Saturday, January 9, 2010 - Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus NM
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Hooking Up, Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus NM, January 8, 2010
The weather seems to be colder than usual all over this winter and here is no exception at the moment. Below normal temps (in the 40s) and a breezy wind chill kept most folks inside today. Even the long-eared owls who usually spend the day in the evergreens here found shelter elsewhere. Brrrr....
Night camp
Site 29 - Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus NM
- Verizon cell phone service - good signal
- Verizon EVDO service - good signal
- Go to the Pancho Villa State Park website
- Locate Pancho Villa State Park on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Heliograph routes of the 1890 Practice
The date was May 15th, 1890, and the Army's Department of Arizona had just completed a major heliograph practice; it was, in fact, the largest the world had ever seen. I call it the "Volkmar Practice", after the man responsible for it, Col. Wm. J. Volkmar, the Assistant Adjutant General and Chief Signal Officer for the Department of Arizona. Although the practice lasted only sixteen days, preparations for it took months of reconnaissance and preparation. Involved in the long range signaling maneuvers were twenty-five heliograph stations stretching from Whipple Barracks near Prescott to Fort Stanton near Ruidoso, New Mexico. My guess is that close to two hundred men were involved, both cavalry and infantry.