Mount Belford

Last week I had the opportunity to do one of my very favorite things, go hiking with my boys, in one of my very favorite places, Colorado. We stayed at Ores and Mine Bed and Breakfast Thursday night in Twin Lakes and woke up to a wonderful breakfast at 5:30 a.m. of home-made oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar, orange juice, yogurt, a muffin and a nice slice of watermelon. Donna Cornella was a saint to wake up so early and feed as such a nice breakfast. The Missouri Gulch Trailhead was about 14 miles away, 8 of it down a good dirt road. The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived and we started hiking at about 7:15 a.m. The trailhead is at 9,650 feet. What we did not know when we started our hike was that it was also the trailhead for Mt. Missouri, another fourteener. We almost immediately crossed the very large Clear Creek on a beautiful bridge. I'm very glad we had the bridge because Clear Creek would be extremely difficult without it. The trail does not waste any time starting steeply uphill through a beautiful forest. We could hear a small stream to our left, which went down through the center of Missouri Gulch, a valley between the Missouri and Belford massifs. After climbing more than 1,100 feet, at about 10,800 feet, we went to our left and crossed over the stream and continued up the other side of Missouri Gulch. At 11,200 feet there is a partial log cabin still standing and things started to flatten out at about 11,300 feet, as we left the thick pine forest.  Mount Belford lay before us with the northwest ridge we would climb in full view.  Below, Sam and Andrew.

Andrew and Sam with a little clearer view of Mt. Belford.

At about 11,600 feet we reached a junction with the Elkhead Pass Trail which is a route to Mt. Missouri (although we did not know it at the time). We met a group of women hikers from New Hampshire that had climbed the tallest 40 or 48 mountains in New Hampshire and were trying their hand at Colorado fourteeners.  Below, the top-not of the Mt. Belford summit is visible left of center. To the right and down a bit, is the flat ridge at about 13,900 feet. 

We stayed left and pretty quickly hit the northwest ridge and started to climb steadily upward on a very nice, mostly dirt, trail. The trail is steep, but it is a series of very tight switchbacks which give enough sideways movement to flatten out the trail, but not so much that it significantly lengthens the hike. Below, Andrew is behind me and Missouri Gulch unfolds back toward the trailhead. 

Sam is above me and some other hikers are visible further up the switch backing trail of the northwest ridge.

Sam was wearing some very unique shoes that were little more than a little protection for the bottom of his feet. He did very well in them.

I wish more trails would use these sort of compact switchbacks. The area around us was still covered in green grass, but the scenery was not particularly great. It was pretty much all steeply uphill until about 13,900 feet, when we hit a flat spot with a beautiful view of Mt. Missouri across Missouri Gulch. Below, Sam and Andrew with Mt. Missouri in the background. 

From there we got a fantastic view of other high mountains in the area and Andrew and Sam were both awed by the sight. Below, a beautiful basin southeast of Mt. Missouri.

Another hiker coming up the trail toward us.

From the flat spot, we turned left and continued up the mountain for another 200 feet before it leveled out on a ridge, at 14,100 feet. From there the views got even better. Mt. Harvard, another fourteener, to the east.

Right before the ridge, Sam called out that he could see a huge bird, like a turkey. I scrambled up to get close to him and saw a white-tailed ptarmigan walking casually very near him. 

I recognized it from pictures, but this was my first time seeing one in the wild. It let me get amazingly close as I tried to get some good pictures with my point and shoot. From there, the summit of Mt. Belford looks like a little dollop of yellow that has been plopped onto the ridge 

and it was an easy uphill walk to the 14,197 foot summit. Below, Sam right before the summit block.

Looking back toward Andrew as he climbs toward the final ridge.

Sam on the 14,197 foot summit block.

A couple from Denver approaches the summit and Andrew in his red jacked is following the trail along the ridge behind them.

I loved the summit because it was a mass of yellow rock, probably full of sulphur, that was unlike any other rock we'd encountered on the way. Perhaps dropped by aliens? Andrew on the yellow summit block, as seen from the east side.

Across Belford Gulch, the valley between Mt. Belford and Mt. Oxford, lay Mt. Oxford, to the east, another fourteener on our itinerary for the day. To our south was Mt. Harvard, another fourteener, and then to the west lay Mt. Missouri, another fourteener. It all made for a very wonderful view. The couple from Denver took our picture on the summit. Mt. Oxford is in the background. 

