【要注意】

駐在者向けです。(旅行者以外)

【ブログ更新】知らないと恐ろしい、アメリカの滞在期限「I-94」のリアル📄💥

入国時にパスポートに日付を書いてもらえなくなった今、自分の正しい滞在期限を確認する唯一の方法「I-94」をチャット形式の短いTipsにしました。

・気づかぬうちの不法滞在を防ぐために
・スマホ1スクロールでサクッと読める内容

渡米予定のある方や、現地に到着したばかりの方はぜひ最優先でご確認ください！

https://wp.me/ph1OLS-gT

#アメリカ生活 #ビザ #ESTA #海外移住 #アメリカ入国 #I94 #リスクマネジメント

いいねは励みになります🙇🏻‍♂️

McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum: Chicago, Illinois

The historic McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum is just one of the iconic buildings along the Chicago Riverwalk and its world-famous movable bridges.

However, the big thing about this Chicago attraction is that it shows you how its 37 movable bridges actually work.

Linda’s Pick of the Exhibits

The McCormick Bridgehouse Museum is in the SW bridgehouse of the DuSable Bridge. My favorite part of it was those humongous big gears.

Opened back in 1920, the bridge is a bascule bridge. What’s a bascule bridge? Basically, it’s a drawbridge similar to those used on castles in medieval Europe. In fact, Tower Bridge (you’ve no doubt seen it a lot on tv shows set in London) is considered the second-built of modern bascule bridges.

The name, bascule, comes from the French word for balance scale. You know the kind — your doctor’s office may still use a balance beam scale to weigh you. So, you stand on the scale and the nurse moves attached sliding weights until the bar rests in a straight horizontal line. Voila, you have your weight.

In other words, the bascule bridge is all about balance. The two parts of the bridge lift straight up to let boats cross on the river beneath them.

Unlike a seesaw, which also has to balance, the pivot point (trunnion) isn’t in the middle. You have to put two kids of equal size (or move them closer or futher from the middle) to make them balance on the boards. For a bascule bridge, the pivot point is moved to one side and the seesaw is rebalanced.

Counterweights continually balance the leaves, or long movable arms that cross the river. With the DuSable Bridge,the ratio of the bridge to its counterweight is 3 to 1. It has a leaf weight of around 4,100 tons, with a counter weight around 12,000 tons.

It only takes a 108 hp electric motor, along with the gearing system, to open and close each leaf of the bridge. The bridge’s motor has comparable power to the motor of a 1950s Volkswgon Beetle.

One of the DuSable Bridge’s original names was the Michigan Avenue Bridge. It was officially renamed in 2010, after Chicago’s first permanent resident, Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. His homesite abuts the northern end of the bridge.

What’s at the McCormick Bridgehouse Museum?

The McCormic Bridgehouse is a five-story building providing a history of the Chicago River, its importance to the city, and the bridges that cross it. Its distinctive exterior has a number of bas-relief sculptures that show historical Chicago scenes.

The DuSable Bridge ,along with its bridgehouses, was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1991 by the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois. This bridge has four neoclassical beaux arts style bridgehouses, with the SW bridgehouse being home to the museum.

Each story of the museum is dedicated to a different part of history.

• 1st – A Prairie Stream and a Point of Contact: history of the first peoples in the area and the Europeans who moved there. The gear room is also in this area.
• 2nd – A Boomtown and Its Impact: growth of Chicago into a busy port city on Lake Michigan (the only Great Lake fully in the U.S. rather than shared with Canada). The Chicago River also runs through the city, which was important for connecting Chicago’s lumber and meatpacking industries to midwest markets.
• 3rd – Pieces of the Past: More history and views of the river. In 1900 Chicago reversed the flow of the river using a series of canal locks to reduce polluting Lake Michigan, its source for drinking water.

• 4th – Down the Drain: Here’s where you learn more about the impact of industry on the river. Over a century, everything contributed to the great volume of waste dumped into it.
• 5th – Back to Life: Describes the changes to the Chicago River after decades of work to clean up the city’s mess. That includes the riverwalk and a continuing growth of wildlife in the water and on its shores.

Linda’s Road Trip Tips

The Bridgehouse Museum is described as the cultural anchor of the Chicago Riverwalk. Indeed, it was part of the initial segment of the Riverwalk.

So, if you’re planning to walk this amazing outdoor attraction, do plan to start it at the museum as I did.

As you walk, you’ll see buildings designed by some of North America’s most famous architects. And if walking isn’t your thing, you can take an architecture tour Chicago River tour from numerous different companies.

Whether you’re out for the afternoon or an evening, there are lots of places on the Chicago riverwalk to eat and find a cocktail.

