REPORT OF ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING MARCH 11, 2000
ALBANY, OR-E-GON
The
NW chapter's first event of the year was attended by 68 people in the wonderful
Lakeside Center at the Mennonite Village. The social hour started at 9 AM
with coffee and doughnuts and displays were set up around the room. Jim Renner
brought the meeting to order at 10 AM and after his welcoming remarks Suzanne
Hornbuckle read the minutes from last year's meeting. Then Joyce Bolerjack
gave the treasurer's report and announced that our membership stands at 255.
98 of theses are NW Chapter charter members! Suzanne then read the election
results which was the slate as reported in the January Update. The new officers
and board members were sworn in by Jim, after which Lethene Parks was given
the gavel and bullhorn, symbolic of the NW chapters "passing of presidents."
Jim Renner
and Dave Welch introduced the new Meritorious
Service Award presented by the Northwest Chapter: Richard &
Trudy Ackerman Meritorious Service Award which recognizes the long service
they have given to the organization. Both are charter members of the NW chapter
and national OCTA. The master plaque will hang in the awards gallery at the
National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center at Flagstaff Hill outside
of Baker City, Oregon. New recipients will have their names added on small
brass plates attached to the plaque in addition to receiving a personal award.
it is hoped that a dedication ceremony can take place when the plaque is
placed at Flagstaff Hill. "This award is given to members
of the Northwest Chapter of the Oregon-CalIfornia Trails Association for
exceptional efforts to preserve the western emigrant trails. The recipients
have contributed to trails preservation, education and appreciation over
a five or more year period. The award is made in honor of Richard & Trudy
Ackerman. Mr. Ackerman was one of the founders of the Northwest Chapter and
served as its president. He chaired two national conventions hosted by the
chapter. On the national level, Mr. Ackerman served as President and as National
Trails Preservation Officer. Trudy Ackerman has been Dick's associate and
partner in all of these endeavors. The recipients honored below have followed
the high level of achievement set by the Ackermans."
Next came Chuck Hornbuckle's preservation report: preservation officers
are monitoring a gravel mining operation in the vicinity of Government Camp,
which may affect the Barlow Road; a logging route between Klamath Falls to
Medford; a fiber optic cable being installed between Baker City and Meacham.
Chuck also reported on trail marking: over 300 markers have been placed from
La Grande to Cecil, Oregon. This year the Trail will be marked from Cecil
to The Dailes, Oregon.
Dave Welch then reported that the National Park Service extended its
allowed time to use the $14,000 grant for trail marking, granted in 1996,
for another 3 years extending to 2001. As a result of our chapter's impressive
work on trail marking over the last 4 years, the NPS has added an additional
$8,000!
Gail Carbiener reported that as a result of the successful annual
fund drive, more money has become available to do trail marking! There is
an opportunity to have an OCTA sign put up at the End of the Oregon Trail
Interpretive Center in Oregon City. Gail is working with Jim Tompkins
as a liaison with the executive director of the Oregon Trail Foundation,
David Porter. Jim's report will be found in the Editors Forum.
Jack & Pat Fletcher thanked chapter members for their letters
of support for recognizing the Cherokee Trail as a National Trail. This support,
and the Fletchers hard work, may make it possible for the Cherokee Trait
to be formally recognized.
Jim Tompkins gave the Publications report. Lethene Parks opened
the meeting up for new business.
After a great buffet lunch, Tom Laidlaw gave a humorous and educational
portrayal of William Cannon, a mountain man, extraordinary blacksmith
and the first United States citizen at Fort Vancouver.
