Monthly Archives: August 2017

141-Springfield, MN

Ancient petroglyphs in southwest Minnesota

In southwest Minnesota the prairies that cover much of the central U.S. start. Among the prairie grasses of this area there are outcroppings of a pinkish rock. Only the very tops of the rocks show, so the outcroppings are mostly flat rocks. There are outcroppings along a ridge for several miles, but in one area about 14 miles southwest of Springfield there is a large flat outcropping with native American petroglyphs that are carved or chipped into the rock.

About 100 years ago the land was owned by the Jeffers family. They were aware that there were some petroglyphs on the rock in their cattle field, and at some point they donated the land to the Minnesota Historical Society.

The MHS has protected the rockface and also the prairielands on the 120 acres surrounding the rock that they now own. They have re-naturalized the prairie and have identified over 130 types of plants on the land.

About 10 years ago they had a project to remove lichen from the rockface, and as they did this project they discovered that there are many, many more petroglyphs than previously thought. There are approximately 5,000 carvings on the area that they have removed lichen from. They also dug under the thin layer of soil in a small part of the rockface and found that it also contains more carvings, so it’s unknown how many there may actually be.

The carvings are not easy to see. They are simply very shallow chiselled areas of the rockface to depict animals, people, and other symbols that were important to the peope living here through the past 10,000-13,000 years. This is much, much older than any of the dwellings or petroglyphs we saw last summer in the southwest!

Native American people still cover to the rockface and consider it sacred. There are small sections where visitors can walk on the rockface; they are roped off so people don’t walk all over it and mess up the carvings or show disrespect for this sacred place. Tour guides do walk off the roped area, but they remove their shoes and walk in socks or barefoot.

While you can walk the area without a tour guide, I’m glad we did have a tour guide because the carvings are not easy to see. He knew where several were and had a spray bottle of distilled water to wet the carvings which made them easier to see.

Here are some pictures we took:

139-Chippewa Falls, WI

Throughout Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota we saw two crops everywhere

Driving through Michigan and Wisconsin we noticed that there are two major cash crops – corn and soybeans.  Now in Minnesota we’re continuing to see these two crops.

Mile after mile we’ll see fields of these crops.  The corn is getting tall now (end of July) and the soybeans are still low to the ground but are filling out.

This is definitely an agricultural area!  Here’s a picture:

138-Madison, WI

Taliesan East – Frank Lloyd Wright’s principal home for much of his life

While in Wiscons in we stayed near Spring Green and visited Taliesan East – the primary home of Frank Lloyd Wright. This is the area where FLW grew up and he had lots of family around this area.

The land that Taliesan is on was a working farm for FLW. He built his house on the “brow of a hill” which is what Taliesan means in Welch. That means it wasn’t built right at the top of the hill, but just down from the top, so that it fit in with the surroundings as many of his houses did.

This is a beautiful house, with gardens, great views and rooms that are in the style that FLW used in lots of his homes, transition areas such as the foyer and hallways are narrow and with low ceilings, and then when you enter into one of the rooms it feels more expansive with high ceilings, windows etc.

The house burned down twice and was rebuilt. The first time it burned it was a real tragedy. FLW was in Chicago on business, but one of the farmhands went berserk and set the house on fire and then sat near the one door he left unlocked and killed people as they fled the fire. FLW’s partner (they weren’t married) and his two children were killed as were some guests and farmhands.

The house was rebuilt and then a guest accidently set it on fire with a cigar. Much of it burned, but it was rebuilt again. This time when it was rebuilt he redesigned the private rooms to fit the needs of his wife and small daughter. The daughter had the whole third story (just a couple of rooms) and each of the rooms had a balcony looking into the parents area. One balcony looked into the master bedroom which I consider a bit strange. Another looked into the informal living room.

The house did not have any of the leaded windows that are so famous in FLW homes. The reason for this is that he felt decorative windows were for city homes, to provide some privacy while still letting in lots of light and views. Country homes didn’t need that feature.

FLW lived here for much of his later years, spending summers in Taliesan East and winters in Taliesan West. He ran his School of Architecture out of both places, with the students travelling with his family to each home as the season dictated.

An interesting feature of this house is that one wing was for livestock and workrooms. But, the roofline and building material matched that in the rest of the house. So, he had the fanciest pigpen around!

The house was also “reversed” when more people started using autos instead of carriages. For carriages he had a fairly steep drive up to a porte cochere on the west side of the house. It wasn’t suitable for autos though, so he had a driveway built on the north side of the house and built an entrance and foyer there.

He also added a dam to a stream that flowed near the house and put in a small hydro-electric plant to generate electricity for the house. The house was powered by that plant until power lines came to the area, and when they did he fought with the officials and was successful in getting the power lines buried so they wouldn’t diminish his view. He was successful here, but wasn’t in his Taliesan West house where the huge power lines are close to his property. At Taliesan West he remodeled the house so that most of the private rooms were on the opposite side of the house so the views would be unobstructed.

He lived here (during summers) until he died and his wife continued living here until her death many years later. A conservative has been restoring the house and furnishings and doing the tours for several years.

Here are pictures we took:

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