HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Features of The Fair

by 1 Comment

 I think from my reading so far of the Devil in the White City, it showed that overcrowding was a really big issue in the 1880 or 1890’s. More and more people began to shift from living in the rural farm town and open areas to more of the populated and city like areas with more local shops and people. When the Chicago Fair came around even more people came flooding into the urban Chicago area which made it harder for police or local authorities to locate people who have gone missing. Like every other place, when a place has too many people to support, homelessness will begin to occur and more problems will arise as well such as not enough jobs.

I think Larson chose the Chicago fair to be intertwined with Holmes, the murderer, because that is when most of the innocent killings began to happen more frequently. The fair did a great job of attracting and bringing in many people so that also played apart for the overcrowding and made it harder to find missing people. The more variety of people also probably gave Holmes more of an open killing option and better ways to hide his tracks.

Defining Engineering

by 1 Comment

The word engineering itself has much history to it. It can be used in many contexts but in my opinion, the main idea of the word engineering is to mean the build up of one thing. If you look at mechanical engineering, you are learning to build or fix something mechanical such as a car. If you look at civil engineering, it means the build up of the Army’s forces. In the way we use it, is the build up of historical events that brought us here today with the playing terms of the economy, laws created, peace treaties, or something as simple as water. An example that I can use to show this from our class would be module 9, the most recent dealing with the Native Americans. Time after time, new treaties were made, new adjustments in living were made, some of these things could have cause much conflict, and they did, but it got us to where we are today.

Native water use and rights

by 2 Comments

The Tohono O’odham (Desert people) are indians that mainly lived in the Sonoran Desert. In ancient times they were called Papago. The problem between them and the United States began in 1853 when the Gadsen Purchase took place. The purchase created a border between Mexico and the United States, cutting through the middle of the Tohonos main land. This cause much conflict and forced many native Tohonos to live on the Mexico side or the US side. In 1850 the Apache warriors began killing Natives and seeling their children as slaves in Mexico. To help, the United States set aside a reserve only for the Tohono O’odham native indians. They now have the second largest Native Indian reserve in the US. Throughout the years the indians have developed their own government and started having jobs and going to college.

Do I think they were compensated for their loses, yes. They receive education benefits and equality, and their own land reserved in the US. They still hurt form their loses because they believe that the border ruins wildlife habitat and makes it hard for them to see their families in Mexico. If it were anyone, if ones beliefs and way of life were damaged or had to be rearranged, anyone would be hurt but when it comes down to it, life can sometimes just not be fair, you just have to deal with it. With all the new developments and economical issues arising, different guidelines and ways of living are going to be made to keep peace and help keep citizens safe.