The chapter owes Glenn & Carol Harrison a BIG thank you" for making
this such a wonderful meeting! Also, Wayne and Mary Burck hosted an
after dinner party and everyone had fun listening to Mary play Bach and Beethoven
on the piano and to Lethene singing (over and over again) "Down in the Valley"
President's Message: From Park's
Bench
This is what
happens when you let Tom Laidlaw suggest a name for the president
's column. He said it sounded friendly. I hope so! I m writing from my home
in the northeastern corner of Washington State -25 miles south of Kettle
Falls and 7 miles back in the hills from Lake Roosevelt (aka the Columbia
River). It's an area rich in pre-Oregon Trail history. There is evidence
that Indians have been here for some 9,000 years or more. A few miles to
the east, David Thompson, following Indian paths, laid out a fur trade route
between Spokane House and Fort Colville. The Mullan Military Road followed
this road for the first part of its route This is nowhere near the Oregon
Trail, but there are connections. The first white settlers in this part of
Stevens County came in the 1880s. Many of them are connected to the Oregon
Trail in a very clear migration pattern of people who came over the OT in
the 1840s and 1850s and back migrated to the Walla Walla area in the 1860s.
They then migrated north into the Palouse country, moving on up into southern
Spokane County or Lincoln County just to the west, and there a generation
later into western Stevens County. When I stand in the ruts of the early
migration routes, I do get chills up my spine. I believe it is critically
important to preserve as many of these trait remnants of our history as is
possible. To me this is what OCTA is all about -preservation and education
and understanding. I look forward to working with all of you.
Lethene Parks
NORTHWEST CHAPTER OUTINGS: 2000
(Webmaster's note: A full activity schedule is printed in the paper UPDATE,
but rather than repeat it here, you are directed to the
2000 Activities
Calendar
Feature Article
"On the Oregon Trail" By Muriel Carbiener
The Carbiener
"rutnuts spent the last two weeks of October 1999 visiting sites on the Overland
Emigrant Trails that we had not seen before We drove straight to Independence,
MO and spent four days of volunteer work at the OCTA HQ s. Gail and I have
a system for traveling the trails; Gail does the driving with one eye on
a current map while I juggle four trail books on my lap as each gives different
information, However, it IS a constant struggle trying to find the right
page in the right book with the directions we need! Our trip home took a
week and the following are what we thought were the highlights
For emigrants who left the Missouri River locations of Independence or Westport
Landing (today's Kansas City) the first major river to be crossed was the
Wakarusa, east of Lawrence KS This was not a very wide river but could be
deep when they crossed in May and it had very steep banks Some diaries of
the journey mention having to lower the wagons by rope rather than having
the oxen attempt to pull the wagons down Today the wagon ruts in and out
of the river are very visible The site is on the John Gage Ranch which has
been in the family for several generations. Since it is on private property
we needed to ask permission to see the river crossing and what a pleasure
it was to meet Mrs.~ Gage, who insisted that we come inside to see the 1895
photo they have of the river crossing It looks just like it does today Then
she took us out to the back yard to show us the trail ruts running along
the side of the yard! I m sure the ruts make it difficult to maintain the
lawn, but the family is proud to preserve them as well as the river crossing
In 1994 OCTA gave them the "Friends of the Trail" award which they are quite
proud of. The framed certificate is prominently displayed in their home.
Alcove Springs, south of Marysville, KS is a very special place - one of
the few locations where emigrants could find pure drinking water It is close
to the location where wagons could safely cross the Blue River However, if
the river was at flood stage they might need to camp there for a few days
to wait for the water to recede. Fortunately there was also good grass here
for the animals and some trees for firewood. Anyone traveling along the trails
today needs to try and visualize Kansas, Nebraska and eastern Wyoming without
trees, as there weren't. any then except a few small ones near the river.
There is a hillside leading down to the Blue with three wonderful swales
to see and walk in, but the most important spot for us was the spring itself
- a very beautiful location with historical 1846 significance. That was the
year of the Donner tragedy. The James Reed family was traveling with the
two Donner brothers and their families. Margaret Reeds mother died and was
buried here. The grave has been lost but there is a marker in her memory.
James Reed carved his name and ‘26 May 1846 into a rock and though very
faint today, it can still be read if you can find the rock We couldn t and
were very disappointed We did find the words "Alcove Springs" carved into
a boulder and it is believed that they were carved by Edwin Bryant who was
traveling with the Reeds and Donners at the time and took the Hastings Cut
Off and arrived safely in California to later write the book What! Saw
in California.
