EOU interns steal spotlight at Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

By Lisa Britton
for The La Grande Observer
Published: Aug. 21, 2003

Baker City -- Jennifer Madison transports you back to the mining days of San Francisco.

It's the mid-1800s.

She portrays Elly, a woman who travels West by herself, marries a minor and sets up a shop in a mining camp.

"It was very taboo for women to travel alone, so she traveled by boat around Cape Horn," Madison said.

Madison, a theatre major at Eastern Oregon University, is a summer intern at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.

She has been performing "Shopkeeper in the Mines" -- an existing monologue created by a former intern -- while working on her own program.

"Shopkeeper" is designed to give the audience a peek at life from a women in the mines of California, she said.

"(Elly's) just kinda giving her visitors the beginning ropes of what it's like out West," Madison said.

Her new program will debut next Thursday and is based on the life of Charley Parkhurst.

Parkhurst was a woman -- disguised as a man -- who made her living driving stagecoach for Western Union.

"It's less about my character than what it was like to travel on a stagecoach and be jostled across the West," Madison said.

Madison will perform "Shopkeeper" on Tuesday at 9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.

Her portrayal of Parkhurst will be Thursday at 9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 and 2:30 p.m.

A scam artist and a lazy pioneer

Stephen Zacharias has developed two living history scripts during his summer internship.

He is a theatre major at EOU and is minoring in history.

His first program, "Don't Paint Your Wagon," is about a scam artist named Jedediah Morgan.

Morgan represents the original scam artist who would have suckered pioneers into buying an excess of unnecessary items and then pocketed the proceeds before hitching a ride, Zacharias said.

"He makes it sound good, makes it sound like he knows what he's talking about," Zacharias said.

He developed Morgan's character by reading trail guides from 1849 through 1855.

"Most were written by people who had never been out on the Oregon Trail," he said.

Zacharias' new program is "The Tirade of Mr. T."

He portrays Jesse Quinn Thorton, a judge who traveled West and wound up crossing Oregon with the Applegate party.

"(Thorton) was a troublesome man on the trail," Zacharias said. "He refused to work from the time they left Missouri until they got to Oregon. He was a rich man and had no intention of lowering himself to a common laborer.

The Applegates only soured Thorton's disposition more.

"The Applegates convinced them to follow along this new southern route," Zacharias said.

It was supposedly shorter than the original Oregon Trail.

"It was about 300 miles longer to Oregon City," he said.

Even worse, the wagon train's progress was slowed by the severe winter of 1846-47 -- the same storm that trapped the Donner party atop the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

As soon as Thorton arrived at the end of the trail, he began a tirade about the Applegates,, aiming his angry words at Applegate supporter James W. Nesmith.

They rallied letters back and forth until Nesmith finally challenged Thorton.

"He challenged Thorton to a duel to the death. Thorton never answered it," Zacharias said.

But that wasn't the end of Thorton's vocal opinions.

"In his lifetime, Thorton traveled all routes possible to Oregon," Zacharias said. "He complained about all three journeys and blamed it all on the Applegates."

Zacharias' performances can be seen Monday at 10 and 11 a.m., noon and 1 and 2 p.m. and on Wednesday and Friday at 9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 and 2:30 p.m.

Contact Information

University Advancement Eastern Oregon University One University Boulevard La Grande, OR 97850 phone 541.962.3740 fax 541.962.3680 email University Advancement