An Oldie But Goodie
Did You Know? - Billy the Kid, also known as William Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney (Allegedly November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881) was a 19th-century American frontier outlaw and gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War. According to legend, he killed 21 men, but he is generally accepted to have killed between four and nine.
McCarty (or Bonney, the name he used at the height of his notoriety) was 5 feet 8 inches (173 cm) to 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall with blue eyes, a smooth complexion, and prominent front teeth. He was said to be friendly and personable at times, and many recalled that he was as "lithe as a cat". Contemporaries described him as a "neat" dresser who favored an "unadorned Mexican sombrero". These qualities, along with his cunning and celebrated skill with firearms, contributed to his paradoxical image, as both a notorious outlaw and beloved folk hero.
Relatively unknown during most of his lifetime, Bonney was catapulted into legend a few months before his death by New Mexico's governor, Lew Wallace, who placed a price on his head, and by stories printed in the Las Vegas Gazette (Las Vegas, New Mexico) and the New York Sun. Many other newspapers followed suit and published stories about Billy the Kid's exploits. After his death, several biographies were written that portrayed the Kid in varying lights.
Did You Know? - A sword is a long, edged piece of forged metal, used in many civilizations throughout the world, primarily as a cutting or thrusting weapon (edged weapon). The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, cognate to Old High German swert, Middle Dutch swaert, Old Norse sverð (cf.Icelandic sverð, Danish sværd, Norwegian sverd, Swedish svärd) Old Frisian and Old Saxon swerd and Modern Dutch zwaard and German Schwert, from a Proto-Indo-European root *swer- "to wound, to cut".
A sword fundamentally consists of a blade, a hilt, and a crossguard, typically with one or two edges for cutting, and a point for thrusting. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship have remained fairly constant through the centuries, but the actual techniques vary among cultures and periods as a result of the differences in blade design and purpose. Unlike the bow, spear, axe or knife, the sword is a purely military weapon, and this has made it symbolic of warfare or naked state power in many cultures. The names given to many swords in mythology, literature, and history reflect the high prestige of the weapon and the wealth of the owner.
Cough Medicine Anyone???
Did You Know? - First attested in English 1380, the word coffin derives from the Old French cofin, from Latin cophinus, which is the latinisation of the Greek κόφινος (kophinos), "basket". The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ko-pi-na, written in Linear B syllabic script. Anthropoid coffin, 14th-13th centuries BC.
Any box used to bury the dead in is a coffin. Use of the word "casket" in this sense began as a euphemism introduced by the undertaker's trade in North America; a "casket" was originally a box for jewelry. North Americans may draw a distinction between "coffins" and "caskets", using coffin to refer to a tapered hexagonal or octagonal (also considered to be anthropoidal in shape) box used for a burial and casket to refer to a rectangular burial box with a split lid used for viewing the deceased as seen in the picture above. Receptacles for cremated and cremulated human ashes (sometimes called cremains in North America) are called urns.
The Rides Look Scary
Corkscrew debuted in 1975 as the first modern-day roller coaster to perform a 360-degree inverting element, twice! It was designed by Arrow Dynamics of Utah.
Did You Know? - Walter re-built a Windmill water pump originally from England and used here on a ranch beside the Livery Stable housing a collection of wagons, coaches, and horse drawn hearses. Walter didn't think his collection of old buildings would get much bigger, so the stable was placed across "the end" of Main St. and the Dry Gulch Pack Train and stage coach ride planned for Stage Coach Road.
Did You Know? - In 1951 work began to grade and lay track for a grand circle rail route for recently acquired authentic 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge C-19 engines No. 340 Red Cliff (renamed Gold Nugget #40) from the Denver & Rio Grande and No. 41 Green River from the Rio Grande Southern, historic Consolidation class (2-8-0) locomotives from Colorado.
They would haul a yellow combination baggage/coach No. 105 "Calico" with arrows embedded near the baggage door (now renamed to original "Chama", arrows and numbers removed and painted in then-current Pullman-green livery of D&RGW) and several more vintage wooden passenger coaches filled with delighted guests on round trip excursions when the route opened on January 12, 1952.
The Durango parlor car, the Silverton observation sleeper and the B-20 "Edna" Business cars were held with the caboose on sidings during normal operation. Whether in the heavyweight steam train or the light duty Galloping Goose No. 3, the highlight most guests remember are the train robbers of the Knott's Scenic Route of the Ghost Town & Calico Railroad.
Did Someone Say Food?
"Did I say yummy???"
THE END