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The Secret City that began the Atomic Age

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Oak Ridge Tennessee, the Secret City  that began the Atomic Age.  By Victor K. Ray Proofs by Doorene Durant This week, I visited the American Museum of Science and Energy , a Smithsonian Affiliate in Oak Ridge. The American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) was originally named the American Museum of Atomic Energy. AMSE has been considered one of the top tourist attractions in the Knoxville area, and it attracts about 65,000 visitors per year. It has a lot of information about the Manhattan Project and the development of nuclear energy.  While Tennessee has long been known for its Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Grass, country singers , and famous politicians, American’s secret city in Oak Ridge was one of the sites of the most critical and significant events in history. In Oak Ridge, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park now preserves the history of the development of the atomic bomb. Oakridge is just a short distance east of Knoxville.               Thir
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Hillsboro, County Seat, Mining Town, Historically Designated or Ghost Town?

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It is hard to put an exact label on Hillsboro. It has been the home of Spaniards, Indians, cowboys, ranchers, miners, prostitutes, madams, artists, writers, retirees, military, teachers, children, lawyers, and outlaws. Most are now gone but a few remain. Some tourists visit as they travel the Geronomo Scenic Byway through the area. Whatever you want to call it now, ghost town, artist colony, retirement village, it is a town that continues to hang on with quiet charm and grace. It is 160 miles south of Albuquerque and was founded in 1877, following the discovery of gold. Later, huge amounts of silver and copper were discovered, mined, and milled. What was once a large volcano, now four miles wide, was the source of much of the gold. The community was the county seat of Sierra County from 1884 until 1936 when Hot Springs (now called Truth or Consequences) became the county seat. By 1880, the town had 4 companies of soldiers and 400 miners, but by 1907 the population soon grew
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Wintering in Texas - Huh

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WINTERING  IN TEXAS  Huh? M ost people from my home state of Colorado and my new base camp in Montana wouldn't necessarily think of Texas as a place to visit in the winter to escape the cold. And Texas can have its cold days too when Canadian fronts blow south. This February and March, I did experience some very mild weather as I visited West Texas. I am beginning to think of myself as a piasano. It's a Spanish nickname for “greater roadrunner” but literally means countryman or peasant. Specifically, I visited Ft. Davis, Big Bend National Park and North St. Padre National Seashore Corpus Christi and Indianola so far. I took hikes in all these places wearing shorts and a t-shirt most days. It doesn't get much more pleasant than sitting in a lawn chair, reading a book, listening to the gulls and crash of the waves all the while coloring up the winter white pasty skin. I spent about three months in Southern New Mexico as I have written about earlier, namely in and
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Mesilla New Mexico is enchanting history!

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On my first visit to this area of New Mexico, I discovered the wonderful old village of Mesilla. It's old world charm and history had made it one of my favorite places to visit here. Basilica of San Albino, on the Mesilla plaza Mesilla in 1854 City Plaza The village of Mesilla was incorporated in 1848, after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo moved the U.S.-Mexico border south of the village of Doña Ana, placing it in the United States. A small group of citizens, unhappy at being part of the United States, decided to move south of the border. They settled in Mesilla at this time. By 1850, Mesilla was an established colony. By this time, its people were under constant threat of attack from the Apache. By 1851, the attacks caused the United States to take action to protect its people just to the north of the border, in the Mesilla Valley . They did this by creating Fort Fillmore. As a result of the fort, the United States declared the Mesilla Valley region part of the United
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Fall 2010 Travels

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Billy the Kid and Sheriff Garrett roamed these parts many years ago. And just down the road from here is the famous Lincoln County, New Mexico. Lincoln County is known for it's Lincoln County Wars. This evening, as I a prepare a very belated posting of my meanderings, I am watching the sun set over the mountains just west of this BLM campground called Valley of Fires Recreation Area. The campground is adjacent to El Malpais, Spanish for Bad Lands. The lava in this area covers an area 125 miles wide and more than 160 feet deep. It came up from the ground. Another El Malpais area that I visited a couple of days ago was south of Grants and resulted from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Taylor. These lava flows made it difficult for the Spanish and the US Army because they could not get their wagons and canons through the area. The sharp material would tear the soles of boots to shreds and badly injure the horses. Coronado and his men had to find ways around these areas as a result.
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Santa Fe Trail, El Camino Real, Montana, Arizona &Washington State

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( Pictured is the home of Thomas & Kim Ray's hom e on Fir Island [Mt. Vernon] Author currently visiting and house sitting here, May 2010.) I started to update my blog in March but got side tracked due to computer problems. I wound up purchasing another so now a couple of months later I am back after it. It has been over a year since my last posting and I have traveled many miles from the Mexican Border to Northern Montana and Washington State. I am really into the history of our country and I would like to share and some historical points I visited. I hope to post another blog to cover many more places that I visited during the past fifteen months but didn't have time to cover here. As this update is quiet lengthy, I have put places visited in bold so if you want to scan my writings here, you pick out places that might interest you. Also, some of the things that I copied from Wikipedia Dictionary has some words linked if you want more detailed information. B
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