News
Mystical Horizons hosts educational event for Bottineau seventh grade
Tyler Ohmann
09/24/2013
The Bottineau seventh grade class received a treat in more ways that one last Wednesday afternoon.
The class was invited to witness the completion of Mystical Horizons north of Bottineau, and they got some cookies and juice after too.
More than 50 people attended the event, which at first was moved to Annie’s House due to weather, but then moved back to Mystical Horizons for an educational tour.
At Annie’s House Mae Streich led the gatherers in the pledge of allegiance and then introduced the first guest speaker Larry Kotchman of the North Dakota Forest Service (NDFS).
“Without the forest service, we would not be fortunate enough to have the place, because they allowed us to put it on their land,” Streich said in the introduction.
Mystical Horizons offers several ways to explore natural wonders of the earth. The initial idea for the job came from John “Jack” Olson, who was a great thinker in the Bottineau area.
He first thought of the idea of putting up a modern Stone Henge to show the setting sun at different times of the year. Soon after the idea came to mind he contacted Brad Robertson of Wold Engineering and the plan expanded to include a spotting scope and a sundial.
The final two pieces were recently completed. They were a bulletin board that explains some of the reasoning behind the place, as well as rock and plaque celebrating Olson.
At Annie’s House Kotchman explained that it is a real honor to be around when a project like this gets completed.
“We are so appreciative to see all the community come together and complete this,” Kotchman said.
Next Robertson spoke about the educational aspects of Mystical Horizons. He said that it is a perfect place for a field trip and couldn’t wait to show the seventh graders all that there is to learn about it.
“Mystical Horizons is the ultimate outdoor classroom,” Robertson said.
Everyone then traveled back to Mystical Horizons’ location to get the tour from Robertson, who answered and posed questions to the students.
The tour was cut a little short due to the weather and having to move the event.
But the kids still got their cookies.