What Now??

We gained SO much new information during our trip to Montana I have to admit I wasn't entirely sure where to even start! Right now we have a lot of unfinished projects that the team is still in the process of working on and still researching! I think we all left with a lot of new questions that we're trying to find answers to and we all really want to do the history and the project justice. So there's some filming to be done, some exhibits to be made, and as soon as we can pick a time hopefully a few more trips back to Montana SOON!

Some In The Field Research

Filming

Some photography

Professor Svingen and Leo Ariwite


Professor Svingen

In words of one of the fearless leaders
"I'm bored. Let's go."

-Bill Peterson

The big dinner

Filming

The Anderson's awesome artifact

(It's a really old bowl worn out of a river rock)

Interviewing everyone that we can

trying to find a needle in a hay stack

While we came to field school with a small understanding and a few texts under our belts little did we know the information that we were missing and what we had left to find out.

Some information was found through endless hours in libraries and archives, but to me I found a lot of really great information from running around talking to locals and digging in the dirt.

Leo Ariwite, Mark Perrault, the Woodsons, Les Gilman, and Jim and Addie Anderson and many others were all such huge helps that I was lucky to work with throughout the trip, there would still be a lot of missing puzzle pieces if it weren't for their knowledge and enthusiasm!
And while a finished cut is still a little while off, making the documentary and learning the local history and documenting the field school really was a great experience that I have a lot of appreciation for.

When We Weren't Working..

We'd find little times through out the day to goof off and enjoy exploring the greatness of Montana..

Just a few of our goofy pictures

Lay in the middle of the street

to hold up non-existent traffic

We'd fly fish in the middle of the streets

(well, dirt roads)

We'd take a lot of pictures


Play with bones


Hike

Tori was always picking up bones.
Everywhere.
All the time.

Go Exploring

The Newest Member of the Team

Tori, Mr. Mark Perrault, and I beneath

a tree where we believe two road agents

were hung back in the late 1800s

One of the documentary interviews

An exploratory outing
This once used to be Robert Dempsey's place
Another key character of the time


Inside the "new found" actual Laurin house,
Tori, Jared, and myself with the framed list
of the house's previous owners

One day while running into Ennis for coffee we ran into the Blue Heron gift shop and amongst all the books we were pointed in the direction or Mr. Mark Perrault's book, Ruby Valley, Stinkingwater country. The find of the century! Mr. Perrault wrote an entire book about the local history including lots of information about a Mr. J.P. Laurin, whom the town of Laurin was named after. Until the point in time we had little information about such an important person who was present at the treaty signing. After all, it was signed at his house! Mr. Perrault's research opened our eyes to the fact that Laurin had lived in more that one spot when he was alive and in the area. The spot that we had thought was the Laurin house was not in fact his house, rather it was one down the street, and the site where the house that treaty was signed at was yet at another place! Mr. Perrault still lives in the area and graciously took us about as our own personal tour guide and even helped us make our documentary with a few interviews! We definitely were very lucky in meeting Mr. Perrault!

Archaeology 101

Archaeology was a big important component of field school, because where we couldn't find records of exactly what we wanted, or we had suspicions things once existed in certain places, there was no better way to verify our inklings than to dig around in the dirt for bones, trade beads, glass and other goodies...

Bundle up and decide on some areas

Then maybe survey a bit to be sure..

(See Part II)

Archaeology 101 part II

Flag our sites

This would be me already to dig up the next wonder of the world

(or in this pit test, not a thing!

BUT sometimes negative research is positive research...)

Kate showing us all up

Kate and Andrea sifting through the screens

Digging is only a part of the process,

You have to throw the dirt onto the screen

and pick up the screen and shake the dirt

free from the artifacts that you hope you found

Apparently somebody beat us to all the goods

before they're ancient shovel rotted away..

The Day Tori and Cody Nearly Died

The Culprit

The "JARED GET IT OUT OF THE CAR! KILL IT!"

Something along the lines of this monster was somewhere inbetween the size of a nickle and a quarter!! It was in the truck climbing on the back of Michael's headrest NEARLY on his head! We screamed, within reason and finally got Michael to pull over, and before he could get to a full stop from 45 miles-per-hour Tori and I jumped out of the moving vehicle only to be made fun of. BUT really, WE COULD HAVE DIED from a spider!

Also, Michael nearly killed us from laughing too hard at a joke by nearly driving off the dirt road! I'm beginning to think the state of Montana is trying to kill us.

Day Two in Laurin, Montana

Tori's big find after a week of picking up bone shards.

She named it Dave Matthews.

We think it's the remains of an Ox.

Oddly in perfect condition.

Except for the whole dead bit.

