Magazine Articles of Interest 2007

[Pat Holscher]

By the odd laws of magazine publication and automobile manufacture, we're now in to the 2007 series.

Western Horseman, January 2007

This issue of the Western Horseman has some articles that may be of interest to the participants here.

1. How Safe is the One-Rein Stop? Fran Devereux Smith

In this article Fran Devereux Smith writes about clinician "Curt Pate's cavalry-style alternative" to the one rein stop.

In short, the article discusses the use of a one rein emergency stop and contrast it with a technique of checking the horse by using a single rein to lift up, while keeping the horses's head straight. Pate attributes the technique he learned to cavalry officers.

2. Visalia Style by Kyle Partain.

Visalia saddles were discussed here awhile back, and this article discusses the appearance of the tooling on Visalia saddles.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Thought I'd bump this up, as we're getting some 07 articles now.

Pat

[John Fitzgerald]

I tried the one rein stop. It's pretty effective. My horse didn't like it real well though.

John Fitzgerald
Eagle County, Colorado

Ride'm like you stole'm

[Pat Holscher]

Rifle. May 2007. No. 231

Guns of the 1870s. Shining Times on the Frontier

The May issue Rifle has an article by Mike Venturino detailing rifles of the 1870s. Its an interesting article, running through a lot of designs in short detail. It is quite interesting, covering military and sporting rifle designs.

Venturino makes an interesting point, in that commercially produced rifles really came in to their own during the 1870s. Venturino maintains that most civilian rifles before that were custom made.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

National Georgraphic. May 2007. Vol 211

1. Creating America by Charles C. Mann. An interesting look at how the introduction of new plant, animal, and insect species changed North America, with a focus on the Jamestown Colony.

2. Legacy of Jamestown by Karen E. Lange. An article on artifacts found at Jamestown.



Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Military Collector & Historian. Vol 59, No. 1, Spring 2007

As always, a first rate edition of this excellent magazine, the publication of the Company of Military Historians.

Articles of interest to the participants here:

1. "We Can Take It" Organizational Evolution f the 150th Cavalry, West Virginia Army National Guard by Merle T. Cole and Donald R. Davis.

An examination of the history and heradlry of this current ARNG cavalry unit, which only became cavalry post World War Two, and therefore has no horse mounted history.

2. "John Sutter's Cannons--Clearing the Confusion, by Cap Cresap.

An examination of John Sutter's cannons. Sutter was, of course, the Sutter of Sutter's Mill.

3. Prussian Arms, Appendages, and Bayonets in the Civil War by David Hollowell.

An examination of imported Prussian arms in the American Civil War.

4. The War of the Triple Alliance, 1865-1870 by David M. Sullivan.

Excellent first part of a three part article on this bloody South American War which followed the American Civil War, but which seems to be little known outside of South America. Nicely done.

5. The Forces of Imperial Brazil in the Triple Alliance War, 1865-1870, by Rene Chartrand.

Nice article with plates. Mounted troops, including regular cavalry and gaucho units are portrayed. Lays to rest any idea that the wide brimmed hat, in field use, is uniquely American.

6. Sam Wire and the Cow-boys, by Philip D. Weaver.

Examination of a Revolutionary War small action, with an interesting insight in to some Loyalist mounted forces. Not an examination of those forces, however.

7. 1st Canadian Parachute Battlaion, 1943-1945. A plate with text. Okay, so it isn't a horse related item, but it does give some insight to the <i>other</i> Corcoran wearing Parachute infantry of WWII.



Pat

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat Holscher</i>
<br />National Georgraphic. May 2007. Vol 211

1. Creating America by Charles C. Mann. An interesting look at how the introduction of new plant, animal, and insect species changed North America, with a focus on the Jamestown Colony.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Of some note, this article indicates that, amongst such well known introduced species as horses or pigs, earthworms and honeybees are introduced species.

