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Money in a bag
I am the designer for 401kcalculator.org. I have put all these images in the public domain and welcome anyone to use them however please credit our site as the source if you do: 401kcalculator.org
Profitant d'une accalmie,on est partit prendre l'air du soir histoire de profité d'un bain de lumière.
on était pas seul
Delta Air Lines custom paints one of its A321s for profit sharing day in Atlanta, Ga. on Wednesday, February 12, 2020. (Photo by John Paul Van Wert for Rank Studios)
Who knew that being a tinker fairy could be so profitable? One assumes that Tinker Bell accumulated this chest overflowing with coins doing odd jobs for the Lost Boys. On the other hand, if she just stumbled across the stash of cash while helping to clean out Captain Hook's ship, she's more than entitled to keep it.
Special thanks to the lighting technicians who erected the floodlights that magically appear on the roof of the Emporium at the start of the Boo-to-You parade. The lights provide plenty of illumination for the parade.
Sometimes the value range just isn't the one to choose.
Tesco loses £2bn in value as investigation of profit overstatement begins.
Shares tumble as Britain’s biggest supermarket chain suspends four executives after profits were inflated by £250m.
Accounts always have to be certified and signed off.
There must have been some amazingly heated meetings between the accountants, Tesco senior management and the Tesco Finance Team.
Love to have been a fly on the wall for that one.
UPDATE 14 OCT 2014 - EIGHT NOW SUSPENDED
Supermarket giant Tesco has asked three more executives to leave their posts as the fall-out continues from its £250m profit guidance overstatement.
They take the number of suspended executives to eight.
Tesco said, "We have asked three employees to step aside to facilitate the investigation into the potential overstatement of profits in UK food.
"We will provide an update on the investigation with our interim results on 23 October."
Tesco shocked investors in September with the revelation that it may have overstated its profits by £250m.
UPDATE 23 oCT 2014
UPDATE - Tesco Boss to quit 23 Oct 2014
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29735685
Another £13m of hidden losses
Today (September 9, 2017) a Festival of Resistance against the DSEI arms fair in London’s Docklands took place on the road outside ExCeL, the exhibition centre where the bi-annual arms fair takes place. The festival’s page explains, “As one of the world’s largest arms fairs, DSEI brings together over 1,500 arms companies and military delegations from over 100 countries. On display will be everything from crowd control equipment to machine guns, tanks, drones and even battleships.”
The resistance to the DSEI is organised by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and Stop the Arms Fair, and has involved protests all week in advance of the arms fair itself, which runs from September 12-15. Throughout the week, dozens of protestors were arrested stopping arms-laden vehicles arriving at ExCeL, and this pattern continued during the festival, as protestors locked on to each other in the road or locked on to vehicles.
This photo shows a very colourful campaigner who was cycling around giving out flowers to people. There was a very positive atmosphere all day, with hundreds of activists of all ages and from all walks of life taking the time to protest against the disgusting and disgraceful international arms trade, and its facilitators here in the UK.
For the Festival of Resistance, see: www.facebook.com/events/1900940483503167/
For Stop the Arms Fair, see: www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk
For the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, see: www.caat.org.uk
For DSEI, see: www.dsei.co.uk/welcome#/
For my most interesting photos, see: www.flickriver.com/photos/andyworthington/popular-interes...
This photo/art of mine has been chosen by Narsad ArtWorks for a Holiday/Christmas card this coming season. <------ this sentence written in late 2007. They are an offshoot of NARSAD, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders. One hundred percent of their profit goes for reseach on brain disorders that are often referred to as mental illness. I don't like for people to feel spammed, so if you want their toll-free number, flickr mail me, and I'll give it to you. There is a whole little catalogue of pretty work done by people with various brain disorders.
I removed the information about price and size and number and page on catalogue, on December 20, 2009, because I don't have the most current information on their availability, etc. It is a very fine cause. They have already paid me to use my picture, and I make no more money whether they sell one box of them or thousands of boxes of them. All I would get would be the pleasure of seeing them sell and go to a great cause.
The photo itself was a huge Douglas Fir Tree sticking up through low-lying clouds with silver and yellow/gold lining on the clouds. I took the picture handheld with a Sony Mavica FD-71 sub-megapixel camera seven years ago. I put it in my ArcSoft 1 or 2 program, which is what I had at the time, and I played around with saturation and confetti, splash, oil and whatever else I thought was fun and pretty. I did a whole bunch of versions, and called my series "Christmas Tree in Heaven", but I named this one Fuschsia Falls because of the colors that seemed to be flowing over the clouds. The clouds now look like snow with confetti on it, and the tree only shows the top of the tree sticking out. Later I will post the picture I started with, down in my comments. Also, there is a picture they bought about 7 years ago, (updated to 9 years on December 20, 2009) and it has done very well on Flickr. I'll try to post a little thumbnail of it too.
For the Exhibited and Sold Works (Pool), the only difference between this and they one they used is I sent them a higher resolution, and they may have cropped a bit to fit the card to 5 x 7.
Kodak Vericolor III is a wonderful color emulsion, especially in ECN-2. I should really do something to celebrate this combination.
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‘Man No Profit’
Camera: Mamiya m645j (1979)
Lens: Mamiya-Sekor C 2.8/45mm
Film: Kodak Vericolor III (x-08/1998)
Process: DIY ECN-2
Arkansas City, Kansas
Profitant d'un dimanche à la campagne j'ai emmené Bertile et deux autres poupées avec moi.
C'est au prix du sang que j'ai réalisé ces clichés, les moustiques et les araignées m'aiment un peut trop ç_ç
At the movies today with friend and his two wee boys to see the new Star Wars film, The Last Jedi. A group from the city's Capital Sci-Fi Con were there in costume and posing for pics to raise money for charity (it's a not for profit convention, and they have a great track record in raising thousands for charity). We got the young padawans to pose with them for a quick snap before we went into the movie. We're hoping they grow up to embrace the Light side of the Force and aren't seduced by the Dark side...
Case Study 113 : Warning, these are the raw, bare unusual occurrences as originally chronicled. Some names, times, places and some facts have been, of course, altered.
Name: Angelica D circa 192__
Subject: an unscrupulous light-fingered body thief
Event: Posh Wedding Reception
Place: Upstate New York
Time: Warm early Autumn Saturday
Angie Being Receptive
Story line:
Angie had heard about the affair, a wedding, from a list of prospective functions provided by a discreetly paid contact. It was being given for the only daughter of a wealthy politician (as if there were any non-wealthy ones!) Angie had happily invited herself to the affair, carefully dressing up in her best for the special occasion!
**
Wedding receptions were by far Angie’s favorite hunting grounds. During the season there could be anywhere from upwards of 20 high end affaires every weekend in the bigger cities, and always 2 or 3 in even the smallest of towns.
Wedding s were usually easy pickings: free food, drink and entertainment, and seldom worn jewelry made for a ready-made mix for Angie to ply her trade. For Angelica D. was a uniquely skilled pickpocket, specializing in the removal for profit of the expensive jewelry worn by the (usually be -gowned) women and young ladies’ who hauntingly dwelt in societies upper crust!
So Weddings, by their nature, were the desirable choice for Angie. One only had to avoid the Bride, her Bridesmaids, and their court, which were usually the major focus of any security present. However, there were plenty of opportunities to be had by employing her special bag of tricks on the outlaying fringe.
Angie had arrived early at the mammoth facility, to scout out the establishment and to scope out who was wearing what. Used to these affairs either being feast or famine, she could quickly tell that in this one there was cooking up a devouring banquet.
**
After Angie had entered the mammoth reception room it did not take her long to spy her first plump prospect, nicely loaded with possibilities. It was a lady, bearing a haughty look, who had been making a b-line through the crowd as way was parted for her. She was wearing a luxuriously long rusty coloured sable fur coat that hid most of her long crimson -red satin gown. What Jewels were visible, ears, fingers and wrist, were all flashing with pricy fire. In tow she held the hand of a young girl, obviously her daughter, wearing actual makeup, which, along with her fetching gown and brite jewelry, made her appear far older than she was. A handsome man , looking like the actor William Powell in a tux, followed behind the pair, husband and father, Angie presumed. She shadowed the little family as they swished their way to a corner table, conveniently located by a rear exit, for a better look over. Her fingers had started with an all too familiar tingle as she took it all in.
**
The husband helped his wife out of the sable, laying it carefully along a bench against the wall. Angie was not disappointed. A silver necklace of large matched diamonds gracefully encircled her throat. A dazzling blood ruby and diamond brooch held up the center of her gown, positioned just below the bust line. Brooches, like this one, were worth a lot once fenced, but its placement required a little more dexterity and skill than she was willing to risk. In actuality, Angie had only attempted twice before to take a brooch pinned to a gown in this fashion. She had only been successful one of those times, only to find out it was a pretty piece of paste.( Years later, as Angie’s talents became more polished, relieving ladies of their dangling brooches, like this blood ruby, became her specialty.. the Eds.) Angie’s eyes moved on. The rest of the snooty lady’s jewels matched her necklace. Long earrings, free clipped, dangling brightly from her earlobe s. A pair of wide ruby bracelets clasped tightly home around elegant red elbow length satin gloves, sparkled devastatingly, matching her brooch. Her long fingers were home to a pair of ruby and diamond rings and a third ring set with a gold band and a vulgarly large solitaire diamond.
**
Angie’s attention turned to the daughter, whom had been helped by her Father , squirming, from the chocolate coloured satin cape that she had been wearing. The youngster, all of about 10, was wearing a cream coloured long puffy sleeved dress with a brown satin sash encircling her waist that matched her Cape. The young lady possessed impossible large bright eyes. The only thing that held more shine than those doe like eyes had been the antique rhinestone diamond necklace that fell dripping ever so invitingly down the front of the precious little imp’s rich glossy gown. The rest of her matching rhinestones (obviously belonging to the child’s mother) consisted of an engaging display of a bracelet, pair of dangling, screwed on clasp earrings, and matching rings encircling a chubby finger one on each hand. It all gleamed brightly, invitingly from her svelte girlish figure. A large round pin held her sash up in place; it sparkled with what looked like a ring consisting of one caret diamonds, as unlikely as it was they could be real.
**
The two females of the family presented a pretty package indeed. Not one to pass up an invite that alluring, Angie walked by , with the pretext of heading to a back exit behind the table the little family had staked, just so she could get a closer peek.
**
Angie’s practiced eye took in a wealth of information during the few seconds it took her to walk up and pass the group, so involved with themselves they never even looked her way. Her attention focused upon the young mother first scoping head to toe.
**
Angie scrutinized the brooch; it was definitely worth the effort. In her mind’s eye, Angie envisioned the mother as a stumbling drunk “bumping into” Angie. Fingers whisking along the slippery lustrously softness of the gown, as the lady was steadied. Angie would accept the women apologies and the pair would part their ways, Angie from the young mother, and the magnificent brooch from the rich satiny red gown. But then the mother raised her head, looking up past Angie, towards a commotion being made behind her. Typical Angie thought, she doesn’t recognize me, so I don’t exist, like some sort of servant. But it was as she caught the young mother in full profile that she realized this lady looked strikingly similar to another woman who had been wearing an expensive dress of teal charmeuse that Angie had had been having a long conversation with, while relieving the woman’s finger of a costly diamond sapphire ring. It had happened only just last weekend at a formal function, and Angie figured she may have not recognized her in passing, but may if Angie were to use one of her approaches again with the intent of taking some of her jewelry, he memory may be jarred, and she may remember her missing ring. This was why Angie only allowed herself to ply her trade for no more than a month in any given place per year. This was from a lesson she had learned early on in her career. And so, for that reason alone, Angie decided to, at least temporarily, abandon any designs she had on the young mother’s brooch, allowing her devious intentions to evaporate from her mind like smoke on the wind. There were plenty more fish in the sea she told herself.
**
Angie still allowed herself a quick appraisal of the squirming 10 year old. She admired the glossy dress of slippery satin that her mother had conveniently dressed her daughter up in, as it fell spilling down to her black open toed shoes. Angie’s fingers started to tingle; this was a perfect tickling gown. Angie liked to think of any long dress or gown that swept down to a females heels as a” tickling gown”. All it took was a strategically placed foot timed with a well place nudge to send the chosen victim tumbling. During the ensuing diversion, Angie would use her long subtle fingers to swiftly probe along the gowned figure, tickling she like to call it due to the tingling sensation of the usually rich material of the victim’s attire. In this fashion, a pre-targeted piece of valuable jewelry could then be easily acquired, no matter what its placement had been on the unfortunate female. If only the chatty youngster had something on better than rhinestones. It was a crying shame to have a child that young dolled up like an adult, but not wearing adult jewels.
**
Angie continued to walk past, unseen, and went out the door. She found herself in a large serenity garden of roses and shrubs, surrounded by a 10 foot high well-trimmed hedge. The sort of garden one usually found in those days around upscale Churches. The only exit was a gate leading onto the parking lot on the side of the church. Here was positioned a solitary, lonely guard in a neat little guard hut. In the opposite, far corner was a statue of Cupid, arrow drawn, standing above a display of blooming moss roses at the end opposite to the gate. There was always potential in places like these.
**
Angie had started to walk over to the Cupid statue when she heard the exit door open. Turning, she saw the young girl, whose mother’s brooch Angie had been scoping out, looking out the door. She snuck through, running out alone, silky tickling gown swishing out behind her. Her heart leapt to her throat as she watched the girls rhinestones sparkle radiantly. She actually turned to head towards the path the unsuspecting child was running up, flexing her fingers as she contemplating a little warm up practice. Angie watched as the dolled up imps necklace flashed with pinpricks of coloure as it bounced to and fro as she ran happily up the path .Angie turned her back to the girl, waiting to hear the telltale click of her heels come up just behind her. She would then move, bumping into the girl as she passed, tripping her to the ground. After which Angie would help her up, removing the girl’s fancy necklace in the process. Come to Mama Angie whispered under her breath, waiting to make her move as the skipping heels grew ever louder.
**
But then Angie froze, hearing the clicking of the exit door again opening behind her. She checked her stride letting the daughter slither past without a glance. She headed again towards the statue, watching her prize move on ahead. Then she heard the father in the background calling out to his little princess. The youngster turned, and ran back, beaming at Angie as she passed. Angie smiled back, her eyes again traveling to the girls neckline, and the sparkling jewelry the outlined her throat. It had been a silly thought she chided herself, as the girl passed from view. If only the necklace had been real, and the father about ten minutes later in discovering his daughter absence. It would have been an unbelievably easy pluck and she could be out the gate before anyone was the wiser. And the best part was that they would probably believe the scampering girl had just lost it in the garden. And, while the parents were looking about, Angie would have been free to renter to ply her trade again. As it was, it was silly of Angie, risking her opportunity on a child’s bauble worth a mere pittance compared to some of the other offerings so readily being flaunted this evening by her adult counterparts.
**
Angie continued her casual stroll through the Garden, happily playing over in her mind some of the jewels that she would like to see adorning the female guests inside, and the scenarios she may be using to acquire them
**
Finding herself approaching the guard hut, she allowed herself a glance back. Jealously she watched the father, who had caught and was carrying his slippery attired daughter, heading back inside. How Angie wished she had been the one carrying the squirming little imp, it would have been like a smorgasbord, with jewels instead of food. Pity her mother had not put the good stuff on the daughter, she sighed to herself. Tonight she would have to work for her butter. She walked past the bored guard, nodding at him, receiving a rather lecherous look in return. A smile was forming across her cunning face, for now it was time to get down to the real business at hand.
**
The affair turned out to be quite a showcase for the very rich. Who were indiscreetly flaunting their riches, trying to outdo one another, probably for the benefit of the politicians’ attention? Certainly not for the attention of the designer satin gowned and flashy diamonded daughter, whom most of the guests hardly knew, or had ever met.
**
Angie always felt like a little kid in a candy shoppe at these lavish affairs.
She spent the first part of the reception mingling and thoroughly enjoying the show her the reception’s guests were u wittingly putting on. Angie, wearing no jewels herself, was something of an anomaly compared to her fellow guests.
**
There were over a thousand luxuriously coloured, squawking female birds and their young chicks pompously displaying valuable finery, oblivious of the cat amongst them waiting to pounce. Angie patently mingled, watching as the adult guests had their fill of food and drink.
Once their guard began to relax, Angie raised hers’, her probingly skillful fingers now more than prepared to begin and ply her trade. For the more they imbibed, the less guarded they were, both about themselves and their female offspring. Angie would start with the adults, 2 or 3 of the right pieces of jewelry, once acquired, and would mean she could call it a night and have enough to support her for a solid month. If she came up empty in that department, her back up would then center on the female off-spring, daughters and nieces.
Most of said offspring would be by then scattered about, aware that their parents were no longer paying them any heed, exploring and playing, sporting their fancy satin gowns, silken dresses, and their dainty jewelry, ripe for the picking. Giving pickpockets like Angie endless opportunity to ply their trade on them, once they had finished working through the adults. Or if the thieves were beginners, plenty of easy practice while “learning the ropes!”
**
Now, when Angie herself was just starting out as a young pickpocket, she stumbled across a treatise written by a man using the pseudonym “Gaston Monescu”. Written around 1826, entitled the Cutpurse: skilles, artes and Secretes of the Dip, it covered the various tactics and moves used by master pickpockets.
Angie had studied it religiously, especially a ploy called the “Necklace Flimp.” This tactic was primarily used for body thieves working alone. Angie had been surprised to learn that a pickpocket could raise his/her skill level above just acquiring wallets. Having the ability to lift a woman’s necklace amazed her, not to mention the profit that could be realized. With practice, Angie had found that not only was it a good technique for acquiring necklaces, but it worked for other pieces of worn jewelry as well.
