In this issue
Updates:
- Casper Convention Registration is Now Live!
- Western Regional Representative Isobel Lingenfelter Accepts New Position with the Utah Wildlife Federation
- OCTA's Two New Documentaries Now Available for Download!
- OCTA's Second Podcast is Now Live!
- Convention Auction and Raffle Items Needed!
- Paul Massee
- Submit Your Volunteer Hours
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- Puyallup Historical Society at the Meeker Mansion Events Schedule
- American Solar Challenge to Follow the Oregon Trail Again in July 2022
- Colorado-Cherokee Trail Chapter Zoom Series, July 9
- Utah Crossroads Chapter Zoom Series, July 14
- Mormon Battalion Symposium, Stansbury Park, UT, July 21-24
- Trails Head Chapter Bus Tour on the Oregon-California Trail, July 30
- Mormon Pioneer Trail Symposium, August 18-19, 2022, Council Bluffs, Iowa (Registration information coming soon)
- Casper Convention, August 28 - September 2, 2022
- 2022 National Trails Workshop in Albuquerque - Save the Date for November 2–4, 2022
- OCTA's 41st Annual Convention at Gering, Nebraska - Save the Date for July 25-29, 2023
- Online Survey for Oregon State-Wide Preservation Goals
Books & Publications
- Alcove Spring Newsletter, Late Spring 2022
- Trails Head Chapter Newsletter
- Go West, Young Man: A Father and Son Rediscover America on the Oregon Trail
Ongoing:
- Order Fresh Coffee and Help OCTA's Bottom Line
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Casper Convention Registration is Now Live!
Join us for OCTA's 40th annual convention from August 28th through September 2nd, 2022. The Saturday pre-convention tour of the indigenous sites of the Red Desert is nearly sold out so do not delay! Registration information is now live on our website. See you in Casper!
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Western Regional Representative Isobel
Lingenfelter Accepts New Position with
the Utah Wildlife Federation
We are sad to announce that today was Isobel Lingenfelter's last day as the Western Regional Representative for the Oregon-California Trails Association. She is taking a full-time position with the Utah Wildlife Federation. During her tenure with OCTA, she achieved several notable items, including updating OCTA's websites and the aesthetic of the weekly E-Newsletter, created a social media plan and campaign for OCTA's national convention in Elko, flew a drone to collect imagery and built a 3-D model of the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon to assess the impact of the B2H transmission line on the Interpretive Center's viewshed, ran a member's photo contest that collected just shy of 70 photos for use on OCTA's website and social media, supported the Southern Trails chapter in planning and facilitating zoom lectures, engaging from 23-45 members and new faces in learning about trail history each meeting, and assisted with planning and running a preservation training and zoom facilitation training. These were just a few highlights, as she was very involved with minute details of behind-the-scenes to help improve multiple facets of OCTA's operation. OCTA will soon undertake a new search for a replacement, but we wish Isobel well in her new endeavors and look forward to potential partnerships with her new organization where interests align.
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OCTA's Two New Documentaries
Now Available for Download!
OCTA has busied itself of late creating content for PBS stations to help get our name in front of new audiences, but many of our members do not live in areas where they can watch these local PBS broadcasts. We've busied ourselves this summer with building a new Vimeo channel to hold any new documentaries OCTA will create in the future. The best part is that these projects, all funded with various grants, will also create new streams of revenue for OCTA into the far future.
Wagon Master: Hansen's Hand-Crafted History, and History and Change on the Old Spanish Trail: Mountain Springs to Salt Creek, are both now available on our brand-new Vimeo Channel. Both movies can be rented for 24 hours for only $3, or you can purchase them for $10 and watch them again and again. However, OCTA members receiving this E-News can take advantage of a 50% discount on either the rental or purchase price by entering the code "Bidwell1841." So, your rental price is only $1.50 and your purchase price is only $5. Of course, we'll also be showing Wagon Master on the big screen at the Casper convention, and it is a treat to see the masterful cinematography on a large screen, so do not miss that opportunity. Please let friends and family alike know that OCTA has lots of incredible new content available (as you'll read further on in this E-News).
