America 250-South Carolina (Wikipedia)

 South Carolina was named in honor of King Charles I of England, who first formed the English colony, with Carolus being Latin for "Charles".^[9] In 1712 the Province of South Carolina was formed. One of the original Thirteen Colonies, South Carolina became a royal colony in 1719. During the American Revolutionary War, South Carolina was the site of major activity among the American colonies, with more than 200 battles and skirmishes fought within the state.^[10] South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788.

A slave state, South Carolina was the first state to vote in favor of secession from the United States in 1860; after being part of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, the state was readmitted to the Union in 1868

I found the following information to be fascinating and challenge you to find it and read more.

The Lady of Cofitachequi was a Native American woman who served as a Orada of the town called Cofitachequi by the “Muskogeans” during the 16th century. She was described by Spanish chroniclers as possessing beautiful physical attributes as well as excellent mental capabilities. Her people did not originally speak the Muskogean language, proof is in other villagers from her kingdom's domains also spoke the a mother language to “Siouan” Catawban tongues. Even though she is best known for her encounter with the Spanish conquistador, Hernando De Soto, her historical importance is that she ruled over the extensive Kingdom of Cofitachequi and had thousands of subjects including slaves. Cofitachequi was one of the wealthiest kingdoms of the 16th century. As part of the Mississippian culture, her kingdom enjoyed political centralization and agricultural production. Under the leadership of The Lady of Cofitachuqui, trade within the provinces guaranteed access to food, weapons, minerals, and raw materials. As a woman, her power was such that she exercised control over subordinate chiefdoms which reached far into North Carolina. The Spaniards recognized her power as among the greatest of the Southeast chiefs.^[1]

The ‘’‘Lady of Cofitachequi’’’ was a paramount chieftainess of the Cofitachequi polity (also known in early sources as Yupaha) during the mid-16th century. She is best remembered for her encounter with Hernando de Soto in 1540, but her importance lies in the scope of her power: she ruled a far-reaching Mississippian kingdom, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic, with subordinate male chiefs under her authority

Rich County Track Teams 2026

 

Obituary for Lyn Weston of Randolph will be published next week.

 Funeral will be Sat. May 23rd @ 11:00 in Randolph.

Splash Back by John Holman-look at the website to access the reports: info@bearlakewatch.ccsend.com

 I am trying something different this month. I received some feedback that the graphs as presented in the past are too small. So this month I'll have graphs presented individually and larger. The newsletter will be longer so please let me know if you don't find this new format helpful.

The complete Water Supply Reports from Idaho and Utah are at the links below along with the latest USDA Water and Climate Report.

Utah Water Supply Report (click here)

Idaho Water Supply Report (click here).

USDA Water and Climate Report (click here).

As of May 1, 2026, Utah and Idaho were both entering the irrigation season with materially deficient snowpack despite some April improvement. Utah was in the more extreme position: statewide SWE was only about 21% of normal, described by NRCS as the worst snowpack season in the observational record back to at least 1930. Idaho’s statewide SWE was also well below normal, about 58% of normal, after an early March peak and accelerated mid-March melt. In both states, April was relatively cool and wet, which slowed melt and provided some short-term precipitation benefit, but it did not correct the winter snowpack deficit. The practical implication is early peak runoff, weak late-spring and summer natural streamflow, and increased dependence on reservoir storage and groundwater. Reservoir storage provides some buffer in selected systems, but NRCS cautioned that warm, dry May conditions could rapidly deplete the remaining snowpack and lead to low reservoir carryover by the end of the irrigation season. 

For the Upper Bear Basin, conditions were better than much of Utah but still clearly water-limited. The warm spell in late March-early April killed the snowpack, which stayed in record low territory for most of April. The Utah Bear River Basin snowpack was about 35% of median on May 1, due to April precipitation which was near to above normal resulting in snow at higher elevations. Water-year precipitation was roughly normal on May 1st.

Forecast natural flows in the Upper Bear system remained well below normal, with several key Bear River and Smiths Fork forecast points generally in the 25%–53% of median range. The main Bear system is partially buffered by Bear Lake storage, which made the overall Bear Surface Water Supply Index (data not shown) appear near normal, but smaller subbasins such as Woodruff Narrows and Little Bear showed severe surface-water supply stress. Operationally, the Upper Bear Basin should be viewed as having poor natural runoff, early melt timing, limited late-season baseflow support, and a strong dependence on index stored water.