Who would have known that Daisy Air guns is located in Rogers, Arkansas and they have a great Airgun museum right by where we’re staying ?!! It was definitely a great find.

 Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give away BB guns with purchases of windmills. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. The gun received its name when General Manager Lewis Cass Hough fired one and enthusiastically said “It’s a Daisy!’ In 1958, the company moved the corporate offices and manufacturing facilities from Plymouth to Rogers, Arkansas.

First Poster for Daisy Air Guns

The sturdy little Daisy BB gun quickly became a staple with American youth, and youngsters all across America cut their shooting teeth on a Daisy.

A lot of BBs  of have rolled out of the barrel  since 1958 and Daisy still dominates the air gun category with tried and true models like the legendary Red Ryder.  First introduced in 1938, the Red Ryder BB gun became an iconic American toy, and is still in production today. It has sold over 9 million units, easily making it the most famous BB gun ever built.    Modeled after the western Winchester rifle, Red Ryder was the comic book cowboy hero created by Fred Harman, and from 1944 to 1949 portrayed in a series of B-Westerns by Wild Bill Elliott. 

World War II During the war Daisy made 37mm canisters for the war effort and two models of wooden toy guns, the Chattermatic and the Commando.  They also switched over to defense projects like the rest of American industry and focused on items ordered under War Department contracts and sub-contracts, such as the parts you see displayed in this case. Gaskets were produced for AC Spark Plug Division, switches for Square D Manufacturing, ball races for Palmer-Bee, washers for Ligon Brothers, and dies for Bendix Aviation, Nippert Electric and Pilgrim Drawn Steel.  Of the company’s total sales from 1942 to 1945, almost 24% were from products for the war and the balance were from non-steel toy products.    

“With a 1000-shot Daisy Repeater,
you can shoot both straight and often.”
– Daisy MFG. CO.

Daisy is one of the earliest makers of BB guns, creating a model in 1900. “BB” stand for “ball bearing.” Daisy has been a dominant brand for over a century.

“You’ll shoot your eye out”

A Christmas Story is one of Dave’s favorite movies. He remembers having a Daisy BB gun when he was a kid. We were also at The Christmas story house museum in Ohio another great place.

“I’m here to kick ass and drink whiskey. And Pilgrim, I’m out of whiskey.” John Wayne

The noteworthy thing about turn-of-the-century Daisy BB guns, said Penn State history professor Gary Cross, is that these “toys” were marketed to adults. One 1890 catalog billed its air rifle as “just the thing to make the neighbor’s cat scratch and growl and doggy fly for home”; another similar rifle was advertised as a parlor game. Pest control and family entertainment, not shoot-’em-ups in the back yard.

Over the years, Daisy has manufactured nearly 100 different models of toy guns and nearly 400 different models of bb and pellet guns for youngsters and adults and their still going strong.

They made their first firearm in 1968 which fired a “Caseless Ammunition” round.  It was called the VL0001 and was fired with a revolutionary type of propellant, similar to rocket fuel.  The ammunition was developed by a Belgian petrochemist by the name of Jules Van Langenhoven.  Thus the model designation “VL”.  The gun went out of production in 1969.  In 1990 Daisy began manufacturing their “Legacy” line of conventional .22 caliber firearms.  There were a total of six models, including: two single shot rifles, two bolt action rifles and two semi-automatic rifles.  Three had copolymer stocks and three had hardwood stocks. 

When we left they gave us this 50th anniversary of the Museum token. If your ever near Rogers Arkansas stop in and check it out. As Dave said it took me back years.

Today, Daisy (now known as Daisy Outdoor Products) focuses on manufacturing toy guns, bb and pellet guns, airsoft guns, paintball guns and accessories.  Their general offices and museum are still located in Rogers, Arkansas, but their assembly operations have been moved to Neosho, Missouri.

Yesterday we went to the Pea Ridge National Military Park. This civil war battle occurred early in the war , March 7 and 8 1862, in the freezing cold of northwestern Arkansas. This was a really cool place to visit , I had little knowledge of this battle before.