Wagon Master is the story of how Doug Hansen learned to handcraft 19th-century wheeled vehicles, with curiosity and fortitude as his guides. Through his own ingenuity and observation, he is recovering knowledge of how to build handcrafted wagons from a bygone era. A much sought-after craftsman, Doug and his team have built wagons and stagecoaches for Hollywood (Yellowstone, 1883, Dances With Wolves, The Hateful Eight) and corporate America (Anheuser-Busch, Wells Fargo, Disney), and his team also restores old vehicles for museums and others.
History and Change on the Old Spanish Trail: Mountain Springs to Salt Creek tells the story of when Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, traders started developing mule-pack routes from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. Over the next 27 years, three main branches of what would come to be known as the Old Spanish Trail were developed, and by 1848, portions of one of these routes near Death Valley was developed into a wagon road by newly settled Mormon emigrants. By 1849, news of the California Gold Rush had spread around the world, and this route became one of many used by 49ers to get to California. But this was already a well-established route, utilized by various American Indian groups over many millennia. Download this enthralling 30-minute documentary to hear and see the history of this little-known route across the deserts and mountains of the American West while also learning about the impacts to the Paiute Indians and the ecological change that has taken place in a short amount of time on this well-preserved segment of historic trail.
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OCTA's Second Podcast is Now Live!
OCTA intern Charlie Dodge recently wrapped up her internship with OCTA and began a new career in late May with the Center for Public Integrity. She graduated from New York University in mid-May, but as part of her senior capstone project, she created a new podcast for OCTA. In an effort to reach newer, younger, and more diverse audiences, Charlie focused on lesser-known stories, especially stories related to the trail experience of women, children, African-Americans, the Chinese, or American Indians.
In this new episode, Charlie interviews Dr. Sue Fawn Chung, Professor Emerita from the University of Nevada - Las Vegas, about the experience of the Chinese during the California Gold Rush. Sue Fawn Chung received her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, master's from Harvard University, and doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. Before arriving at UNLV, she taught at Harvard University, San Francisco State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Chung began teaching in the history and art departments at UNLV in 1975 and was director of international programs (1985-1987) and chair of the history department (1994-1996). She has been active in various community organizations, including Nevada Humanities, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Clark County Asian American Commission, Nevada State Board of Museums and History, and the Comstock Cemetery Foundation. She is the co-founder of Preserve Nevada and serves on its Board. She has published numerous articles on Chinese and Chinese American history, co-edited a book with Priscilla Wegars, Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors (Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press, 2005) and completed a book manuscript on Chinese lumbermen in the American West. She received the 2013 Bancroft Honor Award for her book, In Pursuit of Gold: Chinese American Miners and Merchants in the American West. She serves as a consultant for the U.S. Forest Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Park Service.
Chung has received several awards, both locally and nationally, produced or consulted on several educational television programs, and worked on numerous museum exhibitions related to Asian Americans. She has worked for over twenty years in the movie industry in Hollywood, California before coming to Las Vegas. She is married to Alan M. Solomon, J.D., Pharm D., and they have two sons, Walter and Alexander.
In Charlie's first episode, she interviewed long-time Overland Journal editor Bob Clark about some of the articles for which that publication has earned some renown. It is well-produced, highly entertaining, and even features original music. The first episode checked in at 24-minutes, so we do hope you'll take the time to download and enjoy! Be sure to subscribe to our SoundCloud Channel so you hear future episodes.
We are very excited about this new opportunity to reach so many new audiences! We will bring you a new episode in August, so subscribe now and be the first to know when it's live!
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Convention Auction and Raffle Items Needed!
