At 12 midnight
on October 30th
the Fire Chief and Mayor in
Marietta, Ohio
will sound the Alarm,
and signal...
"The Start of it All"

Marietta,
was the original home of
"The Spirit of the Lincoln Way"
Fire Truck...

and the first
permanent settlement in
The Northwest Territories
thus
"The Start of it All"

Then at 12:01 am
The Fire Chief,
Mr. Lincoln,
and I will light
"The Sacred Fire of Liberty"
in Golden Spike Park...

in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Council Bluffs is the Eastern Terminus of
The Union Pacific Railroad...

and where Abraham Lincoln met
with General Grenville Dodge in 1859
to discuss building
The Transcontinental Railroad.

This is the monument,
overlooking the Missouri River Valley...

to commemorate the exact spot where
Mr. Lincoln and General Dodge
held their meeting.

Once the fire is lit,
I'll spread...

these ashes
taken from the campfire
during Mr. Lincoln's visit...

to Woodbadge.

For those who don't know...

Woodbadge is
Adult Leadership Training
for the Boy Scouts
and was started by...

Lord Baden Powell
founder of Scouting
in 1907.

For more info on
The Chief Scout of the World...

Click Here for Details

And Again for More

This is the history of the
Campfire Ashes
as published in
The Woodbadge Newsletter.

Legend has it that Lord Baden-Powell would take a small amount of ash
from the campfire and spread these ashes into the next,
thereby bringing to all Scouts and Scouters
the international aspect of the world brotherhood of Scouting.

Campfire ashes emblazoned here,
began at Brownsea Island in August 1907,
(B-P’s great “experiment”)
and have traveled ’round the world
to campfires in 54 countries,
44 U.S. states,
and five Canadian provinces.

Of the 1,500-plus campfires represented,
(excluding multiples at some events)
these ashes are from:
9 World Jamborees,
14 U.S. National Jamborees,
plus,
National Jamborees in 10 countries,
including...
Scotland, Canada, Finland, Japan, and Korea;

Soil from the gravesite of Lord Baden-Powell in Kenya,
plus ashes from the International Camp ring at Gilwell Park,
and from campfires on Brownsea Island,
spanning every decade
from that first Scout campfire in 1907;

184 Wood Badge courses in five different countries, plus 18 Reunions;
112 Scout Leader training events and 124 Boy Leader training events,
including campfires at Philmont, Schiff and the Florida Sea Base;
plus campfires from both Girl Guide and Girl Scout events worldwide;
and
86 Order of the Arrow ceremony fires,
including 14 Vigil Honor fires;
seven summer camp openings and two permanent camp closings;
plus campfires of more than 150 Scout summer camps,
and more than 185 unit campfires.

The Lakota Sioux Council Fire tradition.
This dates back to “before there were horses”.
Jim Fuller has received special permission
to include these ashes in our fire on 9/20/02,
an event of significant magnitude because it cannot be undone.
Jim had sought permission to mix these ashes for some time
and had only recently received it.

The actual tradition of carrying ashes from one fire
to the next was not invented by Baden-Powell
but was adopted from the customs of other peoples,
including the Native Americans. ed.)

It is interesting to note,
"Scouting"
has been described as
The World's Largest Peace Organization,
with...

Abraham Lincoln...

as
"True Scout".

"The Link"
between Scouting and
The Lincoln Highway
has always been strong since 1928...

when 4 Eagle Scouts crossed the continent
giving scouting skills demonstrations on
The Boy Scout Safety Tour...

and when thousands of Scouts
placed over 3400
Lincoln Highway Concrete Markers
as a Memorial to Abraham Lincoln
on September 1st.

This photo was taken on June 14, 2002...

when the Boy Scouts once again
placed a concrete maker at the
End of The Lincoln Highway
in Lincoln Park, San Francisco.

The gentleman on the left,
is the only surviving Eagle Scout
from the 1928 Trip.

He's 5th from the left in the first photo.

After Marietta
sounds the Alarm,
and Council Bluffs lights
the First Fire,
the timetable
shifts to a 12 hour delay
from actual events.

First,
Fire Departments
will "Tone Out" at 7:22 pm
calling all firemen to the station.

