I saw a reference to you and Dick at the Klamath County Museum, and it had to do with an Indian artifacts exhibit.
That was while I was at Crater Lake. I took a strong interest in the Klamath Reservation, and at that time (in the late 1950’s), it was one of the three major Indian reservations in the nation that were being disbanded under the Eisenhower Administration. I would go down to the Klamath Agency and talk to some of the residents there, and as a result of that became very strongly interested in Native American affairs. I always did have an interest in that area, but it was more meaningful because I was talking with people who were coming to grips with this momentous decision about disbanding that reservation. One man in particular, a gentleman by the name of Seldon Kirk, who at that time, I would guess, was in his early eighties, was very, very kind and gracious in allowing me to come to his home (2). We’d talk at great length about his experiences as a child on the reservation. As a result of this, I became very interested in Klamath Indians and Modoc Indians, and asked Dick Brown what the possibility would be of giving an evening program on the Indians of the area. He thought it would be a great idea. As a result of that, we did make arrangements to go to the museum in Klamath Falls and made arrangements with the curator there to come down and take photos of displays in the museum. They were most gracious. They removed the glass and this sort of thing so we could take photos of the items in the display cases. We did develop a slide collection on Indian artifacts, basketry, and Indian history. So that’s how that comes about. It was a very, very fascination time to be at Crater Lake during those years and see what happened in that area as a result of that policy.
As far as becoming a seasonal supervisor, I really don’t know how that came about. I felt that there were other people on the staff who were much better qualified than myself. I heard about it via mail- I think it was my third season at Crater Lake. When I speak of other people more qualified, I think of Dave Hunsinger.
