Durability photos on Flickr

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This is an example of a phenomenon found in the commercial districts of small towns that have undergone an economic decline. The original retailers that occupied the downtown stores are long gone.

Based on what I've seen in a number of small towns in recent years, thrift stores tend to sprout up in the places formerly occupied by such traditional retailers as jewelry stores, pharmacies, clothes emporiums or barber shops.

These second-generation stores are different in that the store fronts have hand-painted signs instead of the computer-generated signs printed on durable synthetic material.

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Here's the very long story of Raymond, Washington:

The blanket of old growth forest that covered the Willapa Hills surrounding Raymond, on the Willapa River in Pacific County, fueled the town's growth from a handful of farms to a mill town bustling with trains filled with freshly cut logs, mills running 24 hours a day, and ships laden with lumber bound for the East Coast, South American, San Francisco, and Hawaii in less than a decade after its founding in 1903.

When a combination of overharvesting, environmental laws, and changes in the global market severely reduced logging and milling in the 1980s and 1990s, Raymond residents looked to new, more sustainable ways to utilize the surrounding hills, rivers, and bay to create jobs and sustain their community.

First Peoples

The Willapa River, with headwaters in the Willapa Hills, winds through the Willapa Valley until it is reaches the sea at Willapa Bay. A few miles upstream from the river's mouth, the South Fork of the Willapa joins the main river. Sloughs thread through the lowland forming what is called the Island, though it is not technically completely encircled by water.

Prior to contact with Europeans, three tribes lived around the Willapa's mouth, the Shoalwater (or Willapa) Chinook, the Lower Chehalis, and, seasonally, the Kwalhiloqua. Epidemic diseases brought by European and white American traders wreaked havoc in the Indian communities because they lacked immunities to the diseases. A malaria epidemic in the 1830s, probably brought to the area by sailors who had been in the tropics, decimated tribes in the lower Columbia River region.

After the epidemic, the Kwalhioqua all but disappeared, and the few remaining individuals joined the Willapa Chinook and Lower Chehalis. The northern part of Willapa Bay and the Willapa River formed a boundary between the Chinooks to the south and the Lower Chehalis to the north. The two groups intermarried and traded often.

These are the people who oystermen met when they came to Willapa Bay in the 1850s to harvest shellfish for the San Francisco market. The Indians worked with the oystermen in harvesting the shellfish.

Loggers, Farmers, and Indians

It was not long before the area's forests attracted loggers and sawmill operators. Brothers John (b. ca. 1830) and Valentine Riddell (b. ca. 1817) established a mill at what would become South Bend in 1869. Others followed, included John Adams' mill on the north side of the junction of the Willapa River with the South Fork.

Several farmers staked claims in the vicinity of the junction. The community, known as Riverside, had a school in 1875 and a post office.

The Indians in the area continued to work with oystermen, and in the more recently established salmon canneries and saw mills. They also continued to visit their traditional gathering places for berries and other plant materials.

The tribes had not yet formally agreed to allow the white Americans to live on their land, so, in February 1855, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) met with the Quinault, Queets, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, Shoalwater Bay, Chinook, and Cowlitz tribes at the Chehalis River Treaty Council (at the location of Cosmopolis today). The tribes did not object to ceding their lands, but once they heard the terms of the treaty they rejected the provision that required them to move to a shared reservation away from their traditional lands with the location of the reservation to be determined later. The tribes refused to accept those conditions and Stevens left without an agreement.

The absence of a treaty did not prevent white settlers from claiming lands along the Willapa River, thereby leaving less and less room for the Indians to live. On September 22, 1866 President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) established the Shoalwater Bay Tribes Reservation by reserving 335 acres near Tokeland for the Lower Chehalis and Willapa Chinook who lived along Willapa Bay. The reservation is and has been used by a number of the tribes' members, but many also live in the surrounding communities (and elsewhere).

