On November 11, 2025, the students of Stone Elementary School took a field trip into Malad where they watched the Veterans’ Program put on by the Malad Elementary School 5th grade, played on the new MES playground equipment, and visited the Oneida Pioneer Museum. The 21 students plus Principal Jeanie Reeder, teachers Lillian Russell and Michelle Robel, paraprofessional Mindy Lyon, reading coach Loene Hill, and bus driver Iesha Velasco enjoyed every aspect of the trip as they learned about Oneida County veterans and the history of Oneida County. 

The kids had a fun time seeing everything their was to see at the museum.

At the Museum, Dotty Evanson greeted the students and had them introduce themselves.  Then she encouraged them to look around the Museum and choose two of their favorite items on display. All of the students took turns looking through the antique stereoscopes that turn flat photograph cards into 3-D pictures.

When the students gathered together, Dotty told them stories related to several prominent exhibits that the students had selected as their favorites. She first told about the Church of the Seven Spires as some of the students thought it was a doll house.  Built by Hubert Gleed, the model shows the exterior of the first meeting house of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built in Malad.  She told them of the problems faced when the roof on the building was not completed for several years, allowing rain and snow to ruin the beautiful woodwork inside the building. She asked the students what they had learned from this story; several students said that when you start a project, you have to have a plan for finishing it.

Next Dotty showed a framed flour sack and a World War II-era flour canister that had held flour milled at Crowther Brothers Milling and Grain. Following the Veterans’ Day theme, she told about a soldier from Malad – Corporal Boyd Thomas – who saw some of the Crowthers Mill cannisters in his Army camp kitchen in northern Italy.  They made him homesick as his house in Malad was next to the mill and his father worked at the mill.  He said the cannisters were “like a postcard from home.”

Probably the favorite item in the Museum was the bear skin hanging on the wall.  A Kodiak bear killed in Alaska by Malad native Art Hadfield, the bear skin led to the story of Old Ephraim, a mean grizzly bear that terrorized sheep and their herders up Logan Canyon for several years in the early 1900s. Two feet taller than the Kodiak on display, Old Ephraim was finally killed by Frank Clark of Cherry Creek. Clark hated shooting such a magnificent animal, but the safety of hundreds of sheep was at risk with Old Ephraim on the prowl.  Clark never shot another animal.

Finally the students heard the story of the giant trout mounted on the wall of the Museum. It was donated by the family of Gerald Williams, who caught the fish in Daniels Reservoir.  Gerald had just lost his wife, KayDean, to cancer, and he was very lonely as he went fishing in Daniels.  An avid fisherman, Gerald knew that KayDean was still looking out for him when he landed this prize trout.

The students also enjoyed looking at the replica of the Robbins Store that was donated to the Museum by Sue and Dick Robbins.  Dick grew up in the living section of the building, and the son of the current owners proudly announced that he lived in the building.  All of the students recognized the detailed model, made by Dick Robbins, as a building they passed every day.

The Museum is happy to host groups who wish to see the unique artifacts and historical items on display even though the Museum is not officially open now.  Contact Jean Thomas or Dotty Evanson to make arrangements for tours.