Missouri was not to fall into Confederate hands so the union under General Curtis and his 11,000 man army had been driving them deeper and deeper until they fell behind the Boston Mountains in northwest Arkansas. There the confederates formed up and now were under the command of General Earl Van Dorn, who’s army now consisted of 16,000 men. He decided to strike and capture St. Louis. There were few roads to move an army and the union knew this they set up a defense at Little sugar creek , just below the pea ridge plateau, his main army was atop this area, waiting. Van Dorn found this out and managed to move around the entire union army on the night of March 6th, it was no easy feat, in the cold and snow. However in doing so to gain speed he left behind his wagons of food, clothing and most importantly ammunition, this would come back to haunt him. Half his army fell behind so he split his forces and ordered General McCullochs to take command of that half and attack from the west while he made his way east. On the morning of March 7th the union was completely surprised they were under attack from the rear. As McCullochs was moving his troops he was shot dead, by union troops approaching, also shot dead was Brig. Gen Mcintosh. Without any command structure this half of the army had no idea what to do and were useless in the first days fight. Van Dorn’s troops on the other hand hit hard, the union held out as best they could but had to retreat back. A few stubborn German speaking brigades of union infantry had had enough and decided to hold there ground. They stopped the advance of the main body of confederates for awhile but they too had to fall back. As nightfall came Van Dorn had taken the Famous Elkhorn tavern and the crucial two roads Telegraph road, and Huntsville road. Believing he had victory in his grasp as he had cut off the supply route to the union, he felt confident the morning would bring swift victory. Not to be on the morning of March 8th General Curtiss counterattack, he amassed 23 cannon to bombard the tavern area, for tow hours the cannonade battered the confederates, then came the long one mile charge of 10,000 union soldiers, this broke the back of the weary confederates. Having little ammunition left, as there were no ammunition wagons around, he had to break off the attach and retreat. His men would never trust Van Dorn again. The union lost about 1,100 men and the confederates lost over 2,000 men in battle. The confederates would never again try to invade the Missouri state again.

Stop 1: Above, Trail of Tears, A trail dedicated to all American Indians.

Stop 2: Above Pratt’s Store/General Curtis’ Headquarters, here he set up his defense line below at the Little Sugar creek  At this site stood Lewis Pratt’s general store. Besides the store, it is believed that there were several other buildings on the site.

Stop 3: Above, LeeTown, Founded in the 1840s by John W. Lee, a farmer from Kentucky . Leetown was one of the earliest settlements in Northwest Arkansas. The town sat in the middle of a broad, wooded plateau bordered by Pea Vine Ridge to the north and the Little Sugar Creek to the south. It is historically significant for its role as a field hospital or the U.S. Army during the Battle of Pea Ridge. Most buildings and structures were used as field hospitals. Nothing remains of the once thriving community of Leetown except for this open field and the grave of Robert Braden. He was born in 1864 and died here in 1866.

Stop 4: Above,Leetown Battlefield-Day 1, this is where the confederates came out of the woods behind Lee town, they surprised the union as they were facing the other way. However they were able to shoot dead two Confederate Generals, which caused the attack to stall

Stop 5, Above, the armies clash here a little behind Leetown in an open field, fighting back and forth , the confederates work there way around to the Elkhorn Tavern and capture it from the Union cutting off there supply route. Union cannon stop the advance and the days fighting is over.

Stop 6 and 7 Above are overlooks, stop 7 had the best view of the battlefield. My picture shows the field today in pristine condition still. Behind me is the Elkhorn Tavern and Historic Telegraph Road, which the Confederates captured. Below this hill in the woods was the confederate army waiting for morning to come . From here it is where General Van Dorin claimed victory was his in the morning. The plaque picture is what he faced in the morning, a reinforced union line of over 10,000 men and cannon. They opened fire on the morning of March 8, cannon fire lasted two hours. The confederates being out of ammunition had to end the fighting and withdraw.

Stop 8 Above Elkhorn Tavern Above, Built in 1836 as a one story home and stage coach stop on the pea ridge plateau along the Telegraph road. Was described as a place of “Abundant good cheer” until the war came. Built to a two story in the 1850’s, and during the Pea Ridge battle used as a supply depot for the union then captured by the confederates. The house was burned to the ground by Confederate guerrillas in 1863, with the present building being a historic replica. In my pictures I am standing in the historic Telegraph road, looking at the Tavern and out away from it all covered in grass now long ago lost to history.

There are only two monuments here, they were erected in the late 1880’s. A 25th reunion was held here when the monuments went up, after that memories fade, and bodies grow tired. In 1956 President Eisenhower signed into law the creation of Pea Ridge as a National Military park.