The Wyoming Chapter is hosting this year's convention from August 28-September 2, and they need your help generating interesting items for the annual live auction and raffle. The chair of this year's auction and raffle is Fern Linton and she is requesting that you either give her a call at (307) 870-8066 or drop her an email at flinton@wyoming.com with a picture and description of your item(s). The items would need to be received in Casper by Sunday, August 28 so they can be properly placed and identified. Thank you in advance for your help!
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Paul Massee
OCTA members who knew Paul will be saddened to learn that he died May 10, 2022, age 89, in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was a kind man, a true gentleman.
Retired from the Air Force, he worked for JC Penney, and as a realtor, eventually moving with his family to Gig Harbor, where he lived the rest of his life. He was very active in his church, his community, and in OCTA, where he held various positions including vice president. He documented much of the trail and walked or hiked most or all of it through Oregon. He was still active in planning volunteer trips to document the trail until his death. Read his obituary here.
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Please Continue to Report
Your Volunteer Hours!!!!
Please continue to turn in your volunteer hours, mileage, expenses paid by you and not reimbursed, time traveling to meetings (including the San Diego Symposium), research, etc. We are attempting to collect data on an ongoing basis throughout the year to present the most accurate picture of all of the incredible work done by our huge team of advocates.
To submit hours, visit our online volunteer hour reporting portal for a simple, fast way to share your hard work with our federal agency partners and budget planners in Congress. Your volunteer hours are matched with appropriations and the Volunteers in Parks program to the financial benefit of our trails. Please report all you have done! It's the most important thing we do!
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The 2022 Event Schedule for the
Puyallup Historical Society at the Meeker Mansion
July 4th MEEKER 4TH OF JULY ICE CREAM SOCIAL & VALLEY COMMUNITY BAND: Noon - 4pm
October 8th MEEKER CIDER SQUEEZE & OREGON TRAIL: 10am to 3pm
November 26th CHRISTMAS AT THE MEEKER MANSION: Noon to 4pm through end of year
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American Solar Challenge to Follow the
Oregon Trail Again in July 2022
Check out the solar cars built by college students as they travel the Oregon Trail next month. Full details are available at www.americansolarchallenge.org.
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Colorado-Cherokee Trail Chapter
Zoom Series - July 9
The next event in the chapter’s series of Zoom programs is scheduled for July 9, with Jeff Broome’s presentation based on Chapter 4 of his book, Indian Raids and Massacres: Essays on the Central Plains Indian War. Jeff will discuss the 1865 capture of the Fletcher sisters by Eagle Head’s band of warriors, north of present-day Laramie, Wyoming, a direct retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre. The older Fletcher sister was rescued after several months of captivity. She and her father spent years trying to find the little sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie). She seemed lost until a newspaper article in 1900 mentioned a white Indian woman living on the Wind River Reservation in Montana. This led to a meeting in 1902 where the two sisters met.
- 1:00 Pacific
- 2:00 Mountain
- 3:00 Central
- 4:00 Eastern
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85888585238
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Utah Crossroads Chapter
Zoom Series - July 14
Trail across the Salt Flats. Photo credit: NPS
On Thursday, July 14th, at 8 PM Mountain Daylight Time, the Utah Crossroads Chapter will host a fascinating presentation and discussion about Trails Across the Salt Flats with Kevin Landis. Kevin has explored the Salt Flats for years and will talk about the 2008 mapping expedition and the pioneer history of the Salt Flat trails. In the the 1840-1850s, it was actually a pretty busy place!
This presentation is in conjunction with the Salt Flat Trails Tour on Sat. July 16th. Email Steve Allison for information about the free tour at Sallison9999@gmail.com.
Topic: Salt Flat Trails with Kevin Landis
Time: Jul 14, 2022, 08:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting by clicking this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88134680869
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Mormon Battalion Symposium
Stansbury Park, Utah
July 21-24
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Free Hastings Cutoff Tour Offered by
Utah Crossroads Chapter
Crossroads OCTA is hosting a free tour on Saturday, July 16th.
This is the last tour in our Hastings Cutoff tour series. We will meet at the I-80 West Rest Stop at mile marker 62 and go from there across part of the Salt Flats (on a road) to Donner and Halls Springs.