Raymond is Formed

In 1889 the promise of a Northern Pacific Railway terminus in South Bend, just downstream from the river junction, led to a land boom. Lots in South Bend and along the river in both directions sold for incredible profits until 1893 when a national financial panic led to a bust in South Bend. South Bend had the county seat and retained the railroad and some operating mills, but a grant of land to the Northern Pacific on the waterfront tied up many of its choicest industrial sites.

Upriver, at the river junction, a group of residents, some with Homestead Act claims and others who had bought land at low prices following the bust in South Bend, formed the Raymond Land and Development Company in 1903.

Incorporators of the land company included Leslie (1874-1961) (often referred to as L. V.) and Stella (1875-1960) Raymond, who had a farm on the Island. Stella had inherited the land from her father, Captain George Johnson (1823-1882), who had established a Homestead Act Claim for almost 179 acres. Presumably Johnson or the Raymonds purchased part of their holdings, because they brought 310 acres to the partnership.

L. V. and Stella, who married in 1897, moved to the farm in 1899 and Raymond became the name of the town that grew up on and around their land. L. V. served as the town's first postmaster, first Northern Pacific Railway agent, and developed a water system for the town. The Raymonds donated land and their time to community projects, such as a playfield and the fire department. A bequest from the Raymonds established the Raymond Foundation in 1962 as a non-profit organization to fund scholarships and community development projects.

Building a River Town

Alexander C. Little (1860-1932) was also a partner in the land company. After a career in local and state politics that included serving as Aberdeen's mayor, helping elect Governor John R. Rogers, and serving on the State Fisheries Commission, in 1903 Little decided to shift to the private sector. According to Pacific County historian Douglas Allen, "Raymond was named for L. V. but from the beginning A.C. Little formed the character of the town" (Allen, 65).

According to Allen, Little contributed two key elements to the town's success. First, he recommended that the land company offer free riverfront lots to mills, thereby ensuring an economic foundation for the town. Second, Little brought Harry C. Heermans (1852-1943) into the partnership. Heermans's engineering background helped solve issues associated with building a town on a river. The sloughs that laced the land rose and fell with the tides, but uphill development would have taken mills too far from the riverfront. Besides, the hills surrounding the river junction rose abruptly and would have posed their own engineering challenges.

Other incorporators of the land company included J. B. Duryea, Winfield S. Cram (b.1866), and John T. Welsh (1866-1954). A second land company, the Great West Land Company, also formed in 1903, had some of the same investors and also worked to develop the town.

In 1903, the first mill, operated by Jacob Siler and Winfield Cram, began operations. Several more mills, including the West Coast Veneer & Manufacturing Company mill run by Little, followed and businesses grew up nearby.

On April 16, 1904, the Raymond Land Company filed a plat for the town of Raymond. The business district consisted of a store, a saloon, and a mess house that served mill workers. A drug store and hotel were coming soon.

Lots Sold by the Gallon

To allow people to cross the water-sodden landscape, the town constructed 2,900 feet of elevated wooden sidewalks. These sidewalks ran down either side of what would become 1st Street, which was really an open space onto which the buildings fronted. Additional wooden sidewalks crossed the void at regular intervals.

Lillian Smith (1875-1960), a teacher from Michigan who came to teach in Raymond for a year not long after the town's founding, remembered her first impressions of the town,

"At first I seemed to be crossing the river no matter what street I took. It was like losing oneself with Alice on the other side of the Looking Glass where you had to keep going in order to stand still, and vice versa. Imagine streets like long bridges built on piles driven into the slough (pronounced slu). Wooden railings on either side, and beyond these narrower wooden bridges of sidewalk width, these too with railings — a perfect maze of railings, necessary to keep careless pedestrians from falling into the slough" (Smith, 3).

Still, the town's location provided enough benefits to outweigh the difficulties of being what Smith called, "an amphibious town" (Smith, 6). It was located at the head of navigable waters, close to the bay and to the forests that fed its mills. It also had access to the Northern Pacific Railway, without having had to give up its waterfront lots the way South Bend had.

