Portable Cattle Squeeze near Crane Hot Springs, Oregon
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Portable Cattle Squeeze: Wordless Wednesday
Old West
Oregon Trail History & Education Center: LAPC
While camping at Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, I visited the Oregon Trail History & Education Center. Many pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail crossed the Snake River on their way west at this site. Settlers learned to overcome the emotional and physical obstacles they encountered along the Trail with resilience and perseverance.
Near the center’s entrance, you’ll pass a couple wagons beneath a shelter. A reader board refers to them as “Motor Homes Without Motors.” They had to be lightweight, yet sturdy enough to survive the 2,000-mile journey across the country. The wagons carried many tools and treasures, but more importantly, the hopes and dreams of settlers looking for a better way of life.
This visitor center’s interactive and informative displays impressed me. I liked how it highlighted this area from different perspectives in the past and present.
Crossing the Snake River
Crossing here was dangerous, but it was shorter than the South Alternate route. The southern route passed through dry, rocky environments that were difficult to endure. There was also less potable water and feed for livestock along that route.
Though fur trappers and early explorers traveled this route beginning in 1811, most pioneers took this route from 1841 to 1848.
Pioneers used this route until 1869, when Gus Glenn constructed a ferry crossing two miles upstream. This display describes Ferryman Gustavus (Gus) P. Glenn. He was a colorful local, known as a rugged individualist.
Glenn married a Native American woman named Jenny and turned down the possibility of marrying a Euro-American when more settlers moved into the area. He noted, “She was good enough for me then and she’s good enough for me now.”
The original Oregon trail began in Independence, Missouri, and ended in Oregon City, Oregon. This map shows the various routes settlers traveled west after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Native Americans in Oregon Trail History
Several of the displays featured artifacts related to the lives of Native Americans. One of the first displays shows the hunting and gathering way of life experienced by Indians of the Snake River Plain.
Indigenous people have lived in this area for thousands of years. The local environment is challenging, but they learned how to be resilient.
The figure shown below is of a woman with a digging stick.
Native peoples often dug up and collected camas bulbs.
Bulbs, seeds, and other food items were ground with stone mortars and pestles.
People wove baskets for different purposes. The photograph in this display case shows a tightly woven basket used for carrying water.
People used loosely woven baskets to gather things like roots and berries.
This display shows a spear and net used for catching salmon.
Once horses became available to Native people, hunting and trading practices changed dramatically. Horse ownership became a status symbol, with wealthier people collecting large herds of horses.
I liked this quote from the local Northern Paiute tribe.
This display shows a cutaway view of a teepee and describes the many hardships Native Americans endured on reservations.
Settlers moving into the West
Other displays in this center focus on settlers moving west as part of their “Manifest Destiny.” This 19th century belief stated that American settlers were destined by God to claim lands across North America. Its purpose was “to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.”
Unfortunately, that often meant forcing Native Americans off their ancestral lands. Thousands died from starvation and disease after being forcibly marched to distant reservations.
The U.S. population rose dramatically from 5 million people in 1800, to over 23 million by 1850.
Newspapers described an easy route with “no obstruction in the whole route.” Journals of those who traveled the route described a far different situation where “hills ware dreadful steep” and “the desert is very hard on the poor animals.”
I found this packing list interesting. If travelers lost the ox pulling their wagons, they abandoned many items shown on this list beside the road.
Since the oxen used along the route were so valuable, travelers would do anything they could to save them. This scene shows three people trying to pull a downed ox to its feet.
This is a typical covered wagon, shown with the back down as food is prepared.
These two cases show some toys and tools of children traveling the trail. They were expected to help with chores, but also had time to play games, go fishing or target shooting, and to collect wildflowers.
At first, relationships between Natives and settlers were friendly. They traded valuable items. Native peoples helped them along the route. “The Indians helped us a great deal, raking over the carts, swimming the animals, &c …” As more settlers flocked to the area, the relations changed. Native American, Hispanic, and non-European residents suffered greatly during this period of expansion.
Voices of the present at Oregon Trail History & Education Center
These photos are of contemporary residents of Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
Daryl Kirk commented on past competitions between cultures and said we need “to get together and do things together and to forget about the bad part of the past.”
Donna Carnahan remembered how her grandfather, who settled there in 1890, spoke of often playing with the resident Indian children.
Terry Gibson noted how his people comforted the emigrants. The people and their animals were in bad shape after all they had suffered along the trail. He said, “Our people were here to help them, and our children need to learn that. I think with the Crossing here, there’s an opportunity to provide healing for both cultures.”
The Oregon Trail History & Education Center is small, but worth a visit. It has a nice gift store near the entrance.
