By Brenna Wiegand
“Do we have to come in?” is heard nightly around town as children want to linger in the magic of a summer night.
For Dale Coleman, the answer is no. He encourages children – whether they are 8 or 88 years old – to stay outside and do what makes them happy – whether it is playing games on the lawn, counting stars or adventuring to the past.
Coleman’s list of what makes him happy when he’s playing outside includes trapping, felting, flint knapping, spinning, hunting for mushrooms and braiding rawhide.
Fourteen years ago, the 54-year-old Scotts Mills man discovered a pastime; a passion that for some leads to longer and longer playtimes until maybe you slip right off the grid.
Coleman is not one of these. After all, he’s got a job, a mortgage, a wife and three kids.
About 14 years ago, Coleman and his friends Goode and Carole Jones were driving home from ‘Rabbitstick,’ a gathering of primitive technologists in Idaho.
“We suddenly realized there’s a whole group of us right here in the Valley,” Coleman said. “We decided to look for a gathering place…”
The encouraging response led to the formation of an annual teaching camp they call Echoes in Time. The event now attracts instructors and students from the East Coast and Canada. This year they expect around 40 instructors and 175-190 students from July 23 to 27.
“Goode’s line is the more people we get involved in this the more people we have to play with,” Coleman said grinning.
Though his parents divorced before he was born and his stepdad had multiple sclerosis, Coleman spent many happy days with his biological father Gene Coleman hunting, fishing, camping and hiking.
By the time he was 12 Coleman’s household included two stepbrothers and a younger half brother and the whole crew “did the Boy Scout thing.” Safe to say such a brood of preadolescent boys could frazzle any mother’s nerves, so the fact that they loved playing outside was to their credit.
As soon as the oldest boy could drive, their folks bought an old station wagon in which the boys could go off and camp to their heart’s delight, exploring woods, waterfalls and wildlife in the Cascade foothills.
“Before my brother was old enough to drive, Mom would drop us off at the (North-South Abiqua) bridge with a couple rolls of Thuringer and some cans of beans and we’d take off for two days up here, crawling all over the hills,” said Coleman, adding his mom returned for them before Sunday night dinner.
“We learned how to catch the fish along the creek and got to know what else was edible…
“Between camping, hunting and fishing with my dad, and my brothers and I running all over these hills up here, I had the outdoor experience,” he said.
Building on those adventures started with a gun.
“When I was 30 my real father was approached about a rifle that had belonged to my great-great grandfather but had been sold out of the family – a black powder double barrel rifle/shotgun made in the 1800s,” Coleman said.
She was willing to sell it back, but Coleman’ s dad said no.
“Dad didn’t like to hold onto things; that kind of stuff didn’t mean anything to him,” Coleman said, “and here history and sports are what got me through high school.”
The matter distressed the well-meaning woman to the extent that she rung up again, asking to simply give the gun back. The senior Coleman took it off her hands – and died six months later.
A much more appreciative Coleman inherited the gun his father had nearly let slip through their fingers.
Coleman researched the gun and its history and it wasn’t long before he met his first black powder enthusiast.
“Well, you bring that old black powder rifle out,” he told Coleman. “I bet we can shoot it.”
And they did.
Coleman learned his rifle was part of a brief but adventuresome segment in North American history, that of the Western Fur Traders. The beaver trapping mountain men roamed the Rockies from about 1825 to 1840 until, in their frenzy to supply the genteel with hats, collars and cuffs, they nearly snuffed the beaver out of existence.
“I got into the whole rendezvous thing – the foods, the guns, brain-tanning leather… Once you left Missouri and you were gone for a year, in six months your two shirts are gone,” Coleman said. “Now you have to take on a different dress; what the natives are wearing – the leggings and the breechcloths and such. They’re in the elements every day, and they begin to look like the natives…
“It’s experimental archaeology; you have to really live it to really feel it,” said Coleman, adding his rustic band traveled to various gatherings, sharing and honing the skills upon which man’s life once hinged.
Echoes in Time drew 57 students its first year and then waxed and waned until former state archaeologist Leland Gilsen joined their ranks in 2004. He helped them secure a prime spot at Willamette Mission State Park. The early living skills they teach are not limited to a specific era and can range from early stone age skills to pioneer living.
Participants hailing from diverse walks of life camp out during the five-day event. At night, there are campfires, music, food and old-time practices like blanket trades.
“When somebody says they want a simpler lifestyle, I tell them the best way to start is to look at how your grandparents or your great-grandparents lived,” Coleman said. “They didn’t have the distraction of television and they didn’t run off to a job; they bartered with a neighbor down the road for the things they needed. You grew a large vegetable garden and all the kids in the family helped to keep that going or you didn’t live.”
For anyone who wants to step back in time, Coleman has some practical advice. “I tell them to start by making their own tools, their own food and by looking around for wild edibles rather than going to town and paying for them.”
