Route 66 Rest Area Stop Bloomington, Illinois

  Rest area including a couple Route 66 displays and history marker

Bloomington-Normal Illinois
The first settlement in this area in 1822 was called Keg.  By the time a post office was established in 1828 the settlement was known as Blooming Grove.  McLean county was organized the following year and Bloomington, which was laid out in 1831 just north of Bloomington Grove on 22 acres of land donated by James Allin, was selected as county seat.  It was incorporated as a town in 1843, and a city in 1850.  In 1853 Illinois Wesleyan University was chartered here and in 1857 Normal University , first state-supported school of higher education in Illinois, was established in North Bloomington which soon changed is name to Normal.  The state Republican party was formally organized in Bloomington in 1856 at a convention called to protest the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which made possible the westward extension of slaver.  It was at this convention that Abraham Lincoln delivered his "lost speech" so called because no record of it was kept.  Several of Lincoln's close associates were local residents, including Jesse Fell, credited with the founding of Normal, Leonard Swett, lawyer and campaigner for Lincoln, and David Davis, appointed to the United States Supreme Court by Lincoln (1862-1877), and later United States senator.  Other distinguished residents include governors John M. Hamilton and Joseph Fifer; Adlai Stevenson I, vice president under Cleveland and Adlai Stevenson II, governor, twice presidential candidate, and United Nations Ambassador.

Finding Lincoln in Atlanta, Illinois

 There is a finding Lincoln plaque in Atlanta, Illinois

Who Is In the Statues Outside of the Illinois State Capital

 

President Abraham Lincoln

John M Palmer !5th governor of Illinois, Civil War general and presidential candidate. 1817-1900

Richard Yates Sr. 13th governor of Illinois, congressman and senator.  Governor during Civil War, 1815-1873

Everett Dirksen U.S. representive 12 years and senator 18 years. Senate minority leader 1859-1869.  Instrumental in pssage of Civil Rights Acts 1964 and 1968.  1898-1969.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King

Native American Biography: Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel

 Jordan Marie is a runner, fourth generation Native American runner.  She is Lakota Sioux and was born in Brule, South Dakota.  AS a child her family moved to Maine.  She took up running in honor too her ancestors, and was introduced by her grandfather.  

She uses her running as a platform for advocacy.  In the Boston Marathon of 2019 she brought attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).  aShe did this by painting a hand over her mouth which is the symbol of this organization.

I have taken information from Notable Native People by Adrienne Keene and Wikipedia and her own website.

Native American Biography: Sergie Sovoroff: Maker of Iqyax Models

 Sergie Sovoroff was Aleaut from Umnak Island, Nikolski Village.  His people used Iqyax (Aleut kayak) to hunt sea otters.  However when he was nine, sea otter hunting was made illegal by the U.S. government.  He turned to making models of the Iqqyax to keep knowledge of them alive.  He would often make three person kayaks with a Russian Orthodox Priest in the middle seat.

As an adult, during WWII, the Aleuts were evacuated to southern Alaska.  This was for fear the Japanese would attack.  They lived in unsanitary conditions and many died from the forced removal, lack of medical care and unsanitary conditions.  They all were removed without opportunity to bring more than a suitcase of items.  The lived in these squalid conditions for three years.  All were scared physically and emotionally.  When they returned home items had been looted and vandalized.  Some communities were abandoned forever.  Sovoroff ws able to return home, but his coal stove was missing.

Sovoroff taught youth about the Aleut ways, how to gather food and be able to livee without starving.  How to build a traditional sod house to keep from the elements.  Eventually the making of Iqyax was revitalized and the Sovoroff models were invaluable.  Sovoroff preserveed the blue prints and plans to build the kayaks.  His models are in museums around the world including the Smithsonian.

Information gleaned from Wikipedia, Notable Native People by Adrienne Keene and The Wartime Interment of Native Alaskans.

Native American Biography: Rowen White: Seed Keeper

Rowen White is a Native American woman, Mohawk from Akwesasne.  She is now the educational director  of Sierra Seeds out of Nevada City, California.  She works at discovering ancestral seeds and how they relate to culture and ancestry.  She has taken a journey of rediscovering seeds, and keeping seeds for the next crop.  This includes singing the seed songs and doing the work to care for plant relatives.  She has worked with the Mohawk people but ogther cultures as well.  She says seeds offer healing, and mutual benefit between cultures.   Seeds play a part in revitalizing culture.  In 2023 she received a leadership award.