I would never have guessed that earthworms were. This was in the east, and the article notes that there were no native earthworms in the Upper Midwest (speculating that the Ice Age had wiped them out), so perhaps this is limited to that region. Still, it's surprising.

Pat

[Trooper]

Hi Pat,
The earthworms are surprising. I'm also intrigued by the introduction of pigs. Are the wild pigs of the SW - peccaries(?) - feral variants of the introduced European pig? If so I'd guess these came from Spanish introductions as with the wild horse?

Dušan

[Trooper]

Further to the above: were any bird species introduced? I'd be interested to know of any I might recognise as familiar here in England.


Dušan

[Joseph Sullivan]

Earthworms are making a huge comeback in the upper Midwest because of:

a) Fishbait and fishbait producers;
b) Gardeners and worm composters.

This is a Bad Thing. Despite the good that worms do for the soil, in the forest, they digest the fallen leaves that are critical in many respects for the ecosystems there. They have become another invasive pest.

Who'd have guessed?

As to birds, the Sparrow and the Starling are both introduced, from England, I believe. The Cattle (Snowy) Egret which although beautiful is becoming a big pest around here, is African in origin.


Joe

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Trooper</i>
<br />Hi Pat,
The earthworms are surprising. I'm also intrigued by the introduction of pigs. Are the wild pigs of the SW - peccaries(?) - feral variants of the introduced European pig? If so I'd guess these came from Spanish introductions as with the wild horse?

Dušan
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

While I may be in error, I believe that all pigs in North America are introduced species.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Joseph Sullivan</i>
<br />Earthworms are making a huge comeback in the upper Midwest because of:

a) Fishbait and fishbait producers;
b) Gardeners and worm composters.

This is a Bad Thing. Despite the good that worms do for the soil, in the forest, they digest the fallen leaves that are critical in many respects for the ecosystems there. They have become another invasive pest.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The National Geographic article made the point about the leaves, which came as a surprise to me. I'd have never have guess there was a period up there without worms.

Worms are an ancient species, so you'd think they'd be everywhere, all the time. But apparently they are not.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">

As to birds, the Sparrow and the Starling are both introduced, from England, I believe. The Cattle (Snowy) Egret which although beautiful is becoming a big pest around here, is African in origin.


Joe
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I was going to mention sparrows and starlings too. Sparrows are actually a fairly detrimental species in some regions, including the American West, as they have some negative effect on the nesting of other birds. Starlings are also pests.

The article noted that early European colonization benefited the passenger pigeon, which was a surprise.

Of course some game birds were intentionally introduced, and still are. Pheasants, for example, were imported from Asia and introduced. They're not detrimental, however. Turkeys, which are not native to this state, have been introduced.

Recently here there's been an invasion of some new sort of dove. We have turtle doves, which are hunted in the Fall, but the new doves are bigger, and a lighter shade. I can't recall what they are, but the game and fish has declared that they're invasive, and that people can shoot them all year long, and with no limit. My son and I were checked by a game warden during dove season who encourages us to shoot as many of them as we could, but we didn't actually see any while hunting. I've seen them since, however.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Another thing that was noted as an import was the European honey bee. There's bees native to North America, but not the honey bee. Apparently it was so associated with European Americans that its new arrival in an area was associated, by the Indians, with the imminent arrival of European Americans.

Funny how things work. Now we're so accustomed to honey bees that their current population crash in some areas is a major agricultural problem.

Pat

[browerpatch]

Are all earthworms non-native to North America? What about South America? It seems incredible that the New World could have been completely devoid of these creatures.

Frank

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by browerpatch</i>
<br />Are all earthworms non-native to North America? What about South America? It seems incredible that the New World could have been completely devoid of these creatures.

Frank
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
The hardword forest of New England and upper Midwest, for instance, have no native earthworms--they were apparentlly wiped out in the last Ice Age.

