Was that Gifford Pinchot at the East Linn Museum last week?
Well, not really, but Sweet Home Ranger District archeologist Tony Farque put on a believable performance as the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service in an appearance before 50-some people as part of the museum’s growing outreach program.
With some grant funds in hand, East Linn Museum Director Lana Holden is planning to expand programming for children and improve museum displays this year.
ELMS recently received a $600 grant from the Sweet Home Community Foundation and a $500 grant from the Linn County Cultural Coalition.
The foundation award will provide interactive history classes for Sweet Home elementary age children while the Cultural Coalition award will allow the museum to build a new display focused on the first four pioneer families to settle the Sweet Home area and improve its display on the Calapooia Indians.
With the foundation money, Holden said, she is planning to develop programs aimed at lower elementary and upper elementary students. They’ll make butter, pan for gold, color, act, write skits and more.
“We’ll get little costumes, like little cowboy hats, aprons,” Holden said, and they can dress in period clothing.
Right now, Holden is working on three ideas for programs.
In the first, she wants to focus on Sweet Home’s first four pioneer families, the Wileys, the Ameses, the Pickenses and the Gillilands, all of whom settled in Sweet Home in 1852.
That’s where children will learn about the difficult life the pioneers faced, and they’ll try their hands at the skills those families needed, like making butter and rope.
Holden has met a number of people, especially through the Farmer’s Market, who have these skills, and she is planning to tap them as instructors.
The second program will focus on the Calapooia Indian tribe, which was native to the Sweet Home area.
Mining in the Quartzville Corridor was an important piece of Sweet Home history as well, Holden said, and she is planning a third program focused on mining.
Holden said she is still developing the program. It will be free of charge, but there will be a cap of about 15 participants.
The Cultural Coalition grant will “change some displays at the museum,” Holden said. The four pioneer families will have their own display for the first time.
The museum has artifacts and information about the families, Holden said, “but they’re just kind of mixed with everything else.”
Holden also plans to improve the Calapooia Indian display. She would like to create a three-dimensional model of camas ovens and create a section dedicated to salmon. Camas and salmon were staples of the Native Americans in the area.
Ultimately, she would like to connect the museum to Cascadia Cave, located about a mile from Cascadia State Park on property managed by the Cascade Timber Consulting.
CTC, tribal leaders and the federal government have been discussing ways to move the property into public ownership, use and protection. Sweet Home Ranger District archaeologist Tony Farque regularly leads hikes to the cave and its famous petroglyphs.
Holden said she would like to make the museum a place where people can drop in, learn about the cave and the Calapooia before heading on up to the cave.
Holden said the museum is seeking a $2,500 grant from the South Santiam All Lands Collaborative to remodel its machine barn. Right now, she is gathering price information from contractors.
“We’ll seal that barn in and eventually paint a mural of Calapooia Indians on it,” Holden said.
Right now, the barn is just gated off, she said. “It’s kind of a mess.”
The project would allow the area to be open to the public as part of the museum, Holden said. She would also like to incorporate the neighboring blacksmith shop, which was the first ever built in Linn County. It was built in Albany and later moved to Sweet Home.
Holden said the museum will continue to provide programming it started last year when she became director.
“Last year, we started some local history lectures,” she said. They were well-received, with 15 to 25 people attending each of seven programs, including a hike beginning at Sankey Park. She plans to repeat the popular events.
Friday, April 28, the museum hosted Farquet’s presentation on Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, known for reforming the management and development of U.S. forests.
About 50 people of all ages, including small children and the elderly, attended as Farque took on the role of Pinchot and shared the tale of he creation of the national parks and forest systems and Pinchot’s place in that story.
“He came up with this presentation last year because it was the 150th anniversary of the parks department,” Holden said. Last year, he gave the impromptu performance at area campgrounds, and she asked him to drop in and do it at the museum.
She hasn’t gone far with it yet, but the Dollar Railroad is of special interest to Holden, she said. It runs above her house after having been converted to the South Hills Trail. She and her husband, Mark Holden, a science teacher at SHJH, have walked it and ridden bikes on it frequently. He has ridden most of the route to the old Dollar Camp southeast of Sweet Home.
She is interested in and involved in discussions about restoring the railroad depot and putting it to use. At this point, the conversation is in its early stages.
The museum is staying busy, Holden said. She created a Facebook page for it last year. Initially, she would get about 37 hits. This year, more than 700 are seeing posts. Events are posted there, and people are welcome to register their email addresses to receive notifications.
Holden recently completed a three-part history series with KGAL, 1580 AM. She had been giving presentations to various groups, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Lebanon Business Association and the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce. A representative of KGAL approached her and asked her to record a series.
She completed segments on the Calpaooia Indians and the Santiam Wagon Road. KGAL visited the museum and recorded a segment on the contents of the museum. The program is rebroadcast periodically.
In the past year, she said, the museum had visits from two writers who were doing research on the Santiam Wagon Road for a book. Holden said she learned a lot from them.
“It’s exciting to get out there and connect with people,” said Holden, who teaches history at Sweet Home Junior High School. “There’s so much good history here in Sweet Home.”
Holden said that the museum is funded by donations and memberships. Membership costs $10 for an individual and $20 for a family.
Donations and membership fees may be taken or mailed directly to the museum, 746 Long St., with a note indicating the purpose. Members receive a quarterly newsletter.
Based on its latest Form 990, filed with the IRS for 2011, the organization operates on about $9,000 per year.
Volunteers are also needed, Holden said. They don’t need to be experts in history or even like history. Volunteer jobs range from caring for the grounds to typing.
For more information about membership, donations, volunteering or programs, contact Holden at (541) 409-0997.