4-H Wagon Train "GOOD NEWS" Newsletter Features

From The Saddle

Our Scout’s Trail Report by Tina Hargrove and Joe Majors

Join the 4-H Wagon Train in July 2020 as we follow Elijah Elliot’s 1853 footsteps in his attempt to lead a mile-long wagon train through the high Cascades directly into the Eugene area. Elliot was not the first to try to lead a wagon train through the central Cascade range. In 1845, Stephen Meek had tried and failed, almost getting hanged in the process.

Seven years after Meek’s failure, a party of seven trailblazers headed by John Diamond again renewed the quest for a central passage through the Cascade range. Diamond made his way east marking a trail he believed could be turned into a viable passage next Spring. Being one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the planned new passage, Elliot headed to Boise where his enthusiasm and confidence allowed him to gather 1,027 people and 215 wagons for the journey west. Little did the party know Elliot had never set foot on the trail, and in fact, unknown to Elliot, the trail had not been completed as planned.

Late in the season of 1853, Elliot and his wagon train followed Stephen Meek’s 8 year old wagon tracks west as far as Malheur lake. Elliot continued on where Meek had failed. By the time Elliot and his train reached the Cascades, they found the Willamette Valley trail was not there as expected. This, coupled with the fact that a significant portion of the train’s livestock had already perished on the journey, the wagon train was soon lost, and hungry.

Refusing to turn back, Elliot and his train forged onward at a slow pace, through untraveled land and into the coming Winter. Reduced to living on snails and mice, the wagon train’s luck finally changes. A 13 year-old boy tending to his family’s cattle finds the unconscious and near-dead body of Martin Blanding, the Elliot's forward Scout. Believing Blanding’s stories of a train to be the delirious ramblings of a near-dead man, the family none-the-less decides to investigate, and to their disbelief, finds hundreds of starving people. Over the next few weeks, over a thousand settlers were rescued from the remains of Elliot’s train, doubling the local population.

There will be more to come about our planned route for the 2020 4-H Wagon Train "MacKenzie River Ramble" Trek! Stay tuned!

Inviting New Pioneers

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by Leslie McLeod, “Ramrod”

Recruitment is essential to the future of any organization, especially 4-H Wagon Train. Here are some tips to help you recruit participants. Yes, you heard it right, You! You are the greatest recruiting asset we have.

1. ASK!

People like having a personal invitation and what better way than an invite from you, who just happens to be the best salesperson for 4HWT. Recruiting within your network is the most successful way to find new 4HWT Pioneers.

2. ENCOURAGE!

You want your new recruit to attend with a friend or relative. If you know someone who is a good fit or would like to go, they probably know someone else who wants to go too.

3. BRAINSTORM ABOUT WHO TO INVITE

Here are some ideas about where to find people who might like to participate in 4-H Wagon Train with you - they are all around you, in your classes, in school groups, your teachers, in scout groups, in sports groups, at work and in organizations that may require or encourage volunteer hours such as civic groups, faith-based organizations, companies and colleges.

4. SHARE 4-H WAGON TRAIN POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA Share pictures, stories, and include links and hashtags. Share the 4-H Wagon Train Facebook pages with your recruits and invite them to follow the pages to stay informed of 4-H Wagon Train news and events.

5. TALK ABOUT YOUR 4-H WAGON TRAIN EXPERIENCE

After you brainstorm about where to find future 4-H Wagon Train Pioneers, and decide who you would like to invite, tell them your favorite stories from 4-H Wagon Train and share photos. Wear your craft you made, or share your craft skill. Show and tell your gear, set a souvenir on your desk or mantle to pique curiosity. Our greatest tool to use when recruiting new 4-H Wagon Train Pioneers is our personal experience that future Pioneers can relate too.

Don’t overwhelm them with too much information. Be specific, you will be more successful in inviting people if they can picture it in their head. Keep it simple, tailor it to your audience, have something they can take with them that includes our contact information or give them the web site address, www.4HWagonTrain.org. Make it easy for them to find and obtain additional information so they are curious and more likely to go home and start digging for more information.

Make sure it sounds as if someone would want to do this on their free time. We are competing with all the other recreational opportunities out there. Make sure you are selling what sets us apart. The opportunity is unique and fun, it’s challenging, you learn new skills, see beautiful places, meet new people and you feel amazing and empowered at the end of the process. It’s a life changing experience. Outline the benefits and make it a compelling case to volunteer. They must know what they are getting into and what they are going to gain from participating in 4HWT.

6. FOLLOW THROUGH Be prepared for lots of questions about dates, required paperwork, meetings, gear, and what to expect. Keep your recruits engaged, offer to take them to a meeting or drop off paperwork or work with them personally to prepare them. Help them build their mess kit or bedroll. You want them to know how much you value their interest. Welcome them and make sure yourself or someone is appointed to regularly check in with them and guide them through the process. I have found the majority of potential participants also misunderstand this as an equine-only event. We do value our equine and teamster recruits but make sure to provide information about different types of participants as well as different levels of participation like Tune-up only, Part-time walker, Support, giving a doation, etc. Think of all the people we have in different jobs and share those experiences and viewpoints. Let them know there is a place for everyone in our 4HWT family.

Ok so that’s it, go share your story and happy recruiting for 2020.

Wayne's Wonder & Wanderings

by Wayne Beckwith

So, I thought I'd start my Wonder & Wanderings with the story of how I first came to attend a 4-H Wagon Train Trek. After doing some cross-referencing at the back of one of the song books, I will say it was 1995. That's when Larry White, as Teamster, and Neal McCool, as his Swamper, were planning on going on 4-H Wagon Train Trek. But just a week before the trek Neal was not able to go. So, my friend and mentor of mule-things at the time, Larry, called me and asked if I would go with him, as he didn't have a swamper and needed one. Of course, I really thought the idea was a great opportunity but I felt I was just too busy to go the whole week so I told Larry I could go with him for the first part of the week and then I'd come back home on Layover Day. Therefore, I would still be able to work on whatever very important, but now can't remember what, project I had planned on doing during the time. Well, my wife Kathy said, “Why don't you just go the whole week. You know you'll like it.” I took her good advice and Larry and I put together a four-up hitch. You see, Larry was going to borrow two of my mules with collars anyway. Part of me was already kinda going even before he asked, I guess.

Back then we mule guys were not as equipped as we are now. To make the Trek we borrowed a wagon from Lyle Spiesschaert, a mule with collar named Oscar from Neal, and we used my mules Breezy (now 35) and Annie (now 29) and their harnesses, and we took Larry's mule named Ewa (now 27). Neither Larry nor I had done that much driving of four-up at that time so we were always careful to hitch a team to start most mornings until we “got the vinegar out,” then later hook up the lead team to make the four. Usually we'd do that when and if we came to a good hill to pull.

Even though I was the designated Swamper, I was constantly trying to get the lines from Larry, especially if there were some sharp turns or other “interesting” driving to be done. But we worked together a lot and I learned a bunch. Now driving four-up is very comfortable for me, but back then the adrenaline flowed freely.

That Trek, I always look back on fondly. Due to the weather on the first day out I considered it our most authentic 4-H Wagon Train. Maybe that is another story. I was able to go by chance in 1995 and by personal invitation from a friend. And to this day when people ask how new 4-H Wagon Train Pioneers are recruited, I respond by saying it is by word of mouth and it really helps if it is from a friend.