What the last eclipse tells us about the 19th-century West

By Ben Goldfarb
High Country News
Special to the Herald Times
RBC | On Aug. 21, 2017, the moon will ride its elliptical orbit precisely between Earth and sun, plunging the land below into the crepuscule of a total solar eclipse.
Beginning at around 10 a.m. Pacific Time, the dark path of totality will sweep northwest to southeast across the United States, casting its eerie gloom upon Western towns such as Madras, Oregon; Rexburg, Idaho;…