Lands And Grooves - Fort Missoula, Montana

You may be educated in interesting terminology when you show your slightly odd photos to select people at the office ("select" being those who do not have small children and/or a puppy, so as to avoid, er, generous reciprocal photo sharing of images that actually include people in the photos - Egad! What are they thinking!).

Per my ex-military colleague and FireArmsID.com, the curving pattern visible in today's photos (and in James Bond movie intro footage) consists of  "...lands & grooves. The lands are the raised areas between two grooves. A rifling pattern of eight grooves with also have eight lands. Firearms can be manufactured with any number of lands and grooves in their barrels.  They can also spiral either left or right.  A few of the more common rifling patterns are 4/right, 5/right, 6/right, 6/left, 8/right, and 16/right."

This view is from the back of a Civil War model 1861 3" ordnance rifle, manufactured 1861, serial #15, muzzle-loader, which was converted to a breech-loading salute gun.
Hayes and Amalia Otoupalik donated it from their collection, in memory of his twin brother, Josef Otoupalik. Head on over to Fort Missoula to take a look for yourself and read the rest of this item's history. The weather is still lovely for brisk meandering.

Rustic History, Fort Missoula, Montana

Split rail fences are an adaptable barrier, and early settlers in Montana’s west were all about adaptability.

Historically built where hardware was a scarce commodity, they can also be dismantled - in part or whole - if rails are later needed for other purposes.

Stationary, Missoula

As America’s transportation systems changed, small western train depots often were closed down. Many fell into disrepair or were torn down, while others have been converted to house new enterprises. The really lucky ones exist as well-maintained reminders of where we've been. 

In 1982, the old Drummond Depot was transported from Drummond, Montana, to its present Fort Missoula site, where it houses a railroad history exhibit. Click here to read more and view before and after photos.

Railbed Backstage, Missoula, Montana

Abandoned homestead buildings always raise to my mind, “Oh, the stories, if walls could speak…”. But until recent Fort Missoula wanders, I hadn’t considered the longevity perspective of a railbed, even with trains being on my "favourite things“ list. 
A reliable source informed me that a railroad spike can stay on the job 35 to 50 years, and sometimes more with exemplary track maintenance. But the routes have stayed basically the same since the first spikes were driven to lay the original rails. Just think of the history that has rolled over the backstage of North American railbeds - troops off to war, adventurers headed west, Mr. Lincoln’s train…. Please add your insight to this list via a Comment below!