It was relatively simple process, but took a long time to master.
First part was to employ psychology and watch the potential victim for the unique movements and quirks in their personality and actions that could provide an opportunity for her skills. Then observe the selected piece the victim wore, for value, type of clasp, make, and accessibility. The second part was to employ a bump, slip, or grasp, and in one motion, flick open the studied clasp and send the piece away from the body by either pulling and palming, or dropping it to the floor or ground for retrieval later. If she was noticed, it was “sorry, miss, very clumsy of me” “here let me get if for you, no harm done?” Then walk away and let the waters settle before trying yet again (sometimes even on the same person!)
Angie had practiced the jewelry flimp until she had the technique totally mastered. Starting out first on specially dressed up mannequins in her apartment, than trying it on small pieces of cheap baubles worn by real women in crowded streets and stores. Then on younger, less guarded, better jewelry wearing young girls attending proms and social dances. Young looking for her age at the time, Angie had fit right in amongst them. Then, finally, she graduated to lifting the better jewels of the older, wealthy women attending society’s finer parties and receptions. And it was this path that led her here today, and would also lead several unlucky females to report missing jewelry to their respective insurance companies.
**
See Album “Angie having a Ball” for additional background on our master thief with the light fingers.
**
Angie now eagerly employed those useful talents learned from monsieur Monescu’s little pamphlet at the wedding reception. She mingled freely, carrying around a drink that never touched her lips. She watched and learned, her trained eyes missing very little. Soon, like that hypothetical kid in a candy shoppe, Angie’s head was spinning from so much to choose from that she really could not make any easy choice. So, she waited and watched patiently, knowing opportunity would knock.
**
Then, like it usually happened with Angie, the first genuine opportunity unexpectedly presented herself. Angie literally was run into a rather awkward, spindly lady in thick glasses clad in a fetchingly expensive costume consisting of a thick silver satin blouse with hanging ruffles down its front, combined with a long rustling tiered skirt that swept down to the top of her open toed silver high heels. Her diamond jewelry shone with exuberant flames as they caught the light from the many chandeliers that hung from the vaulted ceiling. The lady expressed frantically her apologies, placing a hand with well ringed fingers on Angie’s shoulder, where they sparkled merrily. No worries Angie said smiling, her eyes taking it all in without appearing to move. She let the frazzled lady leave, allowing her a head start, it was only sporting to do so.
**
Angie shadowed her quarry for a while, seemingly rewarded for her efforts when the lady managed to spill a bit of her drink down on her skirt. In a show of flashing silvery satin and diamonds ,she retreated and disappeared into a nearby powder room, with Angie following eagerly, opportunity knocking.
**
As Angie grabbed onto the closing powder room door, a mid- twenty something girl in a deep green velvet gown came out. Her only jewelry was a wide diamond bracelet wrapped around a wrist of the matching long green gloves she wore. Angie caught it out of the corner of her eye, realizing that it was as expensive as it was bright. But it was her friend, a willowy short haired pretty young thing in a glamorous Chocolate Satin gown that made Angie’s jaw drop. Her jewels, like her friends, were also sparse, but enormously pricy. The long white satin gloves that graced her hands and arms also held matching bracelets, thin, but each one worth the effort. But her real eye catcher was the row of authentic, one caret white diamonds that were rippling exquisite fire along her throat. Angie held the door for them, nodding to as they passed. Noses in the air, they did not appear to notice Angie. Then, with the ladies backs to her, Angie abandoned Miss silver satin and turned to follow. Angie got in behind the two with the intention of getting a closure examination of the clasp of the fiery diamond necklace Miss Chocolate satin was wearing.
**
However, Angie never got her closer look. For at that moment the tossing of the bride’s boutique was announced and Angie was overwhelmed by a mad dash of single ladies heading for the bride. On a lark she allowed herself to be swept along, losing sight of Miss Chocolate satin, but found herself right smack behind Miss Green velvet and her cheerfully sparkling diamond bracelet, a beautifully expensive piece that would have cost someone a king’s ransom. Angie’s fingers began their all too familiar tingling, eager for a chance to acquire jewelry that valuable, but not for any king, just for herself!
**
Though the night was still relatively early, and Angie still had visions of those exquisite rippling diamonds of the pretty Miss in chocolate satin on her mind, she simply could not pass up this opportunity. Angie wedged herself close behind her chosen victim as the multitude of hopeful young women pressed forward to try their luck. As the Bride teased her guests before getting ready to toss her bouquet of white and red roses, Angie expertly scrutinized the bracelet as it dangled from the green velvet glove. When the bride finally turned her back and raised her arms every one of the richly clad single women’s eyes was focused on the bride’s bouquet, Angie’s eyes were fixated on the bracelet. With the music playing loud, the crowd giggling and laughing, and all eyes focused on the gorgeously outfitted young long haired bride, Angie again felt opportunity knocking. Her pulse beating in rhythm with the music, she made ready to seize the chance when it presented itself. The roses flew through the air and all the women raised their hands high, looking all for the world like being involved in a stick-up. Angie timed it perfectly, snapping the clasp, and snatching the bracelet easily away from the gloved wrist of its owner as she raised her arms high to grab at the boutique. In her excitement, shared by everyone, Miss Green velvet ( who did not catch the bouget of roses) never felt a thing. Angie had smirked as she left the giggling group, stowing securely the purloined diamonds, as she imagined what it would have been like to watch that group robbed in a mass stick-up. The money that some enterprising soul could have made from that haul would have been astronomical.
**
She went to the open bar, lighting her first cigarette; she ordered her first real drink of the night. She could feel the coolness of the weighty bracelet in its hiding spot, and Angie, pleased with herself, calmly sipped her drink as she relished in the moment. The toss of the Brides Boutique was, in Angie’s experienced opinion, one of the three common events occurring during a wedding reception that were fertilely prime times for pickpocketing. (Editor’s note.. Miss D. mysteriously never divulged what she considered the other two prime events to be….)
**
She looked about without a worry in the world, coolly watching the antics of some of the younger women on the dance floor. She spied the young miss in the green velvet gown over in a corner talking in an animated fashion with several other women. Green velvet gown’s now bare velvet glove, apparently not noticed by anyone but Angie. One of her group was displaying some bright emeralds peeking through the long silver fur she was wearing, obviously she was leaving, and she was talking excitedly about something to the group formed around her! Nowhere in sight was Miss chocolate satin, too bad, Angie would have loved another peek before leaving.
Angie watched around the room causally, as the cold bracelet pressed expensively against her figure from its hiding spot. She eventually lost track of green velvet and her friends while finishing her drink. Setting down the empty glass, she decided it was time to call it a night. The bracelet now in her possession was easily worth as much as the 2 or 3 separate pieces she usually acquired at functions like these, added together! And, she needed her rest, Angie had a couple of plans the next day, one revolving around the female guests who would be attending an upscale afternoon prom fashion show a, the other, an evening opera performance (invited guests only, and her contact had managed to supply a ticket, at a hefty price!) No rest for the wicked, Angie told herself.
**
On her way out of the main lobby, she found herself leaving behind the very lady in green velvet whose bracelet was now in Angie’s possession. She was with the same gaggle of her similarly dressed friends, including the one exhibiting the emeralds. However, miss chocolate satin was still not visible. They were laughing and joking as they collected their assorted pretty wraps, obviously heading for a nightclub. If she had not already relieved one of them of a bauble, Angie might have invited herself along, if only to have a go at some emeralds. Angie hesitated about leaving withy them, then shrugged, followed the group out the door past the pair of bored rent a cops.
**
She remembered thinking, as she followed the elegant young princesses ,their fluid gowns peeking from under their various furs and wraps, how shallow the very rich could be. She wondered if Miss Green velvets friends had even noticed that she had had diamonds around the wrist of her glove, let alone that they were now missing. She wondered how long it would be before the bracelets loss was discovered. She figured it would be several hours, long enough for its owner not to be sure what place they had been lost. As young Miss Green velvet fancy gown and her friends turned right outside the exit, Angie turned left, heading towards the guard hut at the entrance to the garden.
She decided not to follow them but rather circle around the outside of the garden to give her victim time to leave.
**
That simple decision to make a left turn proved to be a major turning point in Angie’s fortunes that evening.
**
As Angie passed the hut guarding the entrance to the serenity garden, she noticed it was deserted.
It was as she was looking it over, that she heard the sounds of clicking heels moving fast, followed by the sounds of a young girl giggling. On the alert she stole to the backside of the hut, soon spying a splash of something blue and silky between the gaps of a couple of large bushes. Her senses on their highest peak, she began to move cautiously in, hoping the female making the noise would be in need of aid and comfort perhaps.
**
She soon spotted a young lady of about 14 bending over, hands on her knees as she panted heavily. Her back was to Angie, and what pretty back it was. She was nicely attired in a long gown of shiny material dyed deep blue like an afternoon, cloudless summer sky. The gown cascaded down along her petite figure, spilling out on the ground around her feet. Her hair was pulled back, easily displaying a pair of small diamond and sapphire earrings, not rhinestones for this one, but the real McCoy. Around one finger was a gold ring with sapphires, and from her left wrist dangled a thin silver bracelet with a row of diamond chips, both pretty, both valuably real. But it was her last piece of visible jewelry that stole the show. It hung, swinging to and from her neck on a thick braided chain of solid silver. On its end, like a hypnotists prism, was a silver pendent in the shape of a flower, with 1 inch long, pear shaped real diamonds as petals and a fully 2 inch in circumference center stone of deep sea blue. Angie watched it, her eyes following it for a full minute, its expensive fire sealing its own fate as Angie began flexing her fingers. Angie took her eyes off of it and looked around to see why the princess had been running. But all was still as the girl continued to peek through the branches towards the back door leading into the hall. Angie silently approached, and walking up to the pretty miss she bent down and in a friendly tone, asked who she was running from.
**
I played a joke on my sister, and now I’m hiding from her, piped the girl breathlessly, as Angie placed a hand upon the girls shoulder in a conspiratorial fashion, said shoulder made silky soft by the gowns half sleeve.
**
I know a better place where you can hide from her, Angie whispered in the girl’s ear, the dangling earring ever so close to her lips. The girl looked up, smiling, and Angie pointed towards the guard hut, and as the girl looked, Angie’s fingers glided up along the silky shoulder and lifted the thick silver chain up from the back of the gowns’ scooped collar. Come Angie said, and as the girl rose Angie’s fingers nimbly flicked open the chains’ lobster clasp, holding onto the clasp as the other end of the chain slipped down, allowing the pendent to slide free and fall onto the grass at the girls feet, where it lay shimmering. Angie moved her hand to the girls shoulder, squeezing it, while slipping off the braided silver chain with her other hand, whisking it back and away from the guileless young girl. Angie led her princess away from the spot and walked with her to the guard’s hut, still empty, where she had her hide neath the counter.
**
Angie turned and went back to claim the pendent, there still was no sign of any sister. She secured the pendent, joining it with the chain and bracelet, and headed deeper into garden. Her plan was to watch the hut and see which way the girl went after getting bored waiting. But as she skirted the perimeter her plans were changed when, upon rounding a corner of the path at the far end, she saw yet another back belonging to a solitary lady in her late thirties, clad in a long slinky yellow coloured gown of expensively shiny taffeta, bending over to smell the yellow roses on a bush. Instinctively Angie knew two things about her. One was that whatever jewels this lady would be wearing, they would be expensive, and the other was that with an expensive gown like that; the lady would undoubtedly be wearing her jewels. Angie suddenly became aware that her fingers were tingling, as an all too familiar whelming feeling again delightfully washed over her.
**
Angie found herself automatically turning back onto the garden path. She headed around the women and went down to the cupid’s statue, where now out of sight, she carefully hid the purloined bracelet, and still warm fiery pendent and its ‘fancy silvery braided chain..
**
She then headed towards the unsuspecting flower admirer. The ladies’ long brunette hair had fallen, flowing down the backside of her shiny taffeta gown. Angie could see rings and a bracelet gleaming as she was holding up the rose to her face. A long double rope of pearls hung swaying deliciously from her throat. Coming up behind her Angie stood watching; calculating until the lady rose and with a start realized she was not alone.
**
Pretty Angie said, her eyes on the pearls now draping down the front of her marks yellow gown. They are lovely, are they not? The damsel responded thinking Angie was referring to the roses. Just like the ones in the park, my husband and I walked through on our way to catch a cab today. Actually, I meant your dress Angie said complimentary. Thank you the lady practically squealed, I love the way it flows, and she swirled it about to show Angie, who got an eyeful of sparkly jewelry for her efforts. As she continued engaging the women in conversation, Angie decided upon attempting for the woman’s necklace of pearl. Seeing opportunity knocking when Yellow Taffeta pulled her long hair forward so it hang down the front of her gorgeous gown, laying silkily over one shoulder, nicely exposing the pricy necklaces clasp. Angie looked around, they were alone, out of site of the opposite end of the garden where the inside door was, and the guards hut with it’s pretty occupant.
**
Angie, using the marks interest in roses to her advantage, managed to steer the capricious damsel in shiny yellow over to the cupid’s statue. There, she placed a hand upon a silky taffeta covered shoulder, and pointed down to the shrub of moss roses growing at the foot of the statue . When she stooped down to get a closer look, Angie’s fingers whisked from her marks shoulder to the clasp, in a single effort with two fingers, lifted it by the clasp, and snapped it open. At that moment the mark cried “spider” and jumped up, backing into Angie, who watched helplessly as the pearls fell down from the damsel’s throat and slipped along the front of the yellow taffeta gown. They fell with a soft plop unto the ground at their mistress’s feet. Angie tried to lead her away, hoping to come back and reclaim the necklace. But as Angie pointed to another rose bush some distance away, the lady took a step forward, instead of back, planting her feet right onto the pearl necklace. Hey she exclaiming, what’s that, looking down to her high heeled foot? Oh, my pearls the lady squealed again, a glittering hand shooting to feel around her throat. Angie reached down, and reluctantly retrieved them from the base of the rose bush for the squealing lady in yellow . My husband would not have been pleased if I had lost these, she said as Angie held them, feeling their pricey smoothness.
**
She asked if Angie could help her put them on, my maid usually does this sort of thing, you know. Angie reluctantly complied, re- hanging the pearls as the pretty damsel held up her hair, and reluctantly redid the clasp. The Damsel thanked Angie by embracing her in a full hug, her diamond and pearl earring hitting Angie’s cheek. But Angie’s arms were being held by the hugging woman, so Angie was able to only watch the tantalizingly close earring sway free. Angie left yellow-gowned damsel in the garden, getting nothing for her efforts other than the feel of an expensive gown of the likes she could probably never afford to own.
**
With the pretty damsel hovering around the cupid statue, Angie decided to go back into the reception hall until the coast was clear. She carefully looked towards the Guards hut, and seeing that the guard had returned, figured the girl, so fetchingly clad in blue, had been rousted out, so that loose end was probably tied up. She just had to keep a careful eye out. The quite valuable bracelet and pricy necklace with its pendent were well hidden; there was absolutely no danger of someone stumbling over it.
**
Truth was, Angie had found her appetite wetted and once again visions of a lady in chocolate brown satin exhibiting a row of flashy diamonds, teased her thoughts. An accomplished pickpocket like herself had a couple of well-practiced ploys she could utilize to obtain a tight fitting necklace from its mistress. In addition, Angie was now determined to find her and to risk a try. She had really nothing to lose.
**
It took almost an hour of hunting amongst the now well liquored, gaily mingling crowd before Angie could admit to herself that there was absolutely no sign of the willowy lady in the stunning chocolate satin gown. Damn she thought to herself, those diamonds were something special. She shrugged it off, reciting in her mind a wicked little mantra of hers, “Another one who got away, a chance to lose her jewels to Angie on another day!” She strolled about pondering on what her next course of action could be. There had been no sign of the pretty girl in blue whose necklace Angie now had hidden away, and Miss Green Velvet was definitely out of the picture, so she felt that it was still safe to try to pluck one last bird or chick. In her hunt for the brown, Angie had seen several inviting prospects; one lady(purple satin, diamonds), two girls( ivory silk, pearled pin; red satin, gold necklace set with chips of precious stones), and now was weighing the risks.
It was at that point she once again espied the thickly bespectacled awkwardly introverted young lady invitingly wearing the thick silver satin ruffled blouse, which she had been tailing much earlier. And as Angie watched here, she again accepted the invitation. Her prey had appeared on the dance floor, being led around by a rather charming young man. That would make a dandy consolation prize Angie drooled to herself happily as she took in the sparkling show put on by the dancers jewels.
**
Angie looked her over, reacquainting herself with the jewels she so nicely was displaying. A pair of long earrings cascaded down from her earlobes where they precariously held on by antique silver claps. Angie relished the opportunity to “flimp” pairs of earrings like these. Heavily jeweled, each one was worth a tidy sum. Angie mulled this as she continued to study the jewels of her appealingly dressed new target.
**
The girl’s only ring was a solitaire diamond of at least 3 carets on a thick solid gold band worn vulnerably loose on her un-gloved, bare ring finger. A wide silver cuff bracelet with what appeared to be at least seven rows of matching, shimmering diamonds was dangling around her left wrist (she was right handed Angie observed) . The bracelet had a habit of lying over her sleeve, and Angie could see that it was a costly tiffany piece, whose clasp was exceptionally easy to flick open. A diamond pendent hung swinging from her satiny ruffles, held by an extravagantly thick silver chain with a simple , small eye in hook clasp. The Diamonds in the pendent were as shimmery as stars plucked from the night’s sky.
