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Three Rivers Region

Started by dedgren, December 20, 2006, 07:57:49 PM

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douwe


QuoteOntDOT (at least that's what I would call it)

...Actually we call it the MTO

The Kings Highway 11 was at one time considered the longest street in the world. Yonge Street, Toronto
"As 't net ken sa 't moet, dan moet 't mar sa 't ken"
Old Frisian Proverb

Shadow Assassin

There's a town called Emo?

I wonder what they were thinking when they named these places.

Looks good, though, David. Why not extend Interstate 98 so it terminates in 3RR?
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dedgren

Oh yes, you Canadians are the Gods of Subtle Irony...



Emo [linkie], it's not just a way of life [linkie]...



More madness in a bit.


David

n.b.: If I still have any friends left east of the border (it's pretty cool living in a place where one can refer to folks from Canada generally as "our neighbors to the south"), take comfort that E-Moo the cow is grazing happily in a field somewhere near Hanska.
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

thundercrack83

#1843
David, I must ask: Where in the world do you find this stuff? SA makes a comment about a small town in Canada and you return with a map from the small town that looks like it came from their chamber of commerce! You truly are a magician!

EDIT:  It is amazing what a few keystrokes on the 'net will bring up.

http://www.emo.ca/

http://www.ontariotowns.net/Emo/Map.cfm


-DE

Shadow Assassin

 :D

Cool info you've brought up! It's quite interesting how they come up with strange place names, eh?
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Pat

#1845
david that was great to see some intresting shots from around the community and such an honour it is.... David im also sorry that i may have shamed ya's a wee while back with a post else where and im sowwies for that but thank you again for always encourageing me to go forward - pat your rhinelanderian friend


QuoteI'd ask, in saying all this, that nobody feel sorry for Heather or myself or either of the boys.  We're all doing the best we can and we have lots of great people helping us.  Rather, we hope to be in folk's thoughts in a positive sense- there've been lots of good times for us and I'm quite sure that there are more to come.  I'll include a few pictures in a comment following my return from visiting Josh and you will see what I mean.

Again, thanks very much for being such great friends.


David you can always count on me praying for you and your family have been and will continue to do so.....

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Gaston

#1846
QuoteI always appreciate how much here at SC4D everyone cares about the RL issues others face.   I've always only had one or two really close friends at any given time during my life.  I certainly can't say that any longer.

Without any intention to share more information than would be provided unbidden, the situation with the two children, Tristen and Josh, that Heather and I adopted in 2003 is as follows.  The two boys, who are extended family, were in foster care through the child protective services agency of another state.  Both were born with significant mental and emotional deficiencies as a result of drug use by their mother while she was pregnant.  Each suffers terribly as a result of a condition called reactive attachment disorder, which is caused, among others, by lack of proper nurturing during infancy.  While we have made a great deal of progress with each over the past few years, both boys are going through a very difficult time right now.  You might recall, if you are a longtime 3RR and 3RR-ST reader, that Tristen spent about a year and a half in a residential treatment center in the State of Texas.  Joshua is now in a similar facility in the State of Montana.  We are certainly hoping that he does not need to stay near so long as his brother, but only time will tell.

I'd ask, in saying all this, that nobody feel sorry for Heather or myself or either of the boys.  We're all doing the best we can and we have lots of great people helping us.  Rather, we hope to be in folks' thoughts in a positive sense- there've been lots of good times for us and I'm quite sure that there are more to come.  I'll include a few pictures in a comment following my return from visiting Josh and you will see what I mean.

Again, thanks very much for being such great friends.
David,
   I don't know how I missed this.   My thoughts go out to you , Heather and the boys.    I will ask the Gods to watch out for you as well, my friend.     Know that we are all thinking about you and your family.


---Gaston
白龍

They say that the memory is the second thing that goes....
...dang , I wish I could remember the first.
WooHoo made Councilman - 05 FEB 07 Yipee made Mayor - 13 MAR 07 Hip Hip Hooray made Governor - 04 AUG 07 Rock On made Senator - 15 MAR 09

emilin

I really hope things work out for the best with your family. It's never easy when kids are having a hard time, especially when its from circumstances that you have little control over. Something tells me they're both gonna be just fine in the end though... I don't know why, it's just a feeling I have. At least, being around a nice and active guy in a beautiful Alaskan environment can't be bad for you.