***

What is clear is that much of the northern forest in America were worm free until the Europeans arrived there, inadvertently importing earthworms on the root-balls of their plants or the ballast of ships. The effects of this earthworm invasion have been slow to show themselves because the creatures don't spread rapidly on their own.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
America, Found & Lost, by Charles C. Mann, The National Geographic, May 2007, page 32

I don't think that's true of South America, and I'm not sure I'd take it from this that the south and west in North America were free of worms. South America has some huge worm species that are native to it.

Still, it is really amazing to think that earthworms weren't everywhere.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

On the NG article, one thing I should note is that the article makes the point that the early English colonist did not meet a pristine wilderness. Rather, the native Indians in that area had a managed forest ecology, in which they farmed an area until unproductive and then abandoned a field to fallow until it could be re farmed at some later date. As it was a forested area, they made use of the forest too, but they burned the undergrowth in order to keep it clear. Villages moved.

This seemed very alien to English colonist, who were used to established villages, and field that were farmed indefinitely. However, neither people were non agricultural, in the East.

Pat

[wkambic]

IIRC different tribes had different agricultural practices.

The Cherokee maintained stationary villages and had a fairly sophisticated agricultural system. Other Trans-Applalacian tribes also were less "nomadic" than those in other parts of North America.

The idea that the Indian lived in total harmony with his environment and just accepted what Nature/TheGreatSpririt/Whatever gave him is quite false. While the Plains tribes (from which this myth most likely derives) were the least "agricultural" they were relatively small in number compared to the Eastern tribes (at least until the White Man's diseases did their work).

There's apparantly quite a controversy about Amerind population numbers. Some claim that Aboriginal peoples may have numbered in the 30-40 million range, while others put the number much lower (in the 10 million range) for peoples east of the Mississippi. The first whites to penetrate the area were Luna from Pensacola into the TN Valley in 1560 and Pardo in the Great Smokey Mountains from Santa Elena (in present day South Carolina) in 1566-68. Both reported extensive populations and agricultural development.

An excellent book that touches on many aspects of Aboriginal cultures is <u>The Spanish Frontier in North America</u> by David Weber (Yale University Press, 1992).



Bill Kambic

Mangalarga Marchador: Uma raça, uma paixão

[bisley45]

Dusan-

collared peccaries, or "javelina" locally, are a tropical species that migrated northward. There are probably javelina within 5 miles of my house. They don't need a lot of room to forage in and generally stay well away from domectic dogs- good thing for the dogs. They also eat what livestock won't; a solid indicator of peccary presence is shredded prickly pears.

More than one biologist has told me that javelina are actually rodents, but they have cloven hooves, tusks and guard hairs, like to wallow, and travel in highly socilaized herds, so..........if it walks like a pig and talks like a pig, I'm callin' it a pig. Their meat is about as far from pork as as it can get, however.

The name "javelina" comes from the old practice of hunting them from horseback with javelins fashioned form saguaro cactus ribs. My dad worked for a rancher in southern AZ who bought his Mexican resident ranch hands a .30-30 to kill javelina with because he was sick of doctoring horses that had been torn up by javelina tusks.

Bisley 45

"Evidently, Mr. Ringo's an educated man. Now I really hate him."

[Pat Holscher]

Casualty of War, by David A. Bell, in The New Republic. May 7, 2007.

This very interesting article by historian David A. Bell (The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare As We Know it) discusses the the reluctance of university history departments to address military history. The article is very short, just two pages, but is very insightful.

Bell discusses the reasons that military history is ignored in American universities, and laments it. He notes that the nation is in a war now, and will likely be facing warfare for some time to come, and that history departments would do well to address military history.

The article includes the legendary Carte Figurative of Napoleon's advance into Russia, and the retreat, which is regarded as one of the best examples of an informative graph ever made.

Pat

[Trooper]

Hi Bis,
I somehow missed your kind response to my query. Thank you.
Is it known if the peccaries are descended from imported pigs or a native species of rodents with incredibly pig-like characteristics? They sound more like European wild boar which are, I believe, related to domestic pigs. Perhaps wild boar were introduced?

Dušan