I also highly recommend you take the time to visit Chicago’s Natural History Field Museum. It was one of the best I’ve been at.

Who Should Visit the Chicago River Museum?

The McCormick Bridgehouse Museum Chicago is also often called the Chicago River Museum. It’s an interesting stop to learn more about the importance of the Chicago River to the city.

The attraction is small, so will only take half an hour or so to go through. However, if it’s busy as it was on my visit (I hit a free admission day), it’ll take longer as you’ll spend time in line-ups between the five floors.

Key things I took away were the impact of pollution and the effort it takes to clean up a mess. The museum did a great job of illustrating Chicago’s dedication to the environment and sustainability, so would present opportunities for parents to discuss the topics with kids.

Due to maintaining the historic integrity of the site, wheelchair access is only available on the first floor and gear room. If you plan to visit, check the Bridgehouse Museum accessibility information.

How Do You Visit the Bridgehouse Museum Chicago?

The McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum are located in Chicago, Illinois, at 99 Chicago Riverwalk, on the Chicago Riverwalk.

Visit the Bridgehouse Museum on the Web to learn more about days and hours open (it’s a seasonal museum), as well as admission costs.

Get updates on what’s happening at the McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Musem Facebook page.

Take a short virtual tour of the McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum on YouTube.

Plan your visit to the Chicago River Museum with Google Maps.

Find More Museum Reviews for Illinois

Check out more reviews for museum attractions in Illinois on guide2museums.com.

Read More Technology Museum Reviews

• Texas Forestry Museum: Lufkin’s Hidden Gem
• Discover the Amazing Canada Science and Technology Museum
• EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin: Airplanes from All Eras
• Medalta Museum: Ceramic Arts in Medicine Hat, Alberta
• Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site: Claybank, Saskatchewan
• Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum: Galveston, Texas, Oil Drilling History
• McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum: Chicago, Illinois
• Stafford Air & Space Museum: Space Shuttles to Rockets in Weatherford, Oklahoma
• Texas Energy Museum: Oil History in Beaumont, Texas
• Dr Pepper Museum: Great Tastes in Waco, Texas
• Museum of Clean: Pocatello, Idaho
• Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum: Puunene, Maui, Hawaii
• Idaho Potato Museum: Blackfoot, Idaho
• Manitoba Agricultural Museum: Rare Historic Farm Machines in Austin, Manitoba

Reference(s)

Chicago Loop Bridges. (2024). DuSable Bridge at Michigan Avenue. https://chicagoloopbridges.com/bridges12/MS12/MICH12-6.html

Bridgehouse Museum. Celebrating the Chicago River and its world-famous movable bridges. https://www.bridgehousemuseum.org/about-the-bridge

Opponents of proposed Milwaukee I-94 expansion call for pause after federal investigation

From the Article:... #i94 #wisconsin #dot #cars

https://www.wpr.org/opponents-proposed-milwaukee-interstate-expansion-federal-investigation

Range Riders Museum: Old West Lives Again in Miles City, Montana

Roadtripping down I-94 in Montana, you’ll find the amazing western heritage museum, the Range Riders Museum.

When it comes to authenticity, the Range Riders Museum attraction in Miles City, Montana, is unequaled. Established in 1939 by actual range riders, this museum preserves the artifacts and tells the stories. 

Linda’s Pick of the Exhibits

My favorite exhibits revolved around the cowboy history — the cows — and the fences.

After growing up on a horse ranch with a steady diet of old westerns, some of the first YA novels I was inspired to write revolved around cattle drives and outlaws: Badlands & Outlaws and Kidnapped by Outlaws.

But back to the cowboy heritage museum!

Back in the ‘day, the range was wide open and cattle grazed wherever the cowboys could find water.

Around Miles City the water supply was the Yellowstone River. Texas longhorns had reached Montana by 1866 (Tusler, 2013), and small ranches popped up. Eventually these gave way to the short-lived 1880s era of cattle barons. 

The era of cattle barons really got rolling in Miles City with the arrival of trains.

Indeed, the Northern Pacific Railroad came to town in 1881-82, making the city a key transportation crossroad. Main Street in Miles City, which is listed as a National Register historic district, was the town’s main business center until the late 20th century. 

History of Barbed Wire

Barbed wire marked the end of the open range of ranching. Fenceposts strung with wire made way for a different lifestyle where ranchers could contain their stock in one place. 

What I didn’t know was how many kinds of barbed wire have been used! In fact, nearly 400 patents for barbed wire have been made.

Once barbed wire was readily available, it didn’t take long for it to turn the wide open grasslands of the west into pastures. 

Brands on the other hand, were the “signature” of ranchers on the open range. Each ranch’s mark was stamped into the hips of animals with red hot branding irons.

