Fighting, healing and music.

We passed Cedar Springs and stopped in El Dorado Springs, where the Osage Tribe used to bring their sick to heal in the mineral springs. When Europeans settled the area, the Osage left for their own safety, and the springs … Read More

Despite Sheridan, Bison making comeback

General Philip Sheridan’s statue stands on the New York state capitol grounds. Why do we honor this ruthless killer? Missouri’s Highway 13 cuts through a rogue’s gallery of America’s most brazen killers. The most ruthless killer in this area was … Read More

Mass Grave in Jefferson City

This monument stands atop a mass grave in the Jefferson City National Cemetery. Beneath are buried the 147 Civil War Union soldiers killed responding to the Centralia Massacre. “On September 27, 1864, Bloody Bill Anderson’s guerilla gang—including a young recruit … Read More

Wilderness

Downriver, I found a suitable gravel bar where I beached my canoe and set up camp deep in the Irish Wilderness. I sat alone by the campfire and thought about the strange evolution of this area: wilderness, then settled and … Read More