Please see this PDF invitation for the tour details.
We have a 12-vehicle limit so be sure to contact Steve Allison to reserve a spot.
If you'd like to come but don't have a good vehicle, call Steve and he'll make room!
Steve can be reached at sallison9999@gmail.com or 801-870-1319.
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TRAILS HEAD CHAPTER BUS TOUR ON THE OREGON-CALIFORNIA TRAIL
OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS TO WEST OF LAWRENCE
Saturday, July 30
Sponsored by Trails Head Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association and Kansas City Area Historic Trails Association
Meet at the SE parking lot of Johnson County Community College
on Quivira Road, south of College Boulevard
Bus leaves at 9:00 sharp – Will return at 5:00
$50 which includes box lunch
$40 if you bring your own lunch
Water and afternoon break snacks will be provided for all
Also includes handouts, maps, informative and entertaining tour guides
Speakers on the bus will be Ross Marshall and Pat Traffas. They will point out the location of the trail, topography and how trail alignment is determined in urban areas such as Lawrence
Probable highlights of trail routes and history include:
Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop, Olathe Square, Gardner Junction, Lanesfield School, Bluejacket Crossing Winery (here is where we will eat lunch on outside patio - Wine available for purchase)
Blue Mound, Blanton’s Bridge, Veteran’s Park, Louisiana Street to the Campus Area, Jayhawk Boulevard, stop at Oregon Trail Marker at Chi Omega Circle Fountain with a guest speaker.
Mail checks made out to Trails Head Chapter to Lila Aamodt, 5938 Reeds Rd #202, Mission, KS 66202
Questions to lilaaamodt@gmail.com
INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL AND PHONE CONTACT
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Save the Dates! 40th Anniversary for the
2022 OCTA convention slated for Casper
The Oregon-California ingTrails Association and the Wyoming Chapter of OCTA will hold OCTA’s 40th annual convention, “Leaving the Platte,” in Casper, Wyo, August 28-September 2, 2022.
The convention will include two full days of talks and presentations, and two full days of bus tours to trail sites east and west of Casper on the Oregon/California/Mormon trails—and north of Casper on the Bozeman Trail.
We also plan a private-vehicle trek pre-conference from grave sites near Fort Laramie to Register Cliff and the Guernsey ruts and a tour of indigenous sites in the Red Desert, and a pair of post-conference, private-vehicle treks —over Rocky Ridge and one to numerous graves on private property east of Casper.
Speakers will include keynoter and historian Todd Guenther on the history and meaning of South Pass; Camille Bradford on the huge Oregon Trail centennial gathering at Independence Rock in 1930 organized by her stepfather, Howard Driggs; Clint Gilchrist of the Mountain Man Museum in Pinedale, Wyoming, on the fur trade and its connections to the historic trails; a panel on collaborations between the Bureau of Land Management and the LDS Church on management and interpretation of the trails along the Martin’s Cove-South Pass corridor; sessions on the turbulent history and current-day preservation of the Bozeman Trail, which ran north from the North Platte to the gold fields of Montana—and much more.
Activities will include demonstrations by famed South Dakota wheelwright and wagon maker Doug Hansen and a mochila exchange by Pony Express riders.
Other events will include a banquet, a barbecue, an auction, raffle, book room and an authors’ night. Conference headquarters will be the Ramkota Inn in Casper. Ask for the special room rate of $89/night. All information can be found on the convention registration website.
Wyoming has some of the longest and best-preserved trails, swales and pioneer grave sites in the nation. See you in 2022!
Click https://www.wyohistory.org/travel/oregon-trail for much more information on Wyoming’s trails. We will visit many of these sites during the convention.
