Thursday, December 17, 2009

Checking in while on the run..... .






In Iowa, after it became a state in 1846,  county maps were created and placed in institutions court houses.  The atlas were made in the 1870's and they would include maps of all 99 counties.  On the back of the map would be town maps of some of the larger towns.  This frame job was one with two Dallas County maps, which is where I live. You can see above that I framed them sandwiched in glass so that the back, can be see as well as the front.  The bottom one displays some cities in Iowa and the one above is Dallas County.






Our counties are divided into Townships, and above is the Des Moines township in which I live.  If you click on the photo, you can see the block 6 in which I live.  The town of Woodward did not exist then and the coal mining town, full of Italians was east of there on the line between 4 and 6.   Xenia is the name of the town where  the miners lived and they worked in the mines along that Des Moines River.  You also can see that every four blocks has a country school as indicated by a symbol.  Woodward became a town because of a strange reason.  Xenia was downhill from it and the train could not make the hill after it had stopped at Xenia for water.  So they started driving on through the town and stopping on top of the hill to get water for their steam engines. A train station was created there and the town was started.
As a side note of interest the miners lived in very small houses that were on wooden runners, and when a mine shut down they would drag the houses to another area.  We have a former mine town called Moran south of us where the houses were moved.  I don't know the exact numbers but I do remember that people said that these communities were populated with hundreds of people.





I did get this put under glass today and it is ready for pick up by the owner.  The red and gold doesn't really look too bad even though it is intentionally done in Iowa State Universities' colors.








This is a Christmas present for a neighbor's daughter.  I have to get this done and framed before Christmas.  I will add a tree in front of the house and shade, colorize with colored pencil.  They asked my wife to draw the two dogs  of theirs and they will be in the driveway or on the front stoop.
Thanks for reading.......

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Your work is beautiful!.....and I'm thoroughly enjoying the snow vicariously!

Sunny said...

What a beautiful job on the crocheted piece, it's stunning.
You are certainly a multitalented household!
Enjoy your weekend, don't work too hard.
Sunny :)

The Pink Geranium or Jan's Place said...

Your projects are lovely.. and so is the history for your town.

Please show us the end result for the house with the dogs, for your neighbors daughter.

Linda said...

This is absolutely fascinating about the division of a state into counties and then townships. I had no idea about this. I am gradually trying to educate myself about American history. The making of a great nation is so interesting.

what a lovely idea to do a double frame so that the backs of these maps can be seen.

The wooden houses on runners is also something I'd never heard of. I wonder if it's where the British children's author Philip Reeve got the idea for his 'Moral Engines' series, about the remnants of cities mounted on tracks, hunting each other and chasing scarce resources, after a global nuclear war? Do have a look at these books if you like Star Wars or any decent young adult fiction. My teens both loved them, and I did too.
http://www.mortalengines.co.uk/museum_library_page

Far Side of Fifty said...

All very interesting today Larry..the old maps and the crochet item looks great..those colors work for me!
The drawing you are working on should be awesome..I too am anxious to see it when you have finished with it..you are both so talented!! :)