Tag Archive: indiana

Donaldson Cave (Shawnee Cave) – Spring Mill State Park – Indiana

Donaldson Cave (Shawnee Cave) – Spring Mill State Park – Indiana

Donaldson Cave (Shawnee Cave) - Spring Mill State Park - Indiana

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The cave is part of a system of tunnels that extend more than 8000 feet within Spring Mill State Park. Other caves in the system include Bronson Cave and Twin Caves. The latter is large enough to accommodate a boat operated by park personnel, that explores the parks underlying karst (limestone) landscape.

Southern Indiana, and Kentucky are well known for their karst-related features. Signs for a variety of cave tours can be seen along the major highway systems. These include Marengo Cave, Squire Boone Caverns, Bluespring Caverns, and of course the world famous Mammoth Cave National Park outside of Brownsville, KY.

Indiana Geological & Water Survey – Karst Features in Indiana
Indiana Department of Natural Resources – Spring Mill State Park
National Park Service – Mammoth Cave National Park

Corn Field Summer Thunderstorm – Salem, Indiana

Corn Field Summer Thunderstorm – Salem, Indiana

Indiana corn field thunderstorm - Salem  - Indiana

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This photo comes with an interesting story. So I arrived in Indiana in the spring of 2019, and while I have lived many places including Alaska and Utah, I had never quite experienced thunderstorms like the one about to unleash in this photo. But 2019 will be remembered, particularly in parts of the Midwest, for some other crazy aspects of the weather that growing season. First came the torrential down pours on top of snow in the Upper Midwest, that led to widespread flooding and destruction in places like Iowa, and Wisconsin. I personally drove through the area in the aftermath of that, and saw widespread flooding, towns under water, and giant grain silos split open like a tornado had broken them open. That weather was followed by prolonged drought in Indiana and Kentucky, that was captured in this photo, by the stunted corn seen in this photo. While I wasn’t think about that aspect of the weather at the time, I ended up submitting this particular photo to a joint photo contest by the Indiana Corn Growers Association, and Indiana Soybean Alliance. While I submitted the photo, for the wild weather it captured, what they saw was the sharp contrast between that storm and the stunted corn that marked the growing season up to that point. And for my efforts I was awarded a thousand dollar prize.

Its definitely a storm I will never forget.

Mail Pouch Chew Tobacco Barn – Indiana

Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn - Jasper - Indiana

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The Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn, was a product of an advertising campaign conducted by the West Virginia Mail Pouch Chewing Tobacco Company (Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company), from 1891 to 1992. While barn owners were paid a small fee for the advertisements, the most valuable aspect of the arrangement was the fresh coat of paint their barns received every few years, that helped preserve the wood most barns of the time were constructed from. Most Mail Pouch barns were painted either red or black, with white and yellow writing. At the height of the advertising campaign in the 1960s, more than 20,000 barns, spread across 22 states displayed the Mail Pouch Tobacco ad.

The majority of what remains of these painted barns can be located in Indiana and Ohio.