Thirteen ways to think about Martin’s Cove

Quiz Yourself

Here are some questions to ask before you visit Martin’s Cove, while you’re there, and again after you return:

How did Martin’s Cove get its name?
Why is it called a “cove”?
What is a handcart? How does it move? Why might people prefer it to a regular covered wagon?
What was the Oregon Trail? The California Trail? The Mormon Trail? In this part of the West, they were all one road. Why the different names for a single road?
When the people in the Martin Handcart Company camped here in 1856, where were they coming from? Where were they coming from before that?
Where were they going?
By the time they got here, how far had they come?
How much farther did they have to go?
Why were they going there?
How much food did they have? How much clothing?
Why were they traveling so late in the year?
Had they been warned about the danger of traveling so late in the year?
How do you think they felt about those warnings?

THERE ARE HUNDREDS of more good questions a person could ask about Martin’s Cove.

SEND US three interesting Martin's Cove questions of your own. Be sure to identify your school and classroom teacher or note if you are home schooled when you send in questions. Contact editor@wyohistory.org for information on a 2014-2015 contest for submitting the most questions.

Note to Teachers

This lesson addresses a number of the Wyoming State Social Studies Standards detailed in the 2013 draft of Wyoming Social Studies Content and Performance Standards, benchmarked for the ends of grades 2, 5, 8 and 12. All are available at http://edu.wyoming.gov/sf-docs/publications/DRAFT_2013_Social_Studies_Standards.pdf?

More specifically, the lesson addresses Content Standard 4, Time, Continuity and Change, under which students analyze events, people, problems, and ideas within their historical contexts, and Content Standard 5, People, Places and Environments, under which students apply their knowledge of the geographic themes (location, place, movement, region, and human/environment interactions) and skills to demonstrate an understanding of interrelationships among people, places, and environment.

Under Content Standard 4, the lesson addresses standards SS5.4.4. SS8.4.4 and SS12.4.4, which call for students to discuss, identify or describe historical interactions between and among individuals, families, and cultural/ethnic groups, and standards SS5.4.5, SSD8.4.5 and 12.4.5, which call for students to understand the difference between primary and secondary sources, and how to use them in their research.

Under Content Standard 5, this lesson addresses the Human Place and Movement standards SS2.5.3, SS5.5.3 (which specifically mentions American Indians and the Oregon Trail), SS8.5.3 and SS12.5.3, and the Environment and Society standards SS2.5.4, SS5.5.4, SS8.5.4 and SS12.5.4, which call on students to understand how people in Wyoming adjust and have adjusted to their physical and geographical environment.