Sunday, January 18, 2009

QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT

The Quartermaster's Depot sits on the banks of the Colorado River and was a Western Outpost for the military. The grounds, buildings and artifacts are now part of a State Park. The museum holds many, many wonderful old pictures and the most complete set of drawings of Civil War Uniforms known. The drawings were commissioned at a time when few leaders really thought it was important to record the various changes in uniforms over the years. Luckily for us, a very valuable history was preserved.
The depot was located near a shipping company on the banks of the Colorado River. The company brought paddle wheelers upriver to deliver goods as far up as Utah for $40 a ton. When a competitor went into business, the price dropped to $20 a ton. That is the devil in private enterprise and the savior is competition. It all came to a halt when dams impeded river traffic and the Pacific Railroad became the new "savior".

Travel is nothing if not educational and I will soon have to forget something to make room for all this new stuff I'm learning. At the museum, docents worked at weaving. This woman has a special loom called a shawl loom. Others made lace and turned cotton balls into weaveable threads.
Hasta La Vista

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