RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY LANDING FROM THE STEAMER "BIENVILLE" AT WASHINGTON ARSENAL, ON APRIL 25, 1861

Rhode Island raised for service to the union 8 regiments of infantry, 10 batteries of light artillery, 3 cavalry regiments, 1 cavalry squadron, and 3 regiments of heavy artillery, one of which was all African-American. Elisha Hunt Rhodes enlisted in the 2nd RI Infantry as a private and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet Colonel by war's end. The 2nd Rhode Island Infantry is the only regiment from that state to be listed in Fox's "300 Fighting Regiments." Rhode Island lost 460 men in combat and 861 to disease and other causes.

Elisha Hunt Rhodes (March 21, 1842 – January 14, 1917) served in the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Rhodes' illustrative diary of his war service was quoted prominently in Ken Burns' PBS documentary The Civil War.

How many sheep does it take to make a wool sweater?  ??? PASS YOUR MOUSE OVER THE QUESTION MARKS FOR THE ANSWER!

MOUNT MANSFIELD VERMONT

Like most Hudson River School artists, Gifford traveled extensively to find scenic landscapes to sketch and paint. In addition to exploring New England and upstate New York, Gifford made extensive trips abroad. He first traveled to Europe from 1855 to 1857, to study European art and sketch subjects for future paintings. During this trip Gifford also met and traveled extensively with Albert Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredge. Upon his return he served in the Union Army as a corporal in the Seventh Regiment upon the outbreak of the Civil War. A few of his canvases belonging to New York City's 7th Regiment and the Union League Club of New York are testament to that troubled time.

SIOUT, EGYPT

Another journey, this time with Jervis McEntee and his wife, took him across Europe in 1868.  Leaving the McEntees behind, Gifford traveled to the Middle East, including Egypt in 1869. Then in the summer of 1870 Gifford ventured to the Rocky Mountains in the western United States, this time with Worthington Whittredge and John Frederick Kensett.

On September 4, 1809, Lewis and his servant John Pernia, a free black or mulatto, loaded up Lewis's trunks and made their way through the muddy streets of St. Louis to book passage on a keelboat. But within days, Lewis was sick, possibly with malaria. He and Pernia stopped 200 miles to the south at New Madrid, where the governor (President had appointed Meriwether Lewis as Governor of the Louisiana Territory) made out his will and bequeathed his property to his mother, Lucy Marks. When the two men reached Fort Pickering, near present Memphis, Tennessee, Lewis was again 'indisposed.'  In one letter, fort commander Gilbert Russell attributed Lewis's problems to drinking, although in another he indicated Lewis was simply ill.  The keelboat crew had also told Russell that Lewis had twice tried to kill himself on the trip, but Russell said in six days Lewis was 'perfectly restored in every respect & able to travel.' Changing his plans, Lewis decided to continue overland. He and Pernia departed with Chickasaw agent James Neelly (sometimes spelled Neely) and Neelly's servant. The four men rode along the Natchez Trace, an eight-foot-wide, 500-mile trail that ran through the dense woods of Indian territory. The Trace led them into present Alabama, where they paid a man to ferry them across the swift Tennessee River. Following the winding Trace over streams and through thick forests that blocked out the sun for hours at a time, the four riders entered Tennessee. On October 10, the travelers awoke to find that two packhorses had gotten loose during the night. Neelly remained behind to search for the horses, and Lewis rode on, with the servants following some distance behind. That evening Lewis stopped at Grinder's Stand, an inn that offered food and lodging to travelers of the Trace. According to Mrs. Grinder, wife of the absent owner, Lewis asked for spirits but drank little. When the servants arrived, the landlady prepared dinner for the three men, but Lewis acted strangely,'speaking to himself in a violent manner.'

He calmed down, then grew agitated again. Then he sat down outside and lit his pipe. 'Madam,' he said, staring out at the twilight, 'this is a very pleasant evening.' Mrs. Grinder prepared a bed for Lewis in one of the cabins, but he preferred to sleep on the floor with bearskins and a buffalo robe. The landlady and her children then went to their cabin and the two servants to a barn 200 yards away. Late into the night, Mrs. Grinder heard Lewis in the other cabin pacing and talking to himself. Then she heard a pistol shot and something falling heavily to the floor. 'Oh, Lord!' Lewis cried out. The pistol fired a second time. Then Mrs. Grinder heard Lewis at her door. 'Oh, Madam,' he moaned, 'give me some water and heal my wounds.' As Lewis suffered and groped in the dark for a drink of water, Mrs. Grinder was afraid to do anything but wait. At dawn, she sent her children to get the servants. Pernia and his companion came running, 'and on going in they found him lying on the bed. He uncovered his side, and showed them where the bullet had entered; a piece of his forehead was blown off, and had exposed the brains, without having bled much.' Lewis begged the servants to take his rifle and 'blow out his brains,' promising he would give them all the money in his trunk. They watched helplessly as Lewis's life ebbed. He said several times, 'I am no coward, but I am so strong, so hard to die.' He may have lost consciousness after an hour or so, and they listened to his labored breathing. After another hour, just as the sun was rising above the trees, the brilliant but moody Lewis breathed his last. Almost two centuries later, historians still debate whether Lewis killed himself or was murdered.