Navigation on the river depended on assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers. Early in its history Willapa Bay was known as Shoalwater Bay because of its many shallow areas. These made ideal oyster grounds, but limited ships' access to ports. The Corps, under the provisions of several different Rivers and Harbors Acts, had dredged the river up to Willapa City, just upstream from the Raymond townsite, and kept it clear of snags. The Corps also maintained a channel through the bar at the mouth of the bay.

Businesses besides lumber mills diversified the economy. In 1907 Stewart L. Dennis (1873-1952) and Perry W. Shepard (b. ca. 1871) formed a transfer company that would become an important retail business in Pacific County, now known as the Dennis Company, and John W. Dickie and his son, David, came to Raymond to establish a boatyard.

The Dickies had worked in the San Francisco Bay area and, according to local historian Ina E. Dickie, came to Raymond because the more-isolated Willapa Bay offered better access to lumber and to employees who accepted lower wages and had not yet formed unions. Dickie & Son built steamships -- the first was the Willapa -- at Raymond over the next several years. All were built for the coastwise lumber trade, which was booming following the 1906 earthquake and fires in San Francisco.

On August 6, 1907, voters approved a measure to incorporate the town of Raymond. A handful of residents resisted the town's boundaries because they included some outlying farms in anticipation of the town's growth.

Little served as the first mayor, an office he would hold for 10 of the next 11 years. When asked in 1910 to serve as president of the Southwest Washington Development Association, Little replied that he was "disqualified because of his partiality for the place where lots are sold by the gallon at high tide" ("Southwest Part of the State Unites").

A Lumber Town

The first council consisted of seven men: C. Frank Cathcart, president of Raymond Transfer and Storage and Northern Pacific agent, Winfield S. Cram, Timothy H. Donovan, superintendent of the Pacific & Eastern Railway and Sunset Timber Company, Floyd Lewis, real estate agent, Charles Myers, sawyer at the Siler Mill, L. V. Raymond, and Willard G. Shumway a clerk. P. T. Johnson served as the first treasurer and Neal Stupp as the clerk and secretary.

By 1910 the population had increased to 2,540, but that was just the start of the flood of new residents. In 1911, there were about 5,000 people in Raymond. They were needed for the kind of production boasted of by a promotional brochure from 1912. It lists the output of the towns mills for the previous year as 27,834,779 board feet of lumber, 226,712,250 shingles, 105 million berry baskets (made from veneer), and 33 million pieces of lath for plaster walls. The newcomers included business people, mill owners, mill workers, and loggers from all parts of the world.

Labor v. Capital

The 1910s, although economically prosperous, saw a series of disputes between labor unions and mill owners up and down the West Coast. Working conditions in the lumber industry were dismal and lumber workers struck for better wages and better logging camp conditions.

On March 25, 1912, mill workers in Raymond walked off the job to prevent the lumber companies from using their Raymond mills to replace lost production at Grays Harbor mills, where workers had begun a strike two weeks earlier. The town's business community's response was swift and severe. They held a meeting the second day of the strike. A. C. Little led the discussion, railing against the strike's organizers, the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the Wobblies. The meeting participants decided that they should protect "any man who might want to work" ("Strikes Close Raymond Mills"). To that stated end, several committees formed to support the effort. Over the next several days the sheriff swore in 460 deputies to "protect property and the working men" ("Strikes Close Raymond Mills").

To prevent the mill workers from gathering, the city closed all the saloons and brothels for the duration of the strikes. Likewise, three "Socialists speakers," were arrested upon disembarking the Raymond depot ("Strikes Close Raymond Mills").

A few days later, on March 30, 1912, the mill owners blew their whistles for the start of work. Anyone who did not heed to the call found themselves and their families rounded up by about 200 men with rifles and shotguns and loaded onto a railroad car bound for Centralia. The South Bend Journal identified those who refused to work as Finns and Greeks.

