Since the mid-1700s, Native Americans, pioneers, farmers, and entrepreneurs have made their home in the fertile plains and valleys of the Mississippi River Bend. However, it wasn't until Standard Oil opened its first refinery in 1908 that the towns of Wood River, Roxana, South Roxana, and Hartford were established. Essentially communities of refinery workers and their families, the towns thrived for decades as an influx of refineries brought more work to the area. This collection of images hearkens back to a time when there were more taverns than churches in Wood River, company homes lined the streets of Roxana, and a shoe factory made its home in Hartford.
Portraits of white women and girls, many taken in Alton, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri, as well as Connecticut, Tennessee, and other locations. The photographs evoke questions about gender and race against a backdrop of racial violence, both historic and contemporary.
Life is perfect for fifteen-year-old Elinora Wolton?for the most part. Anxious by nature and resistant to the often painful metamorphosis of growing up, she is most content when she is able to avoid uncomfortable feelings and experiences. This proves easy enough to do living a secure, sheltered life at Kellandale, a quiet country estate that has been isolated from many of the world's problems. But in Kellandale Wood (Book One): The Way of the River, a tween fantasy/adventure set a hundred years ago in the country of Eldmoor, this estate also happens to sit on the edge of a vast forest. Known as Wyches Wood to some, it is a forest with a centuries-old reputation of being haunted. No one has dared to enter it for the last two hundred years, and Elinora and her precocious, easily bored younger sister Tillie have been strictly forbidden from going near it by their parents-a fact that drives Tillie mad.This all changes when they witness a man dropping a mysterious parcel into the river within their property. Despite Elinora's initial reluctance, Tillie-curious and relentlessly persistent-persuades Elinora to go searching for it with her, taking them deep into the woods. There they discover an abandoned puppy with an extraordinary ability, setting them off on a dangerous rescue mission.In order to help Henry find his canine family, Elinora is forced to confront her deepest fears as she, Tillie, and their allies are pitted against a greedy and unscrupulous showman. Over time, they unravel the circumstances surrounding his abandonment, discovering what links their family to the forest, and the forest to Henry's own traumatic past. Together, they set out to achieve what seems impossible, ultimately revealing the truth of the legendary enchanted woods and the mystic river that flows through it.
"The Thousand Islands' very name conjures up images of great natural beauty and nautical wonders. They are forested islands replete with storybook stone castles. Exquisite mahogany runabouts can be seen speeding across the placid surface of the mighty St. Lawrence. Names like Boldt, Bourne, Emery, Lyon, and Pullman are embedded in the Golden Age of the area, and it all comes to life in this pictorial history of the river. Images of America: Wooden Boats of the St. Lawrence River tells the story of the rich and powerful men who constructed castles and built classic wooden boats in the Thousand Islands. At the center of the story loom David and Charlie Lyon. A descendant of the Lyon family, David Kunz, tells this story through historical photographs. David is the great-great-nephew of Charles Potter Lyon and Helen Griffin Lyon. Bill Simpson, whose first visit to the Thousand Islands was in the fall of 1976, is a novelist and publisher of Simpson Books. The majority of the photographs in this book are from the Lyon Archives on Oak Island"--
Sun Valley and Ketchum are in Idaho's Wood River Valley, gateway to backcountry and wilderness areas. Settlers first arrived in the early 1880s, attracted by a silver rush. In 1883, the railroad connected the valley to the world beyond its borders and brought in outside capital. During the silver depression of the 1890s, mining was replaced by sheep raising, and the area later shipped more sheep than anywhere except Australia. In 1936, during the Great Depression, Union Pacific board chairman Averell Harriman built Sun Valley, the country's first destination ski resort, spending $2.5 million in two years ($45 million today). Sun Valley offered a lavish lifestyle, a luxurious lodge, Austrian ski instructors, and chairlifts invented by Union Pacific engineers. Known as America's St. Moritz, it was a magnet for beautiful people and serious skiers. It had a monopoly on grandeur for decades and influenced ski areas that developed later. Subsequent owners Bill Janss and the Holding family expanded and improved Sun Valley, making it one of the world's premier year-round resorts.
Follow local historian and “Ghost Lady” Kathi Kresol as she researches the spirits, curses, and curiosities from the Forest City’s shadowy past. Just beneath the glossy surface of Rockford’s rich heritage lies a dark history of tragedy, a troubled and turbulent past leaving scars that still resonate today. Geraldine Bourbon’s final struggle echoes throughout the farmhouse where her estranged husband pursued her with a pistol from room to room before gently laying her corpse on the bed. The sobs of society darling Carrie Spafford still keep vigil over the family plot of the cemetery where she sowed the heartbreak of her twilight years. From the vengeance of Chief Big Thunder to the Witch of McGregor Road, author Kathi Kresol shares the legends and lore of Rockford’s haunted history. Includes photos! “There are reasons why Kathi Kresol believes Rockford is so haunted. The tour guide said there are good ‘conductors’ for the supernatural in the city’s downtown area. These factors include being near a body of water, having limestone in the area and the area having a Native American influence.” —Beloit Daily News
