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Friday, January 13, 2012 - LoW-HI RV Ranch, Deming NM

Blowin' in the Wind, Say's Phoebe, San Antonio NM, April 15, 2010
Blowin' in the Wind, Say's Phoebe, San Antonio NM, April 15, 2010

Changing times

It's been a while since I fiddled with the design of this site and it's time I did. I was looking over the stats this morning and I was a little surprised to find about 20% of my visitors are coming this way on mobile devices now. I haven't been to happy with the way the site looks on a small screen - it's just too cluttered and hard to navigate. So it's time to see if I can simplify things a bit. First to go is the sidebar. That should give the content some room to expand and breathe a little. What else should I do?

Now to figure out a navigation scheme to replace the sidebar...

Night camp

Site 8 - LoW-HI RV Ranch, Deming NM

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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