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Registration Open for the 2022 National Trails Workshop
November 2-4, 2022 | Albuquerque, NM
The 2022 National Trails Workshop will be three days of learning, collaboration, and networking amongst seasoned trails and tourism professionals, emerging leaders and people who are interested in getting involved with trails in their communities and across the nation. With a particular emphasis on learning from and with Indigenous communities, the workshop will provide opportunities to grow your trails skillset, collaboratively confront issues facing trails, and co-create solutions for specific and system-wide problems.
As we convene for the National Trails Workshop in-person for the first time in three years, we will offer a variety of formal sessions that will produce actionable results and free-form or impromptu exchange and co-creation. Participants will leave sessions with drafts or completed versions of tools, documents, or strategies to apply what they learned to their trails.
Register now to secure your spot at the workshop and you will receive a discounted Early Bird rate. Organizations, agencies, and businesses who purchase 10 or more registrations will receive a special bulk rate.
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OCTA Announces Gering, Nebraska as
Host of Its 2023 Convention
Independence, Missouri – The Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA) announces that its Board of Directors has unanimously selected Gering, Nebraska as the site for its 41st Annual Convention. The convention is slated to get underway on Tuesday, July 25 and conclude on Saturday, July 29. Next year’s theme is “We Do Old in a New Way” in a nod to the new facilities at Scotts Bluff National Monument, the Chimney Rock Museum, and the Legacy of the Plains Museum. If you think you’ve already seen what western Nebraska has to offer, you’re in for a great surprise, with numerous new exhibits in brand new facilities that help to better tell the story of the 19th century trails of the American West.
The Gering Convention Center will be convention headquarters, with many other activities slated to occur at local landmarks, historic sites, and other facilities. OCTA is partnering with the Gering Visitors Bureau, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Legacy of the Plains Museum, and the Chimney Rock Museum to stage this week-long event. Other partners are still being sought as well.
The convention will feature an array of activities, including day-long guided tours to historic trail sites in both Nebraska and Wyoming; two days of speakers featuring a diverse array of topics that will include not only the Oregon and California National Historic Trails, but also the Pony Express and Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trails, the histories of regional American Indian nations; workshops that may focus on things like the importance of quilts in telling the story of the trails, historic 19th century gun collections, and utilizing trail diaries to conduct genealogical research; evening events that will include a presentation about the trail art of William Henry Jackson at Scotts Bluff National Monument, an awards banquet, a silent and live auction, a closing event at the Legacy of the Plains Museum that will feature a chuckwagon grilled steak dinner, and even a potential concert at the Five Rocks Amphitheater.
Gering last hosted the convention in 2007. Scottsbluff hosted in 1985. Every year, the convention moves to a new site, with Casper, Wyoming hosting this year. Elko, Nevada hosted in 2021. The planning committee is in the early stages of charting out the events and speakers for the week, so stay tuned for future announcements about hotels, travel arrangements, meals, speakers, and tours, among other things. Registration materials will be ready in March 2023 and the general public is invited to all events. Be sure to mark your calendar for July 25-29, 2023, to help us “do old in a new way” in Gering, Nebraska!
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Online Survey for Oregon State-Wide Preservation Goals
This summer and fall Oregon State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is asking Oregonians how Oregon's heritage is special to them in a series of 90-minute virtual public meetings and an online survey to direct state-wide preservation goals for the 2024-2029 Oregon Preservation Plan. The SHPO is an office of Oregon Heritage.
The SHPO completes a state-wide preservation plan every five years that describes how the SHPO, government agencies, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, and the public will work together to identify, designate, protect, and treat our state's important historic places. The Plan is required by the National Park Service in Washington DC. The agency partially funds the SHPO through a biannual grant under the provisions of the 1966 Historic Preservation Act. See the current 2017-2023 Oregon Historic Preservation Plan.
Meetings will focus on a specific region or topic, but all are welcome to attend one or more of the meetings. Participants will identify what issues matter most, how to best preserve our history, and what government agencies, cultural institutions, and each Oregonian can do to protect and share our history. Topic-based meetings will discuss how the heritage community can better address diversity, equity,
and inclusion in cultural resource programs, disaster preparedness and response, and planning for cultural resources in development and infrastructure projects. The meetings will be held Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00, June through September by Zoom video and teleconference. The information from the meetings will be used to create the 2024-2029 Oregon Historic Preservation Plan that will be published in early 2024.
