Bill's sabbatical
The Arch
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
The mark of a great city
  • Bill spent an afternoon at the famous 'Gateway to the West', one of the most stunning memorials on earth. A magnificent 630 foot-high engineering acheivement, its gentle curve provides a limitless variety of close up catenary views. From the top, one can almost see the Denver suburbs sprawling eastward.
  • The Arch serves no practical purpose. It simply celebrates the spirit of exploration and discovery, particularly as exemplified by Jefferson, Lewis and Clark. Nothing even remotely like it has been built since its completion in 1965 (when Bill watched its construction from the Wash.U. physiology lecture hall). It was predicted that 13 workers would die during its construction; none did (although Bill barely passed physiology).
  • On prominent display in the bookshop was a poster of Ethel Waxham, aptly labeled 'Real Love'.
  • Denver native Ethel exemplifies the spirit of the Arch. A Wellesley '04 graduate, she was courted for 5 years by Wyoming sheep rancher John Love. She finally accepted, as described in the book of their letters 'Lady's Choice'. Her complete journals were excerpted by John McPhee ('Rising From the Plains'). Her son, David Love, Yale PhD 1939, is the father of Wyoming field geologists.

  • The water in the fountain was colored in support of the local hockey team, the St.Louis Blues.
    The Arch in 1965