I believe in the legend!

Every town has a legend. Every town has a haunting story that gets told. I grew up in Evanston, Wyoming and one of the most prominent stories that I remember is the one about the Chinese Tunnels. Just outside of Evanston, off of I-80, exit 193 there are railroads. If you go a little farther back you will see tunnels covering the tracks of the railroad. Here is a little background history for you. Back in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s the railroads were booming. In the midst of this boom there were many Chinese workers working on this tunnel and if something were to happen and these workers died, their bosses would simply throw them in the concrete of the tunnel for filler for the walls of the tunnel and continue working. I know this is tragic and sad and you would think that people would just stay away right, because that is just gross. Well you know how teenagers are, curious.

The legend has it that if you go to these tunnels and walk around you can see shadows, see orbs in pictures, hear the screaming and murmuring of the workers and some people have even gotten chased, by some kind of spirit or thing, who really knows. So seeing as how me and my friends were and still are teenagers we decided that it would be fun to go and check out this legend and many other stories that we have heard. We go down to the tracks one night after dark and turn off the truck. My friend, Brayden, grabs her camera and starts taking pictures. After about ten minutes we don’t hear anything standing outside of the tunnels so we decide to go inside. It was freezing in there and as we stood there we started to hear sounds. I know it wasn’t just me because I asked her if she heard it too. We stopped in our tracks and just stood there. I got a creepy feeling and the hair on the back of my neck and arms stood straight up. We continued to hear weird noises and as soon as we started hearing footsteps we bolted.

We never looked at the pictures while we were there but later that night we reviewed them. Surprisingly we did see bright orbs or balls of light and shadows that we absolutely couldn’t explain. In all honestly I thought this legend was a complete myth, but now I stand corrected and I completely agree. Unfortunately I never got a copy of the pictures, I’m not sure if it was because I didn’t want to be freaked out forever or what, I do believe she still has them somewhere but she says she can’t find them.

If you don’t believe me you can check out this site of someone else that has experienced things in the tunnels as well.

http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=14200

Sarahbell.”Re: Hush”. Your Ghost Stories, Haunted Places, 16 January 2012 Web. 3 November 2013

This Second link will take you to google maps to show you kind of where the tunnels are.

http://www.gosur.com/en/point/2875811/

Throwback Time

   Well, honestly I had completely forgotten about this picture until I just managed to stumble upon it the other day. If I do remember right, this was my freshman year of high school. Me and one of my friends, (the one taking the picture), were in a photography class, we were out there taking pictures for one of our assignments. This picture wasn't part of our assignment, it just happened on our walk from point A to point B. 

   We were all walking along the train tracks to the Depot. It is an old worn down brick building that all of the trains used to pass through in Evanston, Wyoming. I am not sure if you can tell, but it was freezing cold and we all only had thin jackets on! I can't believe how crazy we were for doing this! I must say though, this was an amazing time of my life, I remember it like it was yesterday. We were all good friends and we would do anything to get out of the house. 

   It is sad to look at this picture now. We are all in different places now and live completely different lives. It has been so long since I have talked to all of these girls.We were once just like a family, we were all sisters. Now its as if we are all leaves and the wind has blown us in different directions. This day holds memories that I will never forget, and I hope it holds good memories for all of the my sisters that were there that day.

Nana's Bananas

   I remember as a kid begging my mom to make Nana's Banana Bread, because it was so delicious. It was soft but not mushy. A golden yellow color sprinkled with different shades of brown. It had the most sweet smell to it, of course bananas, but a light airy sugar smell, virtually indescribable.




     

   When I got into middle school, I had a Home EC. class. We learned many different things about cooking and how to read recipes, along with how to group the ingredients in the recipes. Of course when you learn things in school they teach you how to do it the right way. Recipes are supposed to have exact measurements and step by step instructions, those are the recipes we used in that class anyways. Well at the end of the quarter we were going to have a "bake off". It was a competition between the students to see who could cook the best recipe. I wasn't sure what to cook or where to even start, I really wanted to win because I have always been really competitive and hated losing anything, no matter the competition. I went home and my mom helped me to go through her recipes and we stumbled across my favorite recipe of all time, obviously I had completely forgotten about it. I was so excited. My mom and I ended up practicing how to make the Banana Bread, and she let me do most of it.
    Soon to be realized I had no idea where or what to do by the recipe that sat on the counter. It was different than the ones I had learned to read. There was almost nothing on the card, I was so confused. Therefor, my mom explained it to me step by step and helped me write down extra instructions on a separate piece of paper that I have long lost by now. When the finished product finally came out of the oven, it was exactly as I had remembered it. I took it to school and since we didn't have a long enough class block to finish my recipe I had the teacher help me start it before class. When it came to be class time and the competition was on I was really confident. I didn't end up winning but I sure did take 2nd place, and that was okay with me.
   My mom told me that this was supposed to be a "secret" recipe, but I have shared it with you anyways. This was passed down a few generations and we always make it for Christmas, it is a tradition, and one that I am proud of. In a way, I suppose it is still kind of a secret recipe because there are a few small tips and tricks that I was taught to make this recipe turn out the best. I will definitely pass this on to my children when the time comes and hopefully they will do the same.  

Leather Covered Lessons

CULTURAL ARTIFACT

Makita Keel

Les Brown

Monarch, Ut

July 2013

Leather Covered Lessons

Genre:

Tradition and History

Informant (who):

The "informant" is your source, your traditional colleague, who passes a cultural artifact to you for collecting and preserving. Tell us about this person, including information such as the following:

·         Les Brown

·         Born and raised in Roosevelt, Ut

·         Caucasian Male

·         Farmer

·         Farming

·         Grandfather

Text:

I received leather moccasins from my grandfather. The moccasins are tall and the top of them are covered in hanging leather. It is made up of two different shades of leather, a darker leather and a lighter, almost yellow leather. They are both handmade and hand stitched.

Context (where):

            I received this item after attending one of our annual rendezvous trips. Our family tries to go to a rendezvous every year because that is what they have always done. My mom and her family used to dress up and go to the real ones. It keeps me in touch with my past and the way things used to be back in the Mountain Man days. That part of history intrigues me. The native people and those who used to spend a lot of time in the mountains used to wear moccasins. One reason is because they are warm and another because they are quiet when stalking game animals. You can see them now a lot a rendezvous where people still dress up in hand made clothing, a lot of handmade leather.

Texture (how):

Moccasins were originally created by the native people. The natives made all of their things by hand because that was all they had. They used leather because it was warm and could also keep you cool and they had access to it from the game animals that they had harvested. Moccasins were important because without them the feet of many people would have been mutilated. Moccasins were worn year round. I find it interesting that they aren't still used with archery hunters because from a personal point of view they are really comfortable and much quieter than regular heavy shoes.

Meaning:

This artifact means a lot to me because it keeps me in touch with my family and my past. It is something that we all enjoy doing as a family and I get to learn a lot about a subject that I am interested in. I also like the look of the old leather clothes and dresses, I think they are beautiful. My family thinks it is great that I am so into these kinds of things. Occasionally they tease me when I wear the moccasins around the house but it’s all in good fun. I like them and think that they are comfortable. My mom especially takes pride in it because she used to wear them when she was a kid too and has many good memories of going to rendezvous. She hopes to pass on the same great memories to me.

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