Posted on 10/07/2010 9:54:17 AM PDT by djf
Yes, I know. FDR loved kissing a** with Churchill so he sent the bulk of the weaponry to Europe and almost caused us to lose the war in the Pacific. It was touch and go at Guadalcanal. They didn’t even have WWI food to eat there, they had to eat captured Japanese rations because the frickin’ Navy sailed off with the Marines food, ammunition and replacement troops.
Government regulations. We once had an EPA auditor wanting us to put an expiration date on sand fercryinoutloud.
Great article.
They found the Bertrand when I was a little kid, growing up not very far from there...next to another cut off bend in the river known as Carter Lake, Iowa.
A few years later, my Dad took me and my brother and sister to see it after they had put the cargo on display, and it’s a trip I won’t forget.
By the way, you can’t get to the museum right now because of the Missouri River flooding.
I would totally love to see that museum.
I am always so impressed by 18th and 19th century things. Those folks were really creative, being able to build usefull things, and without the advanced materials and adhesives, etc. that we have today.
To be able to build or even conceive a mill at home to weave cloth, in my mind, that’s an incredible feat!
In many ways, they were vastly more skilled than most of us today.
A couple of things stick in my mind about that museum after all these years.
First, the incredible amount and variety of supplies that were on that steamship.
Second, the clothes and shoes were SOOOOO small! I asked about it, and they told me people were actually quite a bit smaller back then.
By the way, there is some footage from inside the museum in this clip, at about the two minute mark. It includes some shots of the cargo. “Walmart on the water” they call it. :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM4ZZAvmQYw
Funny how military necessity has shaped everyday needs through the years.
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