The hike up Mt. Belford is rated as a class 2 hike which I don't understand, because it is an easy and good dirt trail the entire way. It really is class 1. However, it is a monster climb as it covers 4,500 feet of elevation gain in 4 miles, or 1,125 feet of gain per mile. By contrast, the Sierra Club ski hut trail on Mt. Baldy covers 3,904 feet of elevation gain in 4.2 miles, or 930 feet of gain per mile, at a substantially lower altitude. This was to have consequences on the way down, which I'll cover on my Mt. Oxford post. Looking back at the east side of the Belford summit. 

Angus M. Cannon: Cannon v. U.S., 116 U.S. 55 (1885)

Angus Munn Cannon was the grandson of Captain George Cannon, the son of George Cannon the Immigrant, and the brother of George Q. Cannon, my ancestor. He was the defendant in a court case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court which had a significant impact in the struggle between the U.S. government and the LDS Church over the issue of polygamy.

On January 20, 1885, Angus was arrested for unlawful cohabitation. On February 7^th Angus entered a not guilty plea in court. His trial began on April 27^th in front of Judge Charles S. Zane, with U.S. attorney William H. Dickson handling the prosecution. Angus was represented by Franklin S. Richards, son of apostle Franklin D. Richards, who had previously represented the Church in the court battles over the Brigham Young Estate, and later, from 1903-1908, represented Joseph F. Smith during the Reed Smoot hearings.

To set the stage, Angus had four wives at the time: (a) Sarah Maria Mousley, his wife of 27 years and mother of six of his children, four still living; (b) Ann Amanda Mousley, Sarah’s sister, married to Angus immediately after Sarah, thus the second wife and mother of ten of his children, nine still living; (c) Clarissa (Clara) Moses Mason, a widow, with two living children from a prior marriage, Angus’s wife of 10 years and mother of three of his children, one still living; and (d) Martha Hughes, who Angus married just three months before he his arrest. It is apparent that the prosecutor was not aware of Martha who lived in a separate residence. Angus was prominent in the community as president of the Salt Lake Stake, which included all of the wards in Salt Lake County, and had been for nine years. His brother, George, was first counselor to John Taylor, president of the LDS Church. Angus had been in Judge Zane’s courtroom the year before, as a witness in the polygamy trial of Rudger Clawson, an apostle.

The U.S. government had taken many steps over the years to get the Mormons to abandon polygamy, including various laws that had been enacted without much success. In 1879 the U.S. Supreme Court case of Reynolds v. U.S. struck down the freedom of religion defense relied upon by Mormons in polygamy prosecutions, but prosecutors still had to prove a marriage ceremony had taken place, which was difficult to do and a significant barrier to prosecution. In 1882 Congress enacted the Edmunds Act which made polygamy a felony with a maximum sentence of five years and a fine of $500, for marriages entered into after March 22, 1882. It also made cohabitation a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of six months and fine of $300. However, the Edmunds Act did not define cohabitation, which became the issue in the Cannon case.

At trial there were only three witnesses, all called by the prosecution: Clara, Angus’s third wife; George M. Cannon, the son of Sarah, his first wife; and Angus M. Cannon, Jr., the son of Amanda, his second wife. 

The substance of the trial came down to one issue: Did the government have to prove that Angus had sexual relations with Amanda and/or Clara, his second and third wives, after passage of the Edmunds Act, in order to prove cohabitation? Franklin S. Richards offered jury instructions which said, yes, sexual relations were an element of the crime of cohabitation and the government had to prove that sexual relations had occurred. Judge Zane disagreed and allowed jury instructions which said that if Angus lived in the same house with Amanda and Clara and held them out, by language or conduct, or both, as his wives, he should be found guilty.