7:22 am is when
Mr. Lincoln Passed away.

Once assembled,
they have till 8:40 pm
for a parade or other activity
to reach the bonfire site.

At 8:45 pm,
the program beings
when the North Tower at
The World Trade Center was hit.

Start with a short history
of the Project...

"The Lincoln Highway Comes of Age"
was born in answer to...

President Clinton's
charge in his
State of the Union Address
January 19, 1999
to
Honor the Past-Imagine the Future
and
"Keep Alive...The Sacred Fire of Liberty".

Accordingly,
The Lincoln Highway...

was designated a
Millennium Trail
by
The White House Millennium Council
in April of 2000.

The Lincoln Highway
was America's
First Transcontinental Highway,
running 3400 miles
from New York City to San Francisco.

It was founded in 1913...

by Carl Fisher,
President of Prest-o-lite,
and founder of The Indianapolis 500
and Miami Beach.

as a Memorial to Abraham Lincoln...

with President Woodrow Wilson
as the first member...

and announced by proclamation
on September 14, 1913,
passing through
13 States
and over
450 towns and cities.
For the first time...

America was linked together
East with West
as never before,
and thousands...

joined together
in this
"Great Undertaking."

Leading the crusade...

Henry B. Joy,
President of Packard Motor Cars
and
The Lincoln Highway Association.

This is his call to action...

and his
Loving Tribute...

"To aid in advancing the evolution
of the Lincoln Way,
either by gift of effort,
is to serve the nation as a whole.

It is a work to which all can lend aid
and derive the benefit in return
and experience the golden satisfaction of a duty well done.

The work of broadening,
straightening, maintaining and beautifying
this memorial road
will be a
labor of love
by a patriotic people."

Forty Seven Days later...

on October 31, 1913
America Celebrated...

like never before...

as Council Bluffs...

kicked off the festivities
at 12:01 am with a torchlight parade
and bonfire.

Later that night...

towns and cities...

all across America...

lit bonfires...

and held torchlight parades...

to celebrate the occasion.

For a complete listing of towns,
and how they celebrated...
a href="www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/Dedicate/Dedicate-Index.html">
Click Here

At the request of
The Lincoln Highway Association...

Governors...

and Mayors were asked to issue
Lincoln Highway Proclamations.

At least 3 governors answered the call
and issued
Lincoln Highway Proclamations.

Governor Morehead of Nebraska...

LINCOLN HIGHWAY PROCLAMATION
At the request of organizations interested in boosting the Lincoln Highway
automobile route through the state of Nebraska, which follows the Platte river,
Governor Morehead has officially fixed the date of October 31 as a time for
the dedication of the road. What form of observance shall be made on that day
is left to the different persons and bodies taking part in the movement.
The Governor's proclamation is as follows:

The Lincoln Highway association , a national organization with headquarters
at Detroit, Mich. and formed for the purpose of promoting the construction
and maintenance of good roads through the country and having in hand
especially the construction of a coast to coast highway; having located
said highway across the state of Nebraska, thus assuring us a road
the entire length of our state that will be a model to be followed
by others interested in highway promotion.
I hereby designate Friday, October 31, 1913,
for the dedication of said Lincoln memorial highway
and I earnestly request a proper observance of this day.
John Morehead, Governor
Lincoln, Nebraska
Kearney Daily Hub-October 25, 1913

Governor Carey of Wyoming...

LINCOLN HIGHWAY PROCLAMATION
To the People of Wyoming:
The Lincoln Highway Association has determined that the great highway
to be called the Lincoln highway, as a memorial to Lincoln, one of the
martyred presidents, should cross the state of Wyoming from east to west.
It is thought especially fitting that on the evening of October 31st
there should be an old-time jollification to include bonfires and
general re-joicing; this for the purpose of impressing upon the people
and especially the younger generation-the services and unselfish life of
Lincoln, and for the further purpose of painting a big picture so far
as amusements are concerned of the highway which is to cross our state.
It has also been suggested that on Sunday, November 2nd, the clergy
in the churches of Wyoming, as they will do in other states, take as
substance of their sermons the life and ideals of the great Lincoln
with the view of impressing them upon the younger generation.
Joseph M. Carey, Governor
Cheyenne, Wyoming-October 11, 1913
Elk Mountain Republican-October 23, 1913

and Governor Oddie of Nevada.

