October 16, 2009

Judy Bushy

High Expectaions were in the air Sunday afternoon. On Park Way the crews had put up tall poles with brightly colored fabric, red, blue, yellow and green, waving in the wind. It was quite a sight. After my morning classes, Monday at Old Town Park we saw a number of booths set up with food to offer hungry cyclists. At that time, no cyclists had arrived.

Shortly after noon Monday a few brightly clad bicyclists began to appear. It stood to reason that a ride from Yreka that takes nearly a couple of hours by car would take cyclists longer! They seemed intent on going directly to the finish line although they had to go around town in a circular route before climbing Headway Hill, one last rise, before the last leg of the ride down Park Way .

There was food that could have fed several thousand hungry cyclists, I’m sure! The Klamath Knot Center had sandwiches, The Campus Life Club had brownies and pies and other baked goods. The Happy Seniors had punch cards and pies. Beautiful pies, All sorts of pies, Oh they looked good!

Betty Fayette and Tina Sherburne had a food booth. Dolly Elston had sausages and curly fries. Lisa West and Company had Teriyaki chicken on a stick with salad bar and SNO CONES!! She was also assisted by a number of young people and one young Sasquatch!! It was the Sasquatch that loved to jump out in front of the cyclists and surprise them!! More and more cyclists began to arrive until five o’clock when most of the cyclists had arrived or were being offered pick up rides to get to camp.

After interesting conversations at Old Town Park I went to the Elementary school and saw the finish line the cyclists were rushing to get to!! There Nadine and Co. had the Dear Mad’m mining cabin (from last weeks Jamboree parade) set up as an information booth. They were there answering questions and welcoming all the people– of which there were many. Displays booths had all sorts of Cycle Oregon memorabilia from socks to hats and some mighty nice T-shirts with a map on them, in case one got lost on the road!!! Ha!

These cyclists are serious about their bikes however, and more booths were set up to take care of the bikes!! There were also programs for mentoring young people as well as other causes and first aid help available.

Down to the park. Trisha Barnes, and her mother, Nida Johnson were there selling autographed copies of Trisha’s book, Klamath Treasure. They seemed the busiest booth there. There were also photographs, handcrafted jade jewelry, tie dyed shirts, books, and all sorts of things from refrigerator magnets to massages were being offered. The massages seemed to be the most popular with the bikers!!

Monday was not the end of the Cycle Oregon experience. I also had been asked to help out at breakfast. Now, us Mom’s are always ready to help serve hungry people, but at 4:35 in the morning?!? We assembled for hairnets, aprons and instructions before dawn. The cyclists were fed a hearty breakfast of bacon, cheese omelets, 7 grain oatmeal and other cereals, coffee, juice fruit and yogurt. It was something for everyone, especially coffee. High School Seniors were helping out in this way to fundraise for their senior trip to Hawaii before they graduate next June.

Finally the sun came up and we could see more clearly the visitors to our community. They were such a friendly bunch of people, and all had a kind word of appreciation that you wished you had all day to visit. However, they were also eager to be on the way UP, and I do mean UP over Greyback Road to Oregon . We bid them adieu and hope they may come back to Happy Camp in coming years.

By eight o’clock it was time to go to work at Happy Camp High School. Unfortunately after four hours of bussing tables, I didn’t have to ACT like a “senior citizen” for dress up day at School on Tuesday!! Bonnie Alvarez was all dressed up as a nurse to take care of the students who were dressing as “senior citizens.” Many of them were packing up the luggage that they had unpacked the day before, but before long they showed up back at school to hit the books with a regular school day.

October 2, 2009

Siskiyou Pioneer Annual printed on Klamath River families.

It’s a beautiful, cool but sunny day in Happy Camp, although there were rumors of a dusting of snow over Greyback Tuesday. It was a clear moonlit night last night coming home. Still, it is now October first, so we must enjoy these sunny days while we can! It was a great quickly trip out of town–Learned a lot and accomplished a lot of errands.

The best part was stopping by the Siskiyou County Museum and got a brand new “hot off the press” issue of The Siskiyou Pioneer from the Siskiyou County Historical Society. This issue (2009) is Gold Rush and Mixing of Cultures in Western Siskiyou County .

The front cover has a photo of Fred Emet Johnson at 17 with his mother. Fred is “third generation from the first white man into the Klamath River area.” His mother is “Tall Julia,” also known as Julia Goodwin Stanshaw Johnson Bell. Since Fred was born in 1905, that means the photo was taken about 1922. After reading “Land of the Grasshopper Song” Fred took a notebook full of notes which his daughter Joy shared.

Rumors had been floating around that Hazel Davis Gendron was writing new history information about this area and this is it. I was greatly looking forward to it. She was joined by Cheryl M. Beck in compiling the book.

First of all it was the photo of Hazel Humphries Joyner holding a photo of her brother, Robert (in the information about Karuk men who had been killed in action in past wars) that was of special interest. Then the forward was a wonderfu8l tribute to the enduring Karuk people.

The balance of the book tells of ten or eleven families, mostly from the Klamath River . One of the difficulties in writing about these families is the belief of some that even mention of the name of deceased relatives may bring bad luck. But the ladies are good genealogical detectives/trackers and found data in formal BIA records which helped.

There are also stories of Squirrel Jim, Tribal Basket Makers and how important music was to people.

If you have membership in the Siskiyou County Historical Society, you are in for some interesting reading when this new edition comes to you. If not, you could join for $25 and receive the new issue next year. Last year’s issue centered on Doris and each issue is a different topic about the history of Siskiyou County.