Saginaw and Manistee: Hardy Hill Trestle Recent Findings

 Saginaw and Manistee: Hardy Hill Trestle

With the recent warm weather, and a pleasant fall in Arizona, I took the liberty to return to the Hardy Hill Area. This area hasn't been visited for some time, so I was due for a reconnection with one of my favorite areas. Prior posts on this blog regarding this remarkable site can be located by using the search feature. 

While out and about, I met one of the locals.  One thing I will say about the local inhabitants; show respect and a willingness to converse in a friendly manner, and you will learn more than what you can tell. It's their land, don't forget that. From our long conversation, I learned a great deal about the history of this area. 

Seems the structures and other remnants of past habitation were built after the Saginaw had left. The area is dotted with old homesteads, now hidden from the curious by the effects of nature. This particular area was once an orchard, which today you would be hard pressed to find. This also confirms one of my conclusions that the forest of the high country had more springs and water sources. As you go back each one hundred years, you can find evidence that springs were abundant; the native cultures traversed a land of relative abundance. 

It is still a bit of a mystery as to why the Saginaw built a trestle in a ravine. I suspect three things occurred: they were seeking a water source closer to the logging operations; the trestle was built to allow a spur that circled from the south to reconnect with the main line; and or the Ponderosa pine forest extended further west than the current natural boundary. I still surmise that the Saginaw built a number of the holding tanks to the west of the trestle location. Personal opinions are only begrudgingly abandoned after much grumbling and grumpy behavior.










It was an opportunity to find a rock and just have a time to enjoy the view. Sitting there with the rock art, and the hand-hewn legacy of lumber jacks was worth the time. The simplicity of signatures made on the rocks by intelligent persons long ago was worth studying, even for this brief moment.  The construction techniques in building this trestle were also worth pondering. Both are decaying from the effects of nature. One section of the rock wall is about to tumble down.  
 Not everyone's idea of a perfect day, then again, I am not just another face in the mass of humanity. A quiet time in the forest is worth a week in a mall, or in group of more than two people. 

Solitude can bring about a sense of gratitude for life in general. 


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