Omaha Native American Housing as per Durham Museum

 The Omaha mostly lived in earth lodges, but they also used teepees when they were on the hunt--usually buffalo hunt.  These were precarious as they were closer to the Sioux and the Sioux and Omaha often fought. 

Book Review: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

 Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium by Eileen Wirth, photos edited by Carol McCabe, History Press, Charleston, SC, 2017.

This is an interesting story of a park that had a few animals enventually becoming one of the finest zoos in the world.  

Tise zoo started as the River View Park which began displaying some local animals.  However it has changed, starting with the foundation of the Omaha Zoological Society.  It was also greatly benefitted by a large donation from Mrs. Henry Doorly, who asked that the zoo take the name of her husband, and also that the zoo strive to display the animals in natural settings rahter than in cages.  The zoo was in a good position to do just that.

Significant donation have been instrumental the the growth of the zoo.  And the zoo has many unique and interesting features.  I enjoy the desert com.  It has aspects of three deserts, including the Sonoran which is mostly in Arizona.  The Lied Jungle is also unique with a waterfall, and humid temperature as it imitates a jungle.  There is also the aquarium, the butterfly house.  The most expensive part of the zoo is the Afican Grasslands.  This encompasses 28 acres.  There is a unique aviary.  The sea lion area took over an old and abandoned swimming pool.  

Many zoo directors have been reponsible for this growth.  These include Robert Everly, Lee G. Simmons and Dennis Pate.

The zoo has also been involved in conservation projects around the world, including a partnership with Madagascar.  This has also included breeding projects.  

Charity, our daughter lives close to the zoo and we have enjoyed many outings there with grandchildren.  We hope to enjoy many more.

Historical Building Replicas and Other Displays Durham Museum

 I took a few more pictures at the Durham Museum which show replicas of Omaha buildings and other displays.  These include a picture of General Crook.  A display of a buffalo and a prairie schooner.  

The History of Standing Bear As Per the Durham Museum

 Standing Bear sued the government for habeas corpus.  He had been arrested while trying to bury his son on traditional Ponce ground, after the tribe had been removed to Oklahoma.  He was picked up by the troops out of Fort Omaha.  His blight brecame known to the community in Omaha and lead to money being raised for a lawyer.  And thus the suit for habeas corpus.  The trial was held in Omaha.  The conclusion was that Native Americans are people and have rights.  The result is that the Ponca got their traditional land back for a reservation.

their removal to Oklahoma

Documentary Review: Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corp of Discovery: A Film by Ken Burns (1997)

 This is a very good documentary of the Corp of Discovery.  After the Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis Clark to explore the new territory.  I didn't realize that so many times they were close to disaster.  No white person had ever been along the trek they took, and they did not have any communication with their base of operations.  They met friendly Indians, mostly on the trek west, except the SIoux didn't want them to pass.  However the Mandan were very friendly.  The difficult time was finding the Shoshone went the finally go to the head waters of the Missouri.  If they hadn't eventually found them, they would have been in the mountains without horses.  And then the miracle.  The chief of the Shoshone was the brother of Sacagawea.  They were able to trade for horses.  

The Nez Perce, when they met them had a real debate on whether they should just kill them or not.  At this time the were emaciated from hunger having barely made it over the mountains.  It was a woman who argued for them to be safe, so they fed them.  She had been treated kindly by whites.  They were able to foat to the ocean, despite being caught in a storm for a coule weeks just before getting there.  They had three choices of were to stay and had a vote of the company.  Everyone had an equal vote, including Sacagawea, a native American woman and York, an African American.

They met no boats and so had to walk back the way they had come.  However this time the Nez Perce provided a guide.  On the return trip they split into two companies.  The group with Captain Clark ran into some Blackfeet.  They tried to steal horses and a rifle.  In the struggle two Blackfeet were killed.  They left as quickly as they could for fear of a large uprising.  Going down the river they traveled much quicker.  All were anxious to get home.

And then the aftermath.  Several members became mountain men, and some were chased by Blackfeet and one killed.  Lewis Meriweather had manic depressive disorder, and eventually succumbed to suicide.  He had been governor of upper Louisiana territory.  Clark took in Sacagewea's baby, and new baby daughter and raised them, after she became ill and passed away.

This film from PBS was very informative.

Native American Biography: Maria Tallchief.

