Filming the Oregon Trail
In pursuit of a dream from Casper, Wyoming, to Eagle Creek, Oregon.
By: Candy Moulton 06/01/2009
During the 19th century around 400,000 people traveled the Oregon and California Trails seeking new opportunities, land, gold. They traveled with friends and family, or left all of them behind and truly struck out on a new life.
When the Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA) received a private donation and the directive to “make a documentary film about hardships on the trail,” I had the opportunity to work on the film with Bob Noll of Boston Productions.
So how could we tell this story from a fresh perspective?
Kids.
Weave the story of hardships from the journals and experiences of children on the Oregon Trail. So I pitched that to Bob.
Hey, let’s take some kids out on the Oregon Trail. Put them on a wagon train and let them learn about the history of the Trail, the experience of traveling as the pioneers did, and film that.
Are you crazy?
Certifiable.
It’ll be a blast.
Two years of planning culminated on a barren hilltop in central Wyoming on June 29, 2008, when we began the journey. On hand: 24 students from Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado, California, Oregon and Wyoming; three teachers from California and Wyoming; five wagons pulled by horses and mules, and driven by experienced teamsters; three outriders; a cook plus a crew of 10 and a support crew of another six. Ahead of us, two weeks on the Oregon Trail.
Time Travel on the Oregon Trail
We began at Prospect Hill, 20 miles west of Casper, Wyoming. If you follow Oregon Trail Road, the trip in a vehicle today takes about 45 minutes if the road is dry; don’t try it on a muddy day as then it is treacherous. It was a long, hard day of wagon travel in the 19th century. Our students arrived in vans to find a fully established wagon camp. They wore bright orange t-shirts (to make it easier to keep track of them while traveling from various parts of the country). They were hungry (imagine 24 kids ages 12 to 17 not being hungry). We fed them camp breakfast: bacon, eggs, homemade hash browns, muffins, fruit and juice.
While the students were eating, our teachers, Janet Wragge, Kim Merchant and Dave Vixie, morphed from present to past, re-emerging in 19th-century clothing.
“To play the part, you’ve got to look the part,” Mrs. Wragge told the students as she addressed them wearing her 1850s dress, apron, boots. Unseen: her many layers of undergarments such as those worn by period women. (By the end of the second day on the Trail, the students had begun calling her “Mailbox” for the slat bonnet she wore.)
Comments (1)
Thanks Candy. You guys did a great job. I can relate to the Wy winds. If you have more about the time and place where this movie will be shown I would like to find out. Would be great to attend. will work on it. Jeanie
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