kd7ost
Jun 24, 2007, 10:14 PM
The discussion thread for the following can be found here.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=704305#post7684849
In the middle 1800’s, Wagon routes between Bruneau, Idaho, (locally pronounced Bruno) to Duck Valley on the Idaho/Nevada border was by way of Hot Spring, Blackstone ranch and Grassmere. Once there it joined the Wickahoney Road. An interesting spot documented on the route was a place called Deer Water. It’s a depression in the desert floor surrounded by Lava rock, (Basalt) and had a stagnant water hole at the bottom. Indian Pictographs are painted on the rock walls of the enclosure.
Pictographs are a rare find in Owyhee County. They survive well in caves and overhangs but in the exposed elements they fade quickly. There is rare evidence of them around even though we know of plenty of Petroglyphs which hold up much better in the hard volcanic rock. Learning about this place I had to take a look.
Today was only getting to 85f as we had a low pressure area move through. But that made it windy. I took the Dragonfly because of its solid flight handling and ability to manage the winds quite well. I would also make good use of the forward looking camera and ability to tilt in flight for verticals as well as low to high oblique shots. I would hand launch it and set down on the gravel road once done.
I looked through Google Earth and Topozone. I used Topozone to get coordinates for how to get there and put them in my GPS.
While researching the area from home last week I saw many lines on Google Earth beside the gravel road but didn’t know what they were. I would need to get a look at those too.
The following pictures show the great success I had in finding historic evidence. The Pictograms were badly faded but the one of the Deer stood out well. The roads in the area were swales no doubt. The aerial views showed them well but some were also evident on distant hills standing on the ground. They aren’t two track. The pictures here are 2D so it’s hard to get a scope of how they are shaped. They are 8 to 10 foot wide troughs and rocks long removed from the path line the sides where they were rolled. (Except a few that rolled back into the trough)
I’m now able to go back to Google Earth and know what lines I’m seeing are wagon tracks so can follow them out further. It’s a hiking job only though so I don’t know how soon I’ll be able to get GPS tracks for them. I’m sure there must be parts where more recent vintage two track connects with the old swales and only getting to them on foot will verify that it’s a wagon trail.
Dan
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=704305#post7684849
In the middle 1800’s, Wagon routes between Bruneau, Idaho, (locally pronounced Bruno) to Duck Valley on the Idaho/Nevada border was by way of Hot Spring, Blackstone ranch and Grassmere. Once there it joined the Wickahoney Road. An interesting spot documented on the route was a place called Deer Water. It’s a depression in the desert floor surrounded by Lava rock, (Basalt) and had a stagnant water hole at the bottom. Indian Pictographs are painted on the rock walls of the enclosure.
Pictographs are a rare find in Owyhee County. They survive well in caves and overhangs but in the exposed elements they fade quickly. There is rare evidence of them around even though we know of plenty of Petroglyphs which hold up much better in the hard volcanic rock. Learning about this place I had to take a look.
Today was only getting to 85f as we had a low pressure area move through. But that made it windy. I took the Dragonfly because of its solid flight handling and ability to manage the winds quite well. I would also make good use of the forward looking camera and ability to tilt in flight for verticals as well as low to high oblique shots. I would hand launch it and set down on the gravel road once done.
I looked through Google Earth and Topozone. I used Topozone to get coordinates for how to get there and put them in my GPS.
While researching the area from home last week I saw many lines on Google Earth beside the gravel road but didn’t know what they were. I would need to get a look at those too.
The following pictures show the great success I had in finding historic evidence. The Pictograms were badly faded but the one of the Deer stood out well. The roads in the area were swales no doubt. The aerial views showed them well but some were also evident on distant hills standing on the ground. They aren’t two track. The pictures here are 2D so it’s hard to get a scope of how they are shaped. They are 8 to 10 foot wide troughs and rocks long removed from the path line the sides where they were rolled. (Except a few that rolled back into the trough)
I’m now able to go back to Google Earth and know what lines I’m seeing are wagon tracks so can follow them out further. It’s a hiking job only though so I don’t know how soon I’ll be able to get GPS tracks for them. I’m sure there must be parts where more recent vintage two track connects with the old swales and only getting to them on foot will verify that it’s a wagon trail.
Dan