SALT LAKE CITY
– The ancient
swamplands of
southern Utah, known
today as the arid
Grand
Staircase-Escalante
National Monument,
is the topic for
“Digging Utah’s
Dinosaurs” – a
feature article in
the May 2014 issue
of National
Geographic Magazine
released this
week.
The story traces the
footsteps of
paleontologists on
the hunt for fossils
in the “lost
continent” of
Laramidia, a unique
ecosystem being
pieced together
through fossil
records in a remote
part of Utah.
“It is very exciting
to have National
Geographic
highlight Utah’s
rich landscape,”
said Vicki Varela,
managing director
Utah Office of
Tourism. We’re known
for our Mighty 5®
national parks, but
few people know that
we’re also home to
the world’s most
comprehensive record
of prehistoric life.
Utah’s abundance of
easily accessible
dinosaur-related
sites gives visitors
a one-of-a-kind
opportunity to take
a step back in time
and explore
firsthand, our
state’s ancient
past.”
Home to more than 15
different
dinosaur-specific
sites, including
national, monuments,
state parks, a
prehistoric byway, a
world-class state
museum of natural
history and more
than half-a-dozen
dinosaur-themed
museums, Utah offers
the world’s most
complete exposed
record of geologic
activity, providing
visitors with a
window into past
worlds that engage
one’s sense of
curiosity,
imagination and
wonder.
Great dinosaur sites
to visit in Utah
include:
Natural History
Museum of Utah at
Rio Tinto Center,
Salt Lake City
Begin your dinosaur
explorations by
visiting the Natural
History Museum of
Utah to see many of
Utah’s dinosaur
fossils, including
those found at the
Grand Staircase
excavations,
currently on display
as part of the
Museum’s Past Worlds
Exhibition located
in the George S. and
Dolores Doré Eccles
Gallery. Past Worlds
features more than
30 ancient skeletal
reconstructions, and
the world’s only
display of 14
Ceratopsian (horned)
dinosaur skulls. The
Museum aims to
connect visitors to
Utah’s diverse
history by serving
as a “trailhead” to
explorations of the
many ancient wonders
throughout the
state.
Grand
Staircase-Escalante
National Monument,
southern Utah
Dubbed the “next
frontier for
paleontologists,”
The Grand
Staircase-Escalante
National Monument is
vast and rugged, but
with several easy
access points off
scenic Highway 12.
While the excavation
sites featured in
the National
Geographic
article are
accessible only by
professional
paleontologists, the
Big Water Visitor
Center in Escalante
provides the best
way for amateur
paleontologists to
begin exploring this
remarkable area.
Dinosaur National
Monument, eastern
Utah
In 1909, 20 miles
east of Vernal,
Paleontologist Earl
Douglas discovered a
200-foot-long
sandbar layered with
prehistoric plant
and animal fossils.
A newly opened
quarry visitor
center now protects
more than 1,500
dinosaur bones left
exposed in the
sandstone wall.
Beyond the quarry,
the monument offers
trails, tours and
activities, which
highlight the area’s
unique geology,
history, wildlife
and rugged beauty.
Cleveland-Lloyd
Dinosaur Quarry,
central Utah
Home to more
Jurassic dinosaur
bones per square
yard than have been
found anywhere else
in the world, this
quarry has unearthed
74 individual
dinosaurs, of which
66 percent belong to
the meat-eater
Allosaurus, Utah’s
official state
fossil. Since 1928,
more than 12,000
bones have been
excavated, with
several thousand
more yet to be
uncovered. A recent
million-dollar
renovation makes
these treasures even
more accessible. The
visitor center
houses fossil
exhibits, and the
quarry shelter
features upper and
lower observation
platforms for close
viewing.
USU Eastern Utah
Prehistoric Museum,
Price
This is the museum
that discovered the
Utahraptor, Utah’s
adopted state
dinosaur and
unwitting star of
Steven Spielberg’s
Jurassic Park.
The museum’s
collection contains
eight complete
skeletons from the
Jurassic and
Cretaceous periods,
as well as numerous
dinosaur tracks,
eggs and other
fossils. In
addition, the museum
currently operates
10 active dinosaur
fossil quarries and
is a trove of
locally dug dinosaur
bones.
For more information
on visiting Utah’s
inhabitants of the
distant past, or the
Utah Office of
Tourism, please
visit
Home to five
national parks, The
Mighty 5®,
43 state parks,
seven national
monuments, two
national recreation
areas and “The
Greatest Snow on
Earth®,”
Utah represents the
best of both the
Rocky Mountains and
the Desert
Southwest. Whether
it’s heart-thumping
downhill skiing,
picturesque fly
fishing,
gravity-defying rock
climbing, serene
bird watching,
thrill-seeking white
water rafting or
just communing with
nature, Utah has it
all – holding true
to the state’s “Life
Elevated®”
brand.