Kate's dog Dutch helped out all day too

Contributing entertainment by means of

carrying around a recently deceased deer's leg

and refusing to part with it.

Needless to say, someone was stoked about their find

The field school crew participating in a

pedestrian survey.

More Pedestrian Survey

We went back to Laurin today with the Montana Heritage Commision staff archaeologist Kate and did a few pedestrian surveys on the Woodson Ranch and Preserve. Forming a line at an edge of a field and all standing about five feet apart from each other and walking across the fields in lines over and over again until we find something. On the way back to the car and during the field debrief Tori discovered a bone sticking out of the ground and as she pulled away the dirt she just kept finding more and more of it and soon enough found that there was most likely an entire Ox skeleton buried in perfect condition under a tree. Pretty cool!

We also came back and went to interview some local ranch owners who own property with an array of artifacts on it with Professor Svingen, Bill Peterson of the Montana Heritage Commission, and Leo Ariwite of the Lemhi Shoshone. They were the sweetest people, had so many great stories, useful information and AMAZING artifacts! If they are reading this, Once again, Thank You so much!!

Day One in Laurin

My cool photo of Tori showing off a piece

of foundation remains from an old building

that was just recently torn down

*What we originally thought was the Laurin Ranch House, Laurin, Montana

In 1868 the Shoshone, Bannack, Sheepeater Treaty

was signed.

A piece of glass that's about a hundred years old.

We found it in a hole.

The Catholic Church in Laurin, Montana



Fake Flowers are Classsayyy

The creepy attic stairs that

Jared and I opened so he could

get in the belltower.

So today we went to Laurin, Montana trying to compare what buildings in town are the same and still existing as they were around the time of the 1868 Shoshone Bannack Sheepeater Treaty. We measured some distances between buildings, investigated the old church built in 1901 and measured plots where an old stage stop and mercantile shop from the time had sat until recently. Kate gave us all a little intro into archaeological work and we dug around a bit in some dirt piles that had been recently dug and piled up. All in all it was definitely a pretty cool day. We even had the luck of meeting the renter of the old Laurin Ranch House and got a chance to step inside. It's definitley eerie standing where such significant people once stood even if it looks like the middle of nowhere.

More local weekend outings..

We bought gold pans for $6 and decided to try our hand at panning and fly fishing down on the Madison River today in between Ennis and Virginia City. We didn't pan any gold yet. Or catch fish. BUT it was gorgeous out and plenty of other fishing holes. We also went antique researching in Ennis and came up with a 1943 first edition book, Sacajawea of the Shoshones AND Michael found some great stuff! An original photo of the Fort Laramie Treaty signing and an original copy of a Virginia City newspaper from the 1880s. Winner! Winner!

Second Buffalo Jump and Pictograph Adventure

Jared crossing the creek full of Garnets

Pictographs at the unnamed ranch

Working on the documentary

Pictograph and Second Buffalo Jump

In 1868, someone wrote their name and the date on the cliff face with

axel grease and still here it is.

Went hiking at an 'undisclosed' ranch property today, the guy has 20,000+ acres. I swear it's everything the eye can see! We drove up on top of a second buffalo jump in the trucks and walked around up top and then on our way back to camp stopped in an old cattle camp. We hiked along a stream there to an old cliff wall with pictographs. There were parts of the streams that were literally just solid red with garnets. I found one the size of my pinky fingernail, that's huge!

Weekend Outings!

Ennis, Montana
Went and explored Ennis today! So many cool shops and art galleries! And garnet, turquiose, and Montana sapphire jewelry galore. So cool! If you ever get a chance go visit Ennis, Montana!

Home home on the range where the deer and the BUFFALO JUMP

Tori and I at Madison Buffalo Jump

Tori Peering over the jump

Three Forks

The Gallatin, The Madison and The Missouri

So today we all toured all over the Gallatin Valley in Montana. We saw the Three Forks headwaters of the Missouri, the Gallatin, and the Madison rivers. It was at that site that Sacajawea was kidnapped at 12 years old and watched her mother and siblings murdered. It would be at that same site years later where in company of Lewis and Clark, her husband and her son Pompeii she would be reunited with her original homeland. It was AMAZING to know that I was standing where these people once stood.

Later we continued on to the Madison Buffalo Jump. I have never felt more impressed with a historical monument! To think that people herded Buffalo over the cliffs to their deaths to survive 12,000 years ago and I was standing there today.

So of course a few of us had to climb it. And then after that exhausting but AMAZING trek we of course had to scale the cliff down to find arrowheads, bones and other interesting little tidbits!

Today at the Buffalo Jump is a life experience I will never forget!