Angie remembered reading that in a poem from a book she had picked up years earlier in a library, while stalking a young mother in a satin dress, wearing an authentic Gruen Watch on one wrist, and a bracelet of diamonds on the other, that had gone into the library in pursuit of her young son running inside. Like that young mother, It was obvious that this lady in silver satin was not accustomed to wearing jewels, and that set probably spent most of their days lying in a safe. Angie licked her lips as she imagined what the other contents of that safe might look like
**
Angie moved in to allow herself a much closer appraisal of her potential victim’s jewels.
The young lady was totally oblivious to anything but the rather surprisingly strikingly handsome man who to all appearances was her Fiancée, who was holding her ever so close. But Angie was able to see enough of what she wanted to. The young Ladies’ thick satin blouse shone richly in the lights, moving like glistening wet liquid silver, while from her waist spilled the long black skirt with satiny tiers that swished and swayed nicely along her figure as she uneasily danced. Her jewels were bursting with colour as they played hide and seek with Angie’s watchful eyes. From all appearances, they were a mismatched couple. He seemed to know everyone and moved with a confident air, she was just the opposite. It made an enticingly intriguing package indeed for someone with Angie’s skills.
**
Silver Satin was the perfect “Gaston Monescu” type of mark, a perfect combination of classic mannerisms, clothing and Jewels worth anyone’s efforts to take. This was the only fly in the ointment that Angie observed. For by the bar she could see that two other sets of eyes were watching the same young lady in shiny satin and blazing diamonds. Angie intuitively knew they were drooling over acquiring jewels she was wearing.
**
She had noticed the pair of young men in loose fitting suits when they had entered a little earlier about the same time as Angie’s reappearance. They were obviously casing the jewels of any woman, young, or old, who walked past them. Angie knew their type, simple thieves, with no real skills outside of holding a knife in a dark alley to the throat of their victim while they unceremoniously searched and stripped them of their treasures. Angie saw that they were whispering amongst themselves and instinctively knew they were watching and waiting for the fetchingly clumsy silver clad lady clad loaded with diamonds, to leave the “establishment”.
**
She is mine Angie whispered, possessively snarling the words under her breath. She looked around as she thought about how best to handle the situation. Her eyes opened wide as she saw a familiar woman waiting by the coat checkroom. Perfect she purred, placing an unlit a cigarette in her mouth and heading over the bar.
**
She sauntered up next to them and ordered a drink, catching their eyes she asked for a light. As they obliged she took a pull and puffed out smoke, asking in a casual tone, “how about my jewels? Boys!” They could see perfectly well that she was not wearing any, and one snarled, “What’s your game, sister?” Angie snarled back in her best cop like manner, “We know what you boys are up to, and we suggest you both call it a night!” “Yer no cop sister”, they challenged, calling her bluff,” what’s your angle!” Angie calmly looked towards the entrance, perfect she mused as she saw their eyes follow hers, “Maybe not” she stated, “but see that lady being helped into the black mink?” “The shiny yellow dame?” one of em asked? “ “yes”, Angie replied taking a puff on her cigarette before going on, “ well that man’s she’s with used to be mine .” “ Now, I aint one to hold a grudge, but, those pearls she’s waltzing around with are worth plenty. And her rings, they are an easy two grand alone.”
**
Angie could tell she had captured their interest, and that they were now paying rapt attention to the lady in the thick yellow taffeta gown whose necklace Angie had almost acquired in the serenity garden. One of them looked at Angie, a suspicious look crossing his mug, “What’s innit for you sister?!” He demanded. Angie looked at him, dripping with sarcastic innocence. “Nothing brother, other than to make sure the jewels of the dame who stole my husband get home safely .” “I just worry,’ Angie went on, “there is a park in front of their residence and that dame in yellow likes to stroll through it to smell the roses after their cab drops them off.” They watched the couple leave, her expensive yellow gown sweeping provocatively at her gold high- heeled shoed feet. Angie looked them in the eyes and said smoothly, “ Gentlemen such as yourselves may want to do a good deed and follow them home to make sure some miscreant doesn’t spot her in those valuable jewels and mink. Not to mention her man’s gold watch and three hundred sawbucks in his wallet!” Angie winked at the pair, “If you catch my drift.” She added.
**
Still not totally convinced about what Angie was selling them, but equally unsure over who Angie was, both men got up and quickly headed towards the main exit as the last slip of an expensive yellow taffeta gown disappeared through the door. Smugly, Angie puffed on her cigarette as she watched them leave.
**
It was then that a hand was placed on Angie’s shoulder from behind.
**
She froze for a split second, before becoming aware of the soft mummer of satin, and of a slender finger was home to a sparkling sapphire ring. Angie smiled and turned around, facing the girl. Pardon me ma’am, she says politely, but do you remember me? Of course dear, Angie gushes while beaming at the forlorn looking miss in the fetching blue gown; I met you in the garden. Yes she confirms, but I lost my necklace somewhere and I was wondering if you remember if I had it on when we met? Angie’s heart leapt, bless this babe in the woods, thinking her necklace had merely been lost, never suspecting that someone like, say, Angie could have been the cause. She absolutely adored the trusting nature of rich girls this age. For that aspect of their purity had allowed Angie, far too easily sometimes, to lift many a jewel from well attired unsuspecting young princesses like this one. Who was now standing before her, miserable, her desirable diamond and sapphire earrings dangling ever so beckoningly, her sad puppy eyes pleading ever so sweetly, and her missing necklace closer than she could ever imagine.
**
No dear, I did not see you with a necklace, Angie lied coolly, as she reached out and stroked the girl tenderly alongside her face, her fingers touching one of the earrings. Angie was looking her fully in the eye, you didn’t lose anything else, and did you dear she asked with a concerned tone. The girl checked her earrings, bracelet and ring (Angie smiled to herself, silently thinking thanks for the info kid!) But when she spoke, it was with hopeful words laced with honey, If you want, I can help you look, my dear. The girl’s eyes lit up for a second, thank you ma’am, I wanted to, but papa said to wait until tomorrow when the light is better.
Angie smiled winningly, don’t worry dear, I’m sure its somewhere in the garden. Someone will find it, she promised, thinking to herself maliciously, and keep it for their own profit!
**
Thank you Ma’am she chirped, at the encouraging words that had been spoken, luckily she could not hear the ones Angie was thinking to herself, and turning moved off, her scrumptious gown swishing pleasantly around her silver heels. Angie watched, as the girl disappeared in the crowd Angie marked her direction.
**
Angie Imagined if the girl had accepted her offer, and she had left with the vulnerable, unguarded princess to search in the garden, and in the process help relieve her of her remaining jewels. There would be enough light with the gas lamps that lined the paths in the garden. Enough light, so that as Angie helped the princess look, her fingers could slip ever so delicately slip in and search along her shiny sky blue gown.
**
Angie licked her lips slowly as she fantasied about the search. The girl bending down to look under a bush, Angie placing her knee sharply in a certain spot below the girl’s armpit, temporarily numbing her upper body. Allowing Angie enough time to pull off both her earrings without feeling it,( this also worked well on working off broaches placed in upper parts of gowns and dresses, not to mention necklaces!) The bracelet would be no problem; it would be the easiest and probably the first, snatched off while the rich girl’s attention was easily diverted away. Since she was not wearing silky gloves, her ring would be the trickiest, but manageable, by either having her walk too close to a water fountain and hopefully having her get her fingers wet, or by simple holding onto her hand and tripping her by stepping on her gowns hem. And just like that, Angie would become that much richer, the rich girl that much poorer. And it all would be done without giving the girl any additional stress, like say she had run into the two muggers Angie had chased off. They may not have been content with just the jewels of a girl dressed as she was that they had found wandering alone in the gardens at night.
**
As Angie excitedly thought about these things, she had trained her focus back upon her original meal ticket, whom for the second time that evening had almost been allowed to slip through Angie’s light fingers. Watching with half lidded eyes, the still dancing couple not unlike a wolf watches lambs, waiting for one to make an ill-fated move away from the flock. The lamb’s fate was sealed, when a vivacious blonde in a long wispy silken dress cut in on the dancing couple. Asking miss silver satin’s fiancé for a dance. He obliged, leaving his shimmering fiancée unaccompanied, nakedly exposed to the wolf that was Angie.
**
More than one way to skin a cat Angie thought, tingling from the thrill of the hunt her prey, now in a reachable situation. She happily headed towards the spot where Miss silver satin had moved off to. A small table, located conveniently by a powder room. One the way she grabbed a half full glass of red wine off a table. Angie circled around young miss silver satin, taking a position up about two table lengths behind her. She casually scoured the area; most of the nearby tables were deserted.
Knowing the band would stop playing soon for the evening; most of the couples were out on the dance floor. All in all, the situation presented the perfect opportunity for some one of Angie’s persuasion.
**
Angie watched as the young lady picked up a glittery silver clutch and opening it, started to search inside. Angie moved swiftly, catching up behind her , tripping intentionally into her, splashing some wine onto the front of the silver satin blouse as the unfortunate lady dropped her purse in surprise. Oh my gosh, I did not see you, miss silver satin pleaded apologetically to Angie, more concerned over Angie’s feelings than her soiled satin blouse. Angie accepted her apology and, producing a lacey silk handkerchief, began to wipe themselves both down.
Angie’s practiced eyes swiftly took it all in. Miss silver satin’s pretty earrings swaying out vulnerably from her long straggly hair as it fell into her face. The clasp of her necklace was also exposed and within easy grasp. A s she reached out for the floor to steady herself, Angie’s eyes took in the sparkling ring on her now wetted finger and then watched the wide bracelet with its’ easily open able clasp slip up glitteringly over her sleeve.
The girl, now thoroughly flustered, started to rise, tripping over her slippery long skirt( with no help from Angie) Angie caught her, taking advantage of the split second opening she had been waiting for and Angie took it, making her selection as she steadied the poor thing with one hand, as the other caressed along a slick silver satin back. Angie’s long supple fingers darted in and deftly did their trick, this time with no spiders interfering. She quickly removed her chosen glittery prize from the distracted lady, who never noticed so much as a prick as Angie removed the expensive piece from her person in the confusion.
**
Angie secreted he shiny jewel as she helped miss silver satin collect herself. Than they rose, and Angie happily accepted miss silver satin profuse and obviously well used, apology. Then, as she fumbled nervously with her thick glasses, Angie laid a calming hand upon her shoulder, her fingers relishing in the richness of her victims sleek ruffled blouse. Miss silver satin was by now so distracted and embarrassed that Angie was all but assured of a clean get away.
However, as an extra measure of caution Angie intentionally jarred silver satin’s elbow of the hand steadying her eye glasses. Thus sending her glasses falling from her face to the floor with a small clatter, then Angie kicked them under a table before the startled lady could react. Angie offered to help, but the lady implored that she was okay, just needed to find her glasses. Angie left as Miss silver satin started to frantically grope around for her glasses, her silver blouse and remaining jewels shimmering brightly along their miserable mistress..
Angie took her leave, knowing that once she found her glasses, Miss silver satin would flee for sanctuary into the ladies powder room, buying her more than enough time for Angie to make her escape. Taking one last look over the dance floor, she blithely saw that miss silver satins fiancé was still in the clutches of the vivacious blonde-haired girl, still safely out of the picture. Angie made her way with purpose to the rear exit leading to the garden that she had used earlier, intending to head out into the serenity garden to collect the hidden bracelet and pendent, adding them to her purloined plunder.
**
As she walked amongst the mostly deserted tables, her mind went to the woman in yellow taffeta and imagined that right about now she would be standing with raised arms and a forlorn look. Ruefully wincing as the man who was holding her mink busily stripped those luscious pearls from the neckline of her tight gown, as the shiny yellow material gleamed in the moonlight! Serves her right for being afraid of spiders, Angie thought unforgivingly.
***
Angie’s mind also went to the poor young princess in blue with the missing necklace. She looked towards the area she had headed, opposite of the back exit to the garden. She reluctantly decided not to push her luck, there was a sister and parents to contend with, and she really had no time left. So she decided to call it a day, a rather successful day, and made her way to retrieve her loot.
**
Angie had now reached the now deserted table by the back exit where the lady in the crimson gown and blood red rubies had been earlier, along with her rhinestone encumbered 10 year old daughter and handsome husband.
**
She paused between the table and the bench, something was not quite right, She eyed the area around the dance floor for any signs of trouble that may be centered on the quite valuable jewels now in her possession. All was quiet, except for a little murmur behind her. Turning she looked at the bench and was shocked to discover the soundly asleep ten year old, using the long rusty sable fur as a blanket. What have we here, Angie thought, licking her lips wickedly?
**
Angie pursed her lips, checking the coast; spotting the young girl’s parents, still on the dance floor, a safe distance away the other side of the room. No sign of miss silver satin. No one else was nearby. Perfect. She went over, bending down so the table hid her. The child looked so vulnerably innocent, sound asleep as she lay on her side, facing Angie. She was clutching an arm of the sable like a warm fuzzy teddy bear, her ring sparkling. Angie gently tugged the mink from the girl’s clasp, and gradually pulled until the fur swished away from along the inert silken figure on the bench, where it fell into a pile on the floor. The child looked very innocent, very vulnerable, like a sleeping princess. An earring lay exposed over one shoulder, her necklace dangled down slightly askew from her slender throat, the pin holding her sash, all of which shone brightly now that it was exposed to the low lights of the ballroom, still called out. Too bad, Angie thought to herself, too bad the mother had not dressed her little doll in real diamonds.
**
Angie again looked to the dance floor; she could see the mother’s jewelry twinkling brightly as the child’s parents danced close, very unaware of anything else but themselves. She looked back over the girl, contemplating. But the song was winding down, Angie stooped to pick up the sable, bird in hand she thought, and placing the rich fur over her arm, stood just as the song ended. Looking at the exit door, so near and yet so far, she started to hasten to it, but checked herself as the band immediately started another, rather slow song that Angie knew quite well.
**
She hesitated, incredibly, everyone was staying on the floor for the final dance, she looked back at the bench, and the sleeping imps exposed jewels still shined, tempting her to come for them. Angie knew that she would only have about four minutes. Always open to new challenges, Angie chose to answer that sweet little invite that the necklace was extending out to her. Checking once again to make sure the parents was still obliviously dancing; she laid the mink down by the door and eased back to the bench. Kneeling down, Angie began to perform the delicate operation.
**
Lifting up the necklace she gently tugged it loose from around the sleeping child’s neck until the clasp appeared. She subtly flicked open the clasp, then shamelessly slipped the necklace from around its perch on the little whelp’s throat. It flickered like some slithering shiny snake, glittering as it came away. Like taking candy from a baby, Angie drooled happily, as she let the necklace run along her fingertips while watching the sleeping princess for a few seconds.
**
Her fitted cream coloured dress shimmered with expensive richness in the shadowy light. The poor thing was so soundly asleep after her long exhausting day that Angie figured she could have peeled the dress off her without causing a stir. This for a pickpocket would be the ultimate test, the pinnacle of her criminal class. But, Angie thought; if she ever had the opportunity to do so, it would have to be worth her while, like a shiny gown, an appealing sky blue gown with half sleeves and scooped collar. And the jewels would be sapphire drop earrings, bracelet and ring, not plain rhinestones. She licked her lips at the enticing thought of such a perfect “coup fera”, than told herself to get back to work, time was money.
**
She slipped her hand along the satin cape being used as a pillow and felt under the girls head until she felt the cold earring she was laying upon. Deftly undoing the screw she pulled it free, watching with delight as it came out from underneath.
**
Angie than, gently lifted, and nimbly stroked back the girl’s ultra-soft hair, exposing her long silvery earring. She pulled the jewel out and laid it out upon the child’s shoulder, where it lay, shimmering vibrantly. Then she reached in with her fingers and began unscrewed its clasp. Pulling it free she added it to her growing collection. She next lifted the hand that had held the warm sable, gently prying open her clenched fingers. The sleeping child never stirred. Angie gently slipped off the glittering ring. She then peeled back a silky sleeve, checking for the bracelet, finding her wrist was bare. The rest of the jewels were hiding securely on the side she was laying upon. Smiling wickedly to herself, an idea popped into Angie’s head.
**
The music was now almost to the halfway point, and Angie thought for a brief second that she should leave . Another quick scan assured her the coast was still clear, and Angie decided to press her luck, eagerly going back to work, putting her idea into motion.
Angie fingers felt along the sleeping child’s waist until she located the brooch. Quickly unfastening the brooch from the chocolate satin sash, she pulled it out. Watching as the diamonds caught fire and burst into vibrant life, unusually vivid for plain rhinestones she thought contemplatively. Angie plopping it in with the growing pile of the sleeping girls purloined baubles. Again reaching in along the warm waist, Angie gradually tugged at the now undone sash. The sleeping girl, unconsciously obliged by turning over on her other side, as the sash was pulled away.
**
Her arm with the ring and bracelet was now exposed. Lifting the arm , and peeling back the puffy sleeve, Angie found and unclasped the bracelet, slipping it away, then allowing it to dangle in triumph before letting it join its purloined mates. Then lifting the child’s hand she pulled at the ring, it was a little tight. Angie licked her fingers, and moistened the girls finger, than began slipping the ring off ever so gently from the along her finger. Almost there, Angie thought, as the ring joined its abducted companions in her pocket.
**
As Angie finished pocketing the last of the girls jewels, her victim whimpers something discernible in her sleep, her small hand feeling to pull up the missing warm sable she had been using as a blanket. Angie quickly looked around, spying a cheap linen coat hanging on a nearby hook, she grasped it and laid it over the stirring girl, stroking her for a precious few seconds. Then rising, calmly Angie snatched a shiny purse from the table, and moved off, unbelieving of her luck. She reclaimed the sable fur, and strolled out the door without looking back.