I certainly hope that Joshua will return home soon. All the best wishes!

/Emil

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dedgren

#1848
On Dave's Day [linkie], September 18th, our friend, 3RR Regular* and Contest God Matt (threestooges) made the 1,800th comment here [linkie].  While Matt has been honored in the past for his contest expertise and for being a charter member of the 3RR Fact Checkers, Double-0 status has always eluded him...

...until now.

I've pretty much mined out the "Three Stooges" lode in previous honors posts...

...nyuk, nyuk...

...so we'll go elsewhere here for inspiration.  Matt's a first-year law student in one of SoCal's great law schools...

...imagine studying for your CivPro exam on one of those beaches- so many distractions...



...so we'll recognize that by doing a short update to the 3RR backstory.  Here's more than you probably ever wanted to know about the 3RR Judicial System.

* * *

The Judicial System

The courts in Three Rivers Region are divided into two functional levels:  the appellate courts, which include the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals; and the trial courts, which include the Superior Court and the District Courts.

Appellate Courts.  The region's appellate courts are located in the 1857 Courthouse located at 1 Court Street, Pineshore.  This courthouse was 3RR's first courts building, but has been modernized over the years and currently provides a state of the art venue for the region's five justice Supreme Court and seven justice Court of Appeals.  The Court of Appeals hears all criminal appeals, and its decisions in Felony matters are subject to review by the Supreme Court (its decisions are final in the case of review of decisions of the Superior Court when that latter court sits as a intermediate appellate court in a misdemeanor appeal).  The Supreme Court hears all other appeals of decisions of the Superior Court, and is the final step in the 3RR justice system.

Trial Courts.  Three Rivers Region is divided into four judicial districts that correspond roughly to the geographic quadrants of the region.  The judiciary has prepared the following map that shows these districts.



Each judicial district has a District Court located in a courthouse in one of the district's cities.  These are


[tabular type=4 caption="District Court Locations"]
[row] [head]District[/head] [head]City[/head] [/row]
[row] [data]Northeast[/data] [data]Wolf Lake[/data] [/row]
[row] [data]Southeast[/data] [data]Pineshore[/data] [/row]
[row] [data]Southwest[/data] [data]Falls City[/data] [/row]
[row] [data]Northwest[/data] [data]Marchand[/data] [/row]
[/tabular]

Because there is only one District Court per judicial district, District Court venue districts are coterminous with judicial district boundaries.

The District Courts have original jurisdiction over actions at law up to up to §250,000, non-felony criminal and traffic cases.  A subset of the District Court rules of court provides for small claims actions of up to §15,000 to be tried in front of a magistrate, who is an official "learned in the law" hired by the court system.  There are four District Court judges appointed in each of the Northwest and Northeast Districts, and seven in the Southwest District and 13 in the Southeast District, which includes Pineshore within its boundaries.  District Court judges are elected in each district on an "at-large" basis to three year terms.

The Superior Court judges sit at Pineshore in the new (2001) Regional Courts Complex, but any Superior Court judge may convene a proceeding under extraordinary circumstances in any judicial district's courthouse.  This is rarely done, and usually only in cases involving a high-profile capital crime or a local government boundary dispute.  The Superior Court has original jurisdiction over all cases arising in equity, cases in law involving claims over the District Court limit, Felony criminal matters, family law cases, matters involving real property and judicial review of 3RR agency decisions.  The Superior Court also sits as an intermediate appellate court in reviewing decisions of the District Court on appeal.

The 3RR Bar consists of (2007) 1,743 attorneys admitted to active practice.  The region has a mandatory bar, which administers the admissions process under rules and standards set by the Supreme Court.  Admission is open to any graduate of a U.S. or Canadian law`school who has taken and successfully completed a twelve-month course of full-time instruction (two to three years on a part-time basis) at the College of Law of Three Rivers Region University.  Graduates also receive an LL.M from this fully-accredited and prestigious program.



