Author: Tom
Joining the Ends of the Country
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/18Jul25-CO-Transcontinental-Railroad-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Where was the final spike driven to complete the transcontinental railroad? Promontory, Utah is often declared to be the location,…
The Wyoming Fossil Store
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/17Jul25-Wyoming-Fossil-Store-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)I recently visited a very interesting store in southwestern Wyoming. You’ll find quite a price range – everything from twenty-five…
Soft Stone in Wyoming
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/16Jul25-Wyoming-Fossil-Store-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The soft stone of southwestern Wyoming preserves the story of what this area looked like eons ago. It is unique…
Clear Lake, California
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/15Jul25-Clear-Lake-California.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s the largest natural lake wholly within the state of California – a beautiful spot that take some effort to…
The Lunchbox Museum
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/14Jul25-Lunchbox-Museum.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Many of us had a lunchbox when we were growing up. Debbie did as well, but when her mom tossed…
A Witness Tree
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/11Jul25-Louisiana-Purchase-State-Park-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)A witness can be a very important part of building a case. And in this case, the witness is not…
A Point to Measure All Others
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/10Jul25-Louisiana-Purchase-State-Park-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In a swamp in rural Arkansas you’ll find a point that literally impacts life and property in several midwestern states. …
Surveying Ground for the Louisiana Purchase
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/09Jul25-Louisiana-Purchase-State-Park-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)There are about 530 million acres in the Louisiana Purchase that the United State acquired from France in 1803. The…
The Forks, Washington Timber Museum
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/08Jul25-Forks-Washington-Timber-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Certain jobs have their own vocabulary, which is understandable to those who work there but gibberish to everyone else. This…
A City Called Forks
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/07/07Jul25-Forks-Washington-Timber-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In the northwest corner of the state of Washington you will find Olympic National Park. It’s beautiful scenery encompasses most…
Unhappy with the Declaration of Independence
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/04Jul25-Independence-Day-Jefferson-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Thomas Jefferson helped write the Declaration of Independence, but he wasn’t happy with the final product. Why was Jefferson grinding…
Thomas Jefferson’s Unexpected Role
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/03Jul25-Independence-Day-Jefferson-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Thomas Jefferson took an important role in writing our declaration of independence, but most people don’t know he wasn’t even…
Crater of Diamonds
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/02Jul25-Crater-of-Diamonds-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s a sate park like none other – a place where your entrance fee allows you the chance to find…
A Crater Full of Precious Stones
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/01Jul25-Crater-of-Diamonds-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The Arkansas state license plate has a picture of a diamond on it. That is mostly due to a famous…
The Place Where the Diamond Rush Started
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/30Jun25-Crater-of-Diamonds-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When you think of state where you can find volcanoes you probably aren’t thinking of this spot. However, it’s this…
The Worst Disaster in U.S. Maritime History
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/27Jun25-Sultana-Museum-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It remains the worth disaster in U.S. maritime history. Add to the tragedy the fact that many of the dead…
The Tragedy of the Steamboat Sultana
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/26Jun25-Sultana-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It was the early morning hours of April 27th, 1865. The steamboat Sultana was overcrowded, bearing a load of souls…
Returning Civil War Prisoners to Home
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/25Jun25-Sultana-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)As the Civil War drew to a close in April of 1865, there was a massive job to return prisoners…
The World’s Greatest Athlete
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/24Jun25-Jim-Thorpe-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In 1912 he was proclaimed the world’s greatest athlete and some of his Olympic records from that year still stood…
The Rise of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School Football Team
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/23Jun25-Jim-Thorpe-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When you think of historically great collegiate football programs, names like Notre Dame, Penn State and Alabama might come to…
