MES fourth graders travel Santa Fe Trail
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The Marion Elementary School fourth grade students of instructors Linda Allison, Ginger Becker, and Laura Baldwin got a taste Friday of what it was like to travel on the Santa Fe trail. They followed trail ruts on foot and by covered wagon and also visited the Cottonwood River Crossing near Durham.
According to Becker, the field trip was part of a year-long theme: "A River Runs Through It." Students are studying the rivers of Kansas and learning the importance of water to people who traveled historic trails.
They met in a pasture near K-15 and 320th and watched as Glennon Crowther, Richard Dirks, Richard Wiebe, assisted by Jim Donahue, bridled Donahue's horses, Rowdy and Doc, then hitched them to Jim's Conestoga-style wagon.
They were joined by Gil Michel, an officer of the Cottonwood Crossing Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association. He provided information about every aspect of life along the trail.
After the horses were hitched to the wagon, no small feat in itself, the children took turns riding and walking through the pasture, following trail ruts.
At the end of the trail (at the pasture fence), the children gathered around Michel as he told them more about life on the trail.
They then rode or walked back to the starting point. Wading through tall, thick grass in wide-open spaces provided a real-life experience that the children seemed to enjoy.
"Your kids are well-behaved," Jim Donahue said to Becker.
As the last load of children rode up to the starting point, they could be heard lustily singing, "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes."
Their morning adventure concluded with a snack of trail mix and water.
This was followed with a chuck wagon lunch at Durham's city park. The last stop before returning to Marion was at Cottonwood Crossing, to see where the Santa Fe Trail crossed the Cottonwood River.
Instructor Laura Baldwin said the day was a memorable learning experience.
"The kids could make a connection by actually being there to what we have been studying about the Santa Fe Trail," she said. "The more close-to-life you can make it, the more embedded that learning is in their minds."
