 |
| Mount Vernon, Oregon |
With his excellent bloodline, Mount Vernon was prominently known as a high-class racing stallion. His safety was assured with his high-class stone stable and he went on to live out 42 years in his retirement home.
 |
| Mount Vernon Fort |
This fort is still standing on the north side of Highway 26 - about 3 miles east of Mount Vernon. A fence was built around it to preserve the structure from elements of nature, which can include frequenting wild-life and grazing cattle.
Mount Vernon is situated in the scenic Aldrich Mountains that is part of the larger Blue Mountains range, one of which is called "Cinnabar Mountain". Located close to the town, this mountain contained an ore called cinnabar which was used in mining. It is a primary ore of mercury and utilized by placer miners in nearby Canyon City and vicinity in the gold rush of the 1860's in recovering gold from stream sediments. Like several other red materials in nature, cinnabar was often known as "dragons blood" in earlier times because of its' vibrant red color. The mine has been abandoned for many years following the decline of gold-mining operations in the early 1900's.
 |
| Cinnabar Mountain |
 |
| Flag Raising |
 | |
| Cinnabar Mountain Rendezvous Parade |
 |
| Mount Vernon Sunrise |
Please Note
Since today is Memorial Day, check out this post that I wrote last year entitled, "The Rite of Remembrance" in honor of the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The link is:
http://www.turn-uppatch.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html
 | ||
| "To Make Men Free" by Norman Rockwell |
A lyric from "Taps"
Falling light... falling night...
Trumpet calls the sun sinks in flight
Sleep in peace, comrades dear...
God is near.
I enjoyed learning about where we live. Thank you for posting such beautiful, inspiring pictures and words. Have a blessed Memorial Day my friend.
ReplyDeleteA horse that lived to be 42 years old?? Now that's enough reason to make him famous!!??
ReplyDeleteI've been researching the stallion Mt. Vernon in preparation for an magazine article I'll be doing. He was a Morgan stallion used for trotting races competition was tough and some of the purses were quite large, even in this remote area of the state. A saloon keeper in nearby Baker City who had recently moved to the area from Maine, brought his sire, a horse named Champion Knox with him. His name was Champion Knox and he was a truly fine animal, a reporter from San Francisco stated if he had not died so young (6) he would have easily been regarded as the greatest sire in Oregon. A half brother of Mt. Vernon, also bred by this man, sold for $10,000. A huge sum of money at the time. It is not surprising that Mr. Jenkins built such a substantial structure to keep and protect his horse. As a side note, all official records that I have found state that Mt. Vernon was a chestnut (reddish brown) not black, his sire Champion Knox was black though and that may have been where the confusion came from.
ReplyDelete