The General Nathan Twining Observatory - History

Saturday, August 9 dawned clear for the volunteers preparing to journey down to the General Nathan Twinning Observatory (GNTO). Their task for the day had been in the planning stage for some time and the day had finally arrived to perform the work. A new observing area next to the observatory building would be a reality by the end of the day.

Planned activities for the day included scraping the desired area with a tractor-mounted blade, establishing the surface in a reasonable approximation of a level grade, creating a path to the outhouse, building up the level of the soil around the observatory to protect its foundation against further wind erosion and depositing and spreading the cover material over the entire work area. The total work area the Observatory Committee had laid out amounted to some 12,000 square feet.

Upon arrival at the observatory, Bruce Levin and I were greeted with a wonderful sight - Robert Ortega had just about completed the earth moving operations and was ready to receive the cover material from the gravel company (he got down to GNTO the previous evening with the tractor and got an early start). Some final work needed to be completed to enhance the access to the new observing area and Robert quickly set about accomplishing this work. For those of you who may not have been aware of what was going on, we planned on renting a capable tractor with bucket and scraper as well as having the cover material (crusher fines or driveway gravel) delivered to our site.

While Robert was completing final earth moving operations, other volunteers began to arrive and we proceeded to clean up the site of all the junk that has been accumulating there over the years. I decided to put all of this refuse into the big steel tank, put the cover back on and have Robert bury it.

Robert received a phone call from the dispatcher at the gravel company saying that the delivery driver was having a hard time finding his way down to the site. Since a trip to get diesel fuel for the tractor was required, I went ahead and went off to Belen to get the fuel and make sure that the dump truck driver was headed our way. Sure enough, along the way up Twinning Lane, I encountered the dump truck (a rather large bottom-dump type of rig pulled by a big Kenworth tractor) and guided him on his way.

When I got back to GNTO, the crew had already distributed the first of the 5 loads we were scheduled to receive (in all, a total of 120 tons of material) and were waiting for the next truck to arrive. Even with only a portion of the total material down, we could all see that what we were working towards would be wonderful indeed.

The arrival of the second load was the only bummer of the whole day. For whatever reason, the driver of the truck used poor judgment in negotiating the cut-corner by the outhouse and got his rig well and truly stuck in the sand. I suppose that it was much to his delight that our hardy work crew came to his rescue! We dug and we dug and he went back and forth with his rig and finally, we succeeded in getting him moving.

We broke for lunch after the third load and enjoyed fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, plenty of cold drinks and a cup cake for desert, all generously and deliciously prepared by Karina Running Horse. A welcome respite indeed as some of us (myself) were getting pretty worn out!

Robert received another phone call from the dispatcher wondering if we could take receipt of the remainder of the material on Monday and he told them "NO WAY, we had our crew for one day only and we couldn't help it if one of their drivers got stuck in the sand". The dispatcher said OK but since he only had the driver who had made the first delivery, it would take about an hour or so to turn around the loads.

The final two loads were uneventful. The driver was given a check for all the material after the final load was deposited. Some final raking and touch up work and we were done!

We stood back and looked at the result of all our efforts - a wonderful NEW observing area about 160 feet by 75 feet in size, nicely flattened and covered with a good layer of gravel PLUS a nice graveled path to the potty. A group photo session ensued followed by an announcement that all the volunteers would be treated to a pizza party in the very near future.

All the volunteers deserve recognition so in no particular order, they are: Carl Frisch, Bill Tondreau, John Sefick, Bruce Levin, Dave Delarue, Peter Eschman, Robert Williams, Henry Baronsky, Elinor Gates, Katherine Blankenburg, Kevin McKeown, Brock Parker and Bud, Carol and Wes Baker and Ron Gasser. Special thanks to Karina Running Horse who, though unable to attend, prepared our delicious lunch. A VERY special thank-you from all of us to Robert Ortega who single handedly performed the lions share of the work. Thanks folks, you made it happen!

All photos by Bruce Levin
Photos scanned by Bill Tondreau.
Written by Gordon Pegue, Observatory Director, 1995-1997

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