Today was a promontory point in my local travels!

Today I visited Promontory Point or the Golden Spike Historical Site.  This is the site where the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroad lines came to a point.  They trains met up on May 10, 1869.  This train line completely connected the East Coast of the US and the West Coast. It made it possible to travel from one side of the country to the other by train.  On May 10^th they placed the last spike, which was made of gold.  The train tracks no longer exist anymore because during WWII, the country needed all the steel it could find. So, the tracks were torn up and the steel sent to the war effort. 

I ended the day by going to Antelope Island (the largest island in The Great Salt Lake).  This island is 28,022 acres.  It is a remnant of the ancient Lake Bonneville that covered most of Utah, as well as Nevada and Idaho.  The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere.  It is much saltier than the Ocean. Because it is so salty, you can easily float in it and no fish can survive in it. The only thing that lives in it is brine shrimp.

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Today was reflective.

Today I traveled to Carbon County (South East of Salt Lake City) to coal country. Utah has a long history of coal mining and most of it has taken place in Carbon and Emery County.  The first stop was to the Castle Gate Cemetery.  This is the site of the worst coal mining disaster in Utah.  On March 8, 1924 one of the mine bosses in the No. 2 mine spotted a pocket of gas. When he reached up to look at it, his headlamp blew out.  When he tried to relight it, it triggered and explosion that went through several tunnels in the mine killing the miners.  The explosion blew out the lamps of the miners in the other parts of the mine. When they tried to relight their lamps, they set off a second explosion that killed the rest of the miners. This is the worst mining disaster because every miner died.  Several of the miners were brothers or fathers and sons.  One rescue worker also died while trying to retrieve the bodies.  The majority of tombstones in the Castle Gate Cemetery (that is just east of the mine) have the death date of March 8, 1924. The cemetery still has the original turnstile at the entrance. 

In the late 1970s, the US government decided to increase the energy use of coal. As a result, the Castle Gate mine needed to expand. So, they picked up all the homes in Castle Gate and using huge trailers, moved the homes further south to the city of Helper, Utah.  This is the only town in Utah that was moved, house by house. 

After visiting the Castle Gate cemetery, I traveled south to Emery County and to Huntington, Utah.  I stopped at the Crandall Canyon Mine, which is the site of one of the worst modern day mining disasters.  Coal mining is becoming very dangerous in Utah because coal miners have to go farther into the mountains where it is very unstable.  The Crandall Canyon mine was practicing retreat mining where miners remove the large coal pillars that keep the roof from collapsing.  As the coal pillars are removed, the ceiling and mine collapse behind it.  On August 6, 2007 six miners were killed when the mine collapsed on top of them.  On August 16, 2007, while rescue workers were working to try and reach the miners, another collapse occurred which killed three rescue workers and injured several others.  The mine was then sealed up.  There is now a memorial to the miners who died and are still buried in the mountain and the three rescue workers who were also killed. 

Along with coal mining, Utah is also known for lots of dinosaur bones and footprints.  Dinosaur bones have been discovered all over Utah and several of them can be seen at the College of Eastern Utah Dinosaur Museum in Price, Utah.  Dinosaur footprints have been found in lots of coal mines when the coal miners used to dig out the coal using picks and shovels.  There are not as many footprints found in the mines anymore because of new mining equipment that destroys the rock surrounding the coal. 

Utah also has rich Native American history. In fact Utah got its name from the Ute Indians.  All throughout Southern Utah you can see Native American arrowheads and hieroglyphics. 

The original gate at the cemetery.

The monument to the Crandall Canyon Mine Disaster. 

A giant mammoth

Big John (The biggest coal miner in Utah)

Some of the mining equipment used to mine coal.

Today was Captially fantastic!

Today I visited the state capitol building in downtown Salt Lake City.  Utah became a state in 1896.  Just a few years ago the capitol building was remodeled to make it earthquake safe since Salt Lake sits on a large fault line. 

The "buf-flago" outside the capitol building. I'm by the Brazilian flag.

Utah is known as the beehive state because the state values hard work.

Our state also values education

Inside the capitol building

Introducing Little Miz English

Little Miz English loved sentences!  She loved short sentences like Hemingway’s “For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never worn.” 

 She loved long sentences like Dickens’s “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” 

She loved silly sentences like “Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?” 

Little Miz English also loved sad and serious sentences like, “We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.”  

 She loved romantic sentences like Browning’s, “Grow old with me! The best is yet to come!” 

Little Miz English especially loved sentences that made her think like Emerson’s “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” 

Little Miz English liked to collect these sentences in a special book.  In this book, she would also write her own sentences.  She would pay close attention to the details of the day so she could capture it in one sentence and write it in her special book.  She would start, “Today was a bright and bookish day full of reading and learning” or “Today was full of fear and frustration.”

 

One day Little Miz English learned that she would be traveling to Brazil for a month!  She was so excited to visit a school in Teresina, Brazil and learn all about the teachers and students there.  She was especially excited to create sentences that would capture her adventures for each day. 

Little Miz English was anxious to learn about Brazil and to tell the Brazilian students all about her home town of Salt Lake City, Utah.  She decided to spend a few days, before leaving for Brazil, traveling around Utah so she could show the students in Brazil all the great places and history in Utah.  

Little Miz English has decided to let her students and others read her special book of sentences so they can see what Miz English is up to and what she has learned.  Feel free to leave comments for Little Miz English. 

 "This Is The Place" Monument

This is the LDS Salt Lake Temple in downtown Salt Lake City. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in Utah. 

Welcome to Little Mz English's Blog!

Last year I was fortunate enough to be accepted to the TGC (Teachers for Global Classrooms) program through IREX.  After completing an on-line course, I received my fellowship placement to Brazil! I will be spending a month in Brazil this June where I will have lots of opportunities to explore the education system in Brazil.  I will be spending most of my time in a public school in Terisina, Brazil where I will be working with the principal.  I am very excited for this opportunity to see what education is like in Brazil.  As part of my program, I will be blogging about my experiences.  I have chosen to follow the format of the Little Miss and Little Mister books that I loved as a little girl.