This is a scan of the original...

at the Nevada State Archives
in Carson City.

Nevada,
has the added distinction
of being admitted to the Union
on that day in 1864,
as the 36th State under the
Lincoln Administration.

In addition,
The Lincoln Highway Association
requested church leaders...

devote their Sunday Lessons...

to the Life and Inspiration of
Abraham Lincoln.

Pastor Young of Elk Mountain, Wyoming
gave one of the most rousing sermons...

to this national highway
consecrated to peace
and all its blessings.

All this followed by
a reading of...

The Greatest Memorial
"It is a name to conjure by.
It calls to the heroic.
It enrolls a mighty panorama of fields and woodlands;
of humble cabins and triumphant farm homes
and cattle on a thousand hills;
burrowing mines and smoking factories;
winding brooks, commerce laden rivers and horizon lost oceans.
And because it binds together all these wonders
and sweeps forward till it touches the end of the earth
and the beginning of the sea it is to be named the "Lincoln Highway".

It brings back to us the lank figure of the growing boy
walking the country roadway with borrowed books;
the dreaming out, surveying and building of his highway of the soul,
that should stretch from that mysterious ocean of the past, whence he came,
to the mysterious ocean of the eternal, to which he would go;

a highway along whose everyday travel he had a gentle word for the sorrowing,
a hand for the one in trouble, a sharp prod for the indifferent,
a word of council for the perplexed, an inspiration for the doubtful, and love for all;
the highway of the soul of the "Great American".

By Rev. Frank G. Brainard
First Congregational Church
Ogden, Utah
September 21, 1913

Followed by the reading of...

A Perpetual Memorial
"The Lincoln Highway will never be finished.
You and I will be able to drive over it from New York to San Francisco in 1915.
Perhaps ten years from now every mile will be of concrete,
but there will always be something more to do, some improvement to make.
Not only is the Lincoln Highway a perpetual memorial,
but a road to be perpetuated by the energies of future generations.
We are only laying the foundations now."

The best minds in the country are "laying the foundation now"
for the beautification of the Lincoln Highway ..."

"They are working today that the tourist of fifty and one hundred years from now
may cross the country over the most beautiful and inspiring roadway in the world."

"The Lincoln Highway is to be something more than a road-
It will be a road with personality, a distinctive work
of which the Americans of future generations can point with pride-
an economic but also artistic triumph."

By Carl D. Fisher, Founder
The Lincoln Highway
Chicago, Illinois
1914

Followed by a brief history of...

The Fire Service...

Click Here for Details

and the original
torch light parade by...

San Francisco Firemen
on July 10, 1862
to celebrate...

President Lincoln
signing
The Pacific Railroad Act.

Then at 9:03 pm
when the South Tower of
The World Trade Center
was hit,
The Firemen...acting as
"Guardians of the Sacred Fire"
will light
"The Sacred Fire of Liberty"

Then at 9:43 pm
when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon,
I've asked everyone to say...
"Oyez, oyez,
clear the way for liberty.
Let freedom ring,
let freedom ring."

Then ring their
Replica Liberty Bell,
and
"Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land"

A tall order I know,
but history is on our side...

since according to CNN,
just last week...

"The bell began its slow journey
after a town crier dressed in colonial garb
brought the event to order,
clanging his bell and hollering,
"Oyez, oyez,
clear the way for liberty.
Let freedom ring,
let freedom ring"."

Each State has a Replica
Liberty Bell
that was made in the 1950's.

Some are inside,
like the one in
The State Capital
in Salt Lake City...

but some are out,
like in Carson City,
Nevada.

Since this is best case scenario
and most bon fires won't
be near these Bells,
you can ring
Fire, Hand or Church Bells instead.

But why the Liberty Bell???

Because that's
what it's all about...

"Our reliance is in the love of liberty
which God has planted in our bosoms."

Abraham Lincoln
September 11, 1858

And since we're lighting
"The Sacred Fire of Liberty"
by extension
The Liberty Bell
has a significant role to play,
not to mention
The Lincoln Highway's
own unique history with the Bell.

