Category: Opinion

One does not spring into existence fully informed about much of anything, except how to eat, sleep, and cry. Acquiring skills and knowledge takes time and a little experimentation.

When the History Queen began this website, many years, it was from a heartfelt desire to make local history more accessible to the masses, more readily understood, to help inform people as to how we got to where we stand today.

Bit by bit, the learning came – how to jiggle webstuff about and make it behave, and how to identify the layers upon layers of historical circumstance that shaped and directed the actions of our forebearers.

Upon reviewing the stuff of history that was first used in the crafting of this website, it has become apparent that it was long overdue for a refresher. Some things pertaining to modern day venues needed updates; some factoids about history needed clarification or correction.

But most importantly, making this a website useful to researchers, teachers, local residents as well as traveling enthusiasts is the priority. There is so much to share about this area in the “Old West.” I hope you enjoy the journey we are on.

There is an old adage: “The more things change,  the more they stay the same.”

It has been a tumultuous political season, and in a more robust, fervent, and brazen way than many of us remember. Ever.

Yet if one takes a look through the history books, one sees similar episodes in national and world history that bear striking similarities. Can one imagine the tone the politics took during the Civil War? We still bear the after effects, don’t we? The Revolutionary War. The Napoleonic War. Any time conflict has been on the national radar, people have taken sides, taken arms, taken offense. It’s the same story, clothed in more modern style.

One can take heart that the people in our communities retain the same human faces, the same neighborly countenance. Reaching out to strengthen the bonds in our own neighborhoods is the best way to weather political storms. Regardless of the changing political winds, our communities will stay right here. And that brings some comfort.

They had it easy, those Oregon Trail pioneers. They didn’t have to deal with WordPress, Facebook, Twitter or anything on the internet. Maybe a little dysentery, a little cholera – but not a virus that would wipe out an entire hard drive!

Maybe if they’d had the chance to play the Oregon Trail game on their computers, they would have decided to stay put and forgo the arduous trek to the West.

But being made of stern stock, the History Queen shall carry on. Eventually this website shall be wrestled under control.