Civil War re-enactor Dan Foster of Klamath Falls, playing the part of company surgeon, waits for coffee to heat up outside his tent. (Mail Tribune / Jim Craven)

By Greg Stiles

FORT KLAMATH — Even in the idyllic Upper Klamath Lake region, frontier life was a challenge, dawn to sundown.

Hardship was the norm in an era when water was heated over outdoor fires, spinning wheels provided thread for sewing and wagon wheels had to be greased after virtually every trip.

During an annual gathering of historical re-enactment groups Saturday at Fort Klamath Museum there were plenty of reminders that pursuit of "the good life" was markedly different in the second half of the 19th century.

"We need to understand other cultures and our past was a much different culture," said Margery Brick, a member of the Horse and Carriage Society of Klamath Falls.

Part of the understanding, she said, is developing skills similar to the ones that allowed Southern Oregon's earlier settlers to survive hostile elements and people.

"We need to understand hardships," said Brick, who used to teach Oregon history. "If we don't, when some little bump comes along we won't know the things we need to so we can get over it. You need to know how to do things like building a fire, chopping wood, making clothes. If the price of gas keeps going up, we'll be riding our horses to town."

The Horse and Carriage Society was among several groups demonstrating what life was like before Medford and Klamath Falls were towns and Crater Lake was known as Lake Majestic.

The eight-acre Fort Klamath Museum, dedicated in 1973, is a small reminder of what was once the U.S. Army's third-largest Western outpost. Only Fort Vancouver, across the Columbia River from Portland, and the Presidio, near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, garrisoned more soldiers.

Museum curator Kevin Fields said as many 2,000 soldiers were stationed at the 1,050-acre fort, situated in the lush hay field near Upper Klamath Lake. The Army's charge, according to re-enactor Sgt. Marv Collison, was to assure that Oregon, California and other nearby territories remained part of the Union during the "War of Rebellion." From time to time, Fort Klamath soldiers tangled with bands of Snake River, Paiute and Klamath tribes from 1863 to 1867. At other times, the soldiers kept miners and other settlers from messing with American Indians.

A cannon thundered when the Stars and Stripes were run up the pole and Union soldiers mustered in new recruits, teaching them to present arms and reminding them that officers and civilians were to be addressed as "sir," but not fellow soldiers.

As visitors stepped into the past, a bone-chilling wind blowing off snow-covered Pelican Butte underscored the rugged conditions immigrants faced heading west. Tents were of little comfort on freezing nights and the food, such as it was, took a long time to prepare in Dutch ovens.

"There have been a lot of skills that were common 100 years ago that have been lost," Brick said. "When it comes down to it, I think the natives of the 1860s and the Europeans of the 1860s had a lot more in common with each other than any of their descendents 150 years later.

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or at business@mailtribune.com