The Greek workers were taken to Centralia, where the Greek consul from Tacoma, Hans Heldner, met them and protested their treatment. The Finns had been removed by boat to Nahcotta. From there they traveled on to Astoria where there was a large Finnish American community. After the strike ended, the South Bend Journal said that the Greek mill workers asked to return, but, "American flags have been hoisted on the mills and only Americans or civilized foreigners need apply" ("Agitators Banished from Raymond"). Other strikes would come to Raymond and labor unions led fights for improved safety, better conditions, and higher pay.

Despite labor problems, the mills kept prospering in Raymond. In 1912 there were 14 mills in operation. They used an average of 50 railroad cars full of logs from logging camps in the surrounding fills. The mills produced an average of 20 railroad cars a day of lumber and other forest products. These included shingles, cascara bark, used for medications, doors, and window frames.

Growth and Development

In 1912 the town also started to fill the sloughs that ran through town so residents could have actual streets and so that houses would not flood at high tide. In 1915 the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad began passenger and freight service between Raymond and Puget Sound. The mayors of Raymond and South Bend presented the railroad's representatives with a wooden key "symbolical [sic] of the freedom of Willapa Harbor" (Krantz). The train service was a vital link between the Willapa River towns and the interior of Washington. Not until 1917 would a road through the Willapa Hills open. The precursor of State Route 6, it was not reliably useable. It featured steep switchbacks and its gravel surface routinely suffered from water damage.

The late 1910s saw Raymond operating at full bore. Six saw mills, two veneer plants, a box factory, five shingle mills, and a woodworking plant were joined by the Sanderson & Porter shipyard, which employed 1,000 workers in building ships for the United States Navy during World War I. In the postwar era, the population dropped to about 4,500.

Port of Willapa Harbor

In 1928 residents of Raymond joined with South Bend to form the Port of Willapa Harbor, a public port district. The Port built a public dock on land between Raymond and South Bend that allowed smaller sawmills access to the river. This facilitated the transport of logs, which could be floated down the river from logging camps in the Willapa Hills, and the shipping of finished lumber. Before the public dock was completed in 1930, sawmills and other forest-products factories that did not have riverfront property had to send their goods to Grays Harbor or Puget Sound via the railroad, adding significantly to transport costs and time.

The Port dedicated the dock on October 8, 1930, and the city of South Bend dedicated a reconstructed city dock and improved slip. The same day, state highway officials led a celebration of the opening of Highway 101 between Aberdeen and Raymond-South Bend. For the first time travelers could follow a road through the Willapa Hills to the north of South Bend. It also connected Aberdeen with Ilwaco and the Long Beach Peninsula. This provided drivers with a direct route to the ferries that crossed the Columbia River to Astoria.

The Port's dock housed a sawmill, owned first by Ralph Tozier (1920-2005) and then Ben Cheney (1905-1971), who owned Cheney Lumber Company. According to Med Nicholson, writing in the Sou'wester, in 1945, Cheney was faced with a problem of wasted wood that resulted from cutting logs for ties. In order to square up the logs, large slabs were cut off each of four sides. Cheney had the insight that the slabs were eight feet long (the length of railroad ties) and house ceilings were eight and one-half feet tall. At the time home builders were buying studs in 10- and 12-foot lengths and cutting them down, also resulting in a lot of wasted wood. Cheney cut the slabs into a "Cheney Stud," what are now known as eight-foot two-by-four and sold them to home builders. Eight-foot ceilings became standard in houses, "putting to use an enormous amount of formerly wasted timber and incidentally saving American homeowners uncounted millions of dollars in heating expense" ("The Ben Cheney Story," 10).

Raymond's Great Depression

Unfortunately, the advantages presented by the new port and highway were hampered by the Great Depression. The economic downturn resulted in drastically decreased demand for lumber and Raymond residents struggled to find jobs. The decline of the Great Depression would reduce the town's population to 4,000. A steady decline after the Depression brought the population to just under 3,000 by 1990, where it has stayed since.

Though circumstances improved slightly when Weyerhaeuser purchased two mills in Raymond and one in South Bend and reorganized them in 1931, larger economic forces made it nearly impossible for commerce to continue in Raymond. In 1932 the Raymond Chamber of Commerce, faced with a near stoppage of business following the failure of the First Willapa Harbor National Bank, printed its own currency called "oyster money" to carry people over until real money became available again.

