By Douglas W. Motley
Senior Writer
On Tuesday, June 30, some 30 high school-age Project BLU (Black, Latino and Urban) students from San Bernardino toured the Mountain History Museum.
BLU was founded in 2001 to address higher education challenges faced by Black and Brown families with limited income and opportunities. The tour, which was scheduled to last 35 minutes, actually lasted over an hour because there was so much to see and learn about the history of the San Bernardino Mountains and the mountain communities.
We were fortunate that the bus driver was patient enough to let all of us enjoy the tour, which was led by volunteer Museum Manager Cindy Burnett (all museum personnel are volunteers), as well as museum docents Rhea-Frances Tetley and myself. Highlights of the tour included the displays of taxidermized forest animals, such as bears, bobcats, kit foxes, red foxes, opossums, deer, an extremely rare albino racoon, as well as a snowshoe rabbit, which is at the foot of Smokey Bear.
The kids inside the museum asking the docents lots of questions.
In a different area of the museum, there is a large glass-covered cabinet featuring dozens of winged animals, such as an owl and a Blue Jay and which is actually a Steller’s Jay. Visitors can see these animals up close, offering a more intimate view than in photographs or books. The display is designed to be engaging for both children and adults, with some hands-on elements, like exploring the texture of animal furs, such as a skunk, which was very popular with the students, some of whom petted the skunk fur and then sniffed their hands to find out if it really stank which, thank goodness, it did not.
Near the museum’s front entrance is a curio shop with samples of primitive arrowheads and books explaining the detailed elements of ancient explorers, who traveled across the country in covered wagons, only to be the first mountain explorers, such as Father Garces and Jedediah Smith, who were the first white explorers to discover the Pacific Ocean.
Upon leaving the museum, many students were smiling and eager to visit Crestline and see, for the first time, Lake Gregory. While exiting the museum and boarding the chartered bus, many of the students bought ancient arrowheads, quartz crystals and rawhide vests and jackets. Also popular were Davy Crocket era racoon hats with ringed tails.
One such person, a ninth-grade student at San Bernardino High School, who was donning a coonskin hat, was asked what he planned for a major in college. He told the Alpine Mountaineer he wants to become an engineer, just like his uncle. We wish him well in his endeavor.
Just before boarding the bus to return to San Bernardino, Bernice was asked what she liked best about her visit to the mountain. She said, “I loved seeing Lake Gregory. It seems to be a family-friendly community.”
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