Talking Pictures
How Did They Survive?

When I’m not out photographing, I’m participating in my other passion: reenacting the fur trade period of the West in the early 1800s. While on a trip this fall with two friends in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of eastern Oregon, we had broke camp and were in the saddle heading to a lower elevation as a major early storm was moving in. As the snowflakes got bigger and bigger, I could see the photograph developing (no pun intended). I spurred my mule out ahead and got into position for the shot.

As they came around the corner of the trail I had time to take one picture with my Canon PowerShot G9 set on automatic. The moment I snapped the shutter I knew that I had a photograph that would always make me wonder how the beaver trappers of the 1800s survived under these conditions with no modern gear. We were doing this ride under very strict 1800-’40 conditions, but we were only there for three days.
—Mike Katona
Halfway, OR

© 2009, Mike Katona, All Rights Reserved

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