**
As Angie closed the door she heard the last notes of the song waning from inside. She licked her lip, that was close, but her luck had held. Now all that remained was to visit the Cupid Statue In the garden to reclaim her other prizes. As she reached the statue, Angie realized that she still had the child’s satin sash in her hand.
She smiled as she tied it, blindfolding the cupid statues eyes. Retrieving and pocketing the now stone cold diamond bracelet, and the young Princess in blue’s necklace with its shimmering pendent, she slowly looked around, the cost was clear. Angie coolly made her way to the gate, the bored guard offering to help her with the mink she was carrying. , Angie stopped, and handed it to him. Then turning, allowed him to help her on with it. He puffed out his chest as Angie gave him a sweet smile; she thanked him, then turned and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
**
Angie disappeared from view into the foggy evening, relishing the warmth of the sensuous sable. Happily contemplating the small fortune in jewels it had been in contact with earlier that evening, and also the small fortune she had walked out of the reception with in her possession.
**
The guard watched the spot for some time where the pretty lady in the expensive fur had vanished in the mists. He fantasized for a good few minutes, wondered what had been behind the enchantingly secret smile she had given to him.
Excuse me, sir?, a female voice coming from the garden startles him, he had never heard anyone coming.
He turns, catching an eyeful of a long glamourous, brown satin gown, worn fetchingly by a willowy short haired pretty young thing. Diamonds blazed from around her throat, caught by the gas lights, and from around her white satin gloved wrists as she raised her hands in a pleading fashion.
She continues, pointing to a young girl in a smashing blue satin gown, bending over looking for something in the bushes. My sister lost her necklace and pendent while playing around here earlier, did you or anyone find it? She asked in a rather seductive tone of voice9 not a common, it was her regular voice)
No lady, no one turned in a necklace. Thank you sir, and she turns away, her gown flowing out behind her.
He watches for a minute as she and her sister both move elegantly down the path, continuing their search.
He sighed, and turns away, babysitting rich dames he mutters under his breath, what a dismal way to make a living. Why won’t this affair ever end he asked himself, as he reached for his silver pocket watch to check the time. Damnations he said, not finding it nor its chain and fob, must have dropped it in the alley earlier where I had gone for a nipper from his flask. He sauntered off quickly to the alley located in the direction Angie had disappeared, abandoning his post.
Soon after, a pair of dark figures who had been walking on the opposite side of the street, and had stopped to loiter when they spied the guard talking to some posh broad in a shiny brown dress, saw the guard leaving his post. They quickly stole with sinister intent across the road and entered into the gardens, disappearing into the darkness.
*********************************************************************************
This ended up being Angie’s first big score, She got more for the rhinestone set then she had imagined, the small brooch taken off the brown satin sash had proved to have real diamonds in its center! Also the princess in silky sky blue’s pendent and chain had fetched a nice tidy sum. The jewels lifted from the ladies in Green and Silver also realized quite a handsome profit, as did the sable and purse.
if one includes the real diamond ring slipped off the finger of a silky dressed debutante from the prom show and her rather nice haul of a slim pearl necklace and diamond pin from the Opera, the whole weekend was unimaginably successful.
**
From the profit realized, she had been able to spend a pleasant month away in Monte Carlo, even indulging in the purchase of a rich red wine coloured taffeta gown to wear.
Which she pleasantly found that, when paired with her deftly acquired collection of dripping rhinestone diamond jewelry, she attracted wealthy young males with expensive gold watches and fat wallets like honey bee drones to a bright moss rose.
**
She also enticed a long raven haired, Miss, richly clad in emerald silk, to enter into her snare.
But Angie did not make an entirely clean get away. For the last jewel to be taken was the girl’s brooch , and before Angie could hide it with the rest, the girl spotted its’ glitter in Angie’s hand, and with a gasp had looked down on her dress at the now vacant spot where it had been dangling ever so provocatively for Angie all evening.. Angie smiled at the girl as she had looked up in confusion. The girl had placed a hand to her throat, startled when feeling it bare of her necklace. She looked at Angie in hurt confusion, her eyes wide with fright. Angie placed a finger to the girl’s lips, hushing any fuss she may have been thinking of making over her missing jewelry, and turning her back to the forlorn miss, Angie left, not looking back….
**
But that was a story for another day, so we were promised by Angie, giving us an all too familiar look of devious satisfaction at making us wait.
.************************************************************************************
Editor’s Notes:
Our Thanks to Mr. J. Gardner for pointing out the existence of Mr. Monescu’s 1826 guide
If you enjoyed our little story, please like and leave a comment.
And if you wish, describe what intrigued you the most about it…
Thank You
************************************************************************************
Courtesy of Chatwick University Archives
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No Part of this can reprinted, duplicated, or copied be without the express written permission and approval of Chatwick University.
These photos and stories are works of fiction. Any resemblance to people, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.
As with any work of fiction or fantasy the purpose is for entertainment only, and should never be attempted in real life.
We accept no responsibility
DQE is a California based non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of the arts for those with artistic talent and creative abilities that wish to express it using various forums. And since we consider our organization to be both community based and virtually assessable, we occasionally offer:
seasonal on-site instruction using our registered members
talent display, at established neighborhood show case locations
website exposure, during campaign driven causes
community service credit for students seeking experience
coaching and preparation for upcoming events
DQE also comes alongside community leaders and organizations who can utilize its networking base, fund raising abilities, collaborative efforts and general expertise. All stemming from our grass roots founder, to our talented team of artists and DQE Cast Members.
DQE was formed in 1983 and has since become an independent venue which can take its status directly to groups, businesses, schools, local centers, or other places that allow for artistic promotion. For select organizations that mirror our purpose, we also offer assistance in hosting tax deductible (cause driven) events. And you can ensure art continues to thrive by donating so that others have similiar influences.
.
The March Field Air Museum is a non-profit organization. Admission prices are: $8 for adults, $5 for children (5-11), and kids under 5 are free. For tour group rates, call 951-902-5949. We are open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. six days a week (closed on Mondays) and most holidays excluding Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Easter. A hot dog stand with cold drinks and ice cream is on the museum grounds on weekends only. Additional information is available at 951-902-5949. The museum is often available to co-host special events for private parties, click here for more information.
March Field Air Museum, and the P-38 National Museum are adjacent to the March Air Reserve Base, Riverside, California. March Field Air Museum serves as home to over 60 historic aircraft and many inside displays relating to the history of March Field, now known as March Air Reserve Base. The main building was erected in 1993. Its style reflects the traditional hangars of earlier aviation days. The distinctive checkerboard roof can be readily seen from the Interstate 215 freeway. At the museum visitors can watch modern military aircraft as they land and take off daily. Inside the museum the visitor will find thousands of artifacts on display covering the years from 1918 to the present. Also displayed in the hangar are some rare and unusual aircraft, including a P-59 fighter, the first operational jet adopted by the U.S. Air Force over 50 years ago. The building also contains a theater in which visitors may view films about the history of March Field and U.S. military aviation, the General Curtis E. LeMay Library, a well-stocked Museum Store, a G-force Flight Simulator, and the museum offices. A unique feature of the museum is its Heritage Courtyard in which inscribed six-inch tiles may be placed for a reasonable charge as personal memorials, records of past service, etc. Part of the Heritage Courtyard includes the 15th Air Force Wall area, which contains a bronze sculpture of General "Jimmy" Doolittle and Heritage Tiles commerating the various Bomb Groups and Squadrons of the 15th Air Force. Another part of the courtyard contains the War Dog Memorial Sculpture with Heritage Tiles around the base commerating both War Dogs and family canine memorials.
The P-38 Museum is operated by the P-38 National Association and is normally open only on weekends. A full scale fiberglass replica P-38 is on display.
The inspired hill of Vézelay
The Burgundy hill of Vézelay, which French writer Paul Claudel named “eternal”, has been drawing hundreds of thousands of pilgrims (nowadays more likely tourists) since time immemorial. It has also drawn strife, battles and pillage: the big monastery was no less than six times destroyed by fire, and always rebuilt. Here, the Second Crusade was preached on Easter Day of 1146 by Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, whom King Louis VII of France had summoned to be lectured on the sort of penance his royal person should submit to to atone for his many sins: Bernard chose the Crusade. Crusaders congregated here as well for the Third one, in 1190.
The history of Vézelay began around 850, when Count Girard de Roussillon founded a nunnery at the foot of the hill, in the locale now occupied by the village of Saint-Père-sous-Vézelay. Fifteen years later, the nuns had been replaced by monks for reasons that never reached us. What we know is that further to a Viking raid on Burgundy in 887, the monks took refuge at the top of the hill, in the remnants of a Roman oppidum, and never went down again.
Originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the monastery they built on the hilltop was placed in 1050 under the patronage of Mary Magdalene, further to the claimed transport of her bones from the Holy Land by a monk named Badillon. This so-called “transposition” was validated by the Pope, but the people of Provence rebelled fiercely against that ruling: it had indeed always been well known that the saint, who had been the very first, even before the apostles, to see Christ resuscitated, had left the Holy Land and come to France where she finished her life in the mountains of the Sainte- Baume, which were named after her. Her bones had been kept in the basilica of Saint-Maximin, the largest church in the whole of Provence.
Thus sanctioned by the Pope, and confirmed yet again by Pascal II in 1103, the claim of the Vézelay monks drew immense crowds (and brought enormous riches). The fact that they also claimed to have the bones of Martha and Lazarus were not for nothing in the considerable attraction the abbey had on a pilgrimage-hungry Christendom. However, the Provençal people were victorious in the end, when they revealed that the bones of the Magdalene, which had been hidden during the 900s as the Saracens drew nearer, were opportunely re-discovered in 1279. This time, Pope Boniface VIII found in their favor and that ruling was never overturned: the pilgrimage to Vézelay was dead, even though the big church kept its dedication.
The rest of the history of Vézelay is a long downhill walk. In 1537, the Benedictine monks are replaced by canons. In 1568, the Protestants seize the church and burn it again. Finally, in 1819, lightning strikes and sets the church aflame for the last time. When architect Viollet-le-Duc, mandated by Minister Prosper Mérimée, arrives on-site in 1840, the abbey church of Vézelay is but a gutted carcass, ready to collapse. That same year, the church was put on the first list of French Historic Landmarks (“Monuments historiques”) and restoration works were undertaken urgently; they were to last until 1861, and many other such works have been undertaken since.
The church was granted basilica status in 1920, and in 1979 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, as it is the starting point of one of the major Paths to Compostela, the Via Lemovicensis, so-named because it runs through the large city of Limoges.
On that day of June 2024 I went to Vézelay as a side trip during a photographic expedition for the Fondation pour la Sauvegarde de l’Art Français, one of the non-profit heritage organizations I work for as a pro bono photographer, it was raining. Therefore, I took no photo of the outside, but instead concentrated on the inside. Furthermore, a lot of what can be seen on the outside, including the façade and the tympanum, are re-creations of the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc, and thus much less interesting for our purpose.
One of the capitals in the narthex, showing Eve being born from Adam’s side.
Saturday 08, January 2011
From 2013, the Civil List will be scrapped and the monarchy will be financed by what’s been titled the Sovereign Support Grant – comprising a share of the profits made by the Crown Estate, a vast £6.6billion property empire where the profits go to the Treasury. Initially, that share of the Crown Estate’s profits was to be 15 per cent, but not surprisingly it’s now being negotiated down.
So just how did this hugely significant development in royal financing come about?
For Charles, the Chancellor’s announcement was the culmination of a personal campaign he has waged for more than 20 years.
Charles, whose extravagance has even been criticised by the Queen, wasn’t playing things by halves. His original proposal, presented to the Thatcher government (only to see it refused), was that the entire income from the Crown Estates should revert to the sovereign, just as it did before George III was forced to strike a deal with ministers.
The Estate’s income is immense: £211million last year and it is expected to rise to a whopping £450million by 2020. It was already approaching £60million – no small sum – when, as Charles’ official biographer Jonathan Dimbleby put it back in 1994, he ‘floated the notion’ after ‘his back-of-an-envelope calculations (showed) it would more than match the total government expenditure on the monarchy’.
The prince not only wrote letters detailing his big idea, but also initiated talks with the Thatcher government. His view, as explained by one of his circle involved in the discussions, was that ‘it would have been enormously effective in making the household independent and vigorous, even better in terms of financial management and good for the standing of the monarchy as an autonomous institution’.
Quite so. And it would also have turned the future King Charles into probably the richest monarch in British history. This would have helped a man who has been criticised by his own mother for employing too many servants and taking too much equipment (his personal white leather loo seat, for example) whenever he travels.
To be fair to Charles, he understandably deplores the ‘cap in hand’ element that tends to characterise the negotiations that take place every ten years between palace advisers and Government over what is inevitably described in Left-wing newspapers as the Queen’s ‘pay rise’.
‘Charles sees it as a deeply unedifying spectacle that belittles the Royal Family,’ explains one of his circle. ‘He feels it is unseemly for the monarchy to have to go round with a begging bowl. He has always wanted to put an end to that.’
But the questions is, why has George Osborne apparently acceded to Charles’s demand, particularly at a time of national austerity? Did he simply succumb to the Prince’s concerted campaign?
Osborne is said to have been persuaded by the ‘cap in hand’ argument and, for his part, says the change in the way the royal family is funded is simply to ensure Chancellors who succeed him ‘will not have to return to the issue’.
But there is also a deep suspicion in certain political quarters that Charles is intent on feathering the royal nest. There is concern, too, that reverting to the old system will destroy a process that serves to underline the crucial democratic principle that the monarchy exists only by the consent of the people.
Even King George V’s keeper of the privy purse, Sir Frederick Ponsonby, declared in 1922 that it was ‘an essential part of the constitution that the sovereign should be dependent on Parliament for the Civil List and should not receive money direct from the crown lands’.
As Prince of Wales, Charles receives an independent income from the Duchy of Cornwall – a comforting £17.1million last year, before tax. As king, he would no longer get this, but instead receive the profits from the Duchy of Lancaster — yet another land and property portfolio (172,000 acres of land, estuaries and rivers, huge Stock Exchange and property investments, with the most valuable possession being the Manor of Savoy in London, an area between the Strand and the Embankment) held in trust for the royals.
The duchy provided the Queen with £13.2million last year (which she uses to cover the expenses of her immediate family who carry out royal duties, including her children Andrew, Edward and Anne). Her income from this source has risen by an impressive 125 per cent in the past ten years.
But neither of the two duchies is more than a minnow compared to the vast Crown Estates, with assets ranging from Regent Street in London’s West End shopping area, Ascot racecourse and Windsor Great Park, 265,000 acres of farmland, as well as ownership of our national seabed stretching out 12 nautical miles around Britain.
It was the huge wealth potential from this seabed beneath 7,700 miles of coastline that attracted attention to George Osborne’s proposal for the monarch to receive 15 per cent of the Crown Estate’s profits. Otherwise the new royal finance plans might have gone through unnoticed.
For it’s no secret that the natural resources in our seabed are a goldmine that could hoist the Crown Estate’s income into the stratosphere.
That will certainly be the case if one development which Prince Charles has been pushing for with all his usual eco-enthusiasm — offshore wind farms — gets the go-ahead. Charles, a student and vociferous campaigner for renewable energy, is vehemently opposed to wind turbines being erected on land where, he says, they are a ‘horrendous blot on the landscape’. He refuses to have them on his Duchy of Cornwall estates.
But he supports them being built offshore. And by a happy coincidence, any offshore wind farm will have to pay rent to the Crown Estates. At present there are 436 wind turbines around the UK’s coastline. By 2020, that number is predicted to rise to almost 7,000 and could push the Crown Estate’s present income to something approaching half a billion pounds a year — and rising.
It’s quite a thought that Prince Charles originally wanted ALL of this money — as opposed to just 15 per cent — to pay for the upkeep of the monarchy.
For he believes that turning back the clock to the old system — by which it is funded by the Crown Estate and not directly by the Government — would give the monarchy financial independence, as well as freedom from politicians.
The deal he has struck is set to make him the richest king in history
But critics of his vision fear that, free from constraint by parliamentary control, he would be free to indulge himself by interfering in national issues instead of adhering to the crucial tradition of strict impartiality so coolly maintained by the Queen. Professor Robert Hazell, Professor of Government at University College London, says: ‘It seems a retrograde step. It would remove Parliament’s role in approving the size of the Civil List.’
Even by taking the proposed 15 per cent of the Crown Estate’s profits, the sums projected in the future are so large that no one — not even George Osborne — believes it is sustainable.
At such a rate of growth, the royals’ income would more than double to around £67.6million in ten years — just at the same time as millions of subjects will have been forced into a decade of belt-tightening. There wouldn’t be too much ‘consent of the people’ in that.
Sensibly, Osborne — pressured by Lib Dems in the Coalition and aware of accusations of unfairness at a time of austerity everywhere else — has insisted on limits and has decided that the sums paid under the new system must be capped.
Conversely, in the highly unlikely circumstance that the Crown Estate’s earnings might fall, there will also be a safety-net minimum payment.
But it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that a system that has existed for 251 years seems suddenly to have been replaced by something akin to chaos.
One wouldn’t expect Prince Charles to accept blame for this mess.
www.downloadsedge.com/ones-in-the-money-why-prince-charle...
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Despite his failure to regain control of the Shade, Drakk managed still managed to turn a profit (in true outlaw fashion). Amongst the confusion, he had sent a small contingent of warriors to the magic district with directions to pilfer any mystic objects they could find to add to their master's ever growing hoard.