Linda has published three books about outlaws in the old west: 1 nonfiction and 2 fiction for teens and adults.

NONFICTION: Station No. 1 on the Outlaw Trail: Old West Outlaws

https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?preview=inline&linkCode=ll1&ref_=k4w_oembed_CKsKiIU2xbdnyk&asin=B08G6J9V7W&tag=snowmaga-20

FICTION: Badlands and Outlaws

https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?preview=inline&linkCode=ll1&ref_=k4w_oembed_9wBoPhPCyZcFSa&asin=B00NKUSVHQ&tag=snowmaga-20

Kidnapped by Outlaws (Sequel to Badlands and Outlaws)

https://www.amazon.com/Kidnapped-Outlaws-Old-West-Book-ebook/dp/B00OADBFKW?crid=31XORBCADL2ZO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Nk7aWaXVlsbODSHzhcgNGr0Gfqz0HyLSrsvDymhxzqjGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.6ySDjTxE_BWAXUPXubbSMOhsnjgX_Eqp6WimLnjvKrw&dib_tag=se&keywords=AKSOMITIS&qid=1726088282&s=digital-text&sprefix=aksomitis%2Cdigital-text%2C129&sr=1-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=snowmaga-20&linkId=45623d051ca1f88dea77456687cef5fa&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

What’s in the Range Riders Open Air Museum

The Range Rider Museum is a sprawling open air museum that includes the original 2800 square foot log building dedicated in 1942.

Today, the museum has 13 buildings. Some of them have been relocated from nearby places and are spread out like an old west town.

Inside the buildings, there’s an impressive 38,000 feet of display area filled with everything from antique tools to fine china!

Specialized areas include:

• Fort Keogh Officers’ Quaraters
• Coach House
• Homestead House
• One-Room School
• Indian artifacts from the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow peoples
• Charley Russell Gallery
• Carol’s Hattery
• Lame Deer & L.O. Ranch Replicas

Main Street: Old Miles Town 

We started our tour on Main Street, Old Miles Town, after leaving the reception area. The log building fronts all sport signs identifying their purpose. 

The collection of guns is one of the museum’s premier displays. Bert Clark, or BJ, was the youngest of seven children born to a Wisconsin family. He was an accomplished boxer, even teaching it for a decade. In 1940, he, along with his wife, Alta, moved to Miles City, until they eventually retired in the 1960s. B.J. died August 19, 1964, with complications after surgery. 

Clark spent forty-five years building his collection, which consists of many unique guns.

There were also French Flintlock pistols circa 1770, a bayonet with extra long blade so it could be used as a sword used in the Philippines, and a late 1800s 12 gauge double barrel, open hammer, lever under the trigger shotgun from England.

You can wander through the U.S. Marshall & Jail to Rooms (both provide rooms, although the experience between the two was significantly different in the old days!).

Instead of horses tied to the hitching rails though, the poles hold saddles of every make and description. 

And what else symbolizes the old west better than a saddle? 

Saddles have been around for millennia. However, the saddles of the range riders, which are what we still use today, took centuries to evolve.

Types of Saddles

The initial design started with saddles built for war. They were brought by the Moors to the Spanish, who improved on them by adding more protection for horse and rider.

Eventually these became the stock saddles on display in the museum. 

Mind you, I remember finding the horn most useful for hanging on when competing in barrel racing events! 

Of course, each building on Main Street is set up according to its sign. We wandered through the Conservancy for Music, the Post Office, the Grey Mule Saloon, Bob’s Barber Shop, Macqueen House, the Drug Store, and more. 

The museum recognizes the earliest Indigenous inhabitants of the area with an interactive display, the Lame Deer Camp. It tells the story of the conflict that played out during settlement and how the natural terrain was important. 

The first visitors to this area used Mackinaw flat-bottomed boats on the Yellowstone river and its tributary, the Tongue River, which empties into the Yellowstone at Miles City. The Yellowstone rises just outside of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. It runs for nearly 700 miles across Montana until it joins the mighty Missouri River in North Dakota. 

While the Yellowstone is the longest free-flowing river in the lower 48 states, the Missouri was much more important for moving people and cargo. 

Miles City was founded in 1877 near Fort Keogh. The museum celebrates this history with a scale model of the Fort in an interactive room where you can explore its history. You can also walk through one of the original Officers’ Quarters buildings, which was moved to the museum grounds.

While there were earlier stages, the state’s first regular stagecoach lines ran from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Virginia City and Billings, Montana, starting in the 1860s.

A lot of Montana, though, wasn’t accessible via river, so stagecoach travel was important.

Mules, freight wagons, and bushwackers predominated in good weather, followed by sleds and sleighs when winter hit. 