Another special spot was the grave of George Winslow near Fairbury, NE. There
are many trail graves but so few have been located and documented. This was
again on private property which has been in the Boddye family since at least
1870 when the grave was discovered. We met Ed Boddye who told us the family
has always taken care of the grave and the fields around it has never been
plowed I George Winslow had left his wife and family to travel to the California
gold fields but died of cholera on June 8, 1849 His fellow traveler and
brother-in-law kept a diary of the trip and wrote "He was borne to the grave
by eight bearers. The last chapter of Ecclesiastes (sic) was read. As a token
of their respect each member of the company placed a green spring on the
grave." OCTA has placed a special marker next to the grave and we thank the
Boddye family for their care.
Another special grave is that of Susan Hail south of Hastings, NE. She was
a newlywed and died suddenly on June 12, 1852. It was probably from cholera.
A story is told that her grief stricken husband returned to St. Joseph, MO.
and had a headstone engraved and then moved it back to the grave in a
wheelbarrow! Susan is buried on a mound above the surrounding cornfields.
Emigrants leaving from Missouri would eventually reach the South Platte River
in Nebraska and then crossed the river near today's Brule, NE. Right after
the crossing there was a steep hill to climb which is today called California
Hill and is owned by OCTA. Erosion deepened the ruts and Gail & I walked
in them to the top. At the top the wagons would continue on to the North
Platte River which they would leave at Casper, Wyoming.
If people from the NE parts of the United States decided to move to Oregon
or California, they usually traveled on the north side of the river which
is called the Council Bluffs Road and the Mormon Trail Emigrants would gather
at Council Bluffs, Iowa and then cross the Missouri River to the area of
Omaha, NE. There are many different cutoffs and one of these is the Child's
Route north of Guernsey, Wyoming. In April 1852 four large families left
Salem, Iowa and traveled on the Council Bluffs Road and took the Child's
cutoff with its many steep hills because it eliminated two crossings of the
North Platte River They arrived in the Willamette Valley in late October
Little Elva Ingram, just 4 1/2 years old died suddenly on June 23rd. It was
quite a task for us to locate her grave. The written directions to these
signs are not always clear especially when driving along back country roads.
We finally knew we were on the right road when we saw ruts with the white
carsonrte markers that OCTA volunteers use to mark the trails It was quite
a steep hill and a hard pull for the oxen and wagons Elva is buried on the
very top of a hill with the wagon ruts below her, and a view of Laramie Peak
in the background and the Platte River Valley. It is thought that her headstone
is the original one which is craved on a flat rook. OCTA has placed a marker
here with a fence around the grave to protect it from cattle. It was funded
by OCTA and the Ingram family descendants.
There are many more trail sites that we visited and many more that we had
to pass up for another time. Most people think that there were just three
trails, however there are many cutoffs and every trail, camp site or grave
is special because of the people who were there. Muriel Carbiener
BOOK REVIEW
Cherokee Trail Diaries by Jack & Pat Fletcher &
Lee Whiteley
As you recall the Trail of Tears was the forceful removal of the Cherokee
Nation in 1838 from the lands they had farmed, fished and hunted on for
generations. They were forced to march some 826 miles form Tennessee through
Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas to reach designated Indian lands
in Oklahoma. The Cherokee tribes rebuilt their lives in Tahlequah, Oklahoma
and in 1849 the Cherokee Trail that the Fletchers and Whiteley write about,
started here. Gold fever stuck! ‘Throughout the Cherokee Nation talk
was that neighboring communities... were forming California
companies." In April 1849 Lewis Evans became captain
of a company combined with both Cherokee and whites headed for the rich gold
fields of California. This Evans/Cherokee company pioneered a mute through
kansas and Oklahoma that was traveled until 1862... The Evans/Cherokee trail
was continuously used through Colorado and Wyoming before, during arid after
the Colorado Pikes Peak gold rush, the Idaho and Montana gold rushes of the
1860s, for stock drives westbound and eastbound into the 1880 s and by emigrants
to the turn of the century."
