Ft. Umpqua Days at Elkton, Oregon will have the annual gathering of muzzleloaders and other reenactors Labor Day weekend at the Fort. If you will be in SW Oregon and interested in the history of the fur trading days it is well worth your time. Google Ft. Umpqua Days

Have fun, Nobull. The guys were just thinking of building the fort when I last heard of it. Guess they got it done.

It's been done quite a few years. They've just replaced the stockade wall logs this year. There will some exceptional pre 1849 artifacts on display.

i got a little bit involved in one of those about 28 years ago here in central Tx. It actually was a lot of fun even though I'm not into the reenactment thing.I have a friend that does the same thing with a Nam reenactment dropping into a cong village using REAL Hueys (he's got a lot of money). I met him when he wanted to buy my boxes of disintegrating links for the M60.

Holy smokes! That's a real reenactment NC. We are not reenacting a war battle. We're just giving folks an idea of how things were back pre 1849 at a Hudson's Bay trading post. Like what was a 3 point Hudson Bay blanket and what it was worth. Lots of pelts and stuff they used back then.
Five years ago about this time we were in Nova Scotia and heading for Newfoundland. We visited Lewisburg which was a French fort way back when and they had people there that were into reenactments as a hobby. These were hard core people. It was raining and foggy and the wind was blowing and they were living it for real. Smoky little fires, everything wet, wet linen type clothes etc. etc. What a miserable friggin day that was for them but no whining.
It's a wonder the French won any battles back then. Lewisburg was well defended from attacks from the sea, nothing on the backside, so the Brits attacked overland. We were told the French cannon had a range of 1 1/4 miles, the Brits 1 1/2 miles. Interesting trip.

Randy, were you involved in the reconstruction of one of the many forts in Texas?

No Bill,I was not but I have an old friend from college that's in the Lone Star Air Force that rebuilds all those old war birds.Just finished another B-17.

They did a VERY big Civil War reenactment nearby some years ago.
Miserable weather and they set up camp just like it was "back when".

Yeah,see,I still remember what the real thing was like + I don't really relish the idea of doing it again + damn sure not under the guise of entertainment.Not the civil war or rondevous,etc. but just getting in that weather for no reason (to me). Hunting however,was a different story;one could not make the conditions too sparse.Funny huh?

Our annual event was very successful this year. We had over 600 people stop by which 20% more than last year. The pie auction raised $6,000+ which will allow us to continue to replace logs in the stockade wall. Two replica flintlock "canoe" guns were donated as well. The Ft. Umpqua Muzzleloaders had a good turnout and saw a lot of visitors to their camp. They maintain an historically accurate camp and saw that everything within the stockade was pre 1849 accurate to the dismay of a couple of people.
When I tell people the origins of the Elkton Community Education Center/Ft. Umpqua they can't believe it and are suitably impressed. I'll be brief and share it with you and maybe this may be a seed for an idea for your town.
Elkton is a community of 250 people. We have loggers, fishing guides, ranchers, artists and retired old geezers like me. We have a charter school with about 15-20 kids in each class. Kids are bussed here from as far as 45 miles away if they don't want to go to school in their town. About 15 years ago a teacher with a little $ and 30 acres of sheep pasture donated the land and a little seed $ to a non profit that was established in town for the purpose of, get this, providing Summer jobs for high school kids!!! Every year kids 16 and older are interviewed for 15-20 jobs. If selected, they work 30 hour weeks and are paid $9 an hour thru the Summer. They work in the garden or the orchard where produce is raised for sale at veggie stand, they also work at the gift shop, coffee shop, library, grounds keeping and as docents at the fort and in the butterfly research room and flight room and as servers at the monthly community dinners. Pretty neat, huh?
If you are still interested in this little tale, check out "Elkton Butterflies"; Ft. Umpqua, Elkton, Oregon and other references to Elkton Community Education Center.
It shows you what people can do when they pull together, regardless of their political, economic or whatever diversity. I like to tell people we have all three major food groups represented in out town, Italian, Mexican and Logger. Check it out.

Very cool!