To learn more about the Oregon Trail, consider visiting the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon. After being closed for four years, the Center recently reopened following significant renovations and updates. I posted about this attraction prior to the renovations.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Resilience
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Museum of the Rockies (MOR): FOWC
Museum of the Rockies (MOR) in Bozeman, Montana, is a place I’ve always wanted to visit. I had known about their impressive dinosaur fossil collection for years. In June 2024, we visited this museum on the Montana State University campus.
A huge Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton sculpture greets you near the entrance. The Big Mike bronze sculpture, created by research Casting International of Ontario, Canada, is based on T. rex bones found in Montana.
MOR features several primary exhibits inside the main building.
The Living History Farm, outside of the entrance, gives glimpses of what farm life was like from 1890 to 1910. Programs on a variety of topics are shown in the Hager Auditorium.
Seibel Dinosaur Complex
No visit to MOR is complete without viewing the Seibel Dinosaur Complex. It is this museum’s star attraction. The collection is one of the largest in the world and features examples of Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus rex, and Allosaurus.
These and other dinosaurs are on display in the Dinosaurs Under the Big Sky exhibit area.
A generous donation by Thomas and Stacey Siebel tripled the exhibit space.
Jack Horner, paleontologist, and former director of paleontology at the museum, played a pivotal role in the design of this space.
You can observe preparators working on excavating encased fossils in one section.
Prehistoric mammals that once lived in parts of Montana are on display in the Cenozoic Corridor. These include mammoths, rhinos, and bone-crushing dogs.
Enduring Peoples
This section focuses on the lives of American Indians of the Northern Plains and the Rocky Mountain region. Native peoples have lived in this region for thousands of years. When Euro-Americans moved into this part of America, conflicts followed. Despite being forced onto reservations and having much of their culture stripped away, Natives worked hard to maintain many traditions.
Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806) were among the first non-native people to explore this area. After their expedition, waves of outsiders flooded the area in search of gold and furs for trade. The Homestead Act brought thousands of settlers there. Limited resources affected the Natives’ way of life.
As more settlers and trappers established themselves in this part of the country, Native culture changed. However, they preserved elements of their culture that have existed for generations.
Since I have a deep appreciation of beadwork, I aimed my camera at several beaded artifacts in this exhibit.
Examples of quillwork were also displayed in this exhibit.
Paugh History Hall
In this hall, the journey from early exploration to the mid-20th century is illustrated. The displays in this hall show elements of cultural and social change.
Murals, photographs, and numerous artifacts pull visitors into this area’s rich history.
I was drawn towards the line of carts and carriages in this section. The shock absorbing parts of these vehicles have always fascinated me.
Living History Farm
An original homestead, built in 1889, is at the heart of this exhibit. Visitors are taken back in time to 1890-1910 by a series of buildings, recreated to look authentic. These buildings include a milking barn, blacksmith, root cellar, granary, shed, chicken coop, and outhouse. Gardens of flowers, vegetables, and grains contain examples of heirloom plants. Activities such as barn-raising, sewing circles, and quilting bees were an essential part of the communities.
Other MOR exhibits
Another section at the museum is the Welcome to Yellowstone Country exhibit. This exhibit shows parts of the past history of Yellowstone National Park. The work of entrepreneurs Charles A Hamilton and F. Jay Haynes in the park’s tourism industry in the 19th and 20th centuries is described.
The Martin Children’s Discovery Area is an interactive exhibition for kids. Children can visit the Explore Yellowstone and pump a geyser, climb a fire tower, fish from a bridge, set up a campsite, or experience the Old Faithful Inn.
For an additional fee, visitors can go to the Taylor Planetarium. There, you can enjoy regularly scheduled shows on the 40-foot-wide dome screen throughout the day.
Changing MOR Exhibits
During our visit, the MOR changing exhibit was Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids: Mythic Creatures. Since I like to include mythical creatures in novels I’m working on for kids, this exhibit was right up my alley.
This exhibition runs from May 24, 2024, to January 5, 2025. For more info on this exhibit, see one of my previous posts. It includes LOTS of pictures.
Other MOR information
See operating times and days and admission prices here.
MOR has a large store near the entrance. It includes clothing, games, books, etc.
Here’s the Museum Map, near where you pay admission.
Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC) – Complete
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Columbia Gorge Museum: RDP
When I travel along the Columbia River, I usually drive on the Oregon side because it’s faster. Last spring I drove on the Washington side and made a stop at the Columbia Gorge Museum near the small town of Stevenson, Washington. This hidden gem of a museum opened in 1995 and it houses a wide variety of art, historical artifacts, and immersive exhibitions.