MANY POSTS BELOW ARE
ARCHIVED HERE FOR
HISTORY
Roy Rogers Tribute
On the 100th
anniversary of his
birth
Miss Lona and Jazz
was held
Monday, November 7,
2011 - 7:00 - 9:00
pm
Discussing the
careers of Roy
Rogers and Dale
Evans & their music.
This auction
caught my
attention not
only because I’m
one of the
millions of John
Wayne fans, but
also because our
Family Forest®
Project is
Networking
Family History
with Hollywood™
and U.S.
history.
From my
professional
perspective, I
wondered how
many fans and
bidders have
family ties to
John Wayne that
they are still
unaware of.
So I ran a
Family Forest®
kinship
report for John
Wayne to see how
far the Family
Forest has
networked him
through
generation-by-generation
pathways to his
fans. You can
see a summary of
the results in
this PDF report,
and maybe spot a
few of your own
ancestors.
Does TV host
Ellen Degeneres
know that she
shares ancestors
with John Wayne?
Does radio host
Don Imus know
that he shares
ancestors with
John Wayne?
Does fellow
cowboy actor
Viggo Mortensen
know that he
shares ancestors
with John Wayne?
Would some of
John Wayne’s
contemporaries,
like Ernest
Hemingway,
Winston
Churchill, and
Marjorie
Merriweather
Post, have been
surprised to
discover that
they are distant
cousins of this
towering
Hollywood icon?
Will you be
surprised to
discover that
you share
ancestors with
Hollywood actors
and historical
figures?
Join us in Phoenix to represent the last
of America's wild horses and burros
The clock is winding down for the BLM's
Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board
meeting in Phoenix. On March 10 and 11,
2012
(Thursday and Friday), The Cloud
Foundation will be in leading the
charge, along with friends of wild
horses and burros from across the
country. We are calling for an immediate
halt to all BLM roundups that are
destroying the last of America's wild
herds at enormous taxpayer expense. We
urge you to join us on those two days at
the Phoenix Sheraton
Downtown Hotel
(340 N. 3rd St). Even if you cannot come
to the meeting itself, we urge you to
come show your support at one or all of
the events below:
Attend the candlelight vigil, organized
by Garnet Pasquale of American Wild Horse
Advocates
and other wild horse and burro
supporters, Thursday evening from 7-8pm,
or the rally on Friday from 12-2pm
(scroll down for a complete list of
events).
"Americans need to stand up to save
what's left of our wild horses and
burros. We no longer have millions. The
removal forever of the animals that
played a key role in allowing America to
be settled by humanity is not only
wrong...it is done with criminality,"
states Michael Blake.
"The BLM and the Secretary of the
Interior should be in court... defending
themselves. Stop them now America."
There are only a few hundred wild burros
and wild horses left in Arizona, but
they are still being targeted for
removal. The BLM claims there are over
38,000 wild horses and burros nationally
on Western ranges, but an independent
statistical review,
using the BLM's own numbers, reveals a
population of less than 18,000.
The BLM has stockpiled over 40,000 wild
horses and burros in costly government
holding, leaving millions of their
homeland acres empty or devoted to
livestock.
Just wanted to let you know that my good friend, Jeff Connors, will be at the High Noon Show and Auction in Mesa next weekend to auction off one of the two rifles his dad, Chuck Connors, used on his TV show, The Rifleman. Jeff also commissioned an Italian gun maker to make a replica which will also be auctioned off that night as well. These are authentic pieces of wonderful Americana, especially for a whole generation of baby boomers!
If you are a gun collector or you know of any gun collectors (such as Hank Jr., or the owner of Cimarron Rifles) who might be interested in bidding on these rifles, please let them know about the auction which will be next Saturday night. I'm sure you can phone in bids too so you don't actually have to be there to win one. Would of course make a great addition to most any western museum too.
Levi
Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue
jeans
In 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss
and Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis are given a
patent to create work pants reinforced with
metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the
world's most famous garments: blue jeans.
Born Loeb Strauss in Buttenheim, Bavaria, in
1829, the young Strauss immigrated to New York
with his family in 1847 after the death of his
father. By 1850, Loeb had changed his name to
Levi and was working in the family dry goods
business, J. Strauss Brother & Co. In early
1853, Levi Strauss went west to seek his fortune
during the heady days of the Gold Rush.
