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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, April 21, 1959
'Pioneers' Follow Outdoor Living
CHOW'S ON—The Oregon Trail wagon train's cooks, Edna Blair and Jean Marshall prepare
food for the hungry travelers. (Kansan photos by Lee Lord)
Experiences Brighten Trip
By Lee Lord
The first wagon train to pass through Lawrence in years will arrive about noon tomorrow as the Oregon Centennial Wagon Train follows what's left of the old Oregon Trail. Its destination: Independence, Ore.
According to Tex Serpa, wagon master, the seven covered wagons will leave the actual Oregon Trail for awhile when passing through Lawrence in order to avoid traffic congestion on the KU campus.
In front of Lindley Hall there is a plaque with an inscription telling how the wagons on their way to Oregon wound up the southern slope of Mt. Oread and across the present KU campus. This is the portion of the trail which will be avoided.
Only 3 Are Paid
Of the 24 present members of the wagon train, only the wagon master and truck drivers are paid. The rest of the personnel are along for the experience.
Mr. Clark, who owns a leather goods store in Hillsburg, said, "Tm actually losing money by making the trip, even though I left my wife home to tend the store." His special job is to keep the harness in repair.
Weaver Clark of Hillsburg, Ore., said, "We're not getting a nickel for this trip, but the experience itself is pay enough. It will be some time before anything like this is done again and it's an honor to be one of the few who are actually making the trip.
"The harness wasn't new to begin with," he said. "Already we have had some trouble with it. Just yesterday the harness snapped on the lead team of our only four-mule hitch. If there hadn't been somebody there to grab the mules they might have ended up turning the wagon over.
Mule Ignores Truman
Tex Serpa, when asked about their start at Independence, Mo., when former President Harry S. Truman, acting as honorary wagon master, stepped to the head of the train and velled "Forward," chuckled:
"Those mules must have been Republican mules the way they balked. But, Ben got them under control and we were on our way." Tex was referring to Ben Griffith, who besides being postmaster, also drives the lead wagon.
Tex, who was hired by the Independence Chamber of Commerce to head the train, used to be a stunt man in movies a few years ago.
The mock Indian attack yesterday morning really caught him unaware. "I was pretty well scalped by the time I found my gun," he said.
Roy Brabham, Eugene, Ore., who takes care of the wagons, began building them in February.
Last night over 2,000 people stopped to view the wagons and talk to the people who are making the 2,000 mile trip to Independence. Flashbulbs popped all over the place as the sightseers posed their children alongside the Oreogiaias and took their autographs.
The only complaint the Oregonians have so far is the cold weather that is following them across Kansas. But Roy Brabham made things right when he looked out over the Kansas countryside and said, "You sure have some good farm land in this state."
Though they camp out each night
in tents or sleep in the wagons the "pioneers" admit they don't have it quite as hard as granddad did when he made the trek. Besides the wagons there is a water truck, a large van to carry hay for the 23 horses and mules and a pick-up truck to pull the cook wagon. The caravan's publicity agent also travels much of the time with them in a station wagon.
Two-Way Radio
There is also a two-way radio which can be used in case any emergencies develop along the way. The "59-ers" send their laundry to the nearest town two times a week instead of doing it themselves.
Tonight the train plans to make camp outside Gardner, and then tomorrow will camp some six to eight miles outside Lawrence. Thursday night will find it in Topeka where it will spent the night at the Topeka Fair Grounds after a brief welcoming ceremony in the heart of the city.
Woman's Rugged Life Requires Responsibility
ENTERTAINING VISITORS—Tex Serpa, wagon master, talks to one of his group's 2,000 curious guests. She is Yvonne Marie Head, Hillsdale, Kan.
By Joan Jewett
In 1959, women beat the scouts to camp sites on the Oregon Trail. Unlike great-great grandmother, her blue-jean wearin' descendants do not follow meekly behind the wagon train as in the good old days. Instead they are up and off at 5 a.m.
A Daily Kansan reporter-photographer team visited the train's camp site near Olathe last night. The wagon train is on a 2,000 mile cross-country trek from Independence, Mo., to Independence, Ore., following the route of the Oregon Trail celebrating the anniversary of that state.
Two of the seven Oregon women with the train take daily turns at cook shack duties. When the evening meal is nigh they whip out of formation, speed to the camp site and have the coffee boiling before the first mule print is in the mud. In the morning they stir out their bearded, booted companions with a whiff of bacon sizzling on a hickory log.
And when it's time to turn in, not the women, but the children are first. For after a day of wide-eyed wonderment, with lessons to log for the teacher back home, the little trail blazers are pretty well burned out.
Children Keep Logs
The three children, ranging in age from 11 to 14 keep daily records to complete essays vital for final grades. Gary Carmine, 12, is the only boy now on the trail. Two other boys, 17 and 13, will join the train when school is out.
Mrs. Edna Blair, on duty Monday night, at the cook shack, said:
"The trip isn't going to set them back in school. In fact," she said as she sliced ham, "it's the best education they could get." The ham joined a mound of sliced bread.
She handed the sandwiches to her partner, Miss Jean Marshall who wrapped as she counted. "54, 55, 56.
These are for tomorrow's lunch. Everyone gets two."
Besides the ham there was a choice of peanut butter or cheese. Jean leaned toward the light of the open fire and with an eyebrow pencil marked "ch" on a brown bag.
"This is the first time I've used this pencil since we started," she said. "But I don't mind foregoing glamor for adventure." She usually works as a secretary for the county juvenile court in Roseburg, Ore. She wanted to be with the train "just to get out and see the world."
"I'll have to stoke up the fire so we can see to get these dishes put up," Jean said. The "dishes" are heavy army trays and were donated, along with the cook shack and everything in it by the Oregon National Guard. There are two gas stoves in the shack, but "the controls are a little complicated so we've cooked out so far."
Entertained by Public
What do the women do for entertainment while men are fixing and caring for the mules and horses? There are four guitar players along, but so far there hasn't been any need for entertainment. Thyraz Pelling said: "Everywhere we go a crowd gathers to entertain us. It's such fun meeting so many people."
While they are between townstops on the trail women wear jeans, warm shirts and jackets, but they wear frilly centennial costumes for inside city limit appearances.
One of the women on cooking duty must know how to drive the pick-up truck that hauls the kitchen. Can the women and children take this trip? Tex Serpa, wagon master said, "Well, they'll have to. It's easier to ride along than it would be to walk to Oregon."
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