* * *

So, Matt, there you have it.  We'll be watching in a couple of years for that app to the 3RR Bar.

Later.


David


*  A 3RR Regular... Oh, you know that already, anyway

D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

BigSlark

Nice legal history of 3RR, David. So does this mean that when a new freeway is going to be put through a community the city attorney now has a place to file the suit?  :D

You know, you have enough information to create threeriversregion.org and keep people occupied with it for hours...

Cheers,
Kevin

Pat

David that was a good update on the legal smeagle of 3RR - pat

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Jmouse

Wow, that's me wearing the American flag. Didn't realize anyone captured that moment! :D
On a more serious note, I can't get this out of my mind:
QuoteWhile we have made a great deal of progress with each over the past few years, both boys are going through a very difficult time right now.
IMHO, every inch of progress, no matter how small, is a building block to success. Whether it be correcting a mistake in RL or 3RR, it is a step forward, and every block strengthens the final structure.

Until next time...
Joan

threestooges

#1852
Absolutely amazing and yet...considering I am working on my outlines, breifing cases, and just trying to get ahead this weekend... but hey, what can I say, the civ pro lesson on 3RR law was very well done. But to touch on your first point: studying on the beaches, it's very tempting, but there are no power outlets on the beach... laptops make the writing go quickly, but the battery will drop pretty quick (plus the sand in the keyboard, etc). That picture is great though and (not kidding at all) there is an almost identical one hanging in Chapman's halls... Long Beach I think it was (I'll try to find out)... Laguna Beach... my, have times changed. I'll tell you one thing though, CivPro will make for a very interesting exam.

Admission to the 3RR bar seems to be quite a feat. With only 1,743 admitted at any one time, competition for open spots must be pretty tight. Plus, there's that 1-year educational requirement at the 3RR school of law (out of curiousity, is that on the main campus, or is it a separate facility? Furthermore, where is the main campus itself located?) granted graduates receive an LLM, but I guess it helps to ensure those that practice in the region are of top quality. Give me a few years, and and app wouldn't be a bad idea.

Lastly, I should compliment you on pat's recent 00 addition. The time you put into these things is quite remarkable. I also like the fact that you brought back the hodag for another apperance.

Hope all is well with you and that things have begun to settle down after the trial and all. Thanks for the 00 honor, and I will be waiting for the collaboration to begin.

dedgren

#1853
So, here's a "random stuff" post.  I've really been bad, as about a week's worth of PMs and questions, along with a bunch of other neglected or deferred to-dos, have piled up.  I'd never fallen two "Double-0" honors comments behind before, and I guess that was sort of a wake-up call.

* * *

A Josh Update.



The visit's going about as well as I had hoped.  The residential treatment center where Josh is at has a wonderful program of therapy, and we feel so good to have gotten him accepted here.  Helena, Montana, where it is located, is a really nice place- it's at about 4,000 feet/1,250 meters above sea level- in a valley with mountains all around.  It snowed here last night just a couple of hundred feet higher up.

I should put in a word for the Red Lion Colonial Motel [linkie] where I am staying- it's a really nice place, very comfortable.  The staff has gone above and beyond in everything I've asked, and the wi-fi works great!  A big thumbs up.

* * *

All the great folks over at New Horizons Productions (NHP) must be wondering "what the heck?"  Being a huge fan of NHP's work, and in awe of the accomplishments of its individual members, a couple of weeks ago I approached with a request that they would consider that I would join them.  I do, you see, have this, er... interest in mapping...

...never knew that, did'ja?

...and I saw a chance for some synergy.  On the 19th, Travis (beskhu3epnm) PM'd me back and said that they would overlook my checkered past and uncertain parentage...

...oh, stop that!  They did not!

...he said they'd be happy to have me join NHP.  That is just. so. cool.  Words cannot express how honored I am to be a part of two really prestigious SC4 teams- first BSC and now NHP.  It's the stuff of dreams.

