth-Century Fort in Iowa: Fort Atkinson

A bit north of 42N country, near Decorah and Spillville, Iowa is a bluff that overlooks a river. Here (43.14 N, 91.93 W) in 1840 the feds built a fort to house a garrison of a couple hundred troops needed to patrol the newly created neutral ground (not the neutral zone for all you trekkies) between displaced Winnebago natives (from Wisconsin) and their traditional native enemies. After Fort Atkinsonwas abandoned a small town was established named after the fort. Recently the 42N staff made a quick visit noting to return another time.

During its offical service the fort saw no armed fights take place either here or in the vicinity.

Fort Atkinson received its orders from Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, WI, 50 miles away. In 1849 the garrison was ordered to serve in the Mexican-American War and the fort was abandoned. Today in a building on the northern wall of the fort a museum store is now housed.

The State reclaimed the fort in the 20th century and has transformed it into a preserve. Re-enactment actors periodically camp here and help visitors understand the time period and mission of the Iowa 1st dragoons.

In the fort's powder room interior square air vents where offset aligned with exterior wall vents to keep the powder dry and to prevent any sparks causing direct ignition. Bathroom privies were located a few feet away from this door.

Outside the walls of the fort immediately to the north were stables, housing for married men's family who often followed their spouse, a blacksmith shop and farms. Located about a mile northwest of the fort was a cemetery.

Periodically the site's ground is probed to learn how its inhabitants lived. Pottery, clay pipes, glass bottles, imported china, game pieces and small musical instruments have been found along with a few military items.


If you are looking for forts where fighting took place check out other sites around the country. So far there have been no reported battles at or near the Fort Atkinson.

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Riding on the City of Los Angeles

Located in the 42N's central part of the hawkeye state (Iowa) is the Boone and Scenic Valley rail line found at 42.04°N, 93.89°W. Behind a restored locomotive is the streamliner passenger car, the City of Los Angeles. The car was placed into service during 1936 on the Union Pacific line. Today you can take a ride on the car periodically. 

While this passenger train won't be gone five hundred miles when the day is done, it is something that you can walk through, ride occasionally, and just guess how it felt to commute from coast to coast a half a century ago on the rails. Know that.

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Bily Clock Museum - Smithsonian Quality Handcrafted Clocks from Smalltown USA

Forget everything you associate with small town America. Located in the Iowa "Swiss Alps" is the 386-person town of Spillville in NE Iowa - just north of the 42N heliopause influence (43°12′09″N, 91°57′07″W.) Spillville is noted for being the 1893 summer residence for Czech composer, Antonin Dvorak (who refined his New World Symphony there after composing the work in NYC) and for being the location of the oldest Czech Catholic church in America (St. Wenceslaus - built in 1860.) Spillville also can boast of offering a special collection that is worthy of any of the world's finest museums.

Beginning in the 1910s through the 1940s, the local Bily brothers created large-scaled handcrafted clocks from imported and local woods. Their creations are now on display at the Bily Clock Museum where you can view several clocks and hear how each was inspired and constructed.

Docent Adie Kuhn (above) explained how the farming brothers (left) studied books about America's history, the Bible and other references to create their magnificent towering wooden clocks. She explained how the wood was chosen, ordered and shipped by rail to the Spillville area where the brothers received the raw materials and created extraordinary time pieces in their spare time.

On Thursday, July 2nd Adie stood in front of the brother's 1927 American Pioneer History masterpiece time tower. She explained how each panel displays a different scene from the past such as the westward movement, railroads, Revolutionary War and many other vignettes. Adie recounts how industrialist Henry Ford once offered the Bilys $1 million for the clock. The brothers never sold that clock or any of their other timely creations. When asked whether these clocks should be displayed at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., our docent replied in true 42N fashion, "Shh, we want to keep our treasure in this part of the world." Know that.

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