On April 29, 1885 the jury returned a guilty verdict. At a sentencing hearing on May 9^th, Judge Zane asked Angus about his intentions in the future, as it might impact the sentence he would order. Angus replied, “I cannot state what I will do in the future…I have become a [U.S.] citizen. When I did so I had no idea that a statute would be passed making my faith and religion a crime; but having made that allegiance, I can only say that I have used the utmost of my power to honor my God, my family and my country. In eating with my children day by day, and showing an impartiality in meeting with them around the board, with the mother who was wont to wait upon them, I was unconscious of any crime. I did not think I would be made a criminal for that. …[T]he consciousness of my heart is visible to the God who created me, and the rectitude that has marked my life and conduct with this people bears me up to receive such a sentence as your Honor shall see fit to impose upon me.” Following Angus’s remarks, there was vigorous applause from the audience. Judge Zane responded that since “the defendant had declined to promise to obey the law, and advise others to obey it, no leniency could be shown him.” He imposed the maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $300 fine. On June 27, 1885, the Utah Territorial Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence in an opinion written by Judge Jacob S. Boreman.

By September 1885, after the number of prosecutions for polygamy and cohabitation increased dramatically because of this successful trial, the LDS Church First Presidency directed Franklin S. Richards to try and negotiate  a way out of the prosecutions. This was unsuccessful, so Richards tried to retain a former U.S. senator from Missouri, George G. Vest, to argue Angus’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Vest had previously argued in a Supreme Court case on behalf of the Mormons and had also worked against passage of the Edmunds Bill in the Senate. Unable to secure Vest, Franklin S. Richards represented Angus in the matter. Richards filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on October 21, 1885 and apparently did not have to do an oral argument, at least none is mentioned.

After Angus spent six months in prison, the full term under his sentence, Angus voluntarily stayed in prison because of concern by his attorney that if he was no longer in prison, the U.S. Supreme Court would deem the issue moot and refuse to rule on the merits. The LDS Church wanted a ruling on this issue.

In mid-December 1885, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Utah Territorial Supreme Court in Cannon v. United States, 116 U.S. 55 (1885). Samuel Blatchford wrote for the majority and was joined by Chief Justice Morrison Waite, who authored the Reynolds opinion, and Joseph P. Bradley, John M. Harlan, William B. Woods, Stanley Matthews and Horace Gray. Samuel Miller and Stephen J. Field dissented, based on their belief that proving sexual intercourse must be an element of the crime. 

By the time of the ruling, Angus had served about eight months in prison, two months voluntarily.

After this ruling which made prosecution of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation much easier, prosecutions increased dramatically. Making things even more difficult, Congress enacted the Tucker Amendment to the Edmunds Act in 1887. It: (1) Required wives to testify against their husbands by repealing the spousal immunity; (2) Allowed prosecutors to jail witnesses until trial if they suspected them of being uncooperative; (3) Added the crimes of adultery, incest and fornication; (4) Required an anti-polygamy oath of all jurors, office holders and voters, effectively eliminating many Mormons; (5). Repealed suffrage, negating womens’ right to vote; (6) Annulled incorporation of the Church as a charitable entity as well as the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company; and (7) The attorney general was directed to seize and liquidate Church holdings on behalf of the government.

By 1890, about 1,300 Mormons were convicted of crimes related to polygamy and over $100,000 in fines had been collected by the government. Perhaps the needle that broke the camel’s back, on May 19, 1890, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States, which upheld the seizure of Church holdings by the federal government. Within a few months, in September 1890, President Woodruff issued the Manifesto which ended the practice of plural marriage by the LDS Church.

Ken Driggs, the author of “The Prosecutions Begin: Defining Cohabitation in 1885” Dialogue 21 (1988), pp. 109-125, from which most of the information in this article was obtained, gives his opinion that it was the Cannon decision, not the Reynolds decision, which had the greatest impact in ending the practice of polygamy, because it paved the way for successful prosecutions.

But aside from the importance of the Cannon case, which I was unaware of, I was fascinated by the look inside the polygamous household which the facts of the case provide.

After passage of the Edmunds Act, legal counsel for Angus offered to prove that Angus abided by that law and did not have physical relations with his plural wives, or at least Clara, but continued to support them and take meals with them. In this light, Angus’s marriage to Martha Hughes, only a few months before his arrest, after the effective date of the Edmunds Act, becomes more interesting.

The house owned by Angus was located at 246 First South in Salt Lake.  