In San Francisco, Strauss established a
wholesale dry goods business under his own name
and worked as the West Coast representative of
his family's firm. His new business imported
clothing, fabric and other dry goods to sell in
the small stores opening all over California and
other Western states to supply the rapidly
expanding communities of gold miners and other
settlers. By 1866, Strauss had moved his company
to expanded headquarters and was a well-known
businessman and supporter of the Jewish
community in San Francisco.
Jacob Davis, a tailor in Reno, Nevada, was one
of Levi Strauss' regular customers. In 1872, he
wrote a letter to Strauss about his method of
making work pants with metal rivets on the
stress points--at the corners of the pockets and
the base of the button fly--to make them
stronger. As Davis didn't have the money for the
necessary paperwork, he suggested that Strauss
provide the funds and that the two men get the
patent together. Strauss agreed
enthusiastically, and the patent for
"Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings"--the
innovation that would produce blue jeans as we
know them--was granted to both men on May 20,
1873.
Strauss brought Davis to San Francisco to
oversee the first manufacturing facility for
"waist overalls," as the original jeans were
known. At first they employed seamstresses
working out of their homes, but by the 1880s,
Strauss had opened his own factory. The famous
501 brand jean--known until 1890 as "XX"--was
soon a bestseller, and the company grew quickly.
By the 1920s, Levi's denim waist overalls were
the top-selling men's work pant in the United
States. As decades passed, the craze only grew,
and now blue jeans are worn by men and women,
young and old, around the world.
Victory is won not in miles, but in inches.
Win a little now, hold your ground, and
later, win a little more.— Louis L’Amour
Western Coen Brothers Style with Classic John Wayne "True Grit" Remake
We read in the New York Times that the Coen brothers' are working on a remake of "True Grit" "True Grit" is scheduled to hit theaters at the end of this year, on December 25.
This is great news for western aficionados wanting westerns introduced to another generation who seem more preoccupied in the science fiction and fantasy of the future than the history of their ancestors past. Coens are capable of making a film the next generation will embrace and maybe open the door a crack for more westerns.
Jeff Bridges reunites with the Coens, taking the Rooster Cogburn role that was previously made famous by screen legend John Wayne. Also cast are Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, as Cogburn sidekick La Boeuf and main villain Tom Chaney, respectively. An unknown actress, Hailee Stanfield. 13-years-old, has been cast for the character of Mattie Ross.
"True Grit" is the story of Mattie Ross, a teenage girl who convinces Cogburn to help her find justice for the murder of her father at the hands of Chaney. Also investigating the crime is Damon's character, a Texas Ranger, whose idea of justice is more within the bounds of U.S. law than Ross and Cogburn's.
If you have never seen the original John Wayne "True Grit" movie, pick it up at BlockBluster or in the discount bin at Wal-Mart. It's a classic worth viewing over and over again.
Reenactor
Guild of America Apr 30-May
2 Jean NV Gold Strike Hotel
Head for
Jean NV From April 30th
to May 2nd, 2010.
Join us for three fun filled
days of re-living the "Old
West" as you walk the
streets of the Tent City and
see Artisans, Mountain Men,
Gunfighters, Indians, Civil
War Soldiers, Gold Miners
and more as they live the
life of the 1800's. Join in
the Fast Draw contest and
test your skills against the
best with a gun! Fun for all
ages that doesn't stop when
the sun sets. The Gold
Strike Hotel and Gambling
Hall is open 24/7 to
entertain you at the
greatest event of the year
in Jean, NV!
That’s right The
Reenactment Guild of America
presents the 2010 Grand
National Competition at the
Gold Strike Hotel &
Gambling Hall. Welcome to
everyone, the first
Southwest gathering of the
“Old West“; Jean Nevada
Style.
This event holds the promise
that the streets of Old
Jean, Nevada will have you
stepping back to days long
passed. Gunfighters, Chuck
Wagons, Living History
Encampments include Mountain
Men, Native Americans….
Teepees’ and all.
Mark
Everett Guardians of the Grain CD Review
by
LeeAnn Sharpe
“Guardians of the Grain”
by Mark Everett hit the market this month with 12 of the
most delicious new tracks you could ever hear. Everett’s
beautifully deep resonating voice brings life to
articulately crafted lyrics telling stories in these
ballads. Those with a love for history and bygone years
will enjoy his nostalgic lines. Danceable and catchy,
you will find yourself singing along in no time. He
engages a theme of longing for the kinder gentler world
of the past and offering hope for the future. Story
Continues
Just wanted to let you know that my good friend, Jeff Connors, will be at the High Noon Show and Auction in Mesa next weekend to auction off one of the two rifles his dad, 
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