Blog Dog Dan: COOKING IN THE DARK WITH COCHRAN & CHRISTIE

I guess Christie and I are from the "wrong side of the tracks," too. This expression came about in the 19th century, when railway tracks usually ran right through the center of town, and it was the winds that determined which was the right or wrong side to live on. As the town developed, the wealthy built homes on the cleaner, windward side of the tracks, while industrial development and the working class were confined to the other, dirtier side. Of course, we love to be on the dirtier side! Speaking of "funky," Grand Funk Railroad got their name from the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a well-known railway line that ran through their home town of Flint, Michigan. I certainly think that Christie is "Some Kind of Wonderful"! Sometimes, I think we're on the "fast train to nowhere"!

Railroad hobos were common in U.S. history in the mid 1800s, when railroads were the major source of transportation. After the Civil War, military veterans rode the rails in search of work and new lives. By the early 1900s, it was estimated that about 700,000 transients, almost all men, regularly rode the rails. During the Great Depression, the numbers soared as men and families moved around the country looking for work.

The Transcontinental Railroad (originally known as the Pacific Railroad) was built between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad. This 1800-mile railroad linked the east and west coast (Atlantic and Pacific). The majority of the Union Pacific track was built by Irish laborers and veterans of both the Union and Confederate armies. As the track approached Utah, most of the work force were Mormons. The Central Pacific’s laborers were Chinese.

On May 10, 1869, laborers of the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at Promontory Summit, Utah, where Governor Leland Stanford (founder of Stanford University) drove the last spike that joined the rails of the transcontinental railroad. This was the world's first live mass-media event and travel from coast to coast was reduced from six months or more to just one week. These events were the major inspiration for French writer Jules Verne’s book, Around the World in Eighty Days, published in 1873. The Last Spike (or golden spike) is now on display at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

While this development was cause for celebration for most people, the Native Americans called the train the "iron horse." The Native Americans saw the addition of the railroad as a violation of their treaties with the

United States

. War parties began to raid the moving labor camps that followed the progress of the line. The Union Pacific responded by increasing security and killing American Bison, which were both a physical threat to trains and a primary food source for the Indians. Not only was the buffalo a primary food source for Native Americans, but their very religions were centered around the buffalo.

The buffalo gave us everything we needed. Without it we were nothing. Our tipis were made of his skin. His hide was our bed, our blanket, our winter coat. It was our drum, throbbing through the night, alive, holy. Out of his skin we made our water bags. His flesh strengthened us, became flesh of our flesh. Not the smallest part of it was wasted. His stomach, a red-hot stone dropped into it, became our soup kettle. His horns were our spoons, the bones our knives, our women's awls and needles. Out of his sinews we made our bowstrings and thread. His ribs were fashioned into sleds for our children, his hoofs became rattles. His mighty skull, with the pipe leaning against it, was our sacred altar. The name of the greatest of all Sioux was Tatanka Iyotake--Sitting Bull. When you killed off the buffalo you also killed the Indian--the real, natural, "wild" Indian.

Crazy Horse "Tȟašúŋke Witkó” ( "His-Horse-Is-Crazy" or "His-Horse-Is-Spirited"),(1840-1877) was a legendary Oglala Lakota warrior. He stole horses from the Crow Indians before he was 13 and led his first war party before turning 20. He earned his reputation for his skill and daring in battle and also his fierce determination to preserve his people’s traditional way of life. He refused to allow any photographs to be taken of him.

He fought in the 1865-1868 war led by Chief Red Cloud against American settlers in Wyoming. Following the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, he helped attack a surveying party sent into the Black Hills by General George Armstrong Custer in 1873. With a combined force of about 1,500 Lakota and Cheyenne, he was able to turn back General George Crook on June 17, 1876, as Crook tried to advance up Rosebud Creek toward Sitting Bull’s encampment on the Little Bighorn. A week later, Crazy Horse joined forces with Sitting Bull, and on June 25 led his band in the counterattack that destroyed Custer’s Seventh Cavalry, flanking the Americans from the north and west as Hunkpapa warriors led by Chief Gall charged from the south and east. This was known as Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Custer's Last Stand and was the most famous action of the Great Sioux Wars of 1876.

After this victory, Sitting Bull and Gall retreated to Canada, but Crazy Horse remained to battle General Nelson Miles through the winter of 1876-1877. On January 8, 1877, Crazy Horse's warriors fought their last major battle at Wolf Mountain, but was forced to surrender due to the long cold winter and the decline of the buffalo. Except for Gall and Sitting Bull, he was the last important chief to yield.

The battlefield today

Jimmie Rodgers was known as “The Singing Brakeman.” Rodgers recorded over 110 records, many featuring his trademark yodel, including “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Waiting for a Train.” He was the son of a section foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and went to work as a "water boy" on the M&O at age 14. Many of his co-workers were African Americans who taught him how to play banjo and guitar. At age 24, he contracted tuberculosis and could no longer work as a railroad employee. The stories and melodies Rodgers learned while working the rails served as the basis of his new career. Rodgers was the first inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame and part of the first group of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Cochran and I are going to tie this post up into a neat little bundle and make “hobo packs” today. We did not add meat today, but made ours with one russet potato, half a yellow squash and zucchini, onion, and red pepper. These packs are popular when camping because anything can be wrapped up in foil and put on the grill! We only used vegetables, but you can add any cut of meat to your packet. You can also use bouillon cubes in your packet.

HOBO PACKS

1 russet potato, sliced

½ yellow squash, sliced

½ zucchini, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

½ red pepper, sliced

2 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. canola oil

Seasoned salt

Black pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for butter. On a large sheet of foil on a baking sheet, pour out the vegetables in the middle of the foil, dot with butter, and bring up edges of foil to seal. Cook for 45 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.