Students ride Conestoga on 'old trail'
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff reporter
It appeared that the entire northwest of Durham community turned out Thursday at Cottonwood Grove Christian School to observe as their children took rides in a covered Conestoga wagon.
Jim Donahue of rural Marion provided the team of horses and wagon. Glennon Crowther of Durham was the driver.
Parents went all out to make it an authentic experience for the children. Girls wore pioneer frocks and bonnets. Boys wore suspenders and straw hats. Many of the children went barefoot.
Even pre-schoolers and parents got the chance to take a ride.
The wagon ride was a culmination of a history unit on the Oregon Trail. During their study, students collectively walked 2,000 miles around the perimeter of the school grounds, creating their own trail.
They walked during recess and before and after school. Sometimes their parents joined them. Three times around equaled one mile.
A parent, Joyce Dirks, said her daughter enjoyed the subject.
"My girl came home with all kinds of stories," she said.
Teachers are Tracy Janzen, grades six through eight, Wendy Klassen, grades three through five, and Sheila Penner, kindergarten through second grade. Alma
The Holdeman-affiliated school, which has approximately 40 students, first was organized at Hillsboro in 1978, then moved to rural Durham when the new school building was constructed.
The school is located on the tracks., still visible, of the famous Santa Fe Trail which crossed the Cottonwood River west of the present day town of Durham.
The Santa Fe Trail crossed Marion County from northeast to southwest, with major stops at Lost Springs Station operated by Jack Costello and Cottonwood Crossing, near Durham, operated by Atlantic "Lank" Moore. The Oregon Trail crossed northeast Kansas.
