Page:Final Report of the Northwest Territory Celebration Commission.pdf/28

 exchange of one light truck for one of two and one-half ton capacity.

Equipment for the daily diary consisted of one duplicating machine of a new type, an addressing machine, folders, and the necessary supplies.

This will be discussed separately later on.

Blankets, sheets, pillow cases were purchased from the government supply list, and cots and tents borrowed from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The total cost of outfitting the caravan was approximately $6,000 in commission funds. With loans, etc., the cost would be about $20,000.

The most interesting factor of the caravan was its personnel.

Mr. O. K. Reames of Zanesville, Ohio, was employed as director and agent cashier. Mr. Reames had an impressive record in handling other pageants under difficult and unusual circumstances.

Percy Jewett Burrell of Watertown, Massachusetts, was employed as advisor on pageantry, and to these two men go most of the credit for direction of "Freedom on the March", the eight episode pageant drama presented in each town where an overnight stop was made.

The selection of personnel to recreate the roles of the pioneers presented an acute problem after Federal Theatre and Civilian Conservation Corps could not handle the caravan.

As has before been related, it was necessary for the commission to finance the party entirely from its own funds. This included complete equipment and maintenance from its start to Marietta, Ohio, a four months' trip.

To do this, it was necessary to cut down to thirty-six men rather than the forty-eight originally planned and historically correct. In fact, a number of planned and desirable features had to be compromised, and deviations from historic accuracy made.

Probably the effect to the general public was not seriously lessoned because people are so unfamiliar with the details of the history involved.

In the effort to secure acceptable men, a news release was again resorted to. This told briefly of the trek planned, the desire for men able to stand its hardships and to deport themselves properly; and that those selected would receive essentially one dollar per day and subsistence, with a bonus of $100 for completing the trek.

This story was widely carried by the press and resulted in over seven hundred inquiries,

An application form was then mailed and from the data submitted in reply the thirty-six men were chosen. Only four of the men were interviewed personally before selection.

The applications were all turned over to Mr. Reames with instructions to select the best men among the applicants, without any regard to personal friendships, pressure or politics.

Most of those chosen were college men, and they ranged from twenty to thirty years of age.

How well this plan worked is best shown by the fact that of