Sgt. Duncan and Cpl. Whiting travel to the upper reaches of Eastern California, into Oregon and Nevada to investigate a battle site.
Date(s): April 10th & 11th. Album by 2nd cal cav member. 1 - 40 of 40 Total. 1598 Visits.
1 Barracks- Fort Crook
2 Officers quarters 1
3 Officers quarters 2
4 Round Barn Originally built by Fall River resident Bob Johnston in 1911, this barn was used for training horses year round to supply the army with badly needed mounts.
5 Inside Round Barn A couple freight wagons and a sleigh, but sadly, no cannons.
6 Fort Crook weapons collection
7 Fort Crook Monument 1
8 Fort Crook monument 2
9 Original Fort Crook Monuments on original site of Fort Crook.
10 Stampede Ducking off the main road allowed us to avoid this traffic hazard
11 Unknown soldier roadside monument to unknown soldier. Hwy 299 near Bieber.
12 Fort Bidwell 1 Above the site of Fort Bidwell, Surprise Valley, California
13 Fort Bidwell 2 Fort Bidwell (center, right) in the distance.
14 Surprise Valley Rain (or snow?) showers in the distance.
15 Diverse terrain common creek canyon with vertical rock walls
16 Hawk Indian Spirit watching us.
17 Native site Elevated area above Rock Canyon containing many obsidian flakes
18 Sgt. Duncan Scouting along the rim of the plateau, elevation= 6225 ft.
19 Guano Valley Standing above Rock Canyon looking West into Guano Valley. The line in the desert is a road running along the Nevada-Oregon border.
20 Rock Canyon
21 Cpl. T. Whiting Picking out landmarks for the next mornings exploratory trek into the canyon.
22 The three essentials Necessary for any outing: Bullets, beans and beer.
23 'Never had it so good The modern horse with attached supply wagon/"tin tent"
24 Mule deer Game was plentiful
25 Entering the canyon Journey into the North "finger" of Rock Canyon.
26 North arm, Rock Canyon Looking North.
27 Hawk nest
28 Rock Canyon spirits As I traversed the narrowing gully, its steep jagged outcrops became more imposing. A chill breeze rose up from the main canyon. The sun shown through the cloudy sky, casting shadows and giving the stone crevasses greater depth.
29 Rock Canyon spirits 2 I glanced at my watch. 9:40 A.M. 146 years ago at this very time of day, troopers of the 2nd Cavalry California Volunteers Companies D and F were engaged with the "enemy" at this very site.
30 Rock Canyon spirits 3 Indian warriors from the Shoshone, Bannock and Piute tribes and Cavalry troopers fought and died at this place. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as the Ghosts of the pursued and those in pursuit brushed past in the wind.
31 Material Small trees and brush for fire and shelter are abundant.
32 Rock Canyon 2 View East into the main canyon.
33 Rock Canyon 3 View West into Guano Valley
34 Sign of natives Obsidian flakes (small, shiny, black) offset by a "shed" of mule deer antler.
35 Rock Canyon 4 Large boulders in the canyon bottom would have provided welcome cover in battle.
36 From bottom to top View from the canyon base, up to the plateau.
37 Rock Canyon 5 Looking East into the canyon from a possible village site.
38 Guano Valley 2 Looking West into Guano Valley from possible village site.
39 Rock Canyon 6 Standing in Guano Valley, looking East into Rock Canyon. Oregon on the left, Nevada on the right.
Download AVI 40 360 video Short moving image taken from possible village site.
