In early 2019 I made the trip to look at and hopefully bring back what remained of the exhibits that were in the Fort Pitt Museum. The largest piece "The Trader" was to the best of my knowledge the only diorama that was removed from the museum intact. When I saw this piece again the last time I viewed it was when I was about 12 or 13. It was how I remembered it and more. The diorama made up the top part of the display and was behind glass. What the viewer could not see is that the backside of the piece that could not be seen was largely unfinished. The reason for this is that there was no point in finishing the parts of the figures and scenery that could not be seen. Though the piece was complete I could see what remained of the terrain portion would need a lot of work. Fortunately I did not have to wait long to make the return trip when a good friend offered to make the drive to bring the piece back in a vehicle that was big enough. Fortunately there's enough work space to work on something of this size. The diorama was kept in my "workroom" until I was able to move it to a larger workspace in my basement.

The diorama viewed from the right end. The second pack horse had a cracked
rear leg. I decided to unscrew the horse from the base and used bubble wrap to
keep it on the base as all three horses were tethered to one another.

View of the diorama from the left side. It measure 68" from
end to end and about14" high in the center.

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