Amador County – The Kennedy Mine California History Day in Jackson took 400 fifth grade Amador County Unified School District students back in time Thursday in Jackson.
Students, teachers and parents from the six grade schools in Jackson, Sutter Creek, Ione, Pine Grove, Pioneer and Plymouth started the day with a sing-along with Geoff Crawford and Masha Goodman Crawford, of the band the Old Soles, at the Kennedy Mine Amphitheater. The children and adults were then blessed by Arvada Fisher, an elder of the Northern Sierra Miwuk tribe, and resident of the Westpoint area.
Organizer Dennis Price said it was the first time they had a blessing to start History Day and he later thanked Fisher for the positive beginning. Fisher was in full regalia for the blessing, then the kids were released to walk up the hill from the Amphitheater to start the activities, staged around the Kennedy Mine head frame and other buildings.
Price on Wednesday said they expected the 12 fifth-grade class teachers and all their kids. He expected about 400 local students, 100 parents and 80 volunteers. They had several new activities including branding a wood plaque with a CHD brand, for California History Day. Other new activities were pouch making, Miwuk Language taught by Fisher’s nephew, and pine seed bracelets.
Price said the itinerary included 25 activities, and groups of children rotated through 20-minute sessions of the different activities. A dinner bell rang every 20 minutes to let the groups know when to switch to a different activity. Volunteers included ACUSD trustee Rose Oneto and her husband, Ione City Councilman Lloyd Oneto, dressed in cattle poking duds. Students also got to try a turn at the two-handled “whip saw,” trying to cut short rounds out of a large log. Students also got to put on harnesses and take turns at pulling a plow through the rocky soil next to the parking lot.
There was also rope making with Twin Cedar K9, and demonstrations with horses and costumes by members of the National Pony Express Association’s California Division, based in Pollock Pines. Also attending were the “Mormon Battalion” and the Company C Civil War group.
Another station demonstrated hand and wheel spinning wool into yarn and using a loom. A pioneer cook was preparing wooden coals to cook bacon and cabbage and also to bake apple pie in a cast iron Dutch oven. Kit Carson Mountain Men let the students throw axes at a large wooden round, and they displayed animal pelts.
There was also stations for a Miwok display, toy making and stone tool making and language lessons, along with a pine needle basket making demonstration, Chaw’se stick game playing, and pine seed bracelet and leather pouch making.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
