# Early 20th century walking sticks in old photos



## DesertLoon (Mar 2, 2019)

I live near Mount Timpanogos in Utah, one of the most popular hiking destinations here. In fact, Brigham Young University used to host an annual hike, from 1912 until the 1970s. The university has a lovely collection of pictures from this hike, which you can look through here:

https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/SCMisc/id/45124

Besides the thrill of seeing people hiking in overalls, dresses and neckties, it's fun to note how many of them are using hiking sticks that look homemade - probably most of them came from fruit trees in the hikers' yards. Here are a few examples:


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## Rodney (Jun 12, 2015)

Cool!

Thanks for posting them.


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## dww2 (Feb 4, 2017)

Kind of makes you wonder if maybe some of those old canes are at the back of someone's closet somewhere as a cherished heirloom or if they were just for the day.


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## DesertLoon (Mar 2, 2019)

dww2 said:


> Kind of makes you wonder if maybe some of those old canes are at the back of someone's closet somewhere as a cherished heirloom or if they were just for the day.


Yes, I wondered that too! I'd like to think they worked some of those less regular branches and kept them. My dad has a cane from a great-grandfather, it's lovely to think of some of these too as heirlooms. It seems that eventually they devised a regulation staff for the hike. I think I'll have to visit the archives some time to look through their collection of hike records.


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