After the battle, one particular find caught Drakk's eye: An ancient scroll written in blood and wreaking of dark magic. The few symbols he could understand promised powerful and forbidden power. Already an adept wizard, Drakk knew better than to dabble in this type of magic. Necromancy invariably possessed a high toll for power. However, in his travels he had heard of someone who it would appeal towards: Volguus. A death mage of increasing renown, Drakk believed he might be interested in the artifact, and perhaps would be amiable to a trade. Drakk licked his lips at the thought of more treasure.
The two wizards stood a few meters apart, each sizing up the other. Drakk was perhaps stronger one on one, but a necromancer was never without countless minions. As Drakk sent a man over with the scroll, Volguus sent a shambling skeleton over towards Drakk. In its pale hands it held a marvelous breastplate. It was just as the necromancer had described. According to death mage, it was found in a lost crypt deep within the badlands. Drakk knew the stories of that area. An ancient civilization of phoenix worshipers had lived there once ago, and the breastplate reflected their beliefs with intricate carvings and runes. More importantly to Drakk however, they had imbued an affinity to fire magic into the armor.
As the trade complete peacefully, Volguus spoke for the first time to Drakk. "You dont remember me do you Drakk?" Drakk responded by narrowing his eyes and tensing for trouble. In a cold laugh Volguus continued. "I thought not. No matter, you will someday. Enjoy your trinket...Dragon Sorcerer!." And with a flutter of his dark robes, he turned to leave; his mindless soldiers following him. At the same time, a small bat fluttered off soundlessly.
"Necromancers," Drakk thought. They do love to be ominous. No matter." He turned from his thoughts and examined the armor more closely and grinned in pleasure. Drakk had great plans for this artifact.
Society of Friends of Music in Vienna
The Society of Friends of Music in Vienna (briefly : Wiener Musikverein) is a traditional club in Vienna to promote musical culture. It was founded in 1812.
(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of the site!)
Founded Concert 1812
Foundation
On 29 November and 3 December 1812 was performed in the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg the Handel oratorio Timothy. This concert can be considered as a trigger for the founding of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. As the founder of the association is Joseph Sonnleithner (1766-1835) then secretary of the imperial Viennese court theater (Burgtheater and Kärntnertortheater). The proceeds of the concert should benefit the newly founded institution. Emperor Franz I donated 1,000 guilders, the net profit amounted to 25,934 florins finally Viennese currency. First office of the company was the Lobkowitz Palace today Lobkowitzplatz.
Goals
According to its statutes, which originated in 1814, is the "Empor renewed progress on music in all its branches" primary purpose of the Company.
The Friends of Music Society reaches(d) this in three ways:
The establishment of a conservatory,
The systematic collection of musicological documents (archive)
Organizing their own concerts.
To date, private commitment of individual members shapes the functioning of the Company. Since January 2000, all editions of the monthly appearing club newspaper "music lovers" on the website of the company are available .
Concerts
On the initiative of Antonio Salieri's first choral activities at the Musikverein go back, for example, also in 1824 at the Vienna initial or first performances of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and 9th Symphony was involved. After there had been choral concerts of the Association for many years, then in 1858 was the official establishment of the Concert Choir held as a branch association of the Vienna Musikverein. The first principal conductor of the Vienna Singing Society was Johann von Herbeck, directs the choir since 1991, Johannes Prinz.
Musikverein (1831-1870) to the Tuchlauben (home to the Red Hedgehog), first building on the right, then No. 558, now No. 12
First concert hall of the society
1829 , the Company purchased a scoring for Kärnthnerviertl house on the Tuchlauben (home to the Red Hedgehog, rented from 1822, then House # 558, today Tuchlauben 12) with several business offices and apartments, it had the house demolished and gave at Franz Lossl (Site Manager: Carl Högl) by around 88,000 guilders (including equipment) the construction of a three storey new building with a concert hall on the 1st Floor in order. The site was approximately opposite the former Ofenlochgasse, since 1863 Kleeblattgasse. The Brandstätte that time not yet branched of from the Tuchlauben, but was a small place near the St. Stephen's Cathedral.
The festival opening concert of the hall took place on 4 November 1831 instead (then the cholera raged in Vienna). The Musikverein contributed among other things at this location (visitor concerts were still highly popular in the large ball room of the Hofburg ) essentially to the public concert life in Vienna.
The hall proved with 700 seats soon to be too small, but was still used for almost 40 years. 1846 gas lighting was installed. In the upper floors of the Conservatory and the archives of the Society, offices and rehearsal rooms were located.
The Society of Friends of Music in 1870 moved into their new house and sold its first house in the same year. In the subsequent use of it emerged inter alia the Strampfer-Theatre. The building was demolished in 1885.
Vienna Musikverein in 1898
Today's office of the Company
1863, Emperor Franz Joseph I donates the society from the state capital, the area on the bank of the river opposite the Vienna Karlskirche (church). It was on the former glacis of the 1858 demolished city walls around the old town. 1861-1869 emerged near the present-day Vienna State Opera, on the neighboring construction site on the riverbank 1865-1868 the Vienna Künstlerhaus, on the direction of ring road adjacent square 1862-1865 today's Imperial Hotel.
The of Theophil Hansen, who later built the Parliament, designed house, shortened to Vienna Musikverein, was on 6 January 1870 opened with a celebratory concert. That same year, the High Steward of the Emperor, Prince Constantine zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, was in gratitude for the favor of the imperial court for the new building project appointed as a honorary member of the society.
1869 Carl Heissler was the first conductor of the orchestra of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. 187, and 1872 was the Russian composer Anton Rubinstein artistic director of the company. After a short time he was replaced by Johannes Brahms.
Children and Youth Projects
In order to convey the joy of music and access to classical culture children and adolescents, the Friends of Music Society offers a pertinent program: In April 1989, it was the first "Celebration for Children" in all the rooms of the Musikverein building, since the offer has been steadily expanded and now includes more than 150 projects for all ages 3-19 years. The 20-year anniversary of the youth concerts was celebrated with a big party at the Vienna Musikverein in 2009. Symbol of child and youth concerts of the Society of Friends of Music is the concert clown Allegretto.
Artistic performances will be processed in accordance with the relevant age requirements paying particular attention to opportunities for active contribution. These include sing and dance along to the little ones, a gallery of children's drawings on the Internet and artist talks under the slogan "meet the artist" with internationally renowned conductors, soloists and composers for 15- to 19- year-old.
Conservatory of the Society of Music Lovers
The Conservatory was the first public music school in Vienna and was founded in 1819 by the violinist Joseph Böhm. As early as 1818, the Court Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri began to form a singing class. The general musical newspaper wrote here about 7 January 1818: "As the beginning of a newly established Conservatory imparts our worthy Hofkapellm. (chapel masteer) Salieri already to 12 girls and 12 boys gratuitous singing lessons."
On 19 April, the first 24 students of the Conservatory presented themselves in a collective concert of the Friends of Music to the public and sing an A cappella choral of Salieri. The dedication on the autograph reads: "Ringraziamento because farsi alli Benefattori del Conservatorio della musica nazionale inglese dalli primi Ventiquattro allieve dodici Ragazzi e dodici Ragazze, di detto luogo, nella quarta accademia dei dilettanti il giorno 19 Aprile 1818".
In the 19th Century, this facility has been significantly expanded, in the 1890s it had more than 1,000 students and found imitation in Vienna in other such facilities. In 1909, the private institute was to resolution of the emperor as "k.k. Academy of Music and Dramatic Art" nationalized. Thus, it is predecessor of today's University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Archive
The archives of the Society of Friends of Music is one of the most important music collections in the world.
Personalities
Musikverein building of 1870 (2006)
Musikverein building at night
Founder
Joseph Sonnleithner (1766-1835)
Co-Founder
Fanny von Arnstein (1758-1818)
Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz (1772-1816) , Major General, art lover and patron
Famous members
Leopold of Sonnleithner (1797-1873), lawyer and music collector
January Václav Voříšek (1791-1825), composer, pianist and organist, as a member in 1818.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), full member from 12 June 1827
Concert directors
Carl Heissler, lithography by Joseph Kriehuber, 1866
Carl Heissler (1823-1878), Artistic Director 1869-1871
Anton Rubinstein, Artistic Director 1871-1872
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), concert director 1872-1875
Eduard Schön (1825-1879), Ministerialrat and composer, director in 1870
Johann von Herbeck (1831-1877), conductor and composer
Hans Richter (1843-1916), conductor, director until 1900
Franz Schalk (1863-1931), concert director 1904-1921
Ferdinand Löwe (1865-1925), concert director
Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954), concert director 1921-1927 (jointly with Leopold Reichwein)
Leopold Reichwein (1878-1945), concert director 1921-1927 (together with Wilhelm Furtwängler)
Robert Heger (1886-1978), concert director 1925-1933
Walter Legge (1906-1979), director from 1946
Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989), last concert director 1948-1964
Vice Presidents
Raphael Georg Kiesewetter (1773-1850), privy councillor and musician, vice president 1821-1843
Nikolaus Dumba (1830-1900), industrialist, vice president in 1880
Gustav Ortner (born 1935) , diplomat, vice president since 2001
Directorate members
Heinrich Eduard Josef von Lannoy (1787-1853), conductor and composer, member
Martin Gustav Nottebohm (1817-1882), musicologist and composer, member from 1858
Anthony van Hoboken (1887-1983), musicologist and collector, member since 1957
Brothers Czartoryski, circa 1870
Secretaries
Leopold Alexander Zellner, general secretary in 1880
Botstiber Hugo (1875-1941), secretary and office director 1905-1912
Angyan Thomas (born 1953), general and artistic director since 1988
Archivist
Martin Gustav Nottebohm in 1864
Eusebius Mandyczewski (1857-1929), musicologist and composer, from 1887
Karl Geiringer (1899-1989), musicologist and librarian, 1930-1938
Otto Biba (born 1946), musicologist and director of the archive, since 1979
Esta maravilhosa composição que me emocionou imensamente, com minha foto, me foi ofertada por nossa querida amiga @rtbene, Benê!! Muitíssimo obrigada minha amada amiga!!
www.flickr.com/photos/artbene/
Escolhi o dia de hoje para postá-la, por ser um dia lindíssimo e muito importante: 04 de Outubro!
- Dia Mundial dos Animais
- Dia de São Francisco de Assis
Beijos aos meus queridos amigos que amam e respeitam os animais,
Celisa
***
This wonderful composition that moved me immensely with my photo, I was offered by our dear friend @rtbene, Benê! Thank you so much my dear friend!
www.flickr.com/photos/artbene/
I chose today to post it because it is beautiful one day, and very important: 04 October!
- World Animal Day
- Day of St. Francis of Assisi
Kisses to my dear friends who love and respect animals,
Celisa
***
Cette composition merveilleuse qui m'a touché énormément avec ma photo, j'ai été offert par notre cher ami @rtbene, Benê! Je vous remercie beaucoup mon cher ami!
www.flickr.com/photos/artbene/
J'ai choisi aujourd'hui de le publier parce qu'il est beau un jour, et très important: 04 Octobre!
- Journée mondiale des animaux
- Jour de la Saint-François d'Assise
Bisous à mes chers amis qui aiment les animaux et le respect,
Celisa
***
Esta composición maravillosa que me conmovió enormemente con mi foto, me fue ofrecida por nuestro querido amigo @rtbene, Benê! Muchas gracias mi querida amiga!
www.flickr.com/photos/artbene/
Escogí hoy para publicarlo porque es hermoso, un día, y muy importante: 04 de Octubre!
- Día Mundial de los Animales
- Día de San Francisco de Asís
Besos a mis queridos amigos que aman y respetan a los animales,
Celisa
***
Questa composizione meravigliosa che mi ha commosso immensamente con la mia foto, mi è stato offerto dal nostro caro amico @rtbene, Benê! Grazie mille mia cara amica!
www.flickr.com/photos/artbene/
Ho scelto oggi per pubblicarlo perché è bello, un giorno, e molto importante: 4 da Ottobre!
- Festa mondiale degli animali
- Festa di San Francesco d'Assisi
Baci ai miei cari amici che amano gli animali e il rispetto,
Celisa
***
***
***
YOUTUBE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce7t5FyfYOI
Por Deus, Amigos Queridos assinem por MISERICÓRDIA de nossas FLORESTAS...
Por tudo que já SUPLIQUEI e que posto novamente!!
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CONTINUO SUPLICANDO, QUANTAS VEZES FOREM NECESSÁRIAS!!
ASSINEM ESTAS PETIÇÕES, POR FAVOR...
- PARA SALVAR A AMAZÔNIA,
www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl
- PARA SALVAR AS FLORESTAS DO BRASIL,
- PARA VETAR AS MUDANÇAS DO CÓDIGO FLORESTAL !
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...
www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...
VAMOS LUTAR POR NOSSO PLANETA, PELAS NOSSAS FLORESTAS, PELOS INDÍGENAS (NOSSOS IRMÃOS), PELOS NOSSOS FILHOS, NETOS, BISNETOS...PELAS PRÓXIMAS GERAÇÕES...POR UM MUNDO MELHOR...
O PLANETA TERRA PEDE SOCORRO!!
TUDO OU NADA ESTÁ EM NOSSAS MÃOS,... BRASILEIROS!!
Muito obrigada,
Celisa
***
By God, Dear Friends sign of our forests for mercy ...
For all that ever I pleaded and put it back!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...
CONTINUOUS Sulpice, as often as necessary!
Sign these petitions, PLEASE ...
- To save the Amazon,
www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl
- TO SAVE THE FORESTS OF BRAZIL
- To veto FOREST CODE CHANGES!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...
www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...
WE FIGHT FOR OUR PLANET, FOR OUR FORESTS, INDIGENOUS BY (OUR BROTHERS), for our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren for generations to come ... ... ... FOR A BETTER WORLD
ASKS HELP THE PLANET EARTH!
ALL OR NOTHING IS IN OUR HANDS, ... BRAZILIAN!
Thank you so much,
Celisa
***
Par Dieu, Chers Amis signe de nos forêts pour la miséricorde ...
Pour tout ce que j'ai plaidé et le remettre!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...
Sulpice CONTINUE, aussi souvent que nécessaire!
S'il vous plaît signer ...
- Pour sauver l'Amazonie,
www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl
- Pour sauver les forêts du Brésil
- De mettre son veto CHANGEMENTS Code forestier!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...
www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...
Nous luttons pour notre planète, pour nos forêts, AUTOCHTONES PAR (NOS FRÈRES), pour nos enfants, petits-enfants, arrière petits-enfants pour les générations à venir ... ... ... POUR UN MONDE MEILLEUR
DEMANDE AIDE LA PLANETE TERRE!
Tout ou rien est entre nos mains, ... Brésilienne!
Je vous remercie,
Celisa
***
Por Dios, queridos amigos: signo de nuestros bosques por la misericordia ...
Por todo lo que he declarado y poner de nuevo!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...
CONTINUA Sulpice, cuantas veces sea necesario!
Firmar estas peticiones, por favor ...
- Para salvar el Amazonas,
www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl
- PARA SALVAR LOS BOSQUES DE BRASIL
- De vetar los cambios Código Forestal!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...
www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...
LUCHAMOS POR NUESTRO PLANETA, PARA NUESTROS BOSQUES, POR INDÍGENAS (NUESTROS HERMANOS), para nuestros hijos, nietos, bisnietos para las generaciones futuras ... ... ... POR UN MUNDO MEJOR
PIDE AYUDA AL PLANETA TIERRA!
TODO O NADA ESTÁ EN NUESTRAS MANOS ... BRASIL!
Gracias,
Celisa
***
Per Dio, cari amici segno delle nostre foreste per pietà ...
Per tutto ciò che mai ho supplicato e rimetterlo!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...
Sulpice CONTINUO, ogni qualvolta sia necessario!
SIGN queste petizioni, PER FAVORE ...
- Per salvare l'Amazzonia,
www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl
- PER SALVARE LE FORESTE DEL BRASILE
- Per veto modifiche al codice FORESTA!
www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...
www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...
Lottiamo per IL NOSTRO PIANETA, PER I NOSTRI BOSCHI, indigene da parte (NOSTRI FRATELLI), per i nostri figli, nipoti, pronipoti per le generazioni a venire ... ... ... PER UN MONDO MIGLIORE
CHIEDE AIUTO DEL PIANETA TERRA!
Tutto o niente è nelle nostre mani, ... BRASILIANO!
Grazie,
Celisa
***
***
***
Dezenas de milhões de câes e gatos são ASSASSINADOS BRUTALMENTE, com INSTINTOS de CRUELDADE na CHINA !!
Amigos Queridos eu suplico, assinem esta PETIÇÃO, é um PEDIDO de Ativistas e Protetores de Animais que estão se mobilizando no MUNDO INTEIRO, em favor das vidas destes MÁRTIRES!!
Em DOIS MINUTOS pode-se assinar!! São seres INDEFESOS, eu ROGO, por Deus!!
www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...
Muito obrigada,
Celisa
***
Tens of millions of dogs and cats are brutally murdered, with instincts of cruelty in CHINA!
Dear Friends, I beg, sign this petition, it is a request for Activists and Animal Protectors who are mobilizing around the world, in favor of the lives of Martyrs!
In two minutes you can sign up! They are helpless, I pray, by God!
www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...
Thank you,
Celisa
***
Des dizaines de millions de chiens et de chats sont brutalement assassinés, avec des instincts de cruauté en Chine!
Chers amis, je vous prie, signez cette pétition, et une demande pour les activistes et les protecteurs des animaux qui se mobilisent autour du monde, en faveur de la vie des martyrs!
En deux minutes, vous pouvez vous inscrire! Ils sont impuissants, je prie, par Dieu!
www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...
