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January 2009 |
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BLACKFOOT — When Wayne Brower walks out of the Bingham County Commission Chambers at noon on Jan. 12 it will be for the last time in his official capacity as he ends a 12-year run as one of the county’s most popular and respected leaders.
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Monday, 07 July 2008 |
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By Emily Hone BLACKFOOT — When the sun peeps over the Preuss Range of mountains of Eastern Idaho this Wednesday, Groveland teamster Dell Mangum will set out on the trip he’s been craving for several years — leading a wagon train in the tracks of thousands of pioneers who emigrated to the Northwest and California.
 Morning News - Emily Hone
Dell Mangum, wagon master for the local chapter of the Oregon/California Trail Association wagon train that will leave Montpelier this Wednesday, tries out the captain’s chair on the covered wagon he will drive on the 465-mile trip to Nampa for the organization’s 26th national convention in August.
The trip will start at the Oregon/California Trails Interpretive Center at Montpelier, and end 30 days and 465 miles later at Nampa for the 26th National Convention of the Oregon-California Trails Association.
“It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for years,” said Mangum as he and buddy Al Winson worked against time last week to get his traveling wagon finished.
He’s been working on the wagon since spring, building it in the style of a sheepcamp but on the order of a camper.
He took the frame and flatbed from a 1947 Ford truck, put a new floor in it and began building up from there. He ended with a roomy camp of wood paneled walls with two built-in bunk beds, space for a propane stove, ice chests, a portable toilet and other necessities, and topped by a canvas tarp.
In place of a wooden bench Mangum will be sitting in a captain’s chair with the tarp for shade as he steers his team of horses over the road. “I wanted to travel in a little more comfort than the pioneers did,” he commented with satisfaction.
Winson, retired from the Basic American Foods mechanical department, was putting brakes on the wagon and installing linkage from the rear wheels to a pedal up front so the brakes can be operated with a touch of the foot as well as by an adjustable handle within easy reach of the driver.
Even though his journey will be short compared with the miles traversed by the pioneers, as Wagon Master, Mangum will be far better prepared.
He took the four-foot wide box from a farm wagon and turned it into a commissary wagon to pull behind his camp. His grandchildren pitched in to paint the commissary wagon white, and the top is covered by a plastic tarp. His spare team of horses will trail behind it, and inside will be grain barrels, bales of hay, more ice chests, a generator and gasoline to power it, and a spare barrel of water.
“I don’t intend to run short of anything if I can help it,” he said.
“I’ve planned the stops so we can resupply on water each night, but it never hurts to have extra.”
He expects at least seven wagons to start the trip, and although a couple will drop out at Fort Hall, four more wagons plan to join up at Arco.
The train will pick up horseback riders along the way, Mangum said, but they will only travel with it for a day or two before heading home and jobs.
The train will follow the original pioneer trail to Old Fort Hall, then head north along Bench Road where a view of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ buffalo herd will lend a bit of old-time flavor to the experience, and cross the Snake River at Tilden Bridge southwest of Blackfoot on July 15.
They’ll camp for the night at Randy Polatis’ potato cellars around 1100 W. 450 N., where members of the Bingham County Historical Society will join them for a potluck dinner and entertainment. “We might even have a hoedown in the parking lot,” Mangum said.
From there they’ll start northwest again the next day to intersect with the Jeffery/Goodale Cutoff at the end of Liberty Road, a nearly forgotten route that many pioneers took to reach destinations in the Northwest and California, Mangum said, and from there begin their trek across the desert.
That route will take them on their single longest stretch away from civilization — a three-day trip around the Big Southern Butte. They’ll camp July 17 near Webb Springs on the north side of the butte and be in Arco on July 19 for the Atomic Days Parade and Barbecue.
Plans are for the wagons to travel 3.5 miles per hour and average about 19 miles per day. The longest stretch will be 28 miles in one day, Mangum said. “That will be from Carey to Fairfield, but it’s all flat land. The reason we’re going so far in one day is there are no places to camp. The horses will be tired, but the next day is a Sunday. We’ll have four Sundays altogether to rest and have Cowboy Church services.”
Mangum said he has tried to plan for every eventuality. They will have a contact list for veterinarians and emergency medical personnel along the route, and there may even be a few EMTs riding along from time to time. A water truck will be along to deliver water for the livestock at places when they make dry camp.
Park Service personnel will escort the train along the western edge of Craters of the Moon National Monument to prevent it from being a traffic hazard on the winding highway.
Cities and individuals along the way are extending hospitality to the wagon train, Mangum said, including ranch owners, Blaine County, the city of Gannett and the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce.
They plan to reach Kuna in time for the Heritage Days Parade on Aug. 2, and pull into Nampa on Aug. 4 for the four-day OCTA convention.
“We will circle the wagons on the parking lot and grin and wave for the cameras, Mangum said.
The trip home will be by truck.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 July 2008 )
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