The Port of Willapa Harbor continued its efforts to improve the port's facilities. The Army Corps of Engineers carried out at federally funded dredging and channel straightening project on the river in 1936. The dredge spoils created Jensen Island and the new channel allowed deeper-draft boats to reach Raymond.

Logging and Lumber

A 1954 report by Nathaniel H. Engle and Delbert C. Hastings of the University of Washington's Bureau of Business Research, draws an interesting portrait of Pacific County's average male citizen as delineated by the 1950 Federal Census:

"Mr. Average Citizen of Pacific County, at the last census, 1950, was white and 33 years of age. He had had two years of high school education. He was employed as a laborer or an operative in the lumber industry. His income for the year was about $3,042. He was married and had two children. He lived in a 4 or 5 room house in good condition, with hot and cold running water, toilet, and bath. He had mechanical refrigeration, and a radio, but no central heating. His home was worth close to $4,000 and was owned clear of debt. Thus Pacific County's average citizen rates as a substantial American wage earner, somewhat better off, on the whole, than the average American, although not quite up to the average in Washington state" (Engle and Hastings, 5).

The lumber industry supported a significant number of these "average" residents. Where Grays Harbor had nearly cleared much its surrounding forest lands in the 1920s, Pacific County still had considerable standing timber in the 1950s. In 1951 more than 66 million board feet of logs and more than 90 million board feet of lumber left Raymond on ships and railroad cars. This may have been the result of a high concentration of ownership by large companies such as Weyerhaeuser, which owned 380 square miles (nearly half of the county), Crown-Zellerbach, owner of 60 square miles, and Rayonier, owner of 50 square miles.

Engle and Hastings described the logging companies' success as resulting from the companies' willingness to use sustained yield practices, rather than cutting the forests as quickly as the mills could cut the logs. Sustained yield did lead to more selective and more reseeding, but it did not maintain forests that could support diverse ecosystems because most of the reseeding was of single, productive species such as Douglas fir. Wildlife populations were further damaged by hunting programs designed to eliminate animals such as deer or bear that browsed on seedlings and new growth on older trees.

In 1954 and 1955, Weyerhaeuser carried out a two-part renovation of the old Willapa Lumber Company mill that it had acquired in 1931. First they replaced all the mill's facilities and then they rebuilt the mill itself. This mill, known as Mill W, remains in operation in 2010, the last softwood lumber mill in operation in Raymond,

In the 1970s the region saw another lumber boom. According to Richard Buck, of The Seattle Times, a new generation of baby boomers began buying houses, which increased the demand for lumber, leading to increased competition and prices. Prices reached $337 per 1,000 board feet.

The next decade, the declines in the national economy devastated the local economy rather than driving it. Prices dropped by two-thirds to $102 per 1,000 board feet in 1985. According to Buck this was due to a decline in housing starts and the increase in the value of the dollar and interest rates, which made Canadian lumber cheaper. Also, deregulation of the transportation industry increased the disadvantage West Coast lumber mills had compared to Southern and Midwestern lumber mills' proximity to East Coast markets.

In addition to the economic forces battering the lumber industry, in the late 1980s the local environment could no longer support the intense logging of the previous century. Historical overharvest and increased environmental regulations reduced the acreage of public forestland open to logging. In 1990, the Northern Spotted Owl was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. With the owl's listing, communities in Pacific County had to adjust to reduced logging and fewer jobs at the area's sawmills. The effects of the environmental regulations were compounded by plant modernization, which also led to fewer jobs in the mills. Many smaller mills could not compete with the larger companies' more efficient mills and a number went out of business.

The closure of the federal forests combined with changes in how Weyerhaeuser managed its lands and utilized mills in Pacific County led to the closure of numerous mills. This, in turn, led to fewer jobs in the forest products industry, as well as other sectors of the county's economy.

