Fort Crook Museum hosted its annual Pioneer Day and Craft Fair on Saturday September 15. The event took folks back into the Intermountain past with vintage displays, old-time acoustic music, and traditional country fare.
Pumping water old-style
People could take a wagon ride around the grounds, enjoy Dutch oven cooking, and explore numerous historical displays including an old pioneer tent site from the Pit River Pioneers, vintage buggies, tractors, and pumps from bye-gone times.
An awesome wagon ride
Pioneer Camp
Old Buggies
Vintage Water Pump
The Intermountain Acoustic Players performed great old country and ragtime tunes featuring fine vocals, guitar, banjo, and fiddle interspersed with amusing story telling by Don Smith including an ancient Macedonian tale of Alexander the Great and his Ragtime Band.
Intermountain Acoustic Players
Dancing to the music
Craft vendors and artisans displayed home-made goat soap, local photography by Susan Hanson, hand-crafted items made from natural materials by the McKay Brothers, jewelry, and metal-work forged by blacksmith Jim Brimble of the Rawhide Forge in Palo Cedro.
Brimble said it was good to get out of the smoke up into the clear mountain air.
Rawhide Forge from Palo Cedro
Of course, any visit to the Fort Crook Museum is enhanced by a visit to the Round Barn, a reconstruction of the Beaver Creek Ranch Round Barn that used the original plans and building methods of the historic structure. Entering and looking up into the dome one has an ethereal feeling that one is in a cathedral, not just a barn.
Old Round Barn
Students from the Interact Clubs at Burney and Fall River High Schools volunteered to manage parking for the event. The Interact Clubs are sponsored by the Rotary Club of Burney-Fall River.
Bob Jehn with two of the Interact Club members
Pioneer Day is an annual event sponsored by the Fort Crook Historical Society. The Society was formed in 1934 to preserve the history of Fall River Valley and the Intermountain Area. The Fort Crook Museum was built from 1962-65 and has continued to grow and develop thanks to the participation of donors and volunteers. For more information about the museum or the historical society call 530- 336-5110.
Pit River Country 