We are now at Praire Creek Corps of Engineers park, near Bentonville in the extreme northwest top of Arkansas. We got here yesterday after driving 131 miles from Russellville. We are also gaining elevation as it was almost all uphill. The campground sits along the ridge which goes to the lakes, so it is very hilly here. The best part is that with my senior pass discount it cost $13:00 a night, thats with electric and water, along with access to the beach and marina. Be here till Friday visiting a few places. Pictures of our spot below.

The last two days we visited this park. The park sits on top of a small flat mountain top. Glad we did not have to get the fiver up there, very curvy steep roads, although they have a campground, and we did see lots of big rigs.

Petit Jean mountain as it is called got it’s name from a tragic event. A young French girl, wanted to go with here fiancé to the new world, he said it was to dangerous. So she cut her hair and dressed up as a boy, and boarded ship. They sailed the Arkansas river and stopped at this area, became friendly with the Indians. When fall came they were about to set sail again, when Petit Jean (Means Little John) as they called HIM, got sick, gravely sick. they soon found out he was a she and summoned her fiancé. She asked his forgiveness, and soon died. She was buried atop the mountain she so loved.

Petit Jean is Arkansas’s first state park. The land was set aside as a park in 1923, with little improvement, until the CCC arrived, Company 1781-V (Arkansas veterans) during mid-July 1933. The CCC-WW1 Veterans built the lodge overlooking Cedar Creek Canyon that was named in honor of the late National Park Service director Stephen T. Mather, who had encouraged the state to establish Petit Jean State Park in 1923. Natural stone and log cabins were built, a visitor center, Mather lodge, a water tower, and other pavilions, along with hiking trails and bridges. These structures remain the focal point of Petit Jean State Park.  They are the ones who made the park what it is today. The 200 men that worked here for almost 8 years during the depression, turned a wilderness into a state park.  And so it is named Petit Jean State park in honor of Little John.

It continues to be very hot here, with the humidity it’s been 100 degrees again, so rather than takings a long trail, we did a bunch of short hikes. We ventured to places like, visitor center, pioneer cabin, bear cave, rock house cave, palisades, and cedar falls overlook. The cedar falls trail to the bottom of the falls is something we did want to do, but it being a long downhill hike (which means you have to come back up) along with the fact the falls was really not running good, we opted to not do it with concerns of the heat.

New visitor center that opened in June 8, 2012

Old visitor center built by The CCC got to small for the needs of the park

The CCC built all these trails and placed these rocks

Palisades Overlook

The picture on the bottom left, if you look really, really close you’ll see he building on the bottom right.

Mountain side where Petit Jean is buried.

Stout’s Point Overlook

Our second day at Petit Jean we visited Mather Lodge and surroundings. One of Arkansas’s historic treasures, Mather Lodge holds the distinction of being the only lodge built in Arkansas by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Very impressive place.

The lodge has 24 quest room, various sittings rooms, a restaurant and a pool.

View in back of the Lodge

The park also has 33 cabins that can be rented .  Ten of them are rustic-style designs built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and 23 new cabins.

We had a great time exploring around the park and it’s many trails. When The CCC were doing all their hard work they often wondered “who would come here?” Us and thousands of others 😊

Where, well here of course. We drove 193 miles today from Crater of Diamonds state park, and are a little west of Little rock. Staying here a few nights at the Ivyscove rv resort. We could not get into Jean Petit State park as we wanted to ,so here we are. The state park is why we are here known for its couple waterfalls and trails, OH boy in the heat, but alas they have two public pools and maybe we can go in the falls. Park here is just OK, but cheap enough, picture below of our site

The three days here, were unusually hot and I mean hot, over 110 heat index every day, it is not usually this hot now. After you gat all set up you can watch a video about how to find diamonds or like we did learn on the fly. So out we went. There are a number of ways to look, one is to surface hunt and just look around, some people do find diamonds this way. You can use a small trowel and just scratch at the surface or you can dry sift or wet sift with the screen sets you have. One screen has bigger holes for the dirt to go through and the other has very tiny holes for small stuff to collect. We were told dry sifting was not to good as they had just gotten a lot of rain before we got there, so below a few inches the dirt was wet. We did however see people doing this but we went with the wet sifting. Wet sifting is done by bringing your dirt over to the two areas where they have the water troughs. How do you do that ,by buckets of course. Some people have wagons they bring many buckets over at a time, or like us, we had one 5 gallon bucket ,and one , one gallon bucket. It really does not matter where you get your dirt it’s all a matter of luck, but we wanted to stay no more than a few hundred feet form the troughs. So that what we did, with your buckets of dirt, you put some in the screen with the large holes, and put that over the screen with the small holes, put it in the water, and dissolve all the dirt, that leaves the big stuff on top and the smalls on the bottom screen. Take out the large screen look it over for anything of interest then throw it out, bring up the small screen and quickly flop it over, and look. Diamonds are heavy and as you slooch your screen they will fall to the bottom ,so when you flop it over there it will be staring you in the face, but no such luck. That’s what we did for hours at a time.

