Talk:Mormon Battalion Monument (Sandoval County, New Mexico)

County
User:Doncram: Are you able to find an RS for the county please?Zigzig20s (talk) 02:10, 15 April 2019 (UTC)


 * It is verifiable from Mapquest that the location is in Sandoval County, New Mexico. Mapquest is a reliable (re)-publisher of county lines and other geographical data.  Click on the coordinates in the article, choose to view the location in MapQuest rather than Google or other options, then step back out a bit until you see the county lines.
 * It being located in Sandoval County can/should be put into the article, if it is not in there already, but honestly I would not include a source. Basic factual facts that are not disputed do not need inline sourcing.  Hope this addresses your concern. :) --Doncram (talk) 02:21, 15 April 2019 (UTC)


 * Google Maps does not show county lines in their default view, when u r just scrolling around, and I am not sure if it shows town/city lines. However if you search in Google Maps explicitly for "Sandoval County, New Mexico", it does show the borders of the county.  This works to see the border of any city or town too, in general.  Yes, you can see the border of "Algodones, New Mexico" that way, in order to verify that the monument is not within that.  Per its Wikipedia article, the county has existed since 1903, and there is no mention of its borders ever changing.  So the monument, built in 1940, was then and still is in Sandoval County. --Doncram (talk) 02:37, 15 April 2019 (UTC)


 * While "Budaghers, New Mexico" is a point location within Google maps, and may be the name for the community of sorts at the exit for the monument. But that is not a formal town or other entity with borders, so Google doesn't show any borders.   Hey, i drove along 25 right past the monument about a year ago.  Thank you for identifying what it is and creating the article about it. --Doncram (talk) 02:45, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks. We would need "at least 1,500 characters of readable prose" for a DYK.Zigzig20s (talk) 03:02, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Plaque text

 * I wonder if we could transcribe the text on the plaque. It is a bit difficult to read even when you zoom in.Zigzig20s (talk) 06:02, 15 April 2019 (UTC)


 * Started to try, as follows. Probably possible to figure it all out, but i am not sure. --Doncram (talk) 06:22, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

"The Mormon Battalion, composed of 500 men mustered into the service of the United States in the War with Mexico, was called to the colors as the Mormon pioneers were beginning their historic trek to the Rocky Mountains. At the conclusion of of the 2,000 mile march from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California, the leader who took command at Santa Fe paid tribute to his men in part as follows:
 * History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry. Half of it has been through a wilderness where nothing but [?] and wild beasts are found, or deserts where, for want of water, there is no living creature.  There with almost hopeless labor, we have dug wells, which the future traveler will enjoy without a guide who had traversed them.  We have ventured into trackless tablelands where water was not found for several marches.  With crow bar and pick and axe in hand, we have worked our way over mountains which seemed to defy aught save the wild goat and hewed a pass through a chasm of living rock more narrow than our wagons to bring these first wagons to the Pacific.  We have preserved the strength of our mules by herding them over large tracts which you have laboriously guarded without loss.


 * "Thus marching half naked and half fed, and living upon wild animals, we have discovered and made a road of great value to our country.
 * Lieutenant Colonel P. St. George Cook


 * ... order issued January 30, 1847 upon the safe arrival of the Battalion in San Diego, California.


 * Sponsored by the committee for the erection of this Mormon Battalion monument in New Mexico and the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association built through the 
 * many friends(?)

Note there is/was an entity called the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association which erected numerous historic plaques, see this.

Please feel free to continue transcribing. By the way, i wonder if the word before "and wild beasts" was some term for native Americans / indians which was deemed offensive by someone and scrubbed out. Perhaps the text can be checked against any other source about the monument or publishing Cook's statement that it quotes. --Doncram (talk) 16:16, 15 April 2019 (UTC)


 * Here is a copy of the nearly complete text and more photos of it, at HMDB.org. The scrubbed out word was "savages" apparently.  The inscription it reports omits words at the very end which i have not completely figured out either. --Doncram (talk) 16:43, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
 * But their photo of the plaque is clearer. The last phrase is "Built through the donations of many friends." --Doncram (talk) 17:00, 15 April 2019 (UTC)