OUR DRIVEWAY

COMPSOGNATHUS Compsognathus was one of the smallest of the dinosaurs.  A full-grown adult would have weighed no more than a turkey.

Artwork ©Joe Tucciarone

Canyonlands National Park preserves a colorful landscape of sedimentary sandstones eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado River and its tributaries.  The Colorado and Green Rivers divide the park into four districts:  the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze and the rivers themselves.  While the districts share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character and offers different opportunities for exploration and learning.

Canyonlands and LaSal Mountains

The Island in the Sky District overlooks the canyon country from a high mesa top one to two thousand feet above the surrounding terrain.  Bordered by the Green River on the west and the Colorado River on the east, the Island provides easy access to overlooks with spectacular views of the canyons and other geological formations.  Hiking trails and four-wheel-drive roads access backcountry areas for day or overnight trips.

The Maze---With its confusing network of steep-walled canyons, the Maze remains the least accessible district of Canyonlands.  Due to the district's remoteness and the difficulty of roads and trails, travel to the Maze requires more time, as well as a greater degree of self-sufficiency.  Rarely do visitors spend less than three days in the Maze, and the area can easily absorb a week-long trip.

View from Green River Overlook

Candlestick Tower Overlook

The Needles Area---Named for its colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone, the Needles District forms the southeast corner of Canyonlands, and is the most popular backpacking destination in the park.  The dominant formations are the needles themselves, and the district's extensive trail system provides many opportunities for long day hikes and overnight trips.  Foot trails and four-wheel-drive roads lead to such features as Angel Arch, the Confluence Overlook, Elephant Hill and Chesler Park.

Angel Arch

Chesler Park

Chesler Park in the Needles Area

The River Area ---Near the center of Canyonlands National Park, the Green and the Colorado join (left) to form one great river, the Colorado (right).  The combined flow of both tributaries spills down Cataract Canyon (below) with remarkable speed and power, creating a world-class stretch of white water.  Above the Confluence, both rivers remain calm, providing opportunities for quiet enjoyment by canoeists, kayakers and others.

River flows are dependent upon snowmelt, with high water periods generally stretching from early May to late June.

View from Dead Horse Point

DEADHORSE POINT

Dead Horse Point is reached by following the route described for the Island in the Sky Tour.  It is 23 miles from U.S. Highway 191 to Dead Horse Point State Park via Utah Highway 313.  Four view areas, ideal for photography stops, are located along the highway.  Dead Horse Point is a peninsula connected to a large mesa by a narrow strip of land.  At one time, cowboys captured wild mustangs by driving them across this narrow neck of land onto the Point, and then closing a brush fence behind them.  From the rim of Dead Horse Point, one can view a vast panorama of canyon country.  Two thousand feet below, the Colorado River continues to shape its intricate canyon system.

White Rim Plateau

Canyonlands National Park preserves one of the last relatively undisturbed areas of the Colorado Plateau, a geological province that encompasses much of the Colorado River and its tributaries.  Carved out of vast sedimentary rock deposits, this landscape of canyons, mesas, and deep river gorges possesses remarkable natural features that are part of a unique desert ecosystem. The foundation of Canyonlands' ecology is its remarkable geology, which is visible everywhere in cliff profiles that reveal millions of years of deposition and erosion.  These rock layers continue to shape life in Canyonlands today, as their erosion influences elemental features like soil chemistry and where water flows when it rains. Known as a "high desert," with elevations ranging from 3,700 to 7,200 feet above sea level, Canyonlands experiences very hot summers, cold winters and less than ten inches of rain each year.  Even on a daily basis, temperatures may fluctuate as much as 50 degrees. The plants and animals in Canyonlands have many adaptations that enable them to survive these conditions.  Some species are found only in this area.  The diversity of organisms reflects the variety of available habitat, which includes lush riparian areas, swift rivers, ephemeral pools, dry arroyos, mixed grasslands and large expanses of bare rock.

Shafer Trail

Cryptobiotic Soil

Biological soil crust is a living groundcover that forms the foundation of high desert plant life in Canyonlands and the surrounding area.  This knobby, black crust is dominated by cyanobacteria, but also includes lichens, mosses, green algae, microfungi and bacteria.

Cyanobacteria, previously called blue-green algae, are one of the oldest known life forms.  It is thought that these organisms were among the first land colonizers of the earth's early land masses, and played an integral role in the formation and stabilization of the earth's early soils.  Extremely thick mats of these organisms converted the earth's original carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into one rich in oxygen and capable of sustaining life.

Throughout Canyonlands, naturally occurring sandstone basins called emphemeral pools or "potholes" collect rainwater and wind-blown sediment, forming tiny ecosystems where a fascinating collection of plants and animals have adapted to life in the desert.

Pothole Point

Potholes range from a few millimeters to a few meters in depth, and even the smallest potholes may harbor microscopic invertebrates.

Among the natural communities of plants and animals existing in the high desert ecosystem, none is as lush or rich in animal life as the riparian community.  Riparian zones are the lush belts of vegetation found along rivers and intermittent streams (which disappear underground periodically along their course).  The Colorado River flows through Canyonlands, and one of its major tributaries, the Green River, joins it inside the park at the Confluence.  Intermittent streams are found in Horseshoe, Salt Creek and other canyons in the park.

Mesa Arch at Sunrise

Mesa Arch at Sunrise

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