Monday, January 11, 2010 - Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs NM

"What" Will You Drink Next Year ???, Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus NM, January 10, 2010

I'm out of here today - off to find some Mobil 1 for an oil change and someone to do the job. Then I'll probably head over to Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs NM for the night, with the goal of finding myself up at the private Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park, San Antonio NM for the January 14th and 15th NM employee furlough when the State Parks are closed.

On roosters

Roosters have been crowing here in Columbus for hours now (I got up about 3:30 and it's now sunrise) and it is a comforting greeting to the new day. It's a sound that takes me back to my childhood in Red Rock when chickens were an integral part of the community, like they still are here. I miss that. Red Rock needs its chickens back.

Night camp

Site 2 - Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs NM

Verizon cell phone service - good signal
Verizon EVDO service - good signal
Go to Leasburg Dam State Park website
Locate Leasburg Dam State Park on my Night Camps map
Check the weather here

Heliograph route between Fort Cummings NM and Tubac, AZ

1886 heliograph transmissions between Tubac near Nogales Arizona/Mexico, and Fort Cummings New Mexico: Joe Marques (Flagstaff) was doing some research in old Flagstaff newspapers and found something that might interest. In the Arizona Weekly Champion, Saturday August 7, 1886, page 2 column 1, it says: "A message was recently sent by the government heliograph (signalling by sunlight flashes) from Fort Cummings, N.M. to Tubac, Ariz., a distance of 400 miles, and an answer received in four hours." What a great [research] find! This was during the Geronimo Campaign of 1886, and the heliograph system at that time did indeed extend between the two stations. From Tubac, the most westerly terminus, the intermediate stations were Baldy Peak or possibly Josephine Peak just a little south of Baldy), Fort Huachuca, Antelope Spring, Emma Monk, White's Ranch, Bowie Peak (or Helen's Dome), Steins Peak, and Camp Henely (east of Fort Cummings). This means the message would have been relayed seven times, one way. It most likely was a test message, and relatively short, but I would love to know what it and the reply really said. The 1886 "airline" distance between Tubac and Fort Cummings; and of course on to Fort Cummings. I calculate the one-way distance between the two extremes as being 241 miles, with round trip of course being 482 miles.

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