Collections at the museum include artifacts from centuries ago to the present. The displays include traditional Indigenous tools, pioneer-era artifacts, and contemporary works of art.
Native American artifacts at the Columbia Gorge Museum
Several styles of baskets used for different purposes are featured in the displays.
The design of this part of the museum really impressed me. Big pieces of columnar basalt framed the display cases.
Nearby, a sculpture of a Native American fishing from a platform towers over visitors. This traditional fishing method is still in use today at places like Cascade Locks, Oregon.
Similarities and differences on display: LAPC
Last week, I showed symmetrical displays of history at the Museum of the American West in Lander, Wyoming. However, history is not always balanced. A good museum shows our similarities and differences. Here are more items on display at the Museum.
At times, our differences stand out.
Though what we wear differs, from practical and utilitarian…
To ornamental and symbolic, our clothing reflects who we are.
Treasures of the Old West: LAPC & MM
Here are some treasures of the Old West at the Museum of the American West, in Lander, Wyoming, shown in both color and black and white. Click on the arrows to see monochrome versions highlighting their symmetry.
Wheels may carry you forward, towards new horizons
Or back, to a final resting place
You may choose to wander in another’s shoes
Continue reading
Pioneer Village in Monochrome: LAPC, WPCC
While taking pictures of the Pioneer Village in Lander, Wyoming, I immediately thought of how they would look in sepia tones. I wanted to focus on their structure and emphasize their age.
The Pioneer Village buildings are part of the Museum of the American West. The main museum showcases a wide variety of artifacts from people who lived in this area in the mid-1800s to early-1900s.
The Guinard Cabin, circa 1902, has a rough plank and mortar construction. The overall brown color in the picture below hides the presence of a garden hose. A windmill and teepee blend into the background.
This storage shed and Saloon would fit right into an old time neighborhood.
Old homestead & Mt Hood: Wordless Wednesday
Sheepherder’s wagon Haiku: HPC
sheepherder’s wagon
rolling across windswept plains
steady sentinel
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’: Monochrome Monday
Santiam Wagon Road 2 hike: LAPC
In late May, I went on a hike on part of the Santiam Wagon Road near Sisters, Oregon (see trail map at end of post). Carol Wall, of the Deschutes Land Trust, led this hike. We traveled along an out and back two-mile section of the road. This 400-mile route was used to move livestock and freight between 1865-1939. In the first 15 years of its operation, around 5,000 wagons passed over this route.
As I mentioned in a previous post, most travelers on this road traveled from the west side of the mountains to the east. My Santiam Wagon Road post gives details about a 2-mile hike on a different section of this route.
We gathered around the kiosk in the parking area and Carol had us imagine what this road must have looked like in the 1860s. The ponderosa pine and western juniper trees you’ll see at the trailhead likely didn’t exist at that time. Junipers expanded their range due to fire suppression and overgrazing.
Glimpses of nature along the trail
Continue readingBuffalo Bill sculpture in Cody: Saturday Sculpture
This large Buffalo Bill sculpture is on a major street near the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.
History of the Buffalo Bill sculpture
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney created Buffalo Bill – The Scout to honor the town’s most famous resident. The dedication took place on July 4th in 1924.
Buffalo Bill Cody’s niece, Mary Jester Allen, was determined to honor his legacy after he died in 1917. She dreamed of opening a museum recognizing his accomplishments, despite the challenges. With her connections with the Eastern establishment, she convinced Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney to create a statue of Buffalo Bill.
Whitney agreed to create the sculpture, but didn’t like the proposed sites for its placement. She bought 40 adjoining acres. Whitney also ended up paying the entire $50,000 cost of the sculpture. The small town of Cody, evidently, could not raise enough to pay her.
A dream of a museum becomes a reality
In 1925, the International Cody Family Association formed. They proposed creating a Buffalo Bill Historical Museum. The town constructed a full-size replica of Buffalo Bill’s ranch home and opened it to the public in 1927. By 1949, the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association made plans to expand the facility. Western history and art, Native American culture, and natural history would be highlighted. A $250,000 donation in 1955 finally made expansion possible. Sonny Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s son, made that donation. In 1958, The Whitney Gallery of Western Art would become the first part of the world-class Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Sometimes when you research one thing – a statue – you plunge down a rabbit hole and learn much more. I did not know the Vanderbilts, once considered to be the wealthiest family in America, had this connection with William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his legacy.
Mary Jester Allen would serve the museum in multiple roles from 1927 to 1960. Because of her actions and perseverance, the center now attracts millions of visitors from around over the world.
On a corner in Howe – John Day history: MM
I saw this abandoned building on a corner in Howe, Idaho. Though I could not learn the history of this specific building, I learned a well-known historical figure spent part of his life nearby.