According to a Seattle Times article, "Some residents liken the area to a Third World nation, an underdeveloped colony whose resources are removed by 'foreign' corporations. Weyerhaeuser, they note, owns more than 50 percent of the land in Pacific County" (Hatch). Additionally, they accused Weyerhaeuser of using profits gained in Pacific County to build the very mills in the American South, where wages were lower, that undermined the viability of Raymond's mills. Although there is certainly a component of anger at outside companies taking a tremendous amount of natural resources out of the surrounding hills without investing a significant portion of the resulting profits in the local community, this sentiment also reflects the frustration that resulted from one company owning so much of the county's land and making decisions driven by the global market.

Strategies for Change

Raymond residents have created multiple strategies to address the changes to the regional economy. When one mill, the Mayr Brothers sawmill, closed in 1986, the Port of Willapa Harbor bought the land and buildings and leased them to Pacific Hardwoods. When that mill closed in 2001, a group of Raymond investors banded together and reopened it as Willapa Bay Hardwoods, employing 35 people. It planned to cut 17.5 million board feet a year, a far more sustainable volume than during the boom years.

The Port of Willapa Harbor has been involved in other economic development projects. The Port developed two industrial parks and received grants to construct light manufacturing buildings at one of the industrial parks and at the Port dock. A variety of industries have leased Port buildings, including a chitosan (a natural polymer produced from shellfish shells) producer, seafood processors, and an airplane prototype design company. Additionally, some of the buildings are used by retail stores, including a saw shop and a health club.

The Raymond community, in conjunction with the city government and the Port of Willapa Harbor, has developed attractions that will draw tourists to the region as a way to build the economy. The former railroad bed across the Willapa Hills has been turned into a hiking and biking trail. The city has begun redeveloping its riverfront and a regional consortium developed the Willapa Water Trail, which small boats can follow to explore Willapa Bay.

Over the past century the environment in and around Raymond has attracted people, many of whom have sought to remove as much of it as possible for sale in markets far from Pacific County. The town's future lies in a more sustainable use of those resources, including the intangible ones that have to be experienced in person.

www.historylink.org/File/9590

upon up on the roof by B*lly Frank

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Chestnut Coppice by elhawk

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Sweet Chestnut is a favourite tree for coppicing in traditionally managed English woodlands. It is usually cut at the base every 12 years or so, and on every rotation a healthy tree will continue to produce a crop of thick sturdy and straight poles.

Coppiced chestnut is tough, durable and weather proof, containing natural tannins. Because of that it has been used for centuries to make fencing posts and stakes and in all kinds of outdoor contsruction work. If smaller fencing rails are required it splits nice and evenly down the grain and you can get several rails out of a single pole. I have actually watched this being done by skilled woodland craftsmen using a simple iron billhook.

Ice Palace in La Fontaine Park, Montreal, Quebec / Palais de glace érigé au parc La Fontaine, Montréal (Québec) by BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives

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Title / Titre :

Ice Palace in La Fontaine Park, Montreal, Quebec /

Palais de glace érigé au parc La Fontaine, Montréal (Québec)

Description :

La Fontaine Park is an artificial park, created on vacant land, formerly the Logan farm. Initially called Logan Park, it was renamed in 1901 in honour of Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine. /

Le parc La Fontaine est un parc artificiel aménagé sur le terrain vague d’une ancienne ferme, la ferme Logan. D’abord appelé parc Logan, il fut rebaptisé en 1901 en l’honneur de sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine.

Source :

Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History Complex, 1516-33 Montréal Archaeology and History Complex (2) /

Cité d'archéologie et d'histoire de Montréal, 1516-33 Montréal Archaeology and History Complex (2)

Note :

This album features examples of images that have been digitized by external heritage communities and that have received funding for digitization and access projects.

The Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP) ensures that Canada’s continuing memory is documented and accessible to current and future generations by adopting a more collaborative approach with local documentary heritage communities. The program will be delivered in the form of contributions that will support the development of Canada’s local archival and library communities by increasing their capacity to preserve, provide access to and promote local documentary heritage. Additionally, the Program will provide opportunities for local documentary heritage communities to evolve and remain sustainable and strategic.

