Submitted by The DuPont Historical Society.
The DuPont Historical Society and Museum are hosting Steve Anderson, author and Fort Nisqually Historian, presenting a talk on his book “Angus McDonald of the Great Divide: The Uncommon Life of a Fur Trader, 1816-1889. In July 1855, a large contingent of over 200 horses, three dozen men, supplies and tightly packed furs arrived at Fort Nisqually in present day DuPont, Washington. Originating from the east side of the Cascades, the party arrived with all the furs collected by the Hudson’s Bay Company during the past year from what is today eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Angus McDonald, the party’s leader, was a colorful character in our state’s past.
Fort Nisqually Historian Steve Anderson, who has authored several books on Fort Nisqually’s history, including Angus McDonald of the Great Divide, will provide insights into McDonald’s life, events of the Brigade of 1855, and share some of the Scot’s story-telling wizardry, which was legendary in the middle 19th century.
7:00 pm, Thursday, August 4, 2022
DuPont Historical Museum
207 Barksdale Ave., DuPont WA
Program is free and open to the public. Appropriate for 10 years of age and older.
For more information, contact us at duponthistoricalmuseum@gmail.com
In many parts of the world today, people still have a connection to their ancestors through the physical connection to the land from which they draw their existence.
Farmers, ranchers, miners, fishermen, lumber Jack’s, and those who live a life of subsistence, have a direct connection to that which modern times was built on.
Almost all people in the developed world today, are completely severed from the hardships that our rugged forebears endured.
We build history museums to tell their story, claiming them as part of who we are, but apologizing for so much of what they did, as the display becomes more of a modern-day political statement.
If you have never killed, processed, and preseved meat, you may be against those who do.
If you have never built anything from concept, you are simply occupying someone else’s creation.
If you’ve never grown a substantial crop for your own consumption, then you are 100% dependent on someone else to feed you.
From what I see around here these days, there is very little connection to the region’s rugged past aside from displays for entertainment.
That sort of progress affords us time to be involved in so many other things – things we are no longer grateful for, and only take for granted.