He presented on the Lewis and Clark expedition for three groups of eighth graders. During his presentations, Baker engaged the audience by narrating the expedition of Captain Lewis and using his historical props for demonstrations.

“They got further up the river, and then they heard these dogs barking,” Baker said while telling the story of the discovery of prairie dogs.

“They climbed up, and they found these things they called ‘barking squirrels,'” he continued. “Little barking dogs, about this big.”

He held up his hands to show the approximate size.

News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Randy Baker walks by the table full of historical artifacts used in his Lewis and Clark presentation at Thunder Bay Junior High on Thursday.

“They had holes all over the ground,” he said. “They call them prairie dogs. They were the first Americans to see the prairie dogs.”

“Well, these guys are kind of cute, they’re kind of fun,” Baker said, acting as a member of the expedition. “Let’s catch one!”

He continued to explain the almost humorous process that the expedition took to catch a prairie dog. They started by trying to catch them with their hands, but the prairie dogs would scramble back to their holes.

Then, they dug down into the prairie dogs’ holes to see if they could catch them underground. Unfortunately, the prairie dogs dug down faster.

Finally, they brought barrels of water up the hill to pour into the holes, and that was the key.

“Out came a prairie dog and he pounced on him,” Baker exclaimed.

Baker has been giving historical presentations, as well as science presentations, since 1972. He started in high school and has owned his own business for the past 30 years.

“I’ve always been interested in history,” Baker shared.

He remembers being a young boy in elementary school reading every historical book in the library that he could get his hands on.

Baker grew up in Alpena and said he went to the junior high when it was located downtown.

In his science presentations, Baker brings in live animals including insects, arachnids, and small pond creatures, according to the Naturalist Endeavors website.

His presentations at TBJH on Thursday were sponsored by the Thunder Bay Arts Council. Rates and program descriptions can be found on the Naturalist Endeavors website.

This story has been updated to reflect that the Thunder Bay Arts Council sponsored the event. This information was unclear in an earlier version of the story.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.