Randy Polston, Warsaw, followed the 2,000 mile original Oregon Trail on a nine-day adventure in 2009 and shared his experiences at the Kosciusko County Historical Society’s 48th annual banquet. He has presented such programs to schools, clubs, organizations and other gatherings. The journey was made possible through a Lily grant. (Photo by Deb Patterson)

Knowledge from a nine-day trip on the original Oregon Trail in 2009 was shared by Randy Polston, Warsaw, at the Kosciusko County Historical Society’s 48th annual banquet Thursday.

The annual meeting was held at Camp Alexander Mack, Milford, with Rex Miller, executive director, also sharing a brief history of the camp and some of the unique features on the camp’s grounds.

Polston, awarded a Lily grant to travel the trail, shared some of the 700 photographs taken during the 2,000-mile trip to historic sites dotted along the trail.

Among the photographs were some of the 300 miles still remaining where ruts and/or swells from the wagon trains are still visible; areas carved out of the land, some more than 6-feet deep, of worn ground, now petrified, from the wagon trains. There were also photos of grave sites, remnants of trading posts and forts, carvings of names on stone by wagon train families letting those to follow know they had made it to certain areas, artifacts found and given to museums along the trail, and markers and many panoramic views.

Historical facts from the various sites were also shared.

Polston shared stories and history of the Oregon Trail and explained the trail and hardships. Covered wagons dot the trail, which is off the beaten path and away from major highways. He explained how the 2,000 mile, eight-month trip was walked by the pioneers as the prairie schooner wagons were filled with family belongings.

Polston shares the story of the Oregon Trails with school children, organizations and groups.

Cemetery Project
Bill Holder, chairman of the county cemetery mapping project, said the project is nearly complete. “I’m not saying it’s done,” he stated, indicating every cemetery – 86 in all – except one in Monroe Township with 15 headstones, has been photographed and recorded. The results of the project are available on the county government website under Beacon Online Mapping.

He stressed the project was a community project with numerous volunteers and has included at least six Eagle Scout projects. Financial supporters for the project were also noted.

There have been 71,000 photos taken of headstones, 62,200 records added to the GIS database with the names of individuals listed on the markers. He also shared in 2010 there were 21,000 different requests on the cemetery search with 1,824 unique visits, a .62 percent usage of the entire site. By 2013 the requests increased to 63,918 requests with 5,016 unique visits, close to 3 percent of Beacon’s usage.

The annual meeting additionally included a notation by Sally Hogan, museum director, recognizing the various tasks of volunteers and election of officers, which will remain status quo. Jerry Fush, president, presided over the evening.