Je vous remercie,
Celisa
***
Decenas de millones de perros y gatos son brutalmente asesinados, con los instintos de crueldad en China!
Queridos amigos, os ruego, firmen esta petición, y una petición de activistas y los protectores de animales que se movilizan en todo el mundo, a favor de la vida de los mártires!
En dos minutos se puede firmar para arriba! Están indefensos, te ruego, por Dios!
www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...
Gracias,
Celisa
***
Decine di milioni di cani e gatti vengono brutalmente assassinati, con istinti di crudeltà in CINA!
Cari amici, vi prego, firmare questa petizione e una richiesta di attivisti e protettori degli animali che si stanno mobilitando in tutto il mondo, a favore della vita dei martiri!
In due minuti puoi iscriverti! Sono impotente, io prego, per Dio!
www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...
Grazie,
Celisa
***
***
***
Que Deus abençoe a todos os Queridos Amigos, principalmente nossas Queridas Amigas @rtbene, Blankita e Mag, e alivie o sofrimento daqueles que tanto necessitam.
Beijos em seus corações,
Celisa
***
May God bless all the Dear Friends, mainly our Dear Friends @rtbene, Blankita and Mag, relieve the suffering of those who so desperately need.
Kisses in your hearts,
Celisa
***
Que Dieu bénisse tous les chers amis, en particulier notre cher ami @rtbene, Blankita et Mag, et soulager la souffrance de ceux qui ont si désespérément besoin.
Bisous dans ton coeur
Celisa
***
Que Dios los bendiga a todos los queridos amigos, en especial nuestro querido amigo @rtbene, Blankita y Mag, y aliviar el sufrimiento de aquellos que tan desesperadamente necesitan.
Besos en tu corazón
Celisa
***
Che Dio benedica tutti i cari amici, soprattutto il nostro caro amico @rtbene, Blankita e Mag, e alleviare le sofferenze di coloro che così disperatamente bisogno.
Baci nel tuo cuore
Celisa
Ma selkie profite elle aussi des vacances...
Je vais malheureusement devoir refaire son blush/tatouage sur le corps ! =/ j'ai utilisé du tamiya au lieu du MSC, et ça n'a pas séché sur le buste mou de l'obitsu... Il est tout collant et attrape les poussières ! >.<
Ah, et TRES IMPORTANT : j'ai mis à jour la description de l'album, les grandes lignes de l'histoire d'Iris y sont écrites ! Pour ceux que ça intéresse d'en apprendre un peu plus sur le monde que je mets en place... Go ! =)
The Hawaiian Railway Society is an educational, non-profit organization dedicated to saving, restoring and protecting Hawaii's railroading history. We have the only historic railroad on the island of Oahu and the only operating railroad museum in the state.
Come ride with us along a historic stretch of track west of old Ewa and listen to stories about the history of railroading in Hawaii. Train rides are available year round. A picnic area is available for passengers to use before or after their ride or they may take food and beverages on board. The picnic area is great for holding birthday parties and other special occasions and may be reserved. Call for availability.
The Hawaiian Railway Society is a member of the Association of Railway Museums (ARM).
Train maximum capacity is 150.
A ride on Parlor Car 64
In 1900, Oahu Railway & Land Co. founder, Benjamin F. Dillingham, had Parlor/Observation Car No. 64 designed and built especially for himself. No. 64 was the showpiece of the OR&L's rolling stock.
Built in Honolulu at a cost of $4,388.24, it had a double-size rear platform surrounded by ornate iron grillwork and protected from the sun by fluted awnings.
Oak, mahogany and birds eye maple created an interior of luxury. The parlor car was fitted with a galley, lavatory, washstand and sideboard. It was used frequently by the OR&L for visiting dignitaries. The most notable guests were Queen Lili`uokalani and other members of the Hawaiian royal family. The observation platform offered guests a chance to feel the cool trade winds, as well as giving them a better view of the landscape.
No. 64 has been restored and is available for charter.
Certain restrictions apply. The parlor car is added to the train on the second Sunday of every month. Reservations are required because seating is limited. Fares: $20.00 per person.
Profitant du mariage d'une de mes cousines, je pars une bonne semaine en bretagne *o*
4 ans que je n'y suis pas aller !
à moi la pointe de la torche, quimper et les crêpes \o/
Mais cela veut aussi dire pas de net ...
Le 18 septembre 2019 en début de soirée, j'arrive ā Sion par un bus assurant la liaison Avignon-Lyon-Genève-Sion. Alors que je m'apprête à rejoindre mon hôte du soir je profite du paysage que je surplombe. Le coucher de soleil donne ā la ville de Sion un caractère surnaturel, les nuages changent de couleur, les lampadaires s'allument, le château de Tourbillon illumine le paysage. Après avoir fait du couchsurfing -première expérience très positive-, je débute le lendemain mon excursion de deux semaines de balade dans le Val d'Hérens au cœur du Valais. Chargé de mon paquetage d'une dizaine de kilos, j'occupe la matinée de mon premier jour d'excursion par l'achat de produits locaux. Pas question de tomber en panne sèche ā 3000 mètres d'altitudes. Un saucisson, du fromage de la région – l'Étivaz-, du chocolat noir -Ovomaltine « C'est de la dynamite ! »-, des fruits secs et c'est parti. Avant de quitter Sion je profite de l'ambiance du centre ville de bon matin. Un passant solitaire traverse la place de la Planta. Du ciel transparaissent quelques rayons du soleil. Atemporel. En début d'après-midi, l'autobus m'amène ā Thyon-les-collons. Arrivé ā environ 2000 mètres d'altitude, je débute ma marche dans un paysage grandiose. Première impression : la connexion avec le ciel, l'impression d' être au dessus de tout... ou presque. Des nuages au loin m'invitent ā monter plus haut, les cols des montagnes ā les gravir pour y découvrir ce qui s'y cache derrière. Je traverse les steppes et gazons alpins, il y a beau temps. La végétation que je croise est luxuriante, colorée et diversifiée. Je croise peu de touristes.
Durant les trois premiers jours, j'essaye de prendre un rythme. J'essaye d'atteindre en fin de journée les points que je me suis fixé comme but en début de journée. Je n'y parviens pas. Non pas que physiquement je sois éreinté par le dénivelé que je commence ā ressentir dans les cuisses et ischio-jambier, mais par les nombreux arrêts que je m'autorise pour faire des sessions photographiques. Poser ā terre les bâtons de marche, enlever le sac ā dos, sortir l'appareil photo, cadrer, faire la photographie, ranger l'appareil, réajuster les sangles de maintient, remettre le sac sur le dos, s'abaisser et prendre les bâtons de marche. Reprendre la marche. Toute une opération qui au bout d'un temps me fait plutôt jeter ā terre les bâtons, poser un peu ā la va vite le sac ā terre et répéter toutes ces opérations. Mais cette légère contrainte est largement compensée par l'étonnement, l'admiration, l'ébahissement que j'ai d'être face ā un tel paysage. Une faune et une flore sauvage, laissée ā l'état de liberté. C'est un paysage de caractère qui invite ā la plénitude. Quelques rares habitations qui se perdent dans un paysage montagneux. Le voisinage ne semble pas être une question contraignante. Je m'imagine alors le mode de vie que doivent avoir ces gens qui vivent dans ces habitats le temps d'une saison... peut-être ā l'année. Je prends conscience qu'en montagne, la fraîcheur se fait rapidement sentir dès que le soleil n'illumine plus le flanc de montagne sur lequel vous êtes. En septembre, selon ou l'on se trouve, 17h est l'heure à laquelle il est légitime de se soucier de l'endroit du coucher. Le premier jour, je fais l'erreur de tarder dans le choix du lieu du bivouac. À 19h je commence ma recherche. Après une heure et demie je parviens ā trouver un compromis. En sous-bois, sur le flanc d'un sol pentu, je compense alors les aléas du terrains en mettant en boule quelques habits dans la tente. Je dîne - bien grand mot quand la casserole est ā la fois l'outil de cuisson, l'assiette pour le plat principal et le contenant du thé en fin de repas. Ma première nuit est fraîche, l'idée de dormir dans un sous-bois rend l'atmosphère humide, le froid ressenti comme étant davantage prégnant.
Le lendemain je repars en bonne forme. Je continue de longer le fleuve de la Dixence qui se trouve en contrebas du chemin que j'empreinte. Pause ravitaillement pour récupérer ā une source de l'eau et remplir ma gourde de 2 litres. Il n'est pas rare de croiser des troupeaux sur mon chemin mené ou pas par des éleveurs. Au deuxième jour de marche, Thyon-les-collons est ā peine visible. Je croise de-ci, de-là des maisonnettes, des troupeaux sur mon chemin. Le dénivelé se fait plus marqué et le poids du sac se fait davantage sentir sur les épaules. Pause déjeuner. Le paysage se fait de plus en plus montagneux, les roches noires contrastent avec les couleurs ocres, jaunes pétantes des fourrages. Il me faudra trois jours pour arriver au niveau du Lac des Dix (2365m) et de son barrage aux dimensions impressionnantes. D'une hauteur de 235 mètres, long comme deux terrains de football mis bout ā bout, ce barrage est d'une profondeur de 200 mètres ā sa base et d'une quinzaines de mètres ā son point le plus haut. Son poids serait égal ā celui de la grande pyramide de Khéops en Egypte. De telles dimensions permettent au barrage de la Grande Dixence de contenir les 400 millions de m3 d'eau du lac, développant une puissance électrique record de 2000 MW ce qui lui permet d'être considéré comme le plus haut barrage-poids du monde. Un tel spectacle est étonnant. 15 mètres de marche permettent de constater de l'exploit de cette architecture. D'un coté distant de quelques mètres le lac de la Dixence calme et paisible, de l'autre côté la vallée qui s'étend 200 mètres plus bas. À perte de vue des vallons, montagnes, des pics. Au loin, la ville de Sion.
Première nuit ou les étoiles se révèlent avec une pollution lumineuse réduite. La voûte céleste se laisse prendre en photographie en pause lente. Il n'est pas rare durant les quelques nuit que je passe proche d'une forêt, d'un bois ou d'un ruisseau de me réveiller plusieurs fois la nuit, saisi par le froid. La couche supérieure de la tente gèle parfois. Par mégarde je laisse deux habits posés sur la tente pour qu'ils sèchent à l'extérieur. Durant la nuit, les cristaux de glaces se forment et les gèlent entièrement. Les débuts de journées sont fraîches et reculent mon heure de départ. La solution ā défaut d'avoir des moufles pour maintenir les mains au chaud : avoir des chaussettes aux mains. À 10h le soleil réchauffe l'atmosphère, les habits sèchent et je peux faire ma toilette et un petit bain frigorifique dans le Torrent de Chenna ā 10h du matin. La route qui mène au barrage de la Grande Dixence est tortueuse, je n'aurai pas ā l'emprunter, prenant un chemin de terre qui y mène directement. Il me fait passer par une succession de tunnel creusé dans des flancs de montagne. Le soir, sans réseau 4G, je campe ā la pointe du lac de Dix. Seul, sans pollution lumineuse, sonore, humaine. J'ai l'impression d'être en proie ā la nature, à une solitude qui ne fait pas peur, mais ou tout est possible. Le passé ou le futur lointain n'est pas dans mes pensée. Seul le présent et ses alternatives temporelles proches m'occupent l'esprit. Je trouve un lieu où dormir et installe la tente. Rapidement je me lave grâce ā l'eau d'un ruisseau qui coule. Je prépare à manger, déguste face à un paysage qui s'obscurcit. La nuit tombe, des nuages se découpent sur les pics des montagnes. Je m'endors avec le seul bruit du vent qui tapote sur la toile de tente.
4ème journée, je quitte le lac des Dix pour me rendre au col de Riedmatten en passant par le pas de chèvre (2919m). Je me lève ā 5h du matin. Ma première action ? Prendre un petit-déjeuner à base de chocolat, fruits secs variés, fajitas, patte d'amande avec un peu de chocolat aussi. Un petit coup de toilette puis je m'occupe de trier, ranger le matériel pour qu'il tienne dans les 50 litres du sac ā dos. Au fur et à mesure des jours qui passent je dois avouer que cette action répétitive me lasse un peu mais devient un rituel qui marque le début et la fin de la journée. Je débute la marche alors que le soleil se lève sur les pics de montagnes et la vallée au loin. La montée se fait de plus en plus pentue. Je traverse le Torrent de Cheilon. Peu ā peu, le chemin de caillou se transforme en chemin symbolique ou seul les balises en indiquent concrètement la trajectoire. La flore se fait plus rare, le paysage imposant se fait plus abrupte, le dénivelé s'affirme. Je ne m'aide plus seulement de mes jambes mais aussi de mes mains pour gravir. Je m'attarde un temps face au mont Blanc de Cheilon et ā son glacier. Observation contemplative. Arrivé au Col de Riedmatten, je laisse derrière moi les roches, pierres et une flore qui se fait rare pour y découvrir les steppes qui mènent vers le lac de Moiry. Le paysage environnant est entrecoupé de pics et de pentes dans un écrin de nature sauvage. Je vois dans le Glacier de Tsijore Nouve une tête de mort... En début d'après-midi j'entame ma descente vers Arolla (2000m) dominée par le mont Collon en arrière plan. Arrivé ā Arolla, les nuages s'obscurcissent... J'empreinte un pont de singe qui tangue ā chaque pas dans un rebond lancinant. Une sensation amusante qui donne l'impression d’être plus léger, d'avoir le pas hésitant.
Je campe le soir près de la Sage, dans un champs qui en apparence semble appartenir à personne. La nuit fut entrecoupée par une pluie battante et des rafales de vent. Le lendemain je me réveille avec une brume qui se dissipe. Ayant plutôt l'habitude de côtoyer des architectures de béton je quitte la Sage et ses chalets de bois qui semblent venir d'une autre époque. L'objectif que je me fixe ā la mi-journée c'est d'arriver au Lac Bleu, réputé pour se situer dans un écrin de nature sauvage, avec une eau d'une couleur bleu vive - résultant de l'action conjuguée des algues et des argiles glaciaires-. Sur le chemin qui monte au lac, en pleine forêt, alors que je remets une sangle de mon sac à dos, je me fais surprendre par le bond d'un cerf adulte qui fend les fourrages à une vitesse éclair. La scène se déroule face à moi à une trentaine de mètres. Pas un seul bâtiment aux alentours. La nature. Elle m'invite ā un imaginaire digne des films de fantasy comme le Seigneur des Anneaux ou encore à me plonger dans l'ambiance cinématographique d'une période Moyenâgeuse où les croyances et rituels étaient connectés à la nature. Une époque où la démographie humaine était moins importante, où la valeur humaine était autre. Peu de temps m'en faut pour arriver au Lac Bleu. Vu l'heure, je décide de laver et faire sécher au soleil mes vêtements sales. Je mets en place un dispositif d'étendoir assez incongru en utilisant mes bâtons de marche et la table de camping qui se trouve sur une butte en surplombant le lac. 1h. 2h. Le soleil se couvre peu ā peu, malgré des rafales de vent bien présentes, le linge ne sèche pas. 3H, je commence ā me dire que je ne pourrais pas continuer plus loin ma marche de la journée. 19h30. J'installe la tente pour me réchauffer – connaissant la fraicheur des nuits proches d'une source d'eau-. Je décide de faire du feu avec un briquet, quelques brindilles et des branches ramassées de ci de-là. Sans succès. Nuit tombante depuis le lac bleu. Cette nuit fut la plus difficile. Je me réveille plusieurs fois durant la nuit, me réchauffe les doigts en allumant un briquet, entasse mes habits les uns par dessus les autres. À quelques centaines de mètres je traverse ce qui semble être un village abandonné. Une inscription surplombe l'un des chalets : « Le petit chalet ». Le lendemain je prends la route pour les Haudères (1454m), charmant village de vallée où tous les bâtis ou presque sont en bois. Traversant les forêts Valaisannes, je prête l'oreille ā plusieurs coups de feu. En cette basse saison, les chasseurs sont plus présent dans les forêts que les randonneurs. Je fais d'ailleurs la rencontre de trois d'entres eux. Le premier est pris en photographie sur smartphone par sa femme alors qu'il porte ā bout de bras un cerf tel un trophée. Le second lorsque je croise un chasseur porter sur son dos un cerf. Cette rencontre me permets de discuter avec lui sur sa pratique. Je suis notamment étonné de le voir redescendre de si bonne heure (8h) avec déjà un cervidé mort sur le dos. Il m'explique qu'il a tué l'animal la veille, l'a vidé de ses entrailles, a dormi dans une cabane de chasseur et qu'il redescend ā son véhicule pour aller vendre la bête ce matin. Curieux de son arme, il me montre ses cartouches et son viseur d'une précision de plus de 500 mètres. Je le prends en photographie avant que chacun nous reprenions nos routes. À la mi-journée, je décide que je dormirai dans un camping avec plus de confort ā la clef. Avant d'entrer dans les Haudères, je fais la rencontre de plusieurs chalets fleuris nichés sur le flanc de la montagne. Je pourrais presque m'attendre ā ce que Bilbon Sacquet sorte avec un lot de pinte de Gandalf’s Ale, de Bilbo’s Beer ou encore de Frodo’s Lager. Ca n’arrivera pas, mais je m'amuse ā me l'imaginer. Arrivé ā Les Haudères je découvre un centre-village tout fait de bois et de pierres. Deux artères coupent le village d'Est en Ouest et du Nord au Sud. Je passe face au Garage des Alpes, atelier de réparation automobile pour me rendre jusqu’à l'auberge-camping Molignon, endroit ou je dormirai pour la nuit.