The DHCP provides financial assistance to the Canadian documentary heritage community for activities that:

*Increase access to, and awareness of Canada’s local documentary heritage institutions and their holdings; and

*Increase the capacity of local documentary heritage institutions to better sustain and preserve Canada’s documentary heritage.

-----

Cet album comprend des exemples d’images qui ont été numérisées par des collectivités du patrimoine externes qui ont reçu du financement pour des projets de numérisation et d’accès.

Le Programme pour les collectivités du patrimoine documentaire (PCPD) établit une approche axée sur la collaboration avec les collectivités du patrimoine documentaire local pour que la mémoire continue du Canada soit documentée et rendue accessible aux générations actuelles et futures. Ce programme de contributions favorisera l’épanouissement des collectivités des bibliothèques et des archives en développant leur capacité à préserver, rendre accessible et promouvoir le patrimoine documentaire local. Il leur donnera aussi l’occasion d’évoluer, de rester viables et de conserver leur importance stratégique.

Le PCPD finance des activités de la collectivité canadienne du patrimoine documentaire visant à :

*faire connaître et rendre plus facilement accessibles les institutions du patrimoine documentaires locales du Canada et leurs collections;

*accroître la capacité à préserver le patrimoine documentaire du Canada de façon plus durable.

Dragon Scale Shield by Kyle Nuva

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A heavy yet extremely durable, heat and fire proof shield, absorbs fire damage as well.

this very scale originates from a endangered sub species of a kanohi dragon, often found near lava or deep in its silver mine as its nest.

The Dragon Warrior model of a advanced engineered torch that creates a blade of Fire. The mobile variant offers great performance thats easy to master, requiring less energy from its own source and its user, making it very economical friendly. Its precision focus a perfect and sharp beam of only fire. Strong, Light and Fast. Reaching melting temperatures.

Compared to the Dragon Elder, Tahu's beastly class torch, burns hotter and requires more hard training to master and is incredibly more taxing.

Toa Hotaru

Kanohi: Aki Hau

Younger Brother: Flaris

Element: Blaze

Class: Elite Samurai

Abilities: advanced fire bending and shaping his flames into a katana

Hotaru & Flaris were two young brotherly matoran, starting as low level knights in training in hopes one day they would become Toa. Hotaru was the oldest and a bit more skilled, sharping his and flaris abilities. The two trained, fought and hunted together for years. While most Ta-matoran took work in making masks all day, the brothers were busy earning their place. Hotaru took lessons with the very few that wanted to challenge the makuta. Flaris invested his time into researching armor and weapons and caught up on lessons passed to him from his best friend. The matorans courage & hard work would pay off when the day came for them to begin their future as Toa. Hotaru was the first to evolve into one and quickly joined a team, he said his good byes and took off. Flaris would also evolve into knighthood in the near future

The Kanohi Aki Hau

made by Forge of the Mask Makers - KhingK

This is durability by Henry@ WorkCycles

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After some 50-60 years of daily, outdoor use this crank and chainring (from a HD Dutch transport bike) is finally being replaced. That's quality folks. I wish WorkCycles could offer that but it's just not possible with any currently available parts.

workcycles.com

Antonov An-2 HA-MKF by Steve Tron

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he Antonov An-2 is an extremely durable, relatively light, single-engine biplane which first flew in 1947. It is used as a light transport, parachute drops and agricultural work. Its extraordinary slow-flight capabilities make it supremely suited for short, unimproved fields, and some specialized variants have also been built for cold weather and other extreme environments.

The An-2 is the largest single-engine biplane ever produced and still flying. It was produced in great numbers; over 5,000 were built in the USSR. Since 1960, most An-2's have been built at Poland's PZL factory in Mielec, with over 12,000 made before full production ended in 1992. Limited production from part stocks continues. The An-2 is also built under license in China as the Shijiazhuang Y-5.