So, I'll look forward to catching my breath here a bit and renewing and redoubling my effort to make some real contribution to the game and to give something back to a community that has given me so much.

Thanks, NHP.

...and, thanks to my BSC friends, too.  I don't think I ever said that properly, and it is thus long overdue.

* * *

I've also applied for and been granted "Observer" status at the Sim City Journals Union (SCJU) [linkie].  That seems to be a really worthy, if complex effort.  As an observer, I do just that- observe.  It was what I had been doing anyway, and I think it's important to show support for quality efforts like the SCJU, so there you have it.  A visit there, btw, if you've never been is pretty fascinating.

* * *



I'm going to skim back through the comments for the last couple of weeks or so and address a few of the questions that have been raised.

Yesterday, Matt (threestooges) wanted to know where the 3RR University College of Law is located, and for that matter where 3RRU itself is at.  To demonstrate my mental dexterity, I'll do these in reverse order.  The University is located on the shores of Lake Evendim in Pineshore.  The College of Law is located in the law building on the campus.  You didn't ask the important question, Matt- how many hours will I have to bill to pay back the cost of the tuition?

* * *

Also yesterday, Kevin (BigSlark) want to know about city attorneys filing lawsuits to stop freeway construction.  Kevin, that's a really sore subject with me.  I think the failure, at least in the 'states, of folks to recognize that wishing away the automobile-freeway paradigm in the hope that everyone will ride bicycles to work or something is simply lunacy.  We will be increasingly paying over the coming decades for our failure to build needed urban infrastructure.  I've already made mention of the fight over the "Little Dig" warehouse district freeway controversy in Pineshore.  While I won't give away the ending, it's pretty is safe to assume, given the way I feel, that the good guys will win.

... rant off, as they say...

Oh, and, my friend- this corner of SC4D is threeriversregion.org.  Jeronij has created a place here that one would have to be a fool to leave.  This is, in other words, the greener pasture.

* * *

And again, yesterday (it was a busy day- we'll just miss by a few reaching 200 comments again this month, although 3RR is still averaging more than that since its start here last December), Pat (patfirefightr) said something about being sorry for a post he'd made.  Pat, occasional brain flatus is the human condition- no apology necessary, my friend.  There's posts I've made that I'd give just about anything to be able to call back.  The great thing about SC4D is that folks here move on, and the general attitude is that playing the game is way more important than playing games.  Thanks to you, in any event, for being such a great member here.

* * *

On the 28th, Shadow (Shadow Assassin) enquired:


QuoteWhy not extend Interstate 98 so it terminates in 3RR?

Someday I'll unload my feelings about gaps in the Interstate system...

...and it won't be a pretty sight...

...let's just say that that short stretch of I-98, like the Ontario 11 Freeway on the other side of the region, is "on the books" as proposed.  At some point, I'll address the future in the backstory.  It's certainly obvious that those freeways should all connect up, but it's equally as obvious that I-95 should not have a 30 mile "missing link" [linkie] in New Jersey

* * *

On the 26th, Matt (threestooges) asked where I find the time ['to do 3RR' was unspoken, but apparent from the context of the question].  Good question, in any event.  In fact, it's a stumper.  Heck if I know.

What many of you might not realize is that I just sit down and write whatever comes to mind.  The "honors" posts, the additions to the backstory- I don't want to burst anyone's bubble here, but I make up all that stuff as I go along, working at the speed of my two-fingered typing.  The biggest task now is to keep things consistent with what I've already done.  Often, I spend more time looking up what I wrote about the same thing three or four months ago than it takes to write the new stuff.  So there you have it- no role model here just in case there might be any budding authors out there.

* * *


n.b.: Posting as I go, posting as I go.  It's after midnight in Helena- I don't go see Josh 'til 10:00 tomorrow morning, but when the keyboard starts shorting out based on an accumulation of drool, that's when I should go to bed.  I've got another hour or so in me yet.  It's morning here, about 7:30 local time.  I need to head up the hill in a bit, but for right now I'm back.  Back in Alaska.  Uneventful flights.  I'll do a few more before bed.  -DE
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

Tarkus

David-

This is quite the amazing string of updates you have been having here, all while on the road no less.  I'm impressed. :)  I'm also thrilled to be a part of NHP with you, and can't wait to see what all you have planned.