Meeting dates are:
July 6th, Greater Willamette Valley - Register here.
July 20th, Central and Southeast Oregon - Register here.
August 3rd, Rogue Valley and South Oregon Coast - Register here.
August 17th, I-84 Corridor and Northeast Oregon - Register here.
August 31st, Northwest and Central Oregon Coast - Register here.
September 7th, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access in the Oregon Preservation Plan - Register here.
September 14th, Disaster Preparation and Response for Cultural Resources - Register here.
September 21st, Community Planning for Cultural Resources - Register here.
We're also inviting every Oregonian to participate in our online survey. The survey asks about your interests, what issues matter most, and what we can all do to preserve our history. Go to this page.
Watch our project webpage here.
Facebook page.
You can also watch this awesome video to let all of you know what the plan is all about and how to participate.
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Alcove Spring Newsletter, Late Spring 2022
Information on Tornado Damage
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Trails Head Chapter Newsletter
Read the Summer Edition of the Trails Head Chapter here.
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Go West, Young Man: A Father
and Son Rediscover America
on the Oregon Trail
At the sound of the bell on the last day of kindergarten, B.J. Hollars and his six-year-old son, Henry, hop in the car to strike out on a 2,500-mile road trip retracing the Oregon Trail. Their mission: to rediscover America, and Americans, along the way. Throughout their two-week adventure, they endure the usual setbacks (car trouble, inclement weather, and father-son fatigue), but their most compelling drama involves people, privilege, and their attempt to find common ground in an all-too-fractured country.
Writing in the footsteps of John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, Hollars picks up the trail with his son more than half a century later. Together they sidle up to a stool at every truck stop, camp by every creek, and roam the West. They encounter not only the beauty and heartbreak of America, but also the beauty and heartbreak of a father and son eager to make the most of their time together. From Chimney Rock to Independence Rock to the rocky coast of Oregon, they learn and relearn the devastating truth of America’s exploitative past, as well as their role within it.
Go West, Young Man recounts the author’s effort to teach his son the difficult realities of our nation’s founding while also reaffirming his faith in America today. It also features extensive interviews with OCTA Past President Duane Iles, the Historic Inscriptions on Emigrant Trails and Graves and Sites on the Oregon and California Trails author Randy Brown, and OCTA Association Manager Travis Boley, among others.
You can order your own copy of the book on OCTA's website for only $19.95. It would make an excellent Christmas gift!
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Order Fresh Coffee and Help
OCTA's Bottom Line
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OCTA member Richard Gibson reached out to us with a review of the coffee. He wrote:
"I wanted to say to the group and to the KC ROASTERS that I am thoroughly enjoying my OREGON TRAIL ROAST BLEND COFFEE. It is mellow but full of flavor and is easy to warm back up or drink when cold! Great Idea for whomever came up with this promotion for OCTA! THANKS. I still have another package unopened!"
OCTA Board Member Jean Coupal-Smith added:
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"This is a wonderful brew! I love the rich, bold flavor, even though its medium roast and I usually drink dark roast. I rate it up there at the top with my favorite Starbucks blend of Cafe Verona. It is very smooth."
We concur whole-heartedly with Richard and Jean, though this E-News editor is of the opinion that the Butterfield Bean Medium Roast is slightly better than the wonderful Oregon Trail Medium Roast Blend. We remain excited that KC Coffee Roasters created two specialty coffees with 10% of every purchase being donated to the Oregon-California Trails Association. They are currently featuring Oregon Trail and Butterfield Bean blends. Visit their website at https://www.kccoffeeroasters.com/order-online to order now.
And an extra special thank you to Idaho Chapter President Jerry Eichhorst, whose keen eye discovered this ad from a 1929 issue of the Idaho Statesman!
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