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We are presenting an Oregon Trail reenactment for public schools, private schools, independent
schools, scouts, public. We've got 6 stations. We have an old wagon. And it was built by
Everett Messentine. He lived over in Wamic. He was a local wagon maker. It is authentic
style. We've got the Dutch Ovens over here, and we can tell you a little bit about Dutch
Oven cooking. We have a dasher churn, so they'll get to try making butter. And we also have
flint and steel because that's what you would have used to start your fires. So the kids
can try that. We've got a rope maker, so they can try their hand at making rope and take
home a rope. I've got a wool station and talk a little bit about the different kinds of
fabrics that were available then and then we just talk about wool and taking care of
the sheep and what you do to get the wool ready to either to spin it or to put it in
a quilt or something like that. And then we have a basket full of old-time toys. And they
can play with those. The district archeologist comes and talks to them a little bit about
archeology and how we can learn from archeology. They also know that they have ancestors who
did this, and for a lot of people just because they know they have ancestors who did it they
are really eager to find out more. Did you get a chance to play with some toys that pioneer
kids might have played with? Yeah A little bit different than video games, huh? Yeah.
A lot different from video games. I liked it when they showed us how to start a fire.
The acheologist part of the tour was pretty cool. So overall it's been a good time though?
Uh huh! We've had years where we've had. . . oh my goodness I don't know how many hundred
kids we had. . . we had 1,000 kids one year. And this gives a chance for the kids to experience
it as something real that they can hold and touch and see exactly where pioneers were
and it makes the story sort of come to life. I think everybody benefits from it. The kids,
the Forest Service, we, us. It gives us the chance to get around kids once a year. It's
your first year and you're already talking about what we're doing next year. I'm coming
back and going to ask what we're going to be doing next year. That's why we're here.
How many girlfriends does Tyson have. I don't want girlfriends!
It's part of the reason why we're in this business: to connect the people to the land. To me it's really a connection
with the environment and the people who are using it and the people who are managing it;
what's the best way to do that with the tools and the environment we're in now. And that's
why we provide this campground as a back drop. And by having children through this camp maybe
we can have distill in some of those children a sense of stewardship.