Like SA, I too got a chuckle out seeing that there was a town named Emo in 3RR.  I'm even more entertained to see there's actually a town called that in Ontario.  I also couldn't help but notice Seinfeld Hills as well. :D  You obviously had a lot of fun naming all these locales.

Glad to see that things are going well for Josh up in Montana.

And congrats to Pat and Matt on the Double Zero honors!

-Alex (Tarkus)




beskhu3epnm

Welcome to NHP!!

Can't wait to see the projects you have waiting in the wings... I have some ideas, that's for sure.

Synergy.... you're getting all corporate on us here...!!



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BigSlark

David,

Congratulations on becoming a member of NHP. I, too, am a huge fan of their work and how much the members contribute. As for the sad, messy business of urban infrastructure, I suppose one of the upsides of living in a poor, rural region is that nearly everyone welcomes a new expressway or interstate, as the promise of economic development is too great to ignore.

I'm glad to hear that the Helena trip is going well. I hope that all will be well for your two sons one day soon.

Cheers,
Kevin

Jmouse

Congratulations on a well-deserved honor. See there, didn't I tell you all that hard work would pay off!

Until next time...
Joan

rushman5

It fascinates me - I've been going through a lot in my life, and I just haven't been as up-to-date as much as you have.  You are truly SimCity4 devoted.  Well done! &apls

dedgren

#1859
This is a post specifically directed at folks who are helping write the Gazetteer [linkie] entries.  I note that I am continuing to update the "We've got Mail..." part of my last post, which is here [linkie].  If you haven't looked there in the last 12 hours or so, check it out- there's probably something new.

Joan (Jmouse) bravely volunteered to have me dissect her proposed "Pine Cone" entry out in front of you all.  Ma'am, you are one brave lady, and have earned a special place among the ranks of Gazetteer contributors.  I say this not because I am such a harsh editor- I'd really like to be able just to touch submitted entries up enough to align them with my global vision for the region.  But it's fairly clear I need to be, in order to get there, a bit more explicit about what that vision is.

Here's Joan's proposed entry, followed by a location map of the area.

  • Pine Cone (Islands  Unincorporated Place - ___ Quad ___ ___ - lat. ___° ___' ___" N / lon. ___° ___' ___" W – elev. ___ ft./ ___m)  Located in the lower southeast section of 3RR on Hotham Inlet, Pine Cone is the toe of a boot formed by Iron Hook and Diddicks. Beacon Hill, height ___'/___m, lies on the south shore and Nike Site Pt. sits on the northernmost coastline.  The Point is home to a small but popular day-cruise enterprise which ferries tourists on a six-hour tour of the five Pine Cone Islands. During the meandering trip, guests are invited to take in some deep-sea fishing, play the slot machines on board, enjoy the scenery or simply relax on the sun deck.  The inhabitants of Pine Cone include a few cruise-ship employees and a handful of commercial fishermen who live near Beacon Hill. The islands west of the coast are virtually unpopulated, although a few grass huts can be seen from the ship's deck.



...I'm going to anticipate some sharp-eyed 3RR Fact Checker and note a mistake in the map- the "i" in the word "Island" in the label "Pine Cone Islands" should be capitalized.  Oops!

Now, here's (without any intent to slight Joan's effort one bit) my "everything but the kitchen sink" take on the Pine Cone Islands.


