April Posts a Ship

April is doing a nice job of building one post on another. Special question with credit abailable until 7:00 PM Tuesday: what is her topic?!

Final Project Instructions and Example

(Image from Keith's final project)

Frontier Washingtonians: Remember your final projects are due to me by email and/or internet by Friday, August 14, at 5:00. You can present them on line in a blog or series of blogs, a web site, or even a Microsoft Word document or documents that you email to me.

As an example of one way to present these posts, go to Keith's blog and note how he uses the blog as a "portal" to four aspects of his project. The main thing is that the reader, including me, be able to access your project easily.

Remember, your project must include these elements: narrative by you with references to your sources, map(s), image(s), timeline, and bibliography. If you went to the National Archives, you can impress me by including material from your visit.

Hello, Are You There?! (Again)

The first "Hello, Are You There" quiz produced two correct answers, one very timely (by five minutes) for a full five points, and the other toward the end of "regulation" for one point.

Here's a new quiz with a somewhat more lenient time scale. First the question, "What was Vancouver's first name." (There is, of course, only ONE Vancouver whom we have studied!)

Email me the answer -- don't post it here!

Answer by midnight July 30 = 5 points; midnight by July 31 = 3 points; midnight by August 1 = 1point.

Go....

Hello, Are You There?!

I am hoping that everyone in History 300 will be checking into the "Home Blog" (you are there now) very, very regularly. And so I'm providing this little opportunity to prove that you are being attentive. Email me with an answer to this question: if you have two gold nuggets and someone gives you two more gold nuggets, how many gold nuggets do you have?

If you email me with an answer Tuesday night before midnight, you will get five bonus points.

By Noon Wednesday = three points

By Midnight Wednesday = one point

One, two, three..... GO!

Keith's Exemplary Blog: First Post Office

I'd provide a caption and source note, but, ahem, the blog author did not give us one!

(August 2: By the way, Keith quickly corrected this -- check out his blog!)

Frontier Washingtonians: As we close in on the deadline for your course projects, I am going to begin to feature blogs with my comments to call your attention to exemplary work -- what do I look for in 3.0 plus efforts? These will give you some samples. I'm beginning with Keith's recent post on "The Seattle Post Office – Long lines and terrible service since 1852." Have a look at Keith's lively blog.

Also note my comment: "Keith, there is a lot to like in this post: good writing, lots of good energy and humor, good use of images, good bibliographic references. and a nice set of links. All very good. At a couple of places, however, you leave your leader with insufficient information — something to avoid. (1) Let your reader know the identity and source of every image — missing for your old post office picture; (2) when you go to another site, let the reader know where you are going — I wasn’t sure where I was when I clicked on the bibliography link. I’m going to “feature” your post and my comment on my course home blog — take that, even with the caveats, as a compliment!

Exploring Port Blakely

Pin Indicates Our Blakely Harbor Anchorage Point

On July 20, 2009, Frontier Washington West undertook two explorations: Blakely Harbor and new technology. We motored across Puget Sound at midday, carefully eluding the Ferry Boats between Seattle and Winslow Harbor (on Bainbridge Island), and having a close look at Blakely Rock. Passing the rock at the entrance to the deep harbor, we were grateful for modern charts and a depth sounder -- no running aground for us on uncharted rocks.

We dropped an anchor at the head of the harbor and ate lunch, taking in the pleasant, calming surroundings. Then after lunch we went back in time to the Blakely Harbor of about 120 years ago, when the waters were full of sailing ships, loading lumber from the local sawmill -- the biggest in the world!

Our experiment in new technologies consisted of going on line while at anchor -- using Freedom VII's own wireless network -- and beginning work on a jointly-authored Google document about the History of Blakely Harbor. Subsequently, back in Cheney, after another safe crossing of Puget Sound, Phil Carter, Candice Helsing, and Bill Youngs are expanding the Blakely document as a prototype for the final projects of History 300 students.

Click here to see the Blakely Harbor web site.

Cataldo Timeline

1842 Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit, came to Coeur d'Alene to establish a mission. Father Nicholar Point and Brother Charles Huet arrived later that year.

1844 Their first mission, on the St. Joe River, was about 35 miles south of the current mission. It was later abandoned due to constant flooding at the location.

1850 1850 - Father Antonio Ravalli arrives from the temporarily abandoned Blackfeet mission and begins the design and construction of the Mission of the Sacred Heart, Cataldo.

1850-53 The Mission of the Sacred heart constructed by Jesuit missionaries and Indians

-- Father Antonio Ravalli arrived in Idaho 1850 -- architect for the mission

1877 Steamboat landing built near the mission. Passage to Lake Coeur d'Alene cost one dollar.

1906 Dams built on Spokane River affect the Coeur d'Alene River, ending steamboat travel to the mission

1962 Cataldo added to the National Register of Historic Places

1965 Old Mission State Park established