We learn History of the World -- and Newfoundland -- Sorta

Going underground

With rain falling on Signal Hill, we decided to drive to the bottom of the hill and visit the Johnson Geo Centre, which promised to take us underneath the hill and give us an up close view of the geology associated with the site. 

You take an elevator down from the entrance and gift shop to the exhibition area. One wall of this section is composed of the rock that forms the substance of the hill, and shows how the hill formed primarily from uplift. Not exactly was I was thinking the center was about, but OK, it delivered on the promise.

Lecturers give informative programs at regular intervals, and we'd planned to attend one that started shortly after our arrival, but though we thought we had plenty of time, the timer above the entrance suddenly changed, and by the time we reached the doors, they had automatically closed. It's hard to describe how wonky that experience was, but we decided to just attend the next lecture. 

The one we attended featured a graduate student from the local university talking about the geology of the region and the role of glaciers in forming the landscape -- much of which we already knew, but we did pick up a couple of facts. Then he shifted to talking about icebergs, which regularly float past St. John's each spring. Some of the icebergs can be a problem for shipping in the area and have to be moved out of the way from time to time. They have developed a way to, in essence, put a giant lasso around these problem bergs and tow them out of the way with ships. The ice is dense enough that attempts to blow them up usually don't work well. 

Somehow we did not get a shot of the exterior of the Johnson Geo Centre.

This representation of the solar system greets visitors to the underground

portion of the museum. (Photo by Sharon.)

After the lecture, we toured some of the other exhibits. One hall was devoted to the Titanic disaster. It began with the cruise line's history, noting that Americans actually owned the White Star line at the time, and continued through until, well, you know how the story ends. Most of the information pointed out the various ways in which decisions to scrimp here or skip a step there led inexorably to the ship's end. 

Unlike the other exhibits we've seen, this one skipped the stories of the crew and passengers that made the other exhibits so compelling. Almost every descriptive sign ended with a section headed by a red banner emblazoned with "The Truth," which made sure you understood what a monumental foul up that particular part of the story represented. 

At the end of the exhibit, you can try your hand at a simulator that lets you take control of a submersible and drive around the ship's underwater remains. Either it wasn't working quite right, or I was monumentally incompetent at the controls, meaning I will never work for Robert Ballard. Or possibly a bit of both. I was unable to do more than approach the bow from the side and back up. 

This has nothing to do with the Geo Centre. It's in the visitor center across

and up the road a bit. The Newfoundland Chocolate Company has a small

cafe area, and Sharon took this shot of the mural in the dining area.

The largest exhibit area covers the history of the area from prehistoric times to the space age. We have begun looking at some areas adjacent to the rock wall when we noticed that a trail had been marked out on the floor using very large more-than symbols.

These lead you through the exhibit in a particular order -- though a lot of people ignored them. In general terms much of what was presented wasn't particularly new to us -- geological formations and how they come to be, migration of the first humans to the North American continent, types of rock, how various early settlers lived -- remarkably like those in other parts of the continent -- stuff we've seen at countless other museums. 

We spent a bit of time when the information was more specific to Canada or Newfoundland. By the way, I forgot to mention earlier that although Newfoundland became part of the British Empire a few centuries ago, it only joined Canada in 1949. Til then it was basically its own country.

By time we finished at the center, the rain had stopped, most of the day was gone, and we retired for the day