The Little Lost River, located north and east of this site, was once known as “John Day’s River” or “Day’s River.” In 1810, the John Jacob Astor Pacific Fur Company set out to establish a base of operations at the mouth of the Columbia River. They made many discoveries along the way while searching for the easiest routes of travel. John Day, an experienced hunter and trapper, was a member of the party.
John Day’s travels
The group, led by Wilson Price Hunt, divided into four parties when food became scarce. John Day became ill and was left behind with Ramsay Crooks on the shores of the Snake River. The two men eventually made their way to the mouth of the Mah-Mah River, where it joins the Columbia. At that site, the two were robbed of all their belongings and stripped naked by Natives. Because of this incident, the river was renamed the John Day River. Crooks and Day were rescued days later by Robert Stuart, of the Pacific Fur Company, and taken to Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River.
Continue readingA home from the past: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
In the Oregon Outback: Monochrome Monday
Here’s a sepia tone view of Fort Rock Homestead Village Museum in the Oregon Outback. Twelve buildings built in the early 1900s were moved to this site. It’s one of my favorite roadside attractions in Central Oregon.
Monochrome Monday
Living in the Past: Monochrome Monday
Living in the past at Fort Rock, Oregon.
Monochrome Monday
Do you get the point?: Monochrome Monday
A collection of different types of barbed wire on display at Fort Rock, Oregon.
Monochrome Monday
Sunflowers & Stagecoaches at the Steens
Sunflowers & stagecoaches? You may be wondering how those two things go together.
Last August we explored the Steens Mountain area by car. Did you know you can drive all the way around this 50-mile long mountain and to its 9,700-foot peak at certain times of the year? The views from up there are breathtaking!
Common sunflower
The following pictures are from the dirt road on the east side of Steens Mountain. Common sunflowers, Helianthus annus L., were in full bloom along the road.
As their name implies, common sunflowers are common throughout the conterminous United States and in parts of Canada and Mexico. Sunflowers have been introduced in other parts of North America and throughout the world. They occur in a wide variety of habitats including prairies, roadsides, near railroad right-of-ways, savannas, and forest edges.
Oregon Trail – Baker City: Visiting History
On the Oregon Trail
Saddle Row, Burns, Oregon: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Bits & Spurs Collage: Monochrome Monday
Old bits & spurs from days gone by live on in this collage at Fort Rock Homestead Village Museum.
Monochrome Monday
Pete French Round Barn
Horsemen of the past
Turning in his saddle and tilting his dusty hat to shade his eyes, he finally sees it in the distance. The round barn. The year is 1887 and he and the other vaqueros are moving a herd of horses collected over the sagebrush covered plains of the High Desert in Oregon. He had worked so many hours that week that when he finally settled down each night on a bed of hard sandy soil, he instantly fell into a deep sleep.
Moving cattle, horses, and mules for his boss, Pete French, was a hard but satisfying life. Guiding his horse with worn leather reins, he moves to the back of the herd of mustangs and starts driving them towards the barn.
Round barns – marvelous structures with a purpose
The Pete French Round Barn, near Diamond, Oregon, was built in the 1880’s. The center pole and supporting poles are made from ancient western juniper trees. The juniper shows cuts and gouges from past use but is still strong. Umbrella-like beams radiate out from the center to support the rounded roof of this 100-foot diameter barn. Horses were stabled in the middle part of the building. The 63-foot diameter rock wall in the middle section forms a round corral in the building’s interior. A 20-foot wide circular paddock surrounds it. During the long winters, 400 to 600 horses and mules were moved through and trained in the barn, safe from the harsh conditions outside.
Cowboy Dinner Tree
Cowboy Dinner Tree gift shop
Tucked away in Oregon’s Outback, you will find a unique place that hearkens back to an earlier time. The Cowboy Dinner Tree is a small restaurant located in Silver Lake Oregon, about an hour and a half southeast of Bend. The restaurant is only open from 4:00-8:30 pm four days per week and reservations are required. They give you ample portions of food here and you are advised to bring a cooler for leftovers. They do not take credit cards or debit cards so have cash on hand.
Steak at Cowboy Dinner Tree
Roasted chicken
You have your choice of a 26-30 oz. top sirloin steak or a whole roasted chicken. Both are accompanied by several tasty side dishes. There is green salad, hearty soup, old fashioned sweet yeast rolls, baked potato, and a dessert. You can have coffee, iced tea, or pink lemonade with your meal. On the day we were there, they served bean soup and a small shortcake with fresh berries. Everything is homemade and made daily.
Salad and group table
Dessert & leftovers
Bean soup and rolls