No, Hank & Linda, this isn't the Ultimate Trail thing.

I know the board is predominantly eastern US folks, but I wanted to toss this out there just in case.  My friend Janet Wragge is heading up a small "Oregon Trail Lay Over" even the weekend of the 15/16 of June, at Fort Bridger in Wyoming.  It's partial-immersion only: we will be on the original ground, just outside the reconstructed fort, as the original emigrants would be.  Historic accuracy is strongly encouraged for all material culture, but it *will not* be a wholly-first-person immersion weekend.  The event scenario is a rest layover along Trail in the 1850s--either early (1852) or late (1858) has not been settled yet.  There will be several fully-kitted-out wagons in the camp, but likely no livestock this time.  Wagons are not required to participate; families may set up a tent, and have their Imaginary Wagon off for repair or resupply, and their Imaginary Livestock over in the very real Next Valley with the Imaginary Stock Drovers to fatten on three days of Imaginary Very Good Grazing.

There is no event fee; each family should plan to handle their own meals, though a group meal or two is an option.  Fires must be in the site-provided raised thingies (no in-ground fires, for multiple reasons.)  We'll be there on the good graces of the Park Service, and will have the chance to interact with the public as they come through.  Otherwise, our time is our own, and the site is very restful and pleasant, with a running creek, nearby water spigot, and a short walk to flushing toilets (which are not in our view)  The camp area is a grassy meadow with trees for shade.

So, if you're handy to the southwest corner of Wyoming in mid-June... well, shoot me an email and I'll get you in touch with Janet directly.  I'm just the willing minion.  I'll post more details as they become available.  A good email for me is: elizabethstewartclark@hotmail.com

Quote :

No, Hank & Linda, this isn't the Ultimate Trail thing.

When I saw the subject and that you were the poster, I thought, "Is this the event Liz has been talking about?" So I opened it and read that first sentence.    Still sounds like a great event for those in the general area.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Liz,

For what it's worth, we are not trying to be an Eastern forum, we want to hear from the West as well. Tell your western friends to come on over and play here too.

Oh, the Eastern/Western thing definitely isn't deliberate or anyone's fault.  There just aren't that many of us who "play" out West--particularly not in my region of the west (upper Rockies.)  Janet Wragge is about my closest "playing" buddy, and she's an 8-9 hour drive each way.  Bridger is meeting in the middle... we each drive 4.5 hours to get there.

Hank, glad you got a chuckle. Janet IS still wanting to head up Ultimate Trail, and is in fact spending about 2 weeks on the trail this summer, but it's a matter of getting it together with folks who can support the activity as an immersive experience, rather than just a cool one with a lot of modern stuff thrown in.  The guys with the wagons and animals are kind of important to the whole effort, even if we were doing 1856 handcarts--we'd need at least one company wagon for that.

I calculated the amount of white cloth I need to re-outfit all my kids (3 girls, one boy, DH and myself will be going), and immediately headed for my fabric store flyer to check for coupons... I'm going to need 2 entire bolts of white cotton to get the basics covered.  YEEEEKS!

Liz,

You are going to have some VERY sore fingers. Just make sure you don't end up with the ailment Mrs. Lawson documented on the Civil War Reenactors forum.  ;)

Sore fingers?  Pshaw.  That is why the Good Lord invented THIMBLES.  If necessary, I can wear them on nearly every finger of my left hand, as well as on the pushing finger of my right.  

No, I'm more likely to get sore fingers trying to email everyone I can think of out this way, to get them to come out and play.  

Quote :

ElizabethStewartClark wrote : I calculated the amount of white cloth I need to re-outfit all my kids (3 girls, one boy, DH and myself will be going), and immediately headed for my fabric store flyer to check for coupons... I'm going to need 2 entire bolts of white cotton to get the basics covered.  YEEEEKS!

Elizabeth,

Excuse my lack of knowledge of the great migration , but why do you need all that white clothing?  

Hank,

Where did you find that smiley?  

Bill, when you are posting a message, look under the smiley board.  You will see "More Smileys?"...click on that.  I think there are six pages.

Bill, it is the Mystery of the Undergarments.

Particularly for women, the 1850s include a LOT of white fabric for basic undies.  For instance, to dress myself in minimally-acceptable clothing for 1854 (and I do have to redress myself; my chemises are all about 8 years old and dying), I'm going to need:

2 chemises (4.5 yards)
2 pr drawers (4.5 yards)
1 base petticoat (4 yards)
1 corded petticoat (done, but it used 3 yards cloth and 1 pound of cording)
2 regular petticoats (5 yards each)

So there's 23 yards of white cotton for me.  A bolt in most stores right now is 15 yards.

Each of the girls needs the same quantities, but in smaller sizes, and I have three girls to dress, ages 12 down to 7 months by the time we go.  I also need to do one nightgown and cap per female--that will be another 12 yards of white cotton, at a minimum.  DD-12 needs new stays, as do I, and the little girls need baby stays to hold up skirts, so there's 4.5 yards of white or cream cotton sateen, too.

I can reuse several pinafores from DD-12 for DD-3; the infant clothes are all beyond saving after three children, and need to be entirely remade for DD-2mo (she'll be 7 mo at the event.)

Then we have husband and son to dress; DH's shirts take 3-4 yards each, and he'll want two, but those will be print or wool.  Drawers, another 2 yards each cotton, I'm estimating.  DS is only 9, and will be very happy to wear the same clothes all weekend, but I have to sleep near him, and I'd prefer he have a fresh change in there somewhere, at least of drawers, so that's about 1.5 more yards of white cotton.  They can each sleep in clean shirts for the next day.

So, it all kind of adds up, mostly from the feminine garments. Gentlemen usually don't speculate on how much cloth is involved, I know.  But it's a goodly amount, and that's just for a very basic, one-set-spare-undies situation (undies-undies being chemise and drawers; the petticoats are worn multiple days running.)  Were I kitting up to actually wear historic things all the time, each female would need 7 or more sets of chemise/drawers, and an extra set of petticoats as well... bumping the totals up to 60 yards of white cloth for myself alone.  So I'm glad to not be doing that.  

--Last edited by ElizabethStewartClark on 2008-02-12 10:48:24 --

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Bill wrote :   Hank, Where did you find that smiley?

Like Ken says, the smilies on here are truly amazing, in their depth, breadth, variety, and strangeness.



Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net  

--Last edited by hanktrent on 2008-02-12 14:41:48 --