Ocean Sunset

During the past few weeks, I've been featuring photos from the eastern part of the United States. Now it is time to travel elsewhere. This is a shot from a trip to Canada and the West Coast. We spent a few days here on the beach on Vancouver Island. We have several trips planned this year and I expect that there will be many more pictures of beaches.

More Wisteria

 I couldn't resist uploading another photo of the beautiful wisteria blossoms in Georgia. I understand that right after this photo was taken, there was an unseasonable freeze and all the flowers were wilted and died. Finding out that it is an invasive plant is sort of like finding out your friend is a crook.

Oliver No 5 Visible Print Typewriter

The Oliver No 5 Visible Print Typewriter was one of the first with "visible print." Because of the placement of the type bars, the typist could see the letters as they appeared on the page. Over one million of these typewriters were produced and sold mainly to the home market. Here is a description of the Oliver Typewriter Company from the Wikipedia article:

The Oliver Typewriter Company had begun operating in 1895, with its headquarters on the ninth floor of a building on the corner of Clark and Randolph Street in Chicago. In 1896, manufacturing moved from Iowa to Woodstock, Illinois, when the City of Woodstock donated a vacant factory once used by the Wheeler and Tappan Company on the condition that the Oliver Typewriter Company remain there at least five years. Manufacturing was divided into six departments: type bar, carriage, assembly, tabulators and adjustment, inspection, and an aligning room. The company's headquarters moved to the Oliver Building, now a Chicago landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, when it was completed in 1907. 

Starting in 1899, the company established sales networks by encouraging customers to become local distributors. This method of marketing relied on word of mouth and emphasized sales made directly to neighbors (door-to-door) and, after 1905, sales on credit. In response to increased competition in the late 1910s, however, the company eliminated its network of local salesman and used the resulting savings in commissions to reduce the typewriter's $100 ($1,400 in 2017) price by half. Sales increased and, at its peak, the company's labor force of 875 was producing 375 machines daily.

Some time ago, I was with one of my grandchildren and ran across a photo of a typewriter. On a whim, I ask my grandson if he knew what the machine was. He had no idea and had never seen a typewriter in his life. An interesting experience for someone who learned how to type on a typewriter that was not much different than this one.

Main Street, Eureka, Utah

While traveling in Utah, there is a strange mixture of the old and the new. Everywhere there is dramatic scenery with endless vistas of mountains and valleys, but much of the state shows the effects of time on old buildings, farms and even whole towns. Eureka is a mining town that has seen better days. It was originally known as Ruby Hollow and was incorporated in 1892. It was the center of what was then the Tintic Mining District. It is located only a short drive from my home in Utah Valley, but it is like visiting a different world. Here is a description of the town from Wikipedia:

Eureka's role as the central financial point for the district ensured its survival. It housed business establishments, including the second-ever JCPenney store (then called the Golden Rule Store), financial institutions, local and county governmental buildings including Eureka City Hall (1899) and a Juab County Courthouse (1892), various churches, and the meeting places for numerous labor, social, and fraternal organizations. Mining entrepreneurs such as John Q. Packard, John Beck, Jesse Knight, and Walter Fitch Sr. were important figures in Eureka and Tintic history. In 1979, Eureka was placed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Tintic Mining District Multiple Resource Area, recognizing the importance of remaining buildings and sites.

We are seeing just such a change today with many of the large department stores, such as J. C. Penny, struggling to stay in business. Tomorrows abandoned stores may be today's malls.

Ruins

The western deserts of Utah contain some impressive ghost towns. The image above is of a huge smelter operation that is now of ruin. This particular ruin was part of Silver City, Utah.  Here is a description of the ghost town from Wikipedia:

Silver City is a ghost town located at the mouth of Dragon Canyon on the west flank of the East Tintic Mountains in northeast Juab County in central Utah, United States. It was a silver mining town approximately 90 miles (140 km) south-southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. This area was considered part of the Tintic Mining District and also produced bismuth, copper, gold, and lead. Settlement began with the first mining strikes here in 1869. Silver City was inhabited until 1930 after the mines ran out. Jesse Knight, known as the "Mormon Wizard" for his ability to find ore easily, decided to build a smelter in Silver City because it had the flattest ground in all of the Tintic Mining District. Silver City had several mines in 1890, but the mines hit water and were abandoned. Now there is nothing left other than a few holes where mines were, and a number of tailings piles.

 It is interesting how quickly the desert takes over and the cement walls of the smelter take on the patina of the desert. When I view something as strange as this ruin spread over acres of land, I have a tendency to view the entire subject as an abstract. Here, the walls of the smelter have lost their identity as a human artifact and have become organic.

Sunset Reflected

Sunsets in Florida are quite different than the ones we experience here in the mountains of Utah. We can see the whole horizon and the sunsets last for a considerable time. In Florida, the light changes rather suddenly and the sky fades more quickly due to the angle of the sun. Here, the last few rays of the sun were mirrored in the dark surface of Lake Alice on the campus of the University of Florida. A quiet and peaceful ending to a lovely day.

Beauty in the Mire

These unusual growths are Polypore fungi. Bracket fungi, or shelf fungi, are among the many groups of fungi that comprise the division Basidiomycota. See Wikipedia: Polypore. Quoting from the linked article:

Over one thousand polypore species have been described to science, but a large part of the diversity is still unknown even in relatively well-studied temperate areas. Polypores are much more diverse in old natural forests with abundant dead wood than in younger managed forests or plantations. Consequently, a number of species have declined drastically and are under threat of extinction due to logging and deforestation.

The article goes on to explain shelf fungi,

Bracket fungi, or shelf fungi, are among the many groups of fungi that comprise the division Basidiomycota. Characteristically, they produce shelf- or bracket-shaped or occasionally circular fruiting bodies called conks that lie in a close planar grouping of separate or interconnected horizontal rows. Brackets can range from only a single row of a few caps, to dozens of rows of caps that can weigh several hundred pounds. They are mainly found on trees (living and dead) and coarse woody debris, and may resemble mushrooms. Some form annual fruiting bodies while others are perennial and grow larger year after year. Bracket fungi are typically tough and sturdy and produce their spores, called basidiospores, within the pores that typically make up the undersurface.

I have always been fascinated by fungi, especially shelf fungi and mushrooms. I often wonder how different my life might have been had I pursued my interest and become a mycologist instead of an attorney. This is an area of study where a person could really make some major contributions.