It all started innocently enough...

The school children of San Francisco
got the bright idea to have
The Liberty Bell
come to San Francisco for the
1915 Panama Pacific International Exhibition.

So they started a campaign
to petition the city fathers
in Philadelphia...

This is a copy of the petition...

and the car that took them to Philadelphia.

The Petitions were all rolled up
on the spool.

As I recall,
there were
over 500,000 names.

After some politicking...

a phone call was made between
the Mayors of SF and Philadelphia
and the Bell was rung
as the deal was worked out.

Knowing a good thing when he saw it...

Henry Joy
and
The Lincoln Highway Association
fired off a proposal for
The Liberty Bell
to make the journey via
The Lincoln Highway.

While they finally opted for the train,
their attempt is still a piece of
Lincoln Highway history.

Here it is in San Francisco,
after it was escorted through town
by Col. Davidson's armored convoy,
which just finished a trip
from Chicago to SF on
The Lincoln Highway.

In any event,
it seemed to me like it was...

"Time to Ring Again"

as we light
"The Sacred Fire of Liberty"
and Shake once again...

as East meets West...

and we form
"Hands Across the Land"

Then at 10:05 pm
when the North Tower Collapsed
the firemen will sign a Fire Helmet
for their fallen brothers...

But how did this come about???

In July of 2000...

, I started the trip
in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Then it was up to Times Square...

and the Eastern Terminus of
The Lincoln Highway.

First stop outside New York City...

was Lincoln Park in Jersey City.

where the firemen helped raise the Flag.

After all this,
it was too late to head out,
so back to the fire station.

Later that night,
The Battalion Chief said,
"Hop in"
and took me for a tour
of the city.

First stop,
Exchange Plaza...

A couple days later,
we went back...

and got this shot.

At the time,
it was just a good shot,
and nobody had any idea
of the significance.

6 weeks later,
I pulled off for the year
with engine trouble.

After special appearances in
The Inaugural Parade
and
The Lincoln Birthday Celebration
it was back on the road again...

and was in Goshen, Indiana
at the fire Station
on September 11th.

That's my unmade bunk,
by the fire pole.

After a day to reflect...

I changed
"The Guest Book"
to a
"Book of Remembrance",
put the shot of the WTC on the cover...

added a 9 foot 11 inch chain,
and began flying the flags
at half staff.

The trip...

suddenly took on special meaning.

Then one day,
a friend emailed and said,
"Why don't have the firemen
all sign a helmet."

In Cedar Rapids,
I took out the extra helmet
I had on board for the kids,
and asked the Fire Chief to sign it.

Everything went fine for a while,
but in Valley, Nebraska
it filled up,
so one of the guys said,
"We've got an extra Helmet".

Thus the tradition
of each department
signing a helmet.

To date have 114...

which include Central City, Nebraska...

Rock River, Wyoming...

Tooele, Utah...

McGill, Nevada...

and Hayward, California
to name a few.

Click Here for a full Listing

While the original idea
was always to create a...

"Wall of Helmets"
similar to
The Viet Nam Wall,
with a helmet representing
the 343 fallen Fire fighters
in the center,
and everyone else around them...

There had to be a time and place
where everyone could participate,
not just those I happen to meet on
The Lincoln Highway.

Enter...
"Light Around the World"
and 10:05 pm
when the North Tower Callaped.

This way,

every fireman can sign the helmet

and departments
from all around the world
can participate.

Then at 10:28,
when the South Tower Collapsed,
an para-phrased excerpt from,
The Lincoln Highway...

"A Road of Character"
will be read.

We Americans,
have been given the opportunity
to build one in memory
of those lofty souls,
who represent to us
more that anything else,
the great virtue
Character.

and then it continues...

I conceive this road
as a scroll upon which,
from coast to coast,
the history of our land shall be recorded,
a river of life, a symbol of the
march of humanity toward perfection.

In keeping with the idea of
The Lincoln Highway...

as a
"Living Memorial Across America"
and a...

each
Fire Department
on
The Lincoln Highway
will be assigned
a fallen Fire Fighter...

and a Memorial Mile
will be established in their name,
following in the tradition of...

