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Leland Howard Fine Art Nature Images
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Survival
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Fine Art Nature Images by Leland Howard - Home Main Gallery List
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Old cabin on ridge, Lemhi Range, central Idaho, #g14
The lure of precious metals led prospectors to remote areas where not even a trail had been cut. Supplies were weeks away by horseback. Before anything else could be done, a cabin was built as a refuge from the elements. The effectiveness of a broad axe against the twisted, tough wood of trees growing at high altitudes must have been disappointing—a wake-up call at the first swing. But build the pioneers did—and if several-story structures were needed to house ore crushers, steam engines and workers, they built them too. The nearest sawmill might be fifty miles away, but if they needed lumber, they found a way to get it. Massive, heavy machines like crushers and boilers were hauled in a piece at a time by mule train, and then assembled on site. Injuries were all too common. Compared to what we have now, medical care was primitive at best and harmful at worst. Visit a ghost town cemetery and you'll rarely see a grave marker for an individual that lived past the age of fifty. Very small graves, some with epitaphs erased by years of snow and wind, tell a story of hardship and grief. Some graves are simply marked with "Unknown." |
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