Synchronous Stratford

One of the local heroic figures is Aldo Leopold, whom I have mentioned in this blog before. A remarkable man who began as a Forest Service employee in 1909 and became a leading figure in the development of the science of ecology, he spent the last years of his life in this part of Wisconsin. My first acquaintance with him came from reading a book that Tom recommended to me when I was still in Chicago, A Sand County Almanac, which I read on the train to and from work each day. I little realized at the time how important he and the book were. I was just reading it to learn more about the part of Wisconsin where I was moving.

Recently I picked up a book about Leopold that showed up on the "New Books" shelf at the Reedsburg Library – Aldo Leopold's Odyssey: Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac, the published version of Julianne Lutz Newton's PhD dissertation in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. (Not too promising, huh?) It is interesting to read how his interests evolved from managing national forests in the southwest to an appreciation of the complexities of land management that included the role of game and other wildlife, grasses and so much else.

Rusty, you will be happy to know that he was an enthusiastic hunter and fisherman, and part of his motivation in all this was making sure that fish and game continued to flourish for the sake of future generations of hunters.

Part of the background of his story is the development of land usage in the country as a whole, and right now I am reading the section about the Dust Bowl era.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, there on page 154 but a photograph with the following caption:

One of the most catastrophic dust blizzards of the 1930s arose on April 14, 1935, which became known as "Black Sunday." It swept from Western Kansas and Oklahoma, approaching the small town of Stratford, Texas (pictured here).

When Ted and Cynthia moved to Stratford, I looked for information about it on the internet and for photographs. This picture was the only one I could find at that time. How weird to run across it in the middle of a book I am reading about someone connected to where I live.

There was another photograph of the storm hitting Stratford, taken on the same day, April 18, 1935:


I hope it's not as dark in Stratford these days!

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More synchronicities: Aldo Leopold was born in Burlington, Iowa -- which is where the Wisconsin legislature met after they met in Belmont, Wisconsin which Tom and I visited yesterday.

I have been thinking about a simple chair for Tom to build for my room, and when we were at Pendarvis, I saw benches that looked very much like what I had in mind. Turns out they are called Leopold benches -- because they were designed by Aldo Leopold.

Looking for local news on the internet this morning, I found a story about the appointment of a new pastor for the Catholic Church in Dickeyville where the Grotto is that we visited yesterday, too.