 Betty Marie Tallchief was born on the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma.  There she was introduced to attending pow woos with her grandmother.  Fortunate for her, the Osage people were generally wealthy due to oil having been found on their reservation.  Her father had been prudent in investing his oil money wisely, and her mother used the money to get dance lessons for Maria and her sister, Marjorie.  When they were young women the family moved to Los Angeles so the girls could continue their dance education.  Her name was changed to Maria Tallchief so as to make it more exotic as a title for her dance.  So although raised mostly off the reservation, Maria was the first indigenous person to become a prima ballerina.  She was the first American to break into the Russian and Paris ballets.  

After she retired, she and her sister organized the Chicago ballet.  She served as the choreographer.  She was inducted to the National Women's Hall of Fame.  She received the National Medal of Arts.  She also received honors at the Kennedy Center for her contribution to dance.  The Osage honored her with a new name when she was older, Wa-Xthe-Thomba, meaning woman of two worlds.  She was a member of the European style of dance, as well as that of a Native American woman.

Book Review: North American Indian Survival Skills

 North American Indian Survival Skills by Karen Liptak, Franklin Watts, New York, A First Book, 1990

The author sites Willie Whitefeather as someone who is teaching Indian survival skills.  He often teaches in school settings.  North American Indian survival skills have much to offer.  This includes making a survival shelter.  If in the snow, a u shaped snow cave works best.  The book talks about making cordage from different fibers.  Also making glue.  Hunting is an important part of Native American life.  As is the making of tools.  Hunting can be done communally as well as individually.  Use of a disguise is helpful.  The use of snares is important for catching smaller game.  Fishing techniques are also important.  This could be done by spearing, using bait, using bare hands or nets.  Many plant were used for medicine, nutrition and housing.  Thefe were also techniques for cooking and preserving food.  Many types of containers were used such as pottery and baskets.  Depending on where you lived determined what items were used for basketry.  Clothing was often made from animal fur or hides.  

I found this book informative about Indian methods to live in harmony with the environment.

Book Review: Welcome to Omaha: Postcard History Series

 Welcome to Omaha: Postcard History Series by Oliver B. Pollak, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2018.

You an find quite a bit of history in a postcard.  Most of the history here is about the hotels in Omaha over the years, but there is more.  There are views of the river, and a welcome arch which use to be in Omaha.  There are also pictures of bridges.  Bridges over the Missouri become the lifeblood of Omaha.    This includes train bridges, car bridges and streetcar bridges.  The first was a train bridge in 1886.  

There are also postcards of train stations and offices and passenger terminals.  And then also bus terminals and waiting ares.  There are country clubs and organizations also represented in the post cards.  Then there are entertainment venues, Peony Park and Krug Park where the roller coaster accident cost four lives and many injuries.  There are also private art galleries.  The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition is represented.  Joslyn Art Museum has a very regal building.  Theaters are also shown: The Orpheum, The Brandeis store and theater and the municipal coliseum.  There are several parks.  The monkey exhibit at the Elmwood Park is shown.  Pavilions and Elmwood Park and Hanscom Park are also shown.

This is a very good overview of local attractions and history.

Native American Biography: Jessie Little Doe Baird

 Jessie Little Doe Baird has been instrumental in revitalizing the Wapanoag language.  This is the first time this has been done with a language with no native speakers.  She is Native American, Washpee Wapanoag.  Her people greeted the Pilgrims.  When she was a young woman, she had dreams of people speaking a language she did not know.  These dreams were the first step towards recovering her native language which had not been spoken for 150 years.  She was working as a social worker with no previous linguistic experience.  She went back to school and eventually received a masters degree in linguistics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Though the Wapanoag language had not been spoken, there were written examples, including the first bible printed in America.  Comparing the written language with the pronunciation of other Native American languages, slowly the language has been restored.  Now there is a Wapanoag immersion school where young people are learning their native language.  She cofounded the Wapanoag Language Reclamation Project.  She was named one of the women of the century by USA Today.

External Evidences of the Book of Mormon: Stone Fort at Giant City State Park

 Their is an ancient "fort" in Giant City State Park.  It is one of ten such sites which extend from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River across southern Illinois.  They are thought to have been built between 400 and 600 a.d.  They are thought to have been gathering areas, perhaps for religious purposes, but they are called forts.  The important information is that they were constructed before any contact with Europeans and are evidence of community, and perhaps self defense.  The rocks on top are not original because they were taken and used by locals.  The walls have been rebuilt, but not to their original height.  Some have said they may be evidence of a fort in the middle of the land after the birth of Christ.  If the dating is accurate this could not be true.  However there was something constructed here by pre Columbian people.  

A testimony of the Book of Mormon comes through spiritual means.