WHAT DID WE FIND

In the picture below is some of the rocks we found. On the outside of the container lid, we have Agate, Conglomerate, Volcanic tuff, Lamproite. Inside the lid on the lower left, is the semi-precious Jasper, we found lots of that in all colors and sizes, they make all kinds of jewelry out of that as when its cut open it has a very cool looking inside when polished. Some Hematite, calcite which is used in Tums and baking powder, and Quartz, they are the very tiny, pin head size clear looking ones, we also found two one inch pieces which are very cool also.

We had a very cool, exciting time doing this, although it was really hot and a lot of hard work. Knowing now what I know, coming back I would do things a little different, and this time find the big one.

Hot Springs, Arkansas, gets its name from the naturally thermal spring waters found here. Flowing out of the ground at an average temperature of 143 °F, the hot springs produce almost one million gallons of water each day.

People have been visiting this area for a very long time. Native Americans called this area “the Valley of the Vapors,” and it was said to have been a neutral territory where all tribes could enjoy its healing waters in peace. Spanish and French settlers claimed the area in the mid-1500s.

The hot springs were such a coveted natural wonder that in 1832, President Andrew Jackson designed Hot Springs as the first federal reservation. Hot Springs Reservation was essentially America’s first national park, predating Yellowstone National Park by 40 years.

In just a decade, the area changed from a rough frontier town to an elegant spa city centered on a row of attractive Victorian-style bathhouses, the last ones completed in 1888. When Congress established the National Park Service, Hot Springs Reservation became Hot Springs National Park in 1921.

Today, you can still soak in the thermal waters on historic Bathhouse Row. The hot springs are also pumped into several downtown hotels and spas. The water is even available at public fountains. The restored Fordyce Bathhouse now serves as a visitor center.

The History of Bathhouse Row

The first bathhouses were crude structures of canvas and lumber, little more than tents perched over individual springs or reservoirs carved out of the rock. Later, businessmen built wooden structures, but they frequently burned, collapsed because of shoddy construction, or rotted due to continued exposure to high temperatures and humidity. As the bathhouses continued to grow in popularity, the park’s superintendent deemed that more resilient and fireproof structures were needed. Starting in 1896, many of the wooden bathhouses were replaced with the bathhouses that we see today made of masonry and steel.

I like the crude bathhouses of the early the 1800s,take your shoes & socks off and sit a spell.

Victorian bathhouses built between 1880 and 1888 were larger and more luxurious than could have been dreamed of ten years earlier. The poorly placed wooden troughs carrying the thermal water down the mountainside were replaced with underground pipes. Roads and paths were improved for the convenience of visitors who wished to enjoy the scenery.

By 1901 all of the springs had been walled up and covered to protect them. Between 1912 and 1923 the wooden Victorian bathhouses built in the 1880s were gradually replaced with fire-resistant brick and stucco bathhouses, several of which featured marble walls, billiard rooms, gymnasiums, and stained glass windows. The final transformation of Bathhouse Row was completed when the Lamar Bathhouse opened its doors for business in 1923. The bathhouses, all of which are still standing today, ushered in a new age of spa luxury.

Bathhouse Row and its surroundings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1974. The desire to revitalize Bathhouse Row also led citi­zens to campaign for adaptive uses of the vacant buildings. The strongest concern was to save the most elegant bathhouse, the Fordyce, which was consequently adapted for use as the Hot Springs National Park visitor center and museum. At this point in time most of the bathhouses have been renovated and adapted for modern use.

We took The Hot Springs Trolley before checking out Bathhouse Row.  We went thru the mountains for views of the National Park and the Quachita Valley. He pointed out  many of the historical sites and took us through old neighborhoods with fancy homes built in the 1800s and 1900s.

Hot Springs AR. has lots of hot springs but they also have many cold springs where you can get fresh spring water. The driver stopped and we filled up our jugs. It was a great tour.

A look down Bathhouse Row

The Lamar Bathhouse was a unique bathhouse back in the day because it offered tubs with a variety of lengths so people of different heights could enjoy the tubs.

