22 Nebraskaland • May 2025
Then the Bicentennial Wagon Train
Pilgrimage came through Nebraska in
1976 to commemorate the westward
movement of white American settlers
in the 19th century. Fort Atkinson SHP
was one of the stops, an event that
Slader attributes to the genesis of the
fort's living history program.
"And then it just grew from there,
from maybe half a dozen of us, and
then into the teens, and then 20s, and
so on and so forth, as far as numbers,"
Slader said. The volunteer program
grew so large in the 1980s and '90s that
it fi nally had to be formally organized,
hence the creation of the Friends of
Fort Atkinson group.
By the time the Bicentennial Wagon
Train came through, Slader had made
his transition from mountain man to
blacksmith permanent — a position
he still holds today, some 50 years
later. It's a unique occupation in the
military, Slader said. Not only can
a blacksmith make his own tools,
he's also responsible for making and
repairing tools for everyone else, from
shovels, to axes, to hoes and rigs,
hinges, latches and clasps.
"Like most things in the army, you
needed it yesterday," he said. "To
run a post of this size, we know from
the enlistment records, they had 24
blacksmiths."
Naturally, the Friends of Fort
Atkinson experiences frequent
turnover with its volunteers. People's
life circumstances change — they get
busy, move away or have children.
Some, like Slader, have stuck around.
Fort Calhoun local Doug Appel,
who worked alongside Slader in the
blacksmith shop for nearly 15 years,
volunteered until he was no longer
able before his death in 2020. Despite
A variety of blacksmithing tools hanging on the wall at the blacksmith shop.
To-do list of projects at the blacksmith shop include Christmas nails, tent stakes
and Fort Atkinson hooks.