À minuit il se met à pleuvoir durant plusieurs heures. De bon matin je croise dans le camping un touriste qui me déconseille de randonner jusqu'au Col de Torrent avec la météo qu'il y a eu la veille. Les sommets sont enneigés. Je décide de me prendre une journée de repos et vais en direction d'Evolène (1371m) pour m'y acheter des moufles afin d'éviter le froid ressenti parfois durant la nuit ou pour éviter le frottement de la paume sur les bâtons de marche. Le lendemain en direction de La Sage je croise les dernières maisons. Alors que je continue mon ascension, derrière moi l'orage semble se profiler sur les Haudères et Evolène. Je continue la marche en espérant que la météo ne se dégrade pas trop. Arrivée dans les nuages.
J'expérimente ma première nuit à 0 degré à 2700 mètres d'altitude sur le flanc de montagne ā 300 mètres du Col de Torrent. Les nuage sont en formation, j'ai la tête dans les nuages. Levé ā 7h du matin je pars en direction le Col de Torrent ā 2916 mètres d'altitude. Le chemin de traverse me mène jusqu'au lac de Moiry (2249m) d'un bleu étonnant et son barrage qui surplombe la vallée. Son barrage voûte situé dans le canton du Valais en Suisse est localisé au-dessus du village de Grimentz. Il a été mis en service en 1958 après 4 ans de construction. Je m'endors près du pas de Lona (2787m) sous une nuit étoilée. Le lendemain matin, c'est la tête dans les nuages et le brouillard que je débute mon excursion matinale avec l'impression d'assister ā un spectacle, un ballet où les nuages glissent cotonneusement sur les flancs de montagne. Quelle sensation de solitude. Dans l'après-midi j'atteins la cabane des Becs de Bosson ā 2983 mètres d'altitude puis la pointe de la Tsevalire ā 3026 mètres. Je finis la journée bien fatigué proche de la Becca de Lovegno à près de 2700m ou j'y passe la nuit. 18h, le soleil se couche derrière les crêtes. Je passe ma nuit la plus fraiche, -2 degré était annoncé par la météo locale. Je ne dors pas bien, me réveille souvent. Mon pantalon, le sac ā dos et tout ce qui peut tenir chaud est empilé au dessus de moi sur le sac de couchage. Durant un court moment, je décide d'allumer le réchaud pour réchauffer mes doigts.
Le lendemain je me repose durant deux heures proche du lac du Louché (2567m), situé dans un écrin de nature marécageux, isolé et préservé de toute activité humaine. Cet endroit est l'un des plus silencieux de toute mon excursion. Pas de bruit. Celui du vent par intermittence. Seul les trainées de condensation d'un avion haut dans le ciel marque la réalité de notre époque et renforce mon extase sonore et visuelle face à un tel lieu. Je prends en photographie la Gentiana Verna, première de la saison qui occupe avec parcimonie les prairies subalpines. Je reprends la marche pour me rendre au Mont-Noble ā près de 2670m. Une fois franchie cette étape je ne cesse de descendre en altitude en passant par Mase (1301m) pour me rendre aux grottes de Combioula qui se trouvent dans les gorges de la Borgne. La source chaude de ces grottes permet de profiter d'une eau à une vingtaine de degrés tout en admirant le paysage environnant. La rivière Borgne qui passe ā quelques mètres est bien plus froide. Le lendemain je me rends direction Hérémence pour y découvrir les pyramides d'Euseigne qui font partie des caractéristiques géologiques impressionnantes du territoire. Je me rends ā Vex (939m). Plus tôt dans la journée j'avais passé un coup de téléphone pour y réserver une nuit en camping.
Arrivé lā-bas, je suis reçu par le gérant. Il a l'allure imposante d'un biker de film américain des années 80. Le bandana autour de la tête, assez petit et trapu, la bedaine en supplément. Débute alors un quiproquo où je lui annonce avoir réservé un emplacement de tente pour la nuit. Lui me dit que non. La fatigue n'aidant pas, j'affirme mon point de vue. Quiproquo qui abouti ā ce que la discussion se dégrade. Je décide de partir promptement, n'ayant pas envie d'avoir à faire à ses chiens. Je me rends compte que l'erreur venais de moi et que le camping en question où j'avais une place de réservée était ā Sion au camping Valcentre (500m). Je repense ā cet épisode ubuesque tout en marchant. En bande dessinée ça aurait fait le gag. 17h. Vite il me faut accélérer le pas pour me rendre sur place. Le coup du sort jouant en ma défaveur ou bien car j'étais désinformé, je prends un chemin balisé pour les randonneurs qui me mène à... un cul de sac ou plutôt à un chemin condamné. Du fait de la chute de pierres il y avait quelques mois de cela, la passerelle qui surplombe La Borgne n'est plus. Voyant l'heure filer, je décide tout de même de traverser la rivière le sac ā dos tenu les bras en l'air. Me croyant libéré de cette histoire d'éboulis de pierres je fais face à deux autres reprises à des culs de sac ou des portions de chemin fragilisés. Je me dépêche de les franchir en prenant un maximum conscience des points d'équilibres qui sont optimum pour ma traversée de ces obstacles. Je quitte la rivière et rejoint les champs de vigne. En fin de journée sur les coups de 19 heures j'arrive au camping de Sion fatigué mais content d'avoir réussi à atteindre mon point d'étape de la journée. Les deux jours qui suivent me permettent de faire des emplettes (surtout des plaquettes de chocolat) et de préparer mon retour en France. Je prends le bus le 4 octobre tout en me disant que je reviendrais un de ces jours parmi ces paysages Suisse afin d'en découvrir davantage.
Our wholesale operation was growing every month since we began selling to other dealers. Derek Whitehead of Santee Industries had been right in pointing us in that direction. These seats were hot sellers to both our dealers and retail customers. Manufactured in Sacramento, we were their largest customer. Circa 1974
Purple Hearts Reunited Press Release --08 July 2018
At 11am on 07 August 2018, National Purple Heart Day, the non-profit foundation Purple Hearts Reunited will reunite eight families with their lost Purple Heart Medals. Themed as “Eight on the Seven” (a tie into 8-7-18), this day will honor families who represent our nation’s heroes from World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the War on Terror. The event will take place in the Kennedy Caucus Room, Russell Senate Building, SR-325, Washington, D.C. When servicemen and women are wounded or sacrifice their life in times of War, our country awards the service member or their family with a prestigious award in the form of the Purple Heart. Certain circumstances can lead to these medals being misplaced, lost, or even stolen. Below is a short description of the eight medals being returned in August.
1. WWI, PFC Joseph Mark Hish: Joseph was born 06 January 1895 in Ridge Township, Shelby County, Illinois. He would go onto enlist in the U.S. Army and served with Company A, 341st Machine Gun Battalion, 177th Infantry Brigade, 89th Infantry Division in World War I. He and his unit participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive from 29 September to 11 November 1918. During this offensive, he was gassed and received Purple Heart # 68772. He passed on 29 December 1963. His medal will be returned to his son, 90-year-old Air Force Veteran, Joseph M. Hish Jr. of Hartington, Nebraska.
2. WWI, CPT Sebert Norman Perry: Sebert was born 22 March 1891 in New York City, New York. He enlisted on 15 December 1917 in the United States Marine Corps. Assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion 45th Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, he was wounded twice. First gassed on 15 July 1918, he spent five weeks recovering in a field hospital, rejoining his unit on 07 September 1918. Four days later, when the American drive opened, he was wounded by shrapnel in his arm at St. Mihiel. He saw action at Chateau Thierry, Soisson, and St. Mihiel. He would later join the U.S. Army on 25 July 1942 for service in World War II. He would obtain the rank of Captain in the Quartermaster Corps as a Procurement Officer. His medal was found in an antique shop in 1979. His medal will be returned to his three Granddaughters from Spring City, Pennsylvania.
3. WWII, 1SG Fred Mueller: Fred was born 15 August 1914 in Ireton, Iowa. He enlisted on 14 December 1942 and was assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He was killed in action on 06 June 1944, “D-Day” in the Wood of Limors, Varenguebec, France. While approaching their Airborne drop, his plane came under heavy flak fire. It exploded in mid-air. His medal was found by retired Air Force Captain, Mr. Steve Ament, in his late Grandfather’s belongings. His medal will be returned to his Granddaughter, Ms. Kristi Bonfigt of Chandler, Arizona.
4. WWII, TSGT Thomas Maynard Williams Jr: “Maynard” was born on 21 August 1922 in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. He enlisted on 09 October 1940 into U.S. Army Air Corps. In 1943 he was sole survivor of a training plane crash in Kansas. He then served in China, where he survived a bailout while returning from a mission, and India for a year before transferring to the Marianas in April 1944. He participated in his first raid over Yawata, Japan, in June 1944, and shot down his first Japanese plane in November 1944 in a raid on Omura, Japan. Days before his second wedding anniversary his wife was notified that he had been missing over Tinian since 24 May 1945. His medal was discovered in a cedar chest that belonged to Ms. Barbara Scott’s deceased mother. His medal will be returned to his niece, Mrs. Marcia Trawick of Norway, South Carolina.
5. WWII, CQM Ray Charles Ayers: Ray was born 09 October 1908 in Virginia to Walter Edward and Annie Lee Cheek Ayers. At the time of his death, he was married to Marie Theresa Siros. They had one child, Ronald Charles, who was just two when his father was Killed in Action 01 March 1942. Ray served during WWII with U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. He was aboard the cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) that was sunk by the Japanese during the Battle of Sunda Strait on 28 February 1942 in the Java Sea (northwest of Australia, just off the Indonesian west coast). The ship carried 1,068 crewmen, but only 291 sailors and Marines survived both the attack and being prisoners of war. His medal was discovered at a yard sale in California in the 1980s by Mr. Daniel Martinez. His medal will be returned to his Niece and Nephew, twins, Mr. Paul and Mrs. Paulette Ayers of Mississippi and Arkansas.
6. Korea, CPL Robert George Miller: Robert was born 08 December 1930 in New Jersey. He enlisted for service in the U.S. Army on 20 June 1948. Trained as a Paratrooper at Fort Benning, GA, he was later assigned to a heavy weapons company with the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was severely wounded during The Battle of Hwanggan, which took place on July 23–29,1950. He was evacuated from the front lines but unfortunately died while in a hospital in Tokyo, Japan. He was awarded the Bronze Star w/ "V" Device and Purple Heart. His medal was found by the deceased Kathi Ann Lewis of Cypress, Texas. It is not known where she found it. His medal will be returned to his Niece, Mrs. Helen Sabatini of Rochester, New York.
7. Vietnam, SFC Billy Dale Evans: Billy was born 08 March 1931 in Hooks, Texas. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 15 July 1950 and served in both Korea and Vietnam. In Korea, he served from 23 June 1951-02 April 1953 with the 363rd Ordinance Ammunition Company. In Vietnam, he served with the U.S. Army Green Berets on Detachment C-1 (Company C, Danang), under the operation B- 52 Project Delta. For his heroism from 29-31 March 1967, he was award the Distinguished Service Cross, our nation’s second highest decoration. It is rumored he was considered for the Medal of Honor for a secret mission in Cambodia, but we have not been able to verify that to date. He was finally released from service on 30 June 1973 with 23 years of service. He would survive the war and passed on 27 January 2003 at the age of 71. This medal, and 12 other medals belonging to Veterans were sent to PHR anonymously. His medal will be returned to his daughter Ms. Myrtle Totty and Grandson Mr. Damon Mason of Newark, Texas.
8. Iraq, SSG Michael Thomas Jeffrey: Michael was born 07 April 1978. Hailing from West Des Moines, Iowa, Michael enlisted into the U.S. Army as a Cavalry Scout. SSG Jeffrey was assigned to Company D, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. During combat operations in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, SSG Jeffrey was wounded in action on 04 October 2006. To recover from his injuries, he was sent to a Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Knox, Kentucky. While there, they presented him with a Purple Heart medal. When he returned home, he realized it was not his and was rather engraved with another name. He will receive a new Purple Heart, and have it officially presented for the first time.
All travel expenses for the families are being covered by the organization.
The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was established by George Washington – then the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army – by order from his Newburgh, New York headquarters on August 7, 1782. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers by Gen. George Washington himself. General Washington authorized his subordinate officers to issue Badges of Merit as appropriate. From then on, as its legend grew, so did its appearance. Although never abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until after World War I. General Douglas MacArthur, confidentially reopened work of a new design and by Executive Order of the President of the United States, the Purple Heart was revived on the 200th Anniversary of George Washington's birth, out of respect to his memory and military achievements, by War Department General Order No. 3, dated February 22, 1932. Today, the Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after April 5, 1917.
An estimated 1.8 Million Purple Hearts have been awarded in our nation’s history. Today, in addition to being awarded to those who fight overseas, the Purple Heart is also given to military personnel who display bravery and valor as prisoners of war and while fighting certain types of domestic terrorist.
Purple Hearts Reunited is a nonprofit foundation that returns medals of valor to veterans or their families in order to honor their sacrifice to the nation. Since its beginning, the organization has returned over 500 lost medals, traveled over 100,000 miles, visited over 42 States, and has directly affected the lives of over 1 Million people. They were also recently highlighted on the popular History Channel show American Pickers.
(VA photos by Robert Turtil)
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Les passagers se collent contre la coque du navire pour se protéger du vent et profiter de la chaleur du soleil
The Salt Lake City and County Building, usually called the "City-County Building", is the seat of government for Salt Lake City, Utah. The historic landmark formerly housed offices for Salt Lake County government as well, hence the name.
The building was originally constructed by free masons between 1891 and 1894 to house offices for the city and county of Salt Lake and replace the Salt Lake City Council Hall and Salt Lake County Courthouse, both erected in the 1860s.
Construction of the building was riddled with controversy. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the City and County Building was the symbol of non-Mormon citizens' open defiance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was designed to rival the Salt Lake Temple as the city's architectural centerpiece. It is even thought that the building's clock tower and statues were designed to mimic the temple's spires and statue of the angel Moroni. Ironically, the building was originally the 1880s brainchild of the Church-backed "People's Party." When the non-Mormon "Liberal Party" was campaigning for city government, they deemed the proposed "joint building" an example of the Church's extravagance and wastefulness. In a reversal of stance, the Liberals decided to go ahead with the building when they finally gained power in 1890. Construction began in February on State Street at about 100 South.
For nebulous reasons, construction was halted that November after only the foundation had been laid. The mostly non-Mormon city council questioned the buildings plans which had been completed during the People's Party reign, and wavered on how to proceed. The Deseret News complained that the Liberals were wasting taxpayer money. Ultimately, the original plans and site for the building were scrapped and the whole project was moved to the building's current location at Washington Square. The Deseret News claimed this move served the City Council, which owned property around the site and would profit from increased land values. Nonetheless construction on new plans began by late 1891. The cornerstone was laid July 25, 1892. Mormon president Wilford Woodruff's journals reported his attendance at the building's dedication on Dec, 28 1894.
The architectural firm of Monheim, Bird, and Proudfoot designed the Richardsonian Romanesque building (Olpin et al., 2005). Henry Monheim (a local architect since the 1870s), George Washington Bird (1854-1950; from Wichita, Kansas and William Thomas Proudfoot (1860-1928; also of Wichita) established the firm in 1891 specifically to design the building. Their firm won a building design contest against fourteen other submissions. However, The Salt Lake Herald—another LDS-backed paper—claimed that the competition was a "pretentious fraud." Monheim, a Prussian immigrant, died one year into construction. Bird and Proudfoot moved to Philadelphia and Chicago respectively by 1896, so the City-County Building was their firm's only output.
The building was monstrously over budget. Estimated by the firm at $350,000, the winning contractor bid $377,978, but by the building's dedication on December 28, 1894, it had cost nearly $900,000. Complicating matters was the Panic of 1893 which cut Salt Lake City and County revenues nearly in half. As a result of this, plans for large stained glass windows for the building were discarded.
Although now used exclusively by Salt Lake City government, the building originally served many functions. Salt Lake County offices called the structure home until the 1980s when the County elected to build a new complex at 2100 South and State Street.
The building served as Utah's Capitol from when statehood was granted in 1896 until the present Utah State Capitol was completed in 1915. The Salt Lake City and County building also housed Salt Lake's first public library and contained courtrooms, including one that condemned organizer Joe Hill to death amid international attention in 1914.
At the conclusion of a few years of exhaustive renovation and remodeling of the building, and with an eye toward historical accuracy, the building was reopened in 1989. This was done in concert with a seismic upgrade called base isolation that placed the weak sandstone structure on a foundation of steel and rubber to better protect it from earthquake damage.
In March of 2020, the building was shuttered after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake that shook the Wasatch Front. However, thanks to the base isolation invested in decades ago, the repairs needed were minimal. The building was reopened to the public in November of 2021.
The Salt Lake City and County Building's central clock tower is topped with a statue of Columbia and rises 256 feet (78 m) from the ground. The building's primary axis runs north-south, and large entrances mark each cardinal direction. On the south wing (over the Mayor's office) is a bronze statue of the goddess Justice. Originally, the building had statues depicting Commerce, Liberty, Justice, and Columbia, but the others were removed following a 1934 earthquake. Columbia and the other missing statues were replaced on top of the building when it was renovated in 1989.