  • Pine Cone Islands (Islands - SE Quad Pine Cone Twp - lat. 48° 46' 31" N / lon. 94° 48' 26" W (center of group) – elev.  850 ft./259m amsl (highest point))  Located at the toe of Iron Hook Cape about 15 miles/24 kilometers southeast of Pineshore, the Pine Cone Islands are a group of five small wooded islets and several individual rocks and shoals.  They are uninhabited, and there is no evidence of historial use by the aboriginal peoples that migrated through the region.  The only structures on the islands are a dock and picnic area, noted below, and a number of semi-permanent duck blinds that local hunters have built.  The largest island in the group is the southernmost- it lies about 2,000 feet/650 meters to the west of the end of the cape.  The rest of the group extend to the NNW in a rough line with the small islet that is the furthest north located a little more that two miles/3.4 kilometers away.  The islands have a margin of rocky cobble beach around each and are relatively flat, with the largest rising only about 30 feet/9 meters above the waters of the Inlet at its highest point.  The Pine Cone Islands are the centerpiece of a small but popular day-cruise boat enterprise based out of nearby Ellisport (about three miles/five km to the east - see entry)).  These trips ferry tourists and locals alike on a six-hour tour of the five islands and nearby Nike Site Point (see entry), where the crumbling remains of a 1950s-vintage air defense battery can still be seen.  During the meandering trip, guests are invited to fish for the abundant Northern and Walleyed Pike of the waters around the islands, play the slot machines on board, enjoy the scenery or simply relax on the sun deck.  A high point of the day is a picnic lunch on the largest island, where a dock and day use facilities have been constructed.  For those who do not have time for the cruise, the Pine Cone Islands can be easily seen from the top of Beacon Hill (see entry) just west of Ellisport.

OK, Joan, all you other Gazetteer writers... deep breath!  Before you all conclude this is simply not a fair exercise because the playing field isn't level...

...after all, 3RR only truly exists somewhere in my head...

...let me parse what I've written, and refer back to Joan's effort.


  • ...Pine Cone Islands...

Joan's entry was written as if for the Township of Pine Cone, as she refers from the get-go to the little tip of land at the end of the Iron Hook Cape.  Keep in mind that the Gazetteer is written to cover physical (such as lakes, mountains and islands) and built man-made (mainly cities, towns, and such) features, and not "map-line" places such as townships.  I may rethink this, but for now I'm avoiding adding 64 township writeups to the already long list of the other stuff.

...(Islands - SE Quad Pine Cone Twp - lat. 48° 46' 31" N / lon. 94° 48' 26" W (center of group) – elev.  850 ft./259m amsl (highest point))...

This will invariably be info that I will supply as we go along.  I've got about a quarter of the lat-lons by township in an Excel spreadsheet that I will publish to the Gazetteer writers (and anyone else interested).  That's an interesting process- I wrote a spreadsheet that calculates lat and lon figures by taking the coordinates of the point from a 4,096 by 4,096 pixel map- it's all automated except for data entry, and I am using Dragon Naturally Speaking software [linkie] to dictate the info into the spreadsheet.  More on all that later.  Elevations, btw, are going to be hard.  I have to get each one using the TerrainQuery tool from a quad.  That's 256 iterations, so it will be a while.

...Located at the toe of Iron Hook Cape about 15 miles/24 kilometers southeast of Pineshore, the Pine Cone Islands are a group of five small wooded islets and several individual rocks and shoals.    They are uninhabited, and there is no evidence of historial use by the aboriginal peoples that migrated through the region.  The only structures on the islands are a dock and picnic area, noted below, and a number of semi-permanent duck blinds that local hunters have built.  The largest island in the group is the southernmost- it lies about 2,000 feet/650 meters to the west of the end of the cape.  The rest of the group extend to the NNW in a rough line with the small islet that is the furthest north located a little more that two miles/3.4 kilometers away.  The islands have a margin of rocky cobble beach around each and are relatively flat, with the largest rising only about 30 feet/9 meters above the waters of the Inlet at its highest point....

The first line (or two or three, if the feature rates them) of each physical feature entry should locate and describe the feature.  Here, because the islands are a group of individual features, extra detail is gone into concerning the general area.  If habitation is an issue (as it would generally not be, for example, for mountains and peaks, but would be for islands), that should be noted.  Reference to historical habitation always is a way to add depth and detail.  So is noting, for physical features, interesting or notable built environment stuff located on it.  Don't hesitate to add your description of what you think the feature looks like- I can always adjust if necessary.

