Today's images are before-and-after photos of the
Knott homestead in
Newberry Springs. Aside from the small house disappearing, things haven't changed much since the family left. But with no buildings to use as landmarks, the mountains in the distance were our only guide.
The photos above look west and the ones below look east. One wonders if struggling like pioneers in an inhospitable place somehow appealed to
Walter Knott (who grew up with his grandmother's stories of coming west in a covered wagon), or whether it was just the free land that appealed to him. Or perhaps a bit of both.
Standing in the middle of the desert, looking at this land, one can well imagine how hard living here must have been for
Cordelia. Walter probably didn't enjoy it much either, but at least it was his idea. And as
Phil pointed out, "Cordelia was a city girl" and not used to roughing it.
Today's images are before-and-after photos of the Knott homestead in Newberry Springs. Aside from the small house disappearing, things haven't changed much since the family left. But with no buildings to use as landmarks, the mountains in the distance were our only guide.
The photos above look west and the ones below look east. One wonders if struggling like pioneers in an inhospitable place somehow appealed to Walter Knott (who grew up with his grandmother's stories of coming west in a covered wagon), or whether it was just the free land that appealed to him. Or perhaps a bit of both.
Standing in the middle of the desert, looking at this land, one can well imagine how hard living here must have been for Cordelia. Walter probably didn't enjoy it much either, but at least it was his idea. And as Phil pointed out, "Cordelia was a city girl" and not used to roughing it.
Neat idea, how long did it take you to find the corresponding views?
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Major! It didn't take very long. It was cold out there, which was an incentive. And Phil definitely helped -- He has a good eye for such things.
ReplyDeleteNice job Chris. Must have been a wonderful day-trip out to their old homestead...
ReplyDeleteNow, that's a fine piece of detective work. Thanks for the look.
ReplyDeleteYou guys going to be giving any tours?
Wow - nice job! Even though I'd expect no less from you & Phil - I'm still amazed that you were able to line up some of the shots.
ReplyDeleteIs there a part 3?
outsidetheberm: I could ask you the same question. :-)
ReplyDeleteChris: I was going to move on to other Knott-related locales in the next installment. Once you've seen a handful of photos of sand and weeds you've pretty much seen them all.
walterworld: Yes, it was an excellent day. And for dinner, Phil introduced Katie and I to Basque food, which was also an excellent discovery.
Those "then and now" shots are amazing. How many years apart do you reckin they are?
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: They're over 90 years apart.
ReplyDeleteI love these pictures. My great-grandparents, and separately his parents and her parents, were all neighbors of the Knotts in Newberry Springs, farming adjacent homestead plots, so these pictures are really cool for me to see. According to our family stories, they went to farm in the desert because the water table had risen in the 1910's, and the homesteaders were betting that the water table would stay high. It didn't, and without the water the farming was too difficult, so they all abandoned their homesteads by the early 1920's. My great grandparents ended up in Anaheim, where my great grandfather worked for many many years as a high school teacher.
ReplyDeleteCW: I'd love to hear more about your family's stories about Newberry Springs in those days and whatever information they may have shared about the Knotts. Information about those years is sketchy at best. If you'd prefer to email me rather than post here, I'm at cjepsen at socal.rr.com
ReplyDelete