Campfire programs to start at Kamiak Butte

Volunteers with tales of Palouse lore will return to the Kamiak Butte natural amphitheater this summer.

Volunteers will present the summer series of lectures on topics relating to the Palouse or just plain campfire fun.

Participants can sit around the fire and listen to a lecture, most of which go for 45 minutes on Saturday nights. The fire and lectures are free. Participants can bring their own snacks to enjoy around the fire.

The series was put together by Dan Leonard of Johnson, former president of the Whitman County Historical Society.

The first night of the series, June 5, Leonard will give a snapshot look at the intact ecosystem on Kamiak Butte.

“[You can] experience a relatively intact eco-system, with intensive agriculture in the distance,” Leonard said. Leonard has served on the county parks board for the past seven years.

The next week, Mahlon Kriebel, of Garfield, also member of the historical society, will present a detailed account of Colonel Steptoe’s campaign across the Palouse in 1858. Kriebel conducted extensive research and issued a new version of the Steptoe campaign for the 150-year observance of the campaign two years ago.

The night of June 16, John Elwood and Sally Burkhart of Elberton will entertain with traditional British Isles songs and sea chanteys, “songs of work, rascallry, rivalry, and love” on a mountain dulcimer, banjo, concertina and other instruments.

They have also hinted at an occasional sword fight in their program.

Elwood is the self-appointed mayor of Elberton and often attends county park board meetings. The area of Elberton is a county park.

Jim Cash June 19 will present the moving history of the geology behind Kamiak Butte and the rest of the Palouse.

“He’s quite familiar with the geology of Idaho and the adjoining areas, to include all these locations within Whitman County,” Leonard said.

Cash is a retired middle school teacher from Moscow, where he taught earth science for 25 years.