News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Jan Martin holds rescued time capsules at Sisters Middle School. photo by Tim O'Neal
Time plays tricks on memory -- a problem social studies teacher Jeff Barton understands all too well.
Back in 1985, he nailed two cardboard, duct-tape-wrapped tubes to two-by-fours behind sheetrock in a newly constructed addition to Sisters Middle School.
The tubes were part of a student project to take a snapshot in time of Sisters and create a time capsule to be opened when the building came down, perhaps 50 or 100 years hence.
The building came down just 19 years later in the February 7-8 burn-to-learn exercise that helped clear the site for a new library and city hall.
Before the firefighters torched the place, Barton went in to retrieve the time capsules, full of photos, business cards and a 1985 copy of The Nugget.
He couldn't find them.
He remembered where the time capsules were (or so he thought) but they weren't where they were supposed to be.
He pulled off sheetrock till he felt guilty about interfering with the quality of the burn exercise, then gave the capsules up for lost.
But the time capsules didn't stay lost for long. Firefighters found them --unburned -- and presented them to school district staffer Jan Martin, who was watching the burn-to-learn exercise.
Barton has opened the capsules and sifted through the contents.
He said the photo prints didn't hold up too well, but the story they tell is still visible.
Most time capsules are opened decades after they are buried. Looking at the contents of these only 20 years on was an interesting experience for Barton. The photos jogged memories of a Sisters that was completely familiar to him, yet one he had forgotten as the community has evolved.
"We've changed a lot," he said.
Barton noted that the time capsule held 15 business cards from merchants open downtown in 1985; only three are still in business.
"There's been a lot of turnover," Barton said.
Buildings that were there in 1985 are gone, replaced with new development, and once-vacant lots are now built upon.
The time capsule reveals that the past 20 years have been a period of major changes for what was once a small and quiet community.
"Even though it was only 20 years, it was fun to look at," Barton said.
The social studies teacher said he hopes to place images of the time capsule artifacts on line at www.outlawnet.com.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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