In this issue
Updates:
- OCTA Videos Promote Preservation - 7th New Video Drops Today
- OCTA's "Wagon Master: Hansen's Hand-Crafted History" Selected for the Venice Shorts Film Festival
- Submit Your Volunteer Hours
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- Colorado - Cherokee Trail Chapter Zoom Meeting, November 12
- Gateway Chapter Annual Meeting, November 15
- Puyallup Historical Society at the Meeker Mansion Events Schedule - November 26, 2022
- Trails Head Holiday Luncheon, December 3
- Southern Trails Chapter Announces the "Trail Gathering in Tombstone," January 24-27, 2023
- OCTA's Spring Symposium in St. Joseph, Missouri - Save the Date for March 30-April 2, 2023
- OCTA's 41st Annual Convention at Gering, Nebraska - Save the Date for July 25-29, 2023
Books & Publications
- Same Ground: Chasing Family Down the California Gold Rush Trail
Ongoing:
- Order Fresh Coffee and Help OCTA's Bottom Line
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OCTA Videos Promote Preservation -
Seventh Video Drops Today
Kylie McCormick
Last month, we shared that OCTA is embarking on an aggressive campaign to expand the use of YouTube videos, to reach new and younger audiences, and engage them in historic trail preservation efforts. Today, we are pleased to debut the seventh video in our weekly series. The sixth video was filmed
OCTA YouTube is back this week with one of our most entertaining videos. Wyoming Historian Kylie L. McCormick returns to tell us the story of Hog Ranch #1 located outside Douglas, Wyoming near the historic site of Fort Fetterman. Hog Ranches were well known for providing frontier soldiers with an off-post opportunity for whiskey, gambling, and companionship. McCormick takes us to the site of the Hog Ranch to share stories from the brothel and the fatal demise of her proprietors.
Click on this link www.youtube.com/@octatrails to visit the OCTA YouTube channel
Did you know that 90% of the viewers who watch OCTA YouTube are not subscribers? Subscribing is free, it does not sign you up for any other services, and it promotes OCTA awareness. Please subscribe and share the channel with your friends and family to help support the growth of the Oregon California Trails Association.
Discover the Oregon California Trails Association (OCTA) to learn more about America's Historic Trails.
To sign up for regular distribution, hit the “Subscribe” button on our page. Our plan is to release one new video every week. For that to happen, we will need help from chapters, with local trail stories to tell, and the experts—which we have many of—to tell them. This is a program that will be heavily dependent on volunteer input. To reach Richard Hunt, the coordinator for this program, with story ideas and input, email: rahunt0517@gmail.com.
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OCTA's Two New Documentaries
Now Available for Download!
We are very pleased to announce that Wagon Master: Hansen's Hand-Crafted History was selected this week to compete at the Venice Shorts Film Festival in Venice Beach, California. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it online on OCTA's Vimeo Channel.
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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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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Colorado - Cherokee Trails Chapter Zoom Meeting
SALUTE TO CHUCK HORNBUCKLE (1939-2022)
Special Zoom event co-sponsored by Northwest and Colorado-Cherokee Trail chapters Saturday, November 12: 1:00 Pacific 2:00 Mountain 3:00 Central 4:00 Eastern Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85402676046. Please join us for this special event to honor Chuck for his years of service to OCTA and other organizations. He inspired many others with his love of the trails and his dedication to marking and preserving them. This is an informal event, and everyone is invited to participate and share their favorite memories of Chuck. See the full announcement here.
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Gateway Chapter
Oregon-California Trails Association
Annual Meeting and Dinner
Tuesday, November 15, at 6 p.m.
Dutch-treat dinner at San Jose Steakhouse,
4015 South Belt in St. Joseph
Local History Librarian at the St. Joseph Public Library, Jennifer Sanders-Tutt will present a program - “Influential St. Joseph Citizens during the Emigration Years.” Tutt has her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Northwest Missouri State University and began working in libraries while in college. She brings a new aspect of history interpretation to our city’s research libraries.
Members will also vote on new chapter bylaws.
Members and guests are invited to join in the fun of fellowship with trail friends as we conclude our 2022 year and hear a preview of what is to come in 2023. You will also be asked to suggest what you would like to see the chapter offer in the coming year.
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The 2022 Event Schedule for the
Puyallup Historical Society at the Meeker Mansion
November 26th CHRISTMAS AT THE MEEKER MANSION: Noon to 4pm through end of year
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Trails Head Chapter Holiday Luncheon
Holiday Luncheon! $20 per person
Join your fellow Trails Groups including MRO, KCAHTA, and Friends of NFTM
Saturday, December 3, 11:00 am
National Frontier Trails Museum
318 W. Pacific Street, Independence, MO
Reservations required by November 21st by emailing Anne Mallinson: annemallinson@gmail.com
Catered BBQ Menu -- pay at the door
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Southern Trails Chapter Announces the
"Trail Gathering in Tombstone"
TRAIL GATHERING IN TOMBSTONE for January 24-27, 2023. Register and see all details at the Southern Trails Chapter website. You can also review the symposium brochure.
Schieffelin Hall will serve as the Gathering HQ. Located at 402 E. Fremont Street, Schieffelin Hall is the largest standing adobe structure still existent in the American Southwest.
Larian Motel has rooms available. Two people in one room is $112.43 with tax, while the one-person fee is $107.88. They are located at 410 E. Fremont Street, and you can reserve your room by calling them at (520) 457-2272.
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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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Autumn 2022
Northwest Chapter Newsletter
Enjoy the latest issue of Northwest Trails!
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Autumn 2022
Idaho Chapter Newsletter
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Same Ground: Chasing Family Down the California Gold Rush Trail
An award-winning author goes looking for the meaning of family and belonging on a glorious wild-goose-chase road trip across middle America
Wangersky’s great-great-grandfather crossed the continent in search of gold in 1849. William Castle Dodge was his name, and he was 22 years old. He wrote a diary of that eventful journey that comes into the author’s hands 160 years later. And typically, quixotically, Wangersky decides to follow Dodge’s westward trail across the great bulging middle of America, not in search of gold but something even less likely: that elusive thing called family.
What ensues becomes this story, by turns hilarious and profound, about a very long trip — by car, in Wangersky’s case, and on mule and foot in Dodge’s. Interweaving his experiences on the road with Dodge’s diary, the author contemplates the human need to hunt for roots and meaning as he — and Dodge — encounter immigrants who risk everything to be somewhere else, while only glimpsing those who are there already and who want to hold onto their claim in the stream of human migration.
Same Ground is a story about what time washes away and what persists — and what we might find, unexpectedly, if we go looking.
You can pre-order your own copy of the book for only $19.95 by calling OCTA at (816) 252-2276. The book is available now! It would make an excellent Christmas gift! Charlie Dodge will feature the author in her upcoming OCTA podcast.
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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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