It was divided into three apartments, one for each of the three wives that lived there. Each apartment had an adjoining parlor and dining room and a separate kitchen located at the back of the house. A hall ran through the ground floor and each of the three apartments opened on to the hall. Clara’s parlor and dining room were located on the east side of the hall. Amanda’s parlor and dining room were located on the west side of the hall. The location of Sarah’s parlor and dining room was not given. Angus ate all meals with each family every third day, or twice a week. On Sunday he had breakfast with Clara and her family, dinner (the main meal, at midday) with Sarah and her family, and supper (the evening meal) with Amanda and her family.

The second floor had four bedrooms, with two bedrooms on each side of a hall. Clara used the bedroom in the northeast corner which had two beds. She shared the bedroom with her three year old daughter through Angus, her 23 year old daughter from a prior marriage, and two orphaned children, both girls, ages 10 and 12, children of her niece who left them to Clara when the niece died. Amanda used the bedroom in the southwest corner. She slept there along with her eight children still living at home. Angus used the bedroom in the southeast corner and Sarah must have used the bedroom in the northwest corner, along with her four children. Before passage of the Edmunds Act, Angus alternated sleeping in the bedroom and bed of each wife. After the Edmunds Act was passed, Angus’s attorneys offered to prove that he intended to live the law and did not occupy the rooms or beds or have sexual intercourse with at least Clara, and presumably Amanda, as well. However, he continued to eat with them, support them and allowed them to occupy the separate apartments.

Following his prison sentence, it is clear Angus continued to have relations with at least three plural wives. Martha Hughes, whom he married three months before his arrest, bore him three children, one of which was born after the trial and before the U.S. Supreme Court decision. On March 11, 1886, less than four months after the Supreme Court decision, Angus married Maria Bennion and fathered three children. A year later, on March 21, 1887, he married Johanna Cristina Danielson and fathered one child with her, which died in infancy.  The Cannon Family Historical Treasury, edited by Beatrice Cannon Evans and Janath Russell Cannon (published by George Cannon Family Association, 1995), which also provides information for this post, notes that these wives lived on the “underground” in an attempt to avoid prosecution.

White-Tailed Ptarmigan

At 14,000 feet in the alpine tundra of Colorado we almost literally stumbled over the bumbling Inspector Clouseau of birds, the white-tailed ptarmigan. 

Within 30 yards of the summit of 14,153 foot Mt. Oxford, Sam and Andrew were startled to find themselves surrounded by a congregation (yes, that is correct terminology) of them. To their amazement, the ptarmigans did not move. As Sam or Andrew would get close to a bird, that ptarmigan would cuddle up against a rock and freeze. 

When they got so close that they could literally touch a bird (although they did not try), 

the ptarmigan would walk slowly away, appearing to be really stupid or without care, or both. I was sitting at the summit, watching a pika, not paying much attention to them, when Andrew flapped his arms like a bird to get my attention, pointed down, and then gestured to me to come over. As I got near them I saw the congregation, 15 or 20 ptarmigans, some walking, some stationary, and it was incomprehensible to me that these birds were not taking flight or running away. In fact, I later had to research to find that they can fly (like a quail, in short bursts, and then gliding). I pulled out my camera for pictures, and found it difficult to focus on the ptarmigans because their disguises were so good. Just take a look at some of these and try to spot the ptarmigan. I've even made it easier for you by cropping some of the pictures. This first picture is of the summit of Mt. Oxford. Can you find the ptarmigan in the picture (it is just left of center)?

I took quite a few shots where I knew a ptarmigan was in the picture, but could not actually see it through the view finder. 

Find this ptarmigan just north of center.

They even blend in standing in a patch of green grass.

The feather mixture is so amazing, that even in pictures it often looks fuzzy (note the name-sake white tail).

What you would think might stand out, the reddish-orange comb some of them had above their eyes, perfectly matched the color of nearby lichens (click to enlarge and compare the lichen to the comb). 

The browns, blacks, whites and grays of their plumage matched the color of the rocks that they hid among. I have subsequently learned that the white-tailed ptarmigan is the only full-time bird resident of the Colorado tundra, generally the treeless high country above 11,500 feet. Ptarmigans have learned to conserve their energy in both cold and hot weather, by playing statue when predators approach (the golden eagle and man appear to be primary), by avoiding flying, and even by immersing themselves in snow banks for warmth. They have also evolved white feet feathers that act like snowshoes 

and they have feathers around their nose which helps heat the cold air before it is breathed in. 