The building's surface is elaborately carved from the gray Utah Kyune sandstone it's made of. To the right of the entrance on the south side is the face of Father DeSmet, a Jesuit priest who preached to Native Americans and had contact with the Latter-day Saints before and after they traveled to Utah. To the left is the Spanish conquistador García López de Cárdenas who explored Southern Utah by 1540. Above the granite columns on the east and west sides of the building are carvings of pioneer women. Between the portal and balcony are portraits of Chief Joseph and Chief Wakara and Jim Bridger. Above the west entrance left-to-right are R. N. Baskin, mayor of Salt Lake City in 1892-1895, Jedediah M. Grant, Salt Lake's first mayor in 1851-1857, and Jacob B. Blair Salt Lake County's probate judge in 1892-1895. The north side features a depiction of the Domínguez–Escalante expedition which entered Utah in 1776 and named many of the state's physical features. Gargoyles, eagles, sea monsters, beehives, Masonic icons, suns, and other symbols dot the building's rich exterior.
Walter Baird and Oswald Lendi carved most of the building's features. Lendi, a French sculptor, whimsically carved his face between the words "City" and "Hall" above the north entrance.
The building has five floors and over one hundred rooms. Onyx lines the hall of each lavishly decorated floor. The third floor houses the mayor's office in the south wing and the city council chambers in the north. The council meeting room features an 1865 life-sized portrait of Brigham Young. Portraits of the city's past mayors up to and including Ross "Rocky" Anderson line the corridor between these offices. The third floor features an exhibit commemorating the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City.
Around the time of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, and for a limited time, an electric display depicting the Olympic rings was allowed to be displayed on four sides of the central tower of the City and County building. The Olympic display has since been removed from the building.
The City-County Building sits between State Street, Second East, Fourth South, and Fifth South in Salt Lake City, a block called "Washington Square." Named for George Washington, the block is the site of the original 1847 Mormon pioneers' camp in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which had a population of 1,257,936 at the 2020 census. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,746,164 (as of 2021 estimates), making it the 22nd largest in the nation. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, it is the 117th most populous city in the United States. It is also the central core of the larger of only two major urban areas located within the Great Basin (the other being Reno, Nevada).
Salt Lake City was founded on July 24, 1847, by early pioneer settlers led by Brigham Young who were seeking to escape persecution they had experienced while living farther east. The Mormon pioneers, as they would come to be known, entered a semi-arid valley and immediately began planning and building an extensive irrigation network which could feed the population and foster future growth. Salt Lake City's street grid system is based on a standard compass grid plan, with the southeast corner of Temple Square (the area containing the Salt Lake Temple in downtown Salt Lake City) serving as the origin of the Salt Lake meridian. Owing to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City. In 1868, the word "Great" was dropped from the city's name. Immigration of international members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the West". It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913. Two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, now intersect in the city. The city also has a belt route, I-215.
Salt Lake City has developed a strong tourist industry based primarily on skiing, outdoor recreation, and religious tourism. It hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and is a candidate city for the 2030 Winter Olympics. It is known for its politically liberal culture, which stands in contrast with most of the rest of the state's highly conservative leanings. It is home to a significant LGBT community and hosts the annual Utah Pride Festival. It is the industrial banking center of the United States. Salt Lake City and the surrounding area are also the location of several institutions of higher education including the state's flagship research school, the University of Utah.
Sustained drought in Utah has recently strained Salt Lake City's water security, caused the Great Salt Lake level to drop to record low levels, and has impacted the local and state economy. The receding lake has exposed arsenic which may become airborne, exposing area residents to poisonous dust. The city is also under threat of major earthquake damage amplified by two offshoots of the nearby Wasatch Fault that join underneath the downtown area.
Originally, the Salt Lake Valley was inhabited by the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute Native American tribes. At the time of the founding of Salt Lake City the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone, who had their seasonal camps along streams within the valley and in adjacent valleys. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the Great Salt Lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water". The land was treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone was ever recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States. Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Spanish Franciscan missionary is considered the first European explorer in the area in 1776, but only came as far north as Utah valley (Provo), some 60 miles south of the Salt Lake City area. The first US visitor to see the Salt Lake area was Jim Bridger in 1824. U.S. Army officer John C. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845. The Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley a year before the Mormon pioneers. This group had spent weeks traversing difficult terrain and brush, cutting a road through the Wasatch Mountains, coming through Emigration canyon into the Salt Lake Valley on August 12, 1846. This same path would be used by the vanguard company of Mormon pioneers, and for many years after that by those following them to Salt Lake.
On July 24, 1847, 143 men, three women and two children founded Great Salt Lake City several miles to the east of the Great Salt Lake, nestled in the northernmost reaches of the Salt Lake Valley. The first two in this company to enter the Salt Lake valley were Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow. These members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church") sought to establish an autonomous religious community and were the first people of European descent to permanently settle in the area now known as Utah. Thousands of Mormon pioneers would arrive in Salt Lake in the coming months and years.
Brigham Young led the Saints west after the death of Joseph Smith. Upon arrival to the Salt Lake valley, Young had a vision by saying, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." (This is commonly shortened to, "This is the place"). There is a state park in Salt Lake City known as This Is The Place Heritage Park commemorating the spot where Young made the famous statement.
Settlers buried thirty-six Native Americans in one grave after an outbreak of measles occurred during the winter of 1847.
Salt Lake City was originally settled by Latter-day Saint Pioneers to be the New Zion according to church President and leader Brigham Young. Young originally governed both the territory and church by a High council which enacted the original municipal orders in 1848. This system was later replaced with a city council and mayor style government.
After a very difficult winter and a miraculous crop retrieval, in which Pioneers reported to have been saved from cricket infestation by seagulls (see Miracle of the Gulls), the "Desert Blossomed as the Rose" in the Salt Lake Valley. Early Pioneers survived by maintaining a very tight-knit community. Under Young's leadership Pioneers worked out a system of communal crop sharing within the various ward houses established throughout the Salt Lake Valley.
The California Gold Rush brought many people through the city on their way to seek fortunes. Salt Lake, which was at the cross-roads of the westward trek, became a vital trading point for speculators and prospectors traveling through. They came with goods from the East, such as clothing and other manufactured items, trading with the local farmers for fresh livestock and crops.
The Congress organized the Utah Territory out of the "State of Deseret" in 1850, and a few months later on January 6, 1851, the city was formally organized as "The City of the Great Salt Lake". Originally, Fillmore, Utah was the territorial capital, but in 1856 it was moved to Salt Lake City, where it has stayed ever since.
In 1855 Congress directed the President of the United States to appoint a surveyor general for Utah Territory, and to cause that the lands of that territory should be surveyed preparatory to bringing them on the market. Certain sections were to be reserved for the benefit of schools and a university in the territory. The surveyor general arrived in Utah in July of the same year to begin surveying. He established the initial point for his survey (base line and meridian) at the southeast corner of the Temple Block, and from there extended that survey over 2 million acres. Because of numerous conflicts between the surveyor and the territorial government the first surveyor general abandoned his post in 1857. His successors recommended that no additional land be surveyed. Conflict between the federal and territorial governments kept the issue on hold until 1868, and in the meantime, large sections of the territory were transferred to neighboring territories and states. Again in 1868, Congress directed the President to appoint a surveyor general in the Utah Territory, to establish a land office in Salt Lake City, and to extend the federal land laws over the same. The land office opened 9 March 1869.
In 1857, when the Mormon practice of polygamy came to national awareness, President James Buchanan responded to public outcry by sending an army of 2500 soldiers, called the Utah Expedition, to investigate the LDS Church and install a non-LDS governor to replace Brigham Young. In response, Brigham Young imposed martial law, sending the Utah militia to harass the soldiers, a conflict called the Utah War. Young eventually surrendered to federal control when the new territorial governor, Alfred Cumming, arrived in Salt Lake City on April 12, 1858. Most troops pulled out at the beginning of the American Civil War.
In order to secure the road to California during the Civil War, more troops arrived under the command of Colonel Patrick Edward Connor in 1862. They settled in the Fort Douglas area east of the city. Thoroughly anti-LDS, Connor viewed the people with disdain, calling them, "a community of traitors, murderers, fanatics, and whores." To dilute their influence he worked with non-LDS business and bank owners, and also encouraged mining. In 1863 some of his troops discovered rich veins of gold and silver in the Wasatch Mountains.
In 1866, Thomas Coleman, a Black Mormon man, was murdered, and his body was left on Capitol Hill with an anti-miscegenation warning attached to his body. In 1883, Sam Joe Harvey, another Black man, was lynched for allegedly shooting a police officer, and his body was dragged down State Street.
In 1868 Brigham Young founded the Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) as a way to ward off dependency on outside goods and arguably to hinder ex-LDS retailers. Although ZCMI is sometimes credited with being the nation's first department store, a decade earlier New York City's "Marble Palace" and Macy's vied for that title.
Change was inevitable. The world started to come to Salt Lake City in 1869 with the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, north of the city. By 1870 Salt Lake had been linked to it via the Utah Central Rail Road. People began to pour into Salt Lake seeking opportunities in mining and other industries.
City government was dominated by the People's Party until 1890. The non-national People's Party was an LDS-controlled political organization, and each of the early mayors of Salt Lake City was LDS. Sparks often flew between LDS city government and non-LDS federal authorities stationed just outside Salt Lake. A dramatic example occurred in 1874 when city police were arrested by US Marshals, who took control of the national election being held in Salt Lake City. Mayor Daniel H. Wells, a member of the LDS Church First Presidency, declared martial law from the balcony of the Old Salt Lake City Hall. Federal troops arrested the mayor, but he was soon released.
In the 1880s, the anti-polygamy Edmunds-Tucker Act systematically denied many prominent LDS Church members the right to vote or hold office. Polygamists were detained in a Federal prison just outside Salt Lake in the Sugar House area. Consequentially, the non-LDS Liberal Party took control of City government in the 1890 election. Three years later the Liberal Party and People's Party dissolved into national parties anticipating Utah statehood, but both LDS and non-LDS leaders would govern Salt Lake City from that point onward.
The city became Utah's state capital on January 4, 1896, when Utah entered the union upon President Grover Cleveland's decree after the LDS Church agreed to ban polygamy in 1890.
In 1907, Salt Lake City was home to Industrial Workers of the World Industrial Union No. 202.
The city adopted a non-partisan city council in 1911. As LDS/non-LDS tensions eased people began to work together for the common good, improving roads, utilities and public healthcare.
The Great Depression hit Salt Lake City especially hard. At its peak, the unemployment rate reached 61,500 people, about 36%. The annual per capita income in 1932 was $276, half of what it was in 1929, $537 annually. Jobs were scarce. Although boosted by federal New Deal programs as well as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the economy did not fully recover until World War II.
After suffering through the depression Salt Lake's economy was boosted during World War II due to the influx of defense industries to the Wasatch Front. Demands for raw materials increased Utah's mining industry, and several military installations such as Fort Douglas and Hill Air Force Base were added.
After the Second World War, Salt Lake City grew rapidly. It began to suffer some of the same problems other cities face. Urban sprawl became a growing problem due to a combination of rapid growth and an abundance of available land. Military and aerospace also became dominant industries.
Salt Lake began its bid for the Winter Olympics as early as the 1930s, when the Utah Ski Club tried to bring the games to the valley. At the time, however, the Summer Olympic host city had the option of hosting the winter games, and all attempts failed. Salt Lake tried again throughout the decades until 1995, when the International Olympic Committee announced Salt Lake City as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
After 132 years in business, ZCMI was sold to the May Department Stores Company in 1999. Remaining ZCMI stores, including one in downtown Salt Lake City, were converted into Meier & Frank stores, although the facade still reads "1868 ZCMI 1999".
In April 1999, the Salt Lake City council voted 5 to 2 along LDS membership lines to sell to the LDS Church the segment of Main Street that lay between Temple Square and the LDS Church office buildings for $8.1 million. The Church planned to build a large plaza on the land as well as a parking structure below. There was much public outcry about the sale of public lands to a private organization, but a Church representative assured residents that the plaza would be a "little bit of Paris", a characterization that would be used against the LDS Church later. Concerns also lay in plans to ban such activities as demonstrations, skateboarding, sunbathing, smoking, and other activities it considered "vulgar". The Utah ACLU believed that these restrictions were incompatible with the pedestrian easement that the city retained over the plaza. ACLU attorneys claimed this made the plaza into a public free speech forum. Nonetheless, the property was sold to become the Main Street Plaza. After the Utah District Court ruled against the ACLU, they were vindicated by the 10th Circuit Court in the Fall of 2002. Scrambling to satisfy residents, Rocky Anderson offered a plan for "time and place" restrictions on speech as suggested by the court. However, the LDS Church held firm to get the easement rescinded. Although The Salt Lake Tribune backed the mayor's initial plan, the city council disliked it. In its place, Anderson offered to waive the easement in exchange for west side property from the LDS Church to build a community and a commitment of donations for it. All parties agreed to the arrangement, and the Main Street Plaza is now wholly owned by the LDS Church. Some suppose Anderson's compromise was an effort to strengthen his 2003 re-election campaign among Latter-day Saints and west side residents. Both groups tended to have less favorable impressions of the former mayor.
The games opened with the 1980 US hockey team lighting the torch and President George W. Bush officially opening the games at the Rice-Eccles Stadium set designed by Seven Nielsen. Closing ceremonies were also held at that venue.
Controversy erupted when in the first week the pairs figure skating competition resulted in the French judge's scores being thrown out and the Canadian team of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier being awarded a second gold medal. Athletes in short-track speed skating and cross-country skiing were disqualified for various reasons as well (including doping), leading Russia and South Korea to file protests and threaten to withdraw from competition.
Heightened fear of terrorism following the September 11 attacks turned out to be unfounded, and the games proved safe.
The 2002 games ended with a dazzling closing ceremony, including bands such as Bon Jovi and KISS (who shared the stage with figure skater Katarina Witt).
Most of the 2,500 athletes paraded into Rice-Eccles Stadium, watching from the stands. Bobsledding bronze medalist Brian Shimer carried the American flag. Russia and South Korean both threatened to boycott the ceremony to protest what they felt was unfair judging, but showed up anyway.
Many improvements were made to the area's infrastructure. $1.59 billion were spent on highway improvements, including improvements of Interstate 15 through the city and new interchanges near Park City. A light rail system was constructed from downtown to the suburb of Sandy and later to the University of Utah.
The Athlete's Village is now student housing at the University of Utah. Many venues in and around the city still stand even after the games.
Many hotels, motels and restaurants were built for the games and still exist today.
Salt Lake City still somewhat struggles with its identity, trying to strike a balance between capitol of a major religion and modern secular metropolis. While founded by Mormons, the city is increasingly dominated by non-members, with its LDS population falling steeply and steadily since the 1990s. Considerable changes are being made to alter the downtown in adjustment to the phenomenal growth of the area. In the early 2010s, the LDS Church purchased the Crossroads and ZCMI malls and rebuilt them into the City Creek Center, which is connected by walkways, and with new high density residential and commercial buildings nearby. The commuter rail FrontRunner is in place along the northern Wasatch Front, with extensions planned for the southern portion of the region. Light rail extensions to the Trax system are ongoing to provide service to the western and southern parts of the valley, as well as to Salt Lake City International Airport. The controversial Legacy Highway has one segment completed (the Legacy Parkway), with the construction of the early phase of the next segment (the Mountain View Corridor) completed through the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.
Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo, and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region's difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah's earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States via the Mormon Trail. Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th.
People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. A 2023 paper challenged this perception (claiming only 42% of Utahns are Mormons) however most statistics still show a majority of Utah residents belong to the LDS church; estimates from the LDS church suggests 60.68% of Utah's population belongs to the church whilst some sources put the number as high as 68%. The paper replied that membership count done by the LDS Church is too high for several reasons. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.
Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing, and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.
The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.
Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of humans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed, burro weed and sedge. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:
use of the bow and arrow while hunting,
building pithouse shelters,
growing maize and probably beans and squash,
building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,
creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,
producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyphs and pictographs.
The ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists debate when this distinct culture emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kivas, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.
These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.
In about 1200, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes in the northwest, the Utes in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.
In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the Díne or Navajo, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.
Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Paiute and the Navajo.
The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola.
A group led by two Spanish Catholic priests—sometimes called the Domínguez–Escalante expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. All of what is now Utah was claimed by the Spanish Empire from the 1500s to 1821 as part of New Spain (later as the province Alta California); and subsequently claimed by Mexico from 1821 to 1848. However, Spain and Mexico had little permanent presence in, or control of, the region.
Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.
Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." A 1945 Supreme Court decision found that the land had been treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone had been recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.
Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.
Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. In 1849, Tooele and Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute chief Wakara, settlers moved into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.
The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County, near present-day Cedar City. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah, Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California, as well as communities in southern Arizona.
Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.
Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.
In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.
The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade, as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war. In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.
Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the federal government intensified after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.
After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.
As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.
Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.
Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph, between Carson City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.
Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.
Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.
On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.
Main article: Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century
During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.
The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.
Though less numerous than other intermountain states at the time, several lynching murders for alleged misdeeds occurred in Utah territory at the hand of vigilantes. Those documented include the following, with their ethnicity or national origin noted in parentheses if it was provided in the source:
William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859
Thomas Coleman (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1866
3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868
A Black man in Uintah, 1869
Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873
Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874
Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880
William Harvey (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1883
John Murphy in Park City, 1883
George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884
Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886
Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925
Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of mass murder of Native American children, women, and men by White settlers including the Battle Creek massacre (1849), Provo River Massacre (1850), Nephi massacre (1853), and Circleville Massacre (1866).
Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.
Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.
During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, Wasatch, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.
In 2012, the State of Utah passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of federal land in the state from the federal government, based on language in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of education, negotiation, legislation, and if necessary, litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.
Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.
Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.
As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several Liberty Ships were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young, USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.
One of the sectors of the beachhead of Normandy Landings was codenamed Utah Beach, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by United States Army troops.
It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.