Little Egypt Heritage Articles eduda tsunogisdi © Bill Oliver 7 January 2007 Vol 6 Issue: #01 ISBN: pending O’siyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, “Names and Expressions” This is the beginning of a brand new year. I have not the slightest idea what the year will bring. That said, I also don’t know for sure what direction this article will take. It will center around two words – ‘dead’ and ‘horse’ – and putting them together as in ‘dead horse’. The marvels of using computers is that those two words will, when ‘googled’, bring forth hundreds [and thousands even] of places to spend one’s time. >From a wide range of word meanings, to music, to history, to modern blogs. To begin in the realm of history, it was in April of the year 1873 when Captain John Mix [I’m sure that it is no relation to the more famous Tom Mix of 20th century fame] led a detachment of soldiers of the Second Cavalry to ‘scout’ the North and Middle Loup River Valleys in Nebraska. The troop was guided by Conrad “Little Buckshot” Wentworth. On their return from this exhibition the weather turned rather nasty and a blizzard developed, beginning on the 13th of April. The “Easter Blizzard” forced the soldiers to be housed by settlers and storekeepers. They left their animals in a sheltered area alongside a creek. During the storm twenty-five horses and four pack mules were suffocated by snow. That creek was given the name of [naturally] ‘Dead Horse Creek’. On my birthday, the 16th of July in 2006, a power line ignited a fire close to the town of Valentine in northern Nebraska. Firefighters from forty-seven [47] volunteer fire departments were involved with battling the fire. The fire consumed 3,100 acres, destroyed ten homes [in both a town and in rural areas] and damaged a like number. When fires reach the forest crown, as opposed to ‘ground’ fires, they release a tremendous amount of energy. This creates powerful updrafts which carry ‘firebands’ which then rain down on the earth causing ‘spot’ fires. Then eleven days following my birthday in 2006, dry lightning storms started some nine ‘wildfires’ in the Pine Ridge area of northwest Nebraska. The temperature on this day was 108 degrees and the relative humidity was less than ten. Five of the wildfires were under control before the end of the day, however, four continued to expand in area. The names of these fires were the ‘Thayer Fire’, and the ‘Rudloff Fire’ near Harrison, Nebraska. Near Chadron there was the Roberts Tract Fire and [here it comes, folks] the ‘Dead Horse Fire’. The fires were located in steep forested canyons. Due to so many fires nationally, fire suppression resources were short of what was needed. Hundreds of firefighters, including National Guardsmen turned out to combat these fires. In several days other areas broke out in flames. If my math is remembered correctly, nearly 70,000 acres of land were burned. Many of us from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc were concerned for our friends and kin who lived in that area of our country. We watched the news and tried to maintain contact with folks in the area. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Now I don’t wish to ‘beat a dead horse’; however, it sure fits in a totally different area. Thursday last a picture was passed around the ‘news wires’ and picked up by at least several newspapers, which in turn hit the Internet. It was a picture of a well dressed [elegant even] ‘mustachioed’ gentleman in ‘stovepipe’ hat sitting ‘rakishly’ on a ‘dead horse’, or at least, what appeared to be a dead horse. No one seems to have a history of the photograph except its location in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and the speculation that it was taken between 1876 and 1884. Apparently the picture was included in a newspaper’s current calendar. From there it prompted news articles and an Internet ‘explosion’. The begging question is, “Why was the picture taken?” Could it have been that the gentleman’s horse is ‘playing dead’? Or, could the horse have died and the gentleman is waiting for a ‘taxi’? Or, is he bound by law not to ‘leave’ a dead horse in a public place? Your guess is as good as anyone else’s. Red Skelton’s character says, “If I dood it, I dit a whippen.” “I dood it!” In that vein/vain this was advertised in my local paper with the brand name “egg beaters” – “99% real eggs”. 99 percent? My house wishes your house all good things in this new year. e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-WI NV-WA-do-hi-ya NV-WA-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- 748 Note: Calamus Lake Recreation Area located 7 miles Northwest of Burwell, Nebraska on Hwy 96 has a BUCKSHOT BAY, an area named for Conrad Wentworth, nearby Fort Hartsuff's famed scout and hunter, better known as Little Buckshot. PostScript: "Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives ..." Alexander McCall Smith, Dream Angus “The death of fear is in doing what you fear to do.” ...Sequichie Comingdeer Archived articles: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=ilmassac