The color of their plumage changes with the seasons. We saw them in their summer splendor, but like the weasel that turns into the ermine in winter, the ptarmigan turns completely white, except for the red comb and black beak. 

Ptarmigans do not live along, only about a year. I suspect it is a combination of the rugged environment they inhabit and the ease with which they can be picked off once spotted, but overall the evolutionary features seem to be working as they still retain healthy populations. We saw three separate groups of ptarmigan on this particular Friday, all at an elevation over 13,800 feet on Mounts Oxford and Belford. I remember reading about ptarmigans as a young boy, and recognized them immediately when I saw them, but I was thrilled to see them for the first time and to have such an amazingly, up close, encounter. 

Indigo Bush

Last year when I was regularly visiting the Hayfield Road area, off the I-10 past Chiriaco Summit, about the border between the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, I regularly noticed an ugly looking sagebrush type bush in the wash area I hiked through. Imagine the bush below, without any of the blue, and you get a glimpse of what I'm talking about. 

It would be hard to think of an uglier type of bush. The bushes appeared old, scraggly, and very dirty, many brown, dead looking spots. 

They looked like they had survived the Oklahoma dustbowl during the depression, and just barely at that. There was nothing attractive about them. Other spring flowers were gloriously strutting their stuff, taking their turns in the beauty competition that happens each year, particularly when there have been good rains. Then, as spring ended and summer arrived, the beautiful flowers died out and the full heat of the desert arrived, erasing the color from the landscape. In a somewhat depressed mood, on July 10th, walking through this moonscape that had rivaled Butchart Gardens just three months previously, I was blown away to walk into the wash and see a landscape of blue leaves with bees buzzing everywhere. 

Where there had previously been only drabness, there was blue everywhere. 

It was as good an imitation of Fawkes the phoenix resurrecting itself that I've seen. 

It really lifted my spirits and increased my appreciation and wonder for the desert that continues to surprise and teach lessons. I'm finding eleven types of Indigo bush on the calflora website that exist in the area and the exact subspecies of these particular bushes is eluding me. 

What I love is that these bushes bloom when most everything else is done. They are the ugly ducklings during spring when the other plants are taking their turns strutting their stuff, but these late bloomers have the show all to themselves during the heat of the summer. 

The shame is that there are few people there to notice them. It is now too hot and most of the outdoor enthusiasts have headed for pine tree country at greater elevations where it is cooler. For me, it was worth the trip into the furnace to enjoy these beautiful bushes. 

Russian Sausage

One of my biggest surprises about Russia was how much the Russians love sausage. 

When we visited a Costco type warehouse on the outskirts of Moscow we saw many feet of aisle space devoted to sausage. 

Look at the variety within just a small cross-section of the sausage.

I was reminded of our visit to France when we visited a Carrefour in Caen and were shocked by the vast assortment of cheese. We bought three small packages 

of very different types of sausage, 

along with some bread and cheese, and ate it in our hotel in Moscow that night. The sausages were very different from each other in looks and taste. 

Before leaving Moscow, several days later, we had another opportunity to visit a grocery store. There again, the variety of sausage 

in this much smaller store was astounding. 

I knew the Germans love sausage, but I think the Russians take it to another level. 

I would love to buy many different types and taste and compare, 

but unless I can find a way to spend more time there, it is not going to happen. So I need to content myself with the sight of the array of sausages and appreciate the fact that there are cultures so much different than ours which have so much to offer. 

Octopus - Munich Airport

One of the things we love to do when we travel is go to grocery stores. It helps us get a sense of the local culture. On our recent trip to Scandinavia we had a layover in Munich and visited a very nice grocery store inside the airport. I was surprised to see a package of octopus with green olives.

I don't think I have ever seen octopus for sale in a mainstream U.S. grocery store, perhaps in an Asian grocery store in the U.S., but even that would be rare. I was compelled to buy the fast-food octopus. 

It did not disappoint. It was soft, not rubbery, briny and very good, perhaps on par or even better than the octopus we had in Greece. We ate it, along with some cheese, Orangina Rouge and other tasty items, while sitting on a Europecar bench in the airport.