...The Pine Cone Islands are the centerpiece of a small but popular day-cruise boat enterprise based out of nearby Ellisport (about three miles/five km to the east - see entry)).  These trips ferry tourists and locals alike on a six-hour tour of the five islands and nearby Nike Site Point (see entry), where the crumbling remains of a 1950s-vintage air defense battery can still be seen.  During the meandering trip, guests are invited to fish for the abundant Northern and Walleyed Pike of the waters around the islands, play the slot machines on board, enjoy the scenery or simply relax on the sun deck.  A high point of the day is a picnic lunch on the largest island, where a dock and day use facilities have been constructed....

Joan's inspiration here was great!  It was easy to take her description of the day-cruise features and flesh them out a little bit more- adding a picnic on one of the islands creates an opportunity for the person who ultimately develops it to put some stuff on what would otherwise just be a treed area.  Let your imagination go, although you should note that I did bring Joan's vision of a South Sea style cruise (...a few grass huts can be seen from the ship's deck...) back to earth a bit by changing them to far more prosaic duck blinds.  This is, after all, the Great White North, and those cruises are probably a long way from the Holland America Line variety.

...For those who do not have time for the cruise, the Pine Cone Islands can be easily seen from the top of Beacon Hill (see entry) just west of Ellisport....

Once again, I've used Joan's reference to a nearby feature, in this case Beacon Hill, to add a little bit of additional detail.

Here, by the way, is the entry I wrote for Nike Site Point, which you will note I referred to in the Pine Cone Islands entry.


  • Nike Site Point (Point - SE Quad Pine Cone Twp - lat. 48° 46' 37" N / lon. 94° 47' 50" W (tip))  Nike Site Point (formerly Myer's Point) is the very end of Iron Hook Cape, and is a 1,500 foot/450 meter long ridge of eroded limestone and granite that extends along an axis a few degrees west of north into the waters of the Hotham Inlet.  To the north of the point lies the long curving coast of Diddick's Bay.  The northernmost of the Pine Cone Islands are off to the west across a channel that is about 2,500 feet/.75 km wide.  The islands and the point are geologically similar structures, and mark a fault that terminates there at its north end and extends southeastwards about 40 miles/65 kilometers into Minnesota.  Despite this commonality, however, Nike Site Point is much higher in elevation than the islands, rising at its greatest extent to about 65 feet/20 meters above the waters on either side.  It was here that, pursuant to 3RR's membership with Canada and the United States in NORAD, the North American Air Defense system developed at the height of the Cold War, the region allowed the U.S. Army to construct and man a Nike-Hercules missile battery from 1957 to 1972.  The missiles were stored in a bunker blasted out of solid rock on the Diddick's Bay side, and the old concrete barracks, battery control building, and HIPAR radar platform can be seen today, although these structures, which have now been abandoned for over three decades, are quickly crumbling away.  As noted, the original name of Nike Site Point was Myer's Point, but the novelty of having a missile base located there resulted in the locals and most others in 3RR simply referring to it by what became, in an act of the Assembly the year following the site's decommissioning, its official name.  The point and about 20 acres adjacent to it at the end of the cape are ostensibly closed to the public, but the chain link fence built for this purpose is not in much better shape than the rest of the facility.  It has, accordingly, become a popular place for non-traditional weddings and other events, with the 3RR Troopers from the post in Des Plaines at least looking the other way, and often making it onto the guest list.  It is thought, however, that the promoters of an Eagles reunification tour concert are pushing things a bit too far by seeking to hold a concert at the site in the summer of 2008.

I was a 'Herc guy...



...in another lifetime, so I had information at hand that most would not otherwise know to note.  The point, though, is general.  If you write a number of entries about features that are nearby one another, you can synergize the entries, which will add greatly to the detail in our completely imaginary place.  Think of Tolkien's appendices to the trilogy [linkie].  They were completely readable on their own, and really added to the story once you knew what was available there.

I'll do another post later today or tomorrow on urban place entries, which as you have probably seen are a different kettle of fish.

So, Joan- thanks again for going first.  Don't anyone be shy about doing these, please.  It's my pleasure to work with you, and to see the contributions of others take 3RR places I could never reach on my own.

Later.



David

D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren