Time travel Tuesday. This is not located in my neck of the woods, but it's not too far from my old stomping ground. I'd love to find this place. From "The Indians of Greater New York and the Lower Hudson, Volumes 3-4", edited by Clark Wissler:
"As already stated Horsestable Rock is by far the largest rock-shelter for a radius of many miles. Its roof inclines backward, showing along its outermost edge an elevation above the floor of from nine to twelve feet. As it does not slant all the way down, but joins the vertical back wall at an average height of four feet above the floor, one can stand upright in nearly all parts of the shelter. The covered space has a frontage of seventy feet and a uniform width of fifteen feet. At the extreme right there is an additional protection in the shape of a protruding rock with adjoining embankment. Near the extreme left water trickles through a crevice on the inner wall, collecting in a natural basin which is always filled, except during periods of great drouth. The floor slopes in a gentle curve from either side towards the centre, the depression not exceeding three feet. Within this hollow space, which, indeed, appeared almost level, there were found deposited two boulders of about equal size and weighing at least two thousand pounds each. They were placed close together so as to form an acute angle and this position suggested at once the site of a fireplace, a supposition borne out afterwards by the remains there discovered. Apart from its great size, Horsestable Rock is remarkable, in that it can draw on a threefold water supply. First, there is the swamp in front; second, the water oozing through fissures on the inner wall of the shelter; and last, a spring at the head of swamp north of the rock and less than a hundred meters distant. While the first-named sources generally dry up during midsummer, the spring is always filled with an abundance of ice-cold water."
Link to the book on Google books is here on page 161.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Meridianal Lines
From "Bulletin of the New York State Museum", Issues 32-34:
"'A boundary line would seem at first to be a difficult problem in Indian geography. But a peculiar custom of our predecessors has divested this subject of much of its embarrassment, and enabled us to ascertain with considerable certainty the territorial limits of the nations of the league. The Iroquois rejected all natural boundaries, and substituted meridianal lines. This appears to have resulted from the custom of establishing themselves upon both banks of the streams upon which they resided. . . Inland lakes were never divided by a boundary line; but the line itself was so deflected, that the entire circuit of each lake might be possessed by a single nation. The natural limits which rivers and lakes might furnish having been thus disregarded, and straight lines substituted, the inquiry is freed from some of its difficulties.'" [emphasis added]
Link to the Google book is here: Bulletin of the New York State Museum, February, 1900
"'A boundary line would seem at first to be a difficult problem in Indian geography. But a peculiar custom of our predecessors has divested this subject of much of its embarrassment, and enabled us to ascertain with considerable certainty the territorial limits of the nations of the league. The Iroquois rejected all natural boundaries, and substituted meridianal lines. This appears to have resulted from the custom of establishing themselves upon both banks of the streams upon which they resided. . . Inland lakes were never divided by a boundary line; but the line itself was so deflected, that the entire circuit of each lake might be possessed by a single nation. The natural limits which rivers and lakes might furnish having been thus disregarded, and straight lines substituted, the inquiry is freed from some of its difficulties.'" [emphasis added]
Link to the Google book is here: Bulletin of the New York State Museum, February, 1900
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Stone U
The Stone U is down the hill, where the terrain slopes gradually compared to the other spots I've posted about near Snell. Here is the U:
This is the view while sitting in the U:
Here is the view looking off to the right from the opening. There is, what appears to be, a standing stone in the near distance. I'll post a better shot of that little rock in the foreground later. Sorry for the blurry photo:
Here is a close up of that apparent standing stone:
Then, this shot is the complete scene...standing stone, large rock next to that, and Stone U in the background, inside the red box I added for highlight:
Going back to the Stone U, the small rock to the right of the half meter stick caught my eye. I'm not saying that this was placed intentionally, but it raised my suspicion enough to take this picture. This shot is looking across the opening of the U:
Finally, this is just for viewing pleasure. It is the start of the first stone wall I found on this hike. I thought this cropped image looked good with the pines framing the wall:
This is the view while sitting in the U:
Here is the view looking off to the right from the opening. There is, what appears to be, a standing stone in the near distance. I'll post a better shot of that little rock in the foreground later. Sorry for the blurry photo:
Here is a close up of that apparent standing stone:
Then, this shot is the complete scene...standing stone, large rock next to that, and Stone U in the background, inside the red box I added for highlight:
Going back to the Stone U, the small rock to the right of the half meter stick caught my eye. I'm not saying that this was placed intentionally, but it raised my suspicion enough to take this picture. This shot is looking across the opening of the U:
Finally, this is just for viewing pleasure. It is the start of the first stone wall I found on this hike. I thought this cropped image looked good with the pines framing the wall:
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Stone piles at Snell
Leaving the high stone wall and walking further uphill, I encountered one more low stone wall before reaching the summit. This one starts (or maybe this is the end) on top of an outcrop. You might have to click on the image to see the start of the row between the two large ash trees, center and left:
Here is what it looks like from the top, overlooking the boulder/outcrop. This is a two shot panorama. The horizon has a dip in it, similar to the standing stone in the last post:
Just to clarify, I am very familiar with this area and where this dip in the horizon is located. So, although the photos may not show it well, I have personal knowledge of the location and appearance.
After that low stone row, I went up to the summit. I was surprised to find a smeared out rock pile right at the summit.
Then, descending further to the north, but going back down the western side of the mountain, there is this rock pile just a bit below the summit (summit is visible in the background). Half meter stick is near the pile for scale:
Further down, below another ridge of outcrop, was this pile with a "hollow":
So that is all I have for this post. There is one more structure in this area and I'll post about it another time. It's a stone U that is further down the mountain, closer to some agrarian looking stone walls that end mysteriously and don't enclose anything. But, for now, I'll leave you with a nice shot overlooking one of the stone rows that follows the outcrop ridge, looking down to the next level:
Here is what it looks like from the top, overlooking the boulder/outcrop. This is a two shot panorama. The horizon has a dip in it, similar to the standing stone in the last post:
Just to clarify, I am very familiar with this area and where this dip in the horizon is located. So, although the photos may not show it well, I have personal knowledge of the location and appearance.After that low stone row, I went up to the summit. I was surprised to find a smeared out rock pile right at the summit.
Then, descending further to the north, but going back down the western side of the mountain, there is this rock pile just a bit below the summit (summit is visible in the background). Half meter stick is near the pile for scale:
Further down, below another ridge of outcrop, was this pile with a "hollow":
So that is all I have for this post. There is one more structure in this area and I'll post about it another time. It's a stone U that is further down the mountain, closer to some agrarian looking stone walls that end mysteriously and don't enclose anything. But, for now, I'll leave you with a nice shot overlooking one of the stone rows that follows the outcrop ridge, looking down to the next level:
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The big wall at Snell
In the same area, there is a large stone wall near the summit. This picture is taken looking over one of the turns (stones in the foreground) in the zig-zag wall. I was playing with the aperture setting on the camera to try and get depth of field, but it turns out the picture is a little blurry with the aperture (F-Stop) set at 8.0:
This is a close up of what I was trying to capture in the background of the prior picture. Still a little blurry due to the poor aperture setting:
Then looking down, over the zig-zag row, to the view in the distance. The F-Stop is at 3.4 in this picture, so it looks much better:
This is looking in the opposite direction from the picture above. The stone wall ends where the outcrop begins:
Here is a two shot panorama of where the wall meets the outcrop:
Going back along the wall, this standing stone gets honorable mention, due to the combination of shapes:
The opposite side of that stone, I will stick my neck out a little bit and say that this stone mimics the horizon (I have a better horizon shot in this direction coming up in another post). I am not implying that this is deliberate. I just find it curious.
Looking from the side, with the wall close by in the background:
One final shot along this same row, which started up again a bit further to the north. This is the same outcrop (same altitude), but now the wall goes over the outcrop instead of joining to it:
Instead of following this wall, I proceeded further uphill, to another stone row along an outcrop, before the final summit. That will be the next post.
This is a close up of what I was trying to capture in the background of the prior picture. Still a little blurry due to the poor aperture setting:
Then looking down, over the zig-zag row, to the view in the distance. The F-Stop is at 3.4 in this picture, so it looks much better:
This is looking in the opposite direction from the picture above. The stone wall ends where the outcrop begins:
Here is a two shot panorama of where the wall meets the outcrop:
Going back along the wall, this standing stone gets honorable mention, due to the combination of shapes:
The opposite side of that stone, I will stick my neck out a little bit and say that this stone mimics the horizon (I have a better horizon shot in this direction coming up in another post). I am not implying that this is deliberate. I just find it curious.
Looking from the side, with the wall close by in the background:
One final shot along this same row, which started up again a bit further to the north. This is the same outcrop (same altitude), but now the wall goes over the outcrop instead of joining to it:
Instead of following this wall, I proceeded further uphill, to another stone row along an outcrop, before the final summit. That will be the next post.
Monday, January 2, 2012
More from Snell
Here is another structure near the short stone row from the last post. Both this structure and the one in the prior post are close together (although not attached) and visible, one from the other:
This is a very low-to-the-ground, zig-zag stone row. This type of structure is very rare around here. To add to the mystery, the row starts and stops without really enclosing anything. Here is the same picture with a red line painted to outline the size of the zig-zag row:
Here is a shot at a different angle, looking over the row to the view. This is located very high up near the summit. To get to it, you must ascend past a rocky outcrop from both the east and west sides. The view is stunning.
There are more stone walls, which I will post about later. I found only a couple of stone piles, but one appeared to have a hollow. I will post about those later, too.
This is a very low-to-the-ground, zig-zag stone row. This type of structure is very rare around here. To add to the mystery, the row starts and stops without really enclosing anything. Here is the same picture with a red line painted to outline the size of the zig-zag row:
Here is a shot at a different angle, looking over the row to the view. This is located very high up near the summit. To get to it, you must ascend past a rocky outcrop from both the east and west sides. The view is stunning.
There are more stone walls, which I will post about later. I found only a couple of stone piles, but one appeared to have a hollow. I will post about those later, too.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Snell preview
There is a mountaintop labeled "Snell" on the USGS topo map and I finally got to hike up there. Here is a preview of one little structure at one of the plateaus just below the summit:
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