Home on the Range

The ranch houses of the west had little in common with the fancy parlors and fine china of the east. Indeed, the life of ranch wives was often a tough one with few luxuries available before the turn of the 20th century.

Furniture was often roughly made and focused on utility, rather than fine wood carvings and finishes. 

The Range Riders Museum attraction has an original pioneer home moved to the location from its original homestead.

The house is complete with wood burning stove, a huge tin coffee pot, a chamber pail under the bed, so its owners didn’t need to make a midnight run to the outhouse, and a wooden cradle for baby. 

When it comes to early western life, there are lots of other displays throughout the museum in addition to the pioneer home.

One display I really enjoyed was the original wedding outfits of the Jelinek Wedding display, complete with the retirement photos of the couple. Sylvia’s China and Carol’s Hattery were two more. 

Linda’s Road Trip Tips

Miles City was a fun stop on our trek across Montana on I-94. I especially wanted to visit the historic Montana Bar and wasn’t disappointed with what I found!

The bar is considered one of the best preserved historic bars in Montana. So, it doesn’t take much to imagine cowboys (and a few outlaws) stepping over the original Italian tile floor and dropping into one of the booths with their solid cherry wood tables.

Throw in some steer heads, brown tin ceiling tiles, and statues of cowboys on bucking broncs, and you’ve got an historic western atmosphere.

And of course the food (a steak sandwich) was delicious. That night we stayed at the Econo Lodge, which was affordable and comfortable.

Who Should Visit the Range Riders Museum?

The Range Riders Museum for anyone interested in a cowboy and western heritage museum. Indeed, it’s one of the best cowboy museums we’ve ever visited.

Whether you’ve lived the cowboy life yourself, or want to know more about cowboy origins, this is a great Montana attraction.

We spent most of the morning going through the exhibits and could have been much longer. The museum uses excellent signage, so it identifies the artifacts, and in many cases, the ranch family that used and contributed it.

The main parts of the museum will be readily accessible to those with mobility issues.

If you’re traveling I-94, be sure to put this Montana attraction on your itinerary!

How Do You Visit the Range Riders Cowboy Heritage Museum?  

The museum is open seasonally, typically from mid-April to mid-October. It’s located at: 435 W. I-94 Business Loop, Miles City, MT. The mailing address is 435 L P Anderson Rd, Miles City.

Check days open, hours, and admission costs on the Range Riders Museum website.

Check what’s happening on the Range Riders Facebook page.

Take a virtual tour of the Range Riders Museum with the Miles City Chamber of Commerce on YouTube.

Range Riders Museum on Google Maps.

Find More Museum Reviews for Montana

Check out more reviews for museum attractions in Montana on guide2museums.com.

Explore More History Museums

• Musée de la civilisation: Quebec’s Museum of Civilization
• Inside the Cattle Raisers Museum: Fort Worth, Texas
• Plains of Abraham Museum & Battlefield Park: Quebec City
• Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto Review
• Amazing Giant Bison, Beaver, Mammoths & More: Yukon Beringia Museum in Whitehorse
• Royal Saskatchewan Museum & World’s Largest T-Rex Dinosaur
• Fick Fossil & History Museum: Buffalo Bill to Prehistoric Fish in Oakley, Kansas
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum: Simi Valley, California
• Morro Bay Maritime Museum: Morro Bay, California
• National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame: Cowgirl history in Fort Worth, Texas
• Bell Barn Museum: Historic Round Barn in Indian Head, Saskatchewan
• Naranjo Museum: Dinosaurs & Fossils in Lufkin, Texas
• Texas Seaport Museum: Gulf Coast History in Galveston, Texas
• Levine Museum of the New South: Charlotte, North Carolina
• Jefferson Historical Museum in Big Cypress Bayou: Jefferson, Texas
• Museum of the Fur Trade: Chadron, Nebraska
• Mystic Seaport Museum: Historic Seafaring Village in Mystic, Connecticut

References 

MacDonald, J.G. (1950). History of navigation on the Yellowstone River. Missoula: University of Montana. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3584&context=etd 

Tusler, K. (2013). The cattle barons rise and fall. Billings: Rocky Mountain College. Retrieved from https://www.rocky.edu/sites/default/files/tusler-honors-thesis.pdf 

Schwantes, C.A. (n.d.). The steamboat and stagecoach era in Montana and the Northern West. Published in Montana the Magazine of Western History. Retrieved from https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do

They are plowing $1.2 billion into this monstrocity. How many lanes are going to be enough for these folks?

"The final design proposed in the study requires the acquisition of 49 acres of land, the displacement of six businesses and one home."

https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2022/11/11/transportation-state-picks-i-94-expansion-over-fix-at-six-proposal/

#Milwaukee #Wisconsin #i94 #Roads #Interstate