People Riding Through Trees

What was up with past Americans' fascination with riding vehicles through large trees? I know that Sequoia National Park used to have a tree you could drive through. Then, while browsing the archival materials of various libraries this evening, I found this:

163-165: "Bicycle Tree" near Snohomish, Washington

3 photographs3.5" x 5.5"

Photographs of people and a car near the "Bicycle Tree," a large cedar tree with a archway cut into its trunk, along a dirt road in what is now Snohomish, Washington. The tree had served as a milestone on a favorite bicycling route in the 1880s when Snohomish Bicycle Club president David Lewis Paramore led the effort to have a pathway cut through the massive trunk. The tree, compromised by floodwaters from the Snohomish River and buffeted by gusting winds, toppled in 1927.

Wow, riding a bike inside a tree. That sounds like the greatest thing ever.

Greatest Baseball Matchup Ever--Jews v. KKK

I like old-timey baseball weirdness because it so wonderfully reflects the weirdness of American at large during that time. Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic wrote of this 1926 baseball game between a Ku Klux Klan team and a Jewish team. He then followed it with a more substantial post, demonstrating that these kind of weird racially charged matchups were pretty common.

Historical Image of the Day

Poor House/Farm. Huron, South Dakota, 1913.

This image comes from a postcard of the time. Why someone would want a postcard of a poorhouse, I don't know. But there were postcards of basically everything back then, including lynchings. I should investigate this phenomenon further. I will when I have time, i.e., after I die.

Pure Gas!!! Jesus!!!! 'Merica!!!!!!!

Although I have a lot of problems with the increased use of ethanol in gasoline, one of them is not some kind of weird patriotic feeling about 100% gasoline. Of course, it would be Oklahoma where this feeling is strongest. America's most urbane state, Oklahoma has given the nation such great political leaders of late as Tom Coburn, James Inhofe, and Steve Largent. And now they are leading a backlash against ethanol. Supposedly, they say the ethanol hurts their engines. But let's be honest--the real reason is that these Oklahomans and other Americans see the change in their car culture as threatening to their identity as Americans and it pisses them off.

There is an old country hit called "You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma." It is supposed to be a compliment. But I sure wouldn't want to be accused of such a horrible act.

Texas Curiosities

It has come to my attention that Paris, Texas has a replica of the Eiffel Tower with a cowboy hat on top.

1. Is this in fact true?

2. Why has this not come to my attention before?

I can add this to the massive number of weird places to visit in Texas before I leave, including Huntsville, ie., Executionville, the Confederate Reunion Grounds State Park, and the Texas Rangers museum in Waco.

Historical Image of the Day

Pet Cemetery, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, 1957