Fourth graders hit the Oregon Trail

Sisters fourth graders hit the Oregon Trail for a fun learning experience.

Sixty-five fourth graders, three teachers, a musician, and 25 parents embarked on the annual three-day Oregon History Field trip Wednesday, May 29, from Sisters Elementary School.

The trip focuses on Oregon history, which teacher Diane Jacobsen insists needs to be learned beyond the confines of the classroom.

Jacobsen, a veteran of 14 such trips, was joined by fellow teachers David Hewitt and Clay Warburton this year.

The scene on the elementary school yard Wednesday morning was reminiscent of the early pioneers as field-trippers, many dressed in period costume, loaded up the wagons (buses and cars) and headed toward the first destination, historic Laurel Hill.

Even the bus ride was educational.

Brad Tisdel and Mrs. Jacobsen kept things lively with "what do you see" games and plenty of singing, including camp songs and a song about the mighty Columbia River.

"Brad was a great asset," said Jacobsen. "He not only provided music all along the way, but jumped right in with leading a group of students."

Laurel Hill, along the famous Barlow Road, is a place where wagons actually had to be lowered down the steep pitch by ropes.

Counselors from the Multnomah School District, who run the Oregon Trail Overnight Camp at Camp Arrah Wanna near Welches for part of the school year, met the Sisters group at Laurel Hill to start the history lesson.

From Laurel Hill, the group continued to camp where the group started on a tightly packed schedule of activities related to pioneer life and early exploration.

The students learned about plotting out a square acre; finding edible plants; working with tools including the cross cut saw and the Peavy Hook; making biscuits and butter and panning for (fool's) gold.

They practiced drawings of nature focusing on attention to detail like Lewis and Clark did. They created old-fashioned dolls and satchels, and to top it off, learned how to dance the Virginia Reel.

From Arrah Wanna the group trekked further west and across the Columbia to Washington and Fort Vancouver. The fort, established in 1825 by the Hudson's Bay Company and managed for many years by Dr. John McLoughlin, often called "The Father of Oregon," is significant to Oregon's history because it was the political center of the region.

Britain and the United States were still vying for who would control the area west of the Rocky Mountains.

The fort was also the center of commerce, particularly regarding the fur-trade era.

"Fort Vancouver is my favorite part of the trip," said Diane Jacobsen. "It really shows the difference between the British culture and the American."

The house that John McLoughlin and David Douglas' families shared at the fort exemplifies the elegant and refined culture of the British, according to Jacobsen.

"They were very cultured, whereas the American pioneers were much more down to earth."

Highlights of Fort Vancouver included the authentic, active blacksmith's shop; the 17-foot-high walls surrounding the fort; the bastion, which is a tower overlooking the Columbia River; the jail; and the trading post.

The next stage of the journey followed McLoughlin's own path, to Oregon City, where McLoughlin became an American citizen in 1849. He later served as what many historians consider the first governor of what is now Oregon.

The group spent the night in the gym at Kraxberger Middle School after a feast at J.J. North's restaurant.

The next morning the group spent about two hours at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, which combines live history presentations with a media show and other artifacts and exhibits from the Oregon Trail.

For Jacobsen, much of the satisfaction of the trip came from watching her teaching colleagues develop deeper interest and excitement about the importance of the trip.

"David and Clay became as enthusiastic about it as I always am," she said.

"I think it was one of my peak moments of my teaching career," said Warburton, who is in his fifth year of teaching and first at Sisters Elementary.

"We have been studying the subject all year and the hands-on activities regarding pioneer life really brought things home for the kids," he said.

"When I asked my students what they enjoyed the most, nearly every one had a different response," Warburton said.

"The purpose is to make kids know that history is still here; history is our heritage," Jacobsen said.

"You can go out and see it, beyond the books -- it's not something old and dead."