What changed in Soap Creek Valley?
A guided research trail · four stops · about 11 minutes

Credit and original
Courtesy of Myra Moore Lauridson and the Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation, as credited on Bob Zybach’s original site. Creator’s original image
Follow a vanished town, a resident’s memory of Camp Adair, and the work of managing a research forest. These are different witnesses to a changing landscape.
Read the question, open the source, and keep an observation at each stop. Source links open in a new tab so your place here stays put. Download or print your notes and source links when you finish.
Four connected sources to explore
Stop 1 of 4
Where did the town go?
Read Bob’s short 1989 account of Tampico. Notice the difference between a place that disappears and stories that survive.
Tampico: Auto Tour stop 5Keep the speaker or author, original work, and page or recording time with what you noticed.
Compare, download or print your notes ↓Stop 2 of 4
What did change feel like to a resident?
Read Velma Carter Rawie’s answer on page 43. Her response to Camp Adair is a personal judgment; keep her voice distinct from the tour writer’s account.
Velma Carter Rawie, page 43Keep the speaker or author, original work, and page or recording time with what you noticed.
Compare, download or print your notes ↓Stop 3 of 4
Who else remembered Camp Adair?
Open the Camp Adair place page and follow one other narrator’s page reference. Compare what each person chose to remember.
Camp Adair: map and recollectionsKeep the speaker or author, original work, and page or recording time with what you noticed.
Compare, download or print your notes ↓Stop 4 of 4
What can a fallen tree tell you?
Hear Bob Zybach and Marvin Rowley discuss hardwoods, roots and soil. Follow the printed words, examine the original page and see Rowley in the forest. What would you want to check on the ground?
Listen and read with Bob and Marvin Rowley Read Rowley on the earlier forest management work ↗Keep the speaker or author, original work, and page or recording time with what you noticed.
Compare, download or print your notes ↓Your reading notebook
Put the sources together
Keep an observation at each stop, then compare what you found. A useful note names the speaker or author, the original work, and a page or recording time. Distinguish what the source says from what you think it means.
Notes stay in this browser; the Library does not receive them. They do not travel with a shared link or move to another device. Download a copy to keep them.
America’s School Trust Library · The Zybach Collection
What changed in Soap Creek Valley?
Follow a vanished town, a resident’s memory of Camp Adair, and the work of managing a research forest. These are different witnesses to a changing landscape.
https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/trails/a-valley-changes/
Read the sources, keep an observation from each, and compare them. Add the original author or speaker, work, and printed page or recording time to each note. The links below help another reader find your evidence.
1. Where did the town go?
Read Bob’s short 1989 account of Tampico. Notice the difference between a place that disappears and stories that survive.
- Tampico: Auto Tour stop 5
https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/auto-tour/stop-5/
Observation and citation
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2. What did change feel like to a resident?
Read Velma Carter Rawie’s answer on page 43. Her response to Camp Adair is a personal judgment; keep her voice distinct from the tour writer’s account.
- Velma Carter Rawie, page 43
https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/m10-rawie/08-farm-life-and-wildlife/#p43
Observation and citation
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3. Who else remembered Camp Adair?
Open the Camp Adair place page and follow one other narrator’s page reference. Compare what each person chose to remember.
- Camp Adair: map and recollections
https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/places/camp-adair/
Observation and citation
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
4. What can a fallen tree tell you?
Hear Bob Zybach and Marvin Rowley discuss hardwoods, roots and soil. Follow the printed words, examine the original page and see Rowley in the forest. What would you want to check on the ground?
- Listen and read with Bob and Marvin Rowley
https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/listen/rowley-hardwoods/ - Read Rowley on the earlier forest management work
https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/m15-rowley/part-iv-february-7-1979/#p47
Observation and citation
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What do the sources show together?
Where do they agree or differ? What would you check next?
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Reading questions prepared by the Library with Codex assistance. Notes are the reader’s own. Source links are reading aids; add the original work’s citation before using them in your research. Source texts retain their authorship and rights.
Follow the same valley into Letitia Carson’s records →
All source links for this trail
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Questions and connections: the Library, with Codex assistance. Original sources retain their own authorship and rights statements. Some collection pages remain held.