Day 19: More Delightful Visitors!

Fresh sprinkles welcomed the tough field school students, who fear no rain, this shiny morning. As nature welcomed the field school, the field school welcomed two very important visitors. The first being the archaeologist, Alvaro Higueras! Alvaro, pictured below in the orange jacket, checked out the site and observed the students while they worked away.

The second visitor to the field school was Mr. Carl Sparks (pictured below) who was, very interestingly, a former resident within the Lower Seymour Valley! We wanted to know about the past of the valley, and Carl was our ticket in! Carl lived near our site from 1928 until 1938, and his father was the caretaker of the watershed.

Bob showed Carl our excavation site, and then Carl showed Bob one of his former (and overgrown) residences in the reserve. Although Carl remembers people discussing the Japanese logging camps when he was a boy, he wasn't aware of the McKenzie creek site when lived in the area. Carl has so far introduced Bob to two additional residences of his in the past, and today was the third (so, 3 in total). Pictured below are two photos of Carl: he is holding a photo of his house, taken in the exact same spot over 80 years ago! Today the only remnant of the whole area is one of the large posts from the archway, which is now leaning over among some trees.


All of this excitement is barely bearable, but wait... there's more! Pictured below is a fully intact, super-cool, mini dark-blue bottle that Andrea found today!

Tomorrow we will continue the entertainment!