Lost Wagon Train found again.

Byline: Ben Fuchs The Register-Guard

OAKRIDGE - History came alive Sunday at the 45th annual Pioneer Days celebration at Greenwaters Park in Oakridge, where the festivities centered on a detailed re-enactment of the infamous Lost Wagon Train of 1853.

Director Bob Wilson enlisted the help of about 35 volunteer actors to portray the trials and tribulations of early Oregonian settlers in "The Free Emigrant Road," a 45-minute historical play that told the story of a 1,000-strong wagon train that took a serious wrong turn in its attempt to forge a shorter path westward through the Cascades Range.

The play tells the story of Willamette Valley landowner Elijah Elliott, who decided to travel to Idaho to meet his family, which was traveling westward along the Oregon Trail. Seizing the opportunity to bring new residents - and more money - to the southern Willamette Valley, local business owners hired Elliott to urge others on the wagon train to follow him along the Free Emigrant Road, a newly completed shortcut through the Cascades that eliminated the need to travel north along the toll-ridden Oregon Trail (hence the new trail's name).

Problem was, Elliott had never traveled the newly completed path and had little idea where to lead the caravan - an oversight that soon proved unpopular with his followers.

"I hear they got pretty testy with him," said Paul Elliott, the great-great-grandson of Elijah Elliott. A resident of Sparks, Nev., Paul Elliott has come to Pioneer Days with his wife, Jayne, for the past three years to revisit his past and catch up with newly found family members.

Paul Elliott said he now looks forward to the occasion as sort of a miniature family reunion.

"We came up here three years ago and found at least 30 relatives that we never knew we had," said the 53-year-old elementary school teacher. "It's a family thing more than anything else."

About 220 people showed up for Sunday's events, which included a potluck lunch at the shady park on the banks of the Middle Fork Willamette River. Del Spencer, director of the weekend celebration, said Pioneer Days gives local residents a chance to gather and remember the area's history.

"It does give the community a sense of togetherness," said Spencer, a retired Oakridge businessman who volunteers as a curator for the Upper Willamette Pioneer Association, the event's sponsor.

As for ol' Elijah Elliott and the rest of the wagon train, they finally made it through the mountains and into the green fields of the Willamette Valley - but only when some rescuers came to help steer them in the right direction after Elliott took a wrong turn and got lost.

"I felt like it was a story that (people) needed to know about," said Rachel Spencer, wife of Del Spencer and author of the historical play, which she based on the journals left behind by settlers on the trail. "We're walking in their footsteps, so to speak."

The play's director agreed that the story deserved more notoriety.

"This is one of the major stories in the settlement of Oregon," said the 60-year-old Wilson, who's been writing and directing plays for about 20 years. "It's important that it be kept alive."