Dear Editor,

July 29, 2021

The following is not likely to appear in a U.S. history text anytime soon:

During the period 1864-7 army inspector general Marcy wrote, with regard to the main causes of the Indian wars on the central plains, that the main cause was the “demoralizing influences of the white men and that the five Civilized Tribes were generally better farmers and lived more comfortably than poor white people. But the Indians were continually robbed by whites from Kansas who “picked off their stock like a swarm of locusts on a wheat field. Marcy figured that over a five-year period 300,000 head of cattle worth an estimated $4 million had been stolen from the Indians. (“Wild West,” Aug., ‘21)

“Using free verse is like playing tennis without a net.”—Robert Fro

A neighbor recently painted her house blue. She might be interested in learning that in South Korea the Blue House in Seoul is the equivalent of our White House though it comprises a complex of structures. In 1968 a group of N. Korean infiltrators attacked the Blue House with the intention of assassinating President Park Chung hee. In the battle 28, N. Koreans and 28 S. Koreans died, along with four Americans.

I recently enjoyed a visit with Earl Conley, a 1954 Forks H.S. grad, who once lived on the Conley ranch north of Forks. He is a former Marine and businessman who lives in Indio, CA.

In August 1883, an eruption on the island of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies expelled six cubic miles of rock and destroyed two-thirds of the island. Subsequent tsunamis destroyed 165 villages and towns and damaged an additional132. They were 13,000 times as powerful as the first atom bomb. (Wik)

The American Prairie Reserve was using private money in an attempt to combine 3.2 million acres of private and public grasslands in north-central Montana and restore it to its original condition. It hoped to contain 10,000 bison. It was encountering considerable opposition from farmers and ranchers. I don’t know the outcome. (“National Geographic magazine, Feb, ‘20)

Bob Hall

Bellingham