Nebraskaland

May 2025 • Nebraskaland 27 products, it allows each blacksmith's style and technique to be diff erentiated. No two blacksmiths will produce the same exact piece of work. Keefer is learning to embrace this universal truth: that nothing is perfect. The Fort Atkinson Hook If you've visited a living history event, chances are you've heard of or seen the Fort Atkinson hook. Slader guessed that at the fort's height, as many as 2,800 hooks — minimum — were driven into the fort's walls, bearing all manner of soldiers' kit. This unique style of hook is not found outside of Fort Atkinson, and it is because of Slader that it still exists. Around 1991 or 1992, Slader found an original hook while walking along the area where the northeastern barracks are presently located. As it was the habit of living history volunteers at the time, he kept his eyes on the ground that day, in hopes of fi nding something interesting that the archaeologists had missed. "There it was — the right angular portion with the curl on the end and tapered to a point on the other end," Slader said. "That became the beginning of the Fort Atkinson hook, which was the proof that that's what they were using. They needed those by the thousands, and they had to be done quickly." Slader then conducted his own archaeology. It took him seven or eight tries to fi gure out the process the fort's blacksmiths used to produce the hooks. Bansen explained that by examining hammer and tool marks on a work, a person could piece together how a smith produced an item hundreds or thousands of years ago. Every blacksmith that has worked with Slader at the shop has been schooled in making the Fort Atkinson hook. "I've burned several hooks during demonstrations," Bansen said. "It looks so simple, but it's not. And Dean's pretty proud of those hooks, and he has every right to be. That is something that is both intensely frustrating, but also incredibly satisfying." Slader has produced hundreds of them. Visitors may purchase souvenir hooks at the Sutler Store. How They Do It The Fort Atkinson Living History program is one of the best in the Midwest. While other historical sites may host one to two events each year, the park in Fort Calhoun off ers six weekends of living history demonstrations annually, plus a Candlelight Tour in November. "Every once in a while, somebody will show up from another site, and they'll start asking questions. 'How do you do this?' 'How do you sustain it all these years?'" Slader said. "You know, it's a cooperative eff ort." Bansen and Keefer are quickly learning that living history is not just about the research and dressing the part — it's also about the people. Fellow volunteers are becoming like family, and all enjoy the aspect of interacting with visitors. "For the most part, when visitors come to the blacksmith shop, they want to see some kind of a project or product produced," Keefer said. "I feel like there's just as much energy given as there is taken. And that's probably what makes it the most fun — and being around a good group of people." N Fort Atkinson History Active from 1820 to 1827, Fort Atkinson held nearly one- quarter of the standing U.S. Army, approximately 1,200 soldiers.bIt was established to protect the growing western fur trade and was the only U.S. garrison west of the Missouri River. After the Army reassigned soldiers elsewhere, the fort was abandoned and converted to farmland. In 1961, Fort Calhoun locals chartered the Fort Atkinson Foundation. The group dedicated itself to the acquisition of the Fort Atkinson site and its restoration. With help from the Nebraska Game and Parks and the Nebraska State Historical Society, the park was completed in 2000 after the construction of the Sutler Store.

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