Oct. 19 - 21, 2001
 On Friday, Oct. 19, 12 people visited the
Crossroads of the Cascades at Big Marsh. It is on the Menefee Ranch, so it
is on private land along Marsh Creek. I have known Vi Menefee for 40
years, so a phone call got us permission.
This site was a camping grounds for the 1853 Elliott Wagon Train and
the1854 Macy Wagon Train on the Free Emigrant Road. It was also a campsite
for Fremont's party as they explored the West, Williamson & Abbot when
doing the railroad survey, and Bynon Pengra's crew as they planned the
Oregon Central Military Road.
We were fortunate to be joined by Del Spencer, Ike Woodruf and Gary
Brumbaugh, who have spent several years searching for the route. Lowell
Tiller, who coauthored "Cuttoff Fever" with Leah Menefee shared his
knowledge of the area. We discussed our trail hopes over lunch and viewed
some of the trail through the forest on Del's camera replay. Leslie
Hickerson, present Archaeologist for the Forest Service at Crescent,
accompanied us and gave permission to research in the Forest Service files
for information about the route.
We then drove to nearby Forest service property and followed the route
which had been marked by the former Forest Service Archaeologist, Paula
Sutton, in 1987-88. Several trees still showed blazes
Glenn Harrison |
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