The Buckstaff is the only bathhouse that offers a traditional bathing experience and has been in continuous operation since opening its doors in 1912.

Today, the Ozark houses the Hot Springs National Park Cultural Center. The Center features gallery spaces for displaying artwork from the park’s Artist-in-Residence Program and other temporary exhibitions..

The Quapaw Bathhouse is one of two locations where visitors can soak in the thermal springs. Quapaw offers private baths, public pools, and modern day spa services

The Fordyce opened March 1, 1915. The building eventually cost over $212,000 to build, equip, and furnish. Totaling approximately 28,000 square feet, the Fordyce is the largest bathhouse on the Row. It has three main floors, two courtyards, and a basement under most of the building. The Fordyce became the first bathhouse on the Row to go out of business when it suspended operations on June 30, 1962, but it was extensively restored by 1989 and is now enjoying a renaissance as a historically furnished museum.

It was really a fun and educational experience seeing what the bathhouses looked like and how they operated. Here is what was inside a bath house in the early 1900s.

This bathhouse was really something to see.  It was huge with its marble and stained glass to the marble portions of the bath halls and the stained glass ceiling in the Men’s Bath Hall and statue. Lots of rooms with a lot going on.  

The Maurice in it’s day was compared to The Fordyce because it was just as stunning and as big. Today it remains vacant in hopes that it will re-open someday.

The Hotel Hale has been revived as a luxury hotel and the interior has been remodeled to include a mix of modern and mid-century modern styles. Guests can stay overnight in historic rooms and experience the thermal springs. If I ever come back to Hot Springs this is where I’m staying.

The Superior Bathhouse is now home to the only brewery in a United States National Park, and the only brewery in the world to utilize thermal spring water to make their beer. And we didn’t stop here? Like I said if I’m ever here again it’s the Hale Bathhouse and The Superior Bathhouse for me!

The historic Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa is the largest hotel in Arkansas with almost 500 rooms and suites.  They have their own  Thermal Bathhouse, where you can bathe in the famous mineral waters of the ‘hot springs’.  The Arlington has hosted hundreds of grand balls and social events since 1875. Politicians, dignitaries, actors, gangsters and entertainment and sports legends, like Babe Ruth bathed in their bath house.

We wondered to the back of The Bathhouses where the hot springs are located. As you can see they don’t call them “Hot Springs” for nothing.

The Grand Promenade is a National Recreation Trail that runs parallel to bathhouse row, behind the bathhouses. It’s about a half mile long and made entirely out of brick.

It was a really nice walk up the hill and behind the bathhouses. At different areas you can see the hot springs.

Yes, this small spring along side the trail was HOT!

So now the Hot springs are covered up and are painted green and you can no longer soak your feet in front of everyone and relax.

Hot Springs, AR has many cold springs too! They have many faucets and fountains and encourage you to fill up your containers for free. Actually you see people all day going to different places and filling up with DELICIOUS Hot Springs Cold Water.

We, left Lake Catherine state park this morning about 10;30 or so and got here a little after 1 pm. drove 131 miles today , not much but somehow we took the long way. The GPS was all screwed up.

SO, Why are we here, well to dig for diamonds of course. This is the only place in the world where you can dig your self a diamond and keep it. They also have other semi precious stones here, which is what we will probably find. We have tickets for three days of digging, but that plan has gone out the window. WHY, well this week it is very hot, temps at 95 or higher and heat index of 110 and higher. So our plan is to go to the site early before 9, and dig around until maybe noon. Then go to the splash pool and enjoy that for an hour or so, and if feeling like it head back to the field for an hour or so. That’s the plan, but our bodies will tell us what to do ,and lately it hurts and i’m tired. HaHa.

Besides going to Hot Springs I chose this park to stay at for it’s very popular waterfalls. Not a very high one, but the creek that feeds it is very meandering through the woods and has a series of slight falls along it. So in the 110 degree heat today we took the hike to it. It was very nice and filled with people. One thing we did not know was you can go in it by the falls, we were not prepared for that.

So it’s off to grandma’s house we go.

Well sort of, we are at Lake Catherine state park about 15 miles east of Hot Springs. Friday we left Parker’s Crossroads ,and drove 310 miles, to the state park. It was not fun driving through, Memphis and Little rock. We will be visiting Hot Springs National park while here, the park is right in the city, well historic district. The smallest national park there is. The picture below is of our spot, first time I had to back in a spot for well over a year. Melissa said I did good, that’s all that matters