Google Scholar

Someone suggested getting off the Google treadmill and on to the Google Scholar speedway. It wasn't much of a speedway, but at least it was a different treadmill. I spent a goodly amount of time dithering about Jstor and how to get access to it through the New York Public Library. I did a search for Jesse Hawley, which led me to Google Books and a book called Erie Waters West by Ronald E. Shaw. It says the book is only in Preview form, but all 18 references to Jesse Hawley came up, and the couple of chapters I read were all there and intact. So nice to be reading such rich prose: fascinating quotes from Jesse Hawley and Thomas Jefferson, landscape descriptions, historical details, and above all CONTEXT. Historic context, scientific context, economic context, political context, and all in just a few chapters. Later to that, though. There's a whole internet wilderness out there just waiting to be tracked.