The An-2 was designed as a utility aircraft for use in government-owned forestry and agriculture. However, the basic airframe is highly adaptable and numerous variants have been developed. These include hopper-equipped versions for crop-dusting, scientific versions for atmospheric sampling, water-bombers for fighting forest-fires, flying ambulances, float-equipped seaplane versions, lightly armed combat versions for dropping para-troops, and of course the most common An-2T version, which is the 12-seater passenger aircraft.

The An-2 has design features which make it suitable for operation in remote areas with unsurfaced airstrips:

-It has a pneumatic brake system (similar to those used on heavy road vehicles) allowing it to stop on short runways. -It has an air line fitted to the compressor, so the pressure in the tires and shock absorbers can be adjusted 'in the field'. -The batteries are large and easy to remove, meaning that the aircraft does not need a ground power unit to supply power. -It has it has an onboard fuel pump that allows the fuel tanks to be filled from simple fuel drums on the ground. -It has the minimum of complex systems. For example, the crucial wing leading edge slats that give the An-2 its slow flight ability are automatic, being held closed by airflow over the wings. Below 40 mph (64 km/h), they extend as they are on elastic rubber springs.

An interesting note from the pilot's handbook reads: "If the engine quits in instrument conditions (blind flying when you can't see the ground) or at night, the pilot should pull the control column full aft (it won't stall) and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 40 mph (64 km/h), and when the airplane slows to a forward speed of about 25 mph [40 km/h], the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground."

The An-2 has no stall speed quoted in the operating handbooks (the stall speed being the speed at which the aircraft is travelling too slowly for the airflow over the wings to keep it aloft). Pilots of the An-2 say the aircraft can be flown in full control at 30 mph (as a contrast, a modern Cessna 4-seater light aircraft has a stall speed of around 55 mph). This slow stall speed makes it possible for the aircraft to fly backwards (if the aircraft is pointed into a headwind of, say, 35 mph, it will travel backwards at 5 mph whilst under full control). This is a rare ability, even amongst other Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) aircraft. Only the German Fieseler Fi156 'Stork' of World War II has better slow-speed ability.

Lost in sustainable life by - H a c e n e P h o t o -

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Dunnottar Castle Ruins 15th Century Scottish Highlands 7/7/20018 by DanoAberdeen

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Saturday 7th July 2018, a revisit to my favourite place, Stonehaven a 25 minute drive from my home, I can never visit without taking in Dunnottar Castle views, today she looked magnificent.

The rock the Castle sits upon was forced to the surface 440 million years ago during the Silurian period. A red rock conglomerate with boulders up to 1m across known as Pudding Stone is incredibly durable.

The ancient Highland rock pebbles and cementing matter is so tough that faults or cracks pass through the pebbles themselves.

I first visited Dunnottar Castle summer 2017, this magnificent castle sits high on a hill, last time I visited I captured my shots from the cliffs overlooking the site, though today I made the journey up the hill and entered the castle walls , wow what a magnificent experience, just perfect with loads of great photo opportunities to capture real Scottish history,after two hours wandering around and capturing as many shots that caught my eye , I made my way home, a magnificent experience indeed.

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.

The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.

The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.

The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.

History

Early Middle Ages

A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.

The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.

The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.

Later Middle Ages

During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.

In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.

In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.

Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.

In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.

William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.

16th century rebuilding

Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".

Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.

James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.

During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.

In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.

A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.

An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.

Civil wars

Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.

Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.

The Honours of Scotland

Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.

They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.

In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.

Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.

Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.

Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.

At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.

Whigs and Jacobites

Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.

The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.

The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.

The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".

Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.

Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.

In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.

Later history

The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.

In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.

Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.

It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.

Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.

Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.

Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.

The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.

Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.

Description

Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.

The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).

The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".

Defences

The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.

The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.

Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.

Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.

The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.

A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.

Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.

Tower house and surrounding buildings

The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west

The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.

Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.

Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.

This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.

The palace

The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.

It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.

Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.

At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.

The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.

The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.

Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.

At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.

Dunnottar Castle Ruins 15th Century Scottish Highlands 7/7/2018 by DanoAberdeen