Some More on MG William J. Snow-- Part 2: All Sorts of Field Artillery Positions

In 1910, he played a key role in organizing the United States Field Artillery Association; he became its first Secretary and the first editor of the Field Artillery Journal.

In 1910, Snow was assigned to the Militia Bureau as senior inspector and instructor of National Guard artillery units.  Promoted to major in 1911 and from 1911-1914 commanded  2nd Battalion, 3rd Field  Artillery at Fort Myer, Virginia.

In January 1915, he was assigned to 2nd Field Artillery (Mountain) at Camp Stotsenburg, Philippines. and in June 1916, was  assigned command of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.  Then promoted to lieutenant colonel in June and colonel in July.

On April 1917, the same month the United States entered World War I, he was assigned to command the 4th Field Artillery, which he led during training at Fort Bliss, Texas, and at a temporary camp at Syracuse, New York.

--Cooter

One Man's Travels on the Erie Canal in 1836-- Part 1: A Journal

From the July 23, 2017, Chicago Tribune by Stephanie Reynolds.

As we mark the 200th anniversary of the beginning of construction on the famous Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, a huge step in American transportation and quite an undertaking without the equipment we have today, here is a look back.

It was 1836, the same year as the Battle of the Alamo in Texas, David Sprague Crandall left his hometown in Lockport, N.Y., to travel on the Erie Canal and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers all the way to Galveston, , Texas.

He took paddle-wheel steamers  and slow-poke line boats pulled by mules on a tow path.  Along the way, he encountered an alligator, a horse race that pitted Tennessee against Kentucky and President Andrew Jackson.

Fortunately for us, he kept a journal of his trip for his 9-year-old grandson, George Lee Thurston II.

Crandall was a journalist and eventually became the owner of the Lockport Courier.  But, on August 8, 1836, he boarded a "shovel-nosed line boat" that was propelled by two mules and a ragged boy."  He was in poor health and going west to seek a change of climate.

he was heading west to Buffalo, NY, at the western end of the canal, at a speed somewhat slower than a person walking.

But, at least he wasn't doing the walking.

--DaCoot