The Pope Memorial Mile
established in 1915.
Once a fireman has been assigned,
and the
Wall of Helmets
has been established,
each department will furnish a
New Yorker Style Helmet
representing their fireman
and form the center of a circle.

The other helmets
will form a circle
around these
343.

Later,
Memorial Miles
will also be established
for each of the 9-11 victims.

As part of the ceremony,
a candle will be lit
www.worldfiredepartments.com/fdny_WALL.htm
followed by
Striking the Four Fives,
The Traditional Fireman's Memorial...

Striking the Four Fives
The Fire service is rich with ceremony,
custom and tradition.
Our custom of rendering final honors
has its origins in the fire department
of the city of New York,
where many years ago,
long before the advent of radios and pagers,
fire alarms and daily announcements
were dispatched from central headquarters
to outlaying firehouses by a system
of bell commands and telegraph.

Each different type of alarm or announcement
would have its own number and series of bell strikes.
When a fire fighter died in the line of duty
or when some important official or personage died,
headquarters would transmit five bell strikes,
repeated four series,
with a slight pause between each series,
followed by the announcement.

This was done as long ago as 1865
in the New York City Fire Department
to inform the rank and file
of the death of
Abraham Lincoln.

The custom has continued
down to the present day
and this form of rendering
final honor to the departed comrades
is known in the fire service as
"Striking the Four Fives."

At this point...

The New York Presbyterian Church
in Washington DC
where Lincoln worshiped
will be the first,
and
"Strike the Four Fives"
on
"The Lincoln Chimes"

that were donated in 1929 by
Mary Harlan Lincoln
in honor of
Abraham Lincoln
and her husband
Robert Todd Lincoln.

Following,
"The Four Fives"
there will be a reading of..

The Last Alarm
Dear Lord,
we call on you for strength and guidance.
Give us courage that we may impart courage to others.
When the gong sounds,
calling us to duty,
give us speed and efficiency.

When our sirens wail,
ride with us through the city streets
shielding us from danger.

On the fireground,
may our officers and firefighters
always work as a cautious,
courageous and vitourius team.

Walk with us through the terror
of flames and explosion.

May our hearts be always ready,
if we are summoned before our
Eternal Chief
in the midst of our labors.

We ask only that you may be pleased with our service.

That when the last alarm shall have sounded for us,
we may receive our eternal assignment with you.

And then,
the final element,
comes at 10:48 pm when
Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania
not far from
The Lincoln Highway.

First will be a reading of...

the telegram to...

Franklin K. Lane
Secretary of the Interior
under President Wilson,
the First member of
the Lincoln Highway Association.

Followed by his reply...

and then his essay...

It is interesting to note...

the statue of Mr. Lincoln
at the Museum is a replica
of the St Gaudens in Chicago.

At this point...

The World Peace Bell
in Newport, Kentucky...

will
"Strike the Four Fives"
every hour for 24 hours
as it cycles the Globe
as firemen from all nations
form a
"Light Around the World"
as we
Honor the Past-Imagine the Future
and
"Keep Alive...The Sacred Fire of Liberty"
in Honor of those
who died for...

that which God has planted
in our bosoms.

And so it seems,
the only way were going to have
"World Peace"
is to look through
"Lincoln's Eyes"

And so...

Just like they did in 1913,
ask your local pastors to...

devote their Sunday sermon to...

"The Life of Lincoln".

and read...

Because,
The Lincoln Highway...

truly is,
"A Road to Bigger Things..."

and has been consecrated
to peace
and all its blessings.

So much so,
that in 1916,
The Southern California
Veteran Association...

established
The Lincoln Highway
Fountain Society...

and established
"The Lincoln Fountain of Peace"
an ice cold water fountain
at their encampment at
Huntington Beach, CA.

Which all fits,
since you might recall...

President Roosevelt's speech
at the dedication of...

The Eternal Peace Monument
for
The 75th Anniversary of Gettysburg,
where he said...

"Lincoln was the Commander in Chief of this Battle;
[but] he wanted above all things
to be the Commander in Chief
of the new Peace."

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