The Cherokee Trail starts in Oklahoma and follows the Arkansas River through
Kansas, passes Bent's Old Fort in Colorado then traverses through the lower
part of Wyoming to Fort Bridger. Here the Cherokee Trail goes southwest towards
the Great Salt Lake. From the GSL the trail skirts the top portion of Nevada
then heads to California and GOLD!
This incredible book is beautifully formatted and in size is 11" x 8 1/2"
with 418 pages and 17 wonderful maps. There are two main sections to this
book: Volume one is 1849 A New Route to the California Gold Fields the Lewis
Evans Company and volume two is 1850 Another New Route to the California
Gold Fields the John Lowery Brown Company. For those of us who can never
get our hands on enough maps, Lee Whiteley has done an outstanding job in
tracing the entire Cherokee Trail on 29 more maps found in Appendix A! This
could be the definitive book about the Cherokee Trail as the Fletcher s and
Whiteley have brought to life, through old diaries, journal and newspaper
accounts, the lives and events of those people who have traveled the Cherokee
Trail 151 years ago.
Book Review by Don Popejoy Photos Courtesy of Jack & Pat Fletcher
Editor s Note The Fletcher s, at my request, sent me an article about how
they began writing the story of the Cherokee Trail and their adventures on
the trail itself Due to its length and not wishing to edit it I sent the
article to the NFP. It will be published in its entirety.
EDITOR'S FORUM
With this second edition of the Update under my belt, I must say it doesn
t get any easier being the editor I have gotten so much material from so
many of you that I am overwhelmed with the fact that I can t get all of it
into the Update. I have asked some of you in person, on the phone and via
e-mail to help me with your knowledge, expertise and experiences along the
trail. Everyone has responded to my request except for one person. Me! I
don t have room in the Update for any Lewis & Clark articles. But bless
my soul I will when I can. For those of you who sent me info and don t see
it in this issue, rest assured that I will use it, eventually! The overwhelming
amount of "outings" material took up more space then normal. You may recall
that I left the Corp of Discovery at the confluence of the Clearwater and
Snake rivers. But all is not Lost..if you have a need to know more about
these guys check out my new website at
rutnut.com/crc (this site was done and
is being maintained by Tom Laidlaw, our very own Webmaster.) Also you can
check the Washington State Chapter of the LCTHF for more of my writings on
Lewis & Clark at
http://www.vpds.wsu.edu/LCExpediton/Resources/wa_lcthf.html
As Membership Chair of the Washington State Chapter of the LCTHF I would
love to sign you up as a new member. Interested? Let me know at
SIGNING OREGON TRAIL SITES IN
OREGON
Submitted by Jim Tompkins
Gail Carbiener started the entire process by pointing out the availability
of money for signing that is lost if not used. Gail wants to see several
signs placed in Oregon. He asked my opinion and I freely gave it. I suggested
several locations along the Barlow Road. Our consensus was that the best
site for a sign would be at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.
I took the proposal to the Oregon Trail Foundation, who operate the EOTIC
and they approved the concept of an OCTA sign, pending negotiations between
OCTA and David Porter, the OTF executive director as to wording and location.
I wrote three versions of text, varying only in length Randy Brown and I
agreed upon one version and Susan Doyle assisted with editing. I'll keep
the chapter informed through the Update.
NWOCTA.COM
Submitted by Tom Laidlaw
That s how easy it is to get the new NW OCTA Website. You will find a host
of pictures, reports of all completed activities and details of upcoming
ones. There is always online the previous two years as well as the current
year. You should check out the new location, access your favorite pages and
make bookmarks. I realize that many members rely on the UPDATE for chapter
news and the websrte is not meant to replace it, but rather augment it One
place the website is really valuable is in keeping up with details of outings
The January UPDATE had a very tentative list of activities, but as time went
on and more details and dates were added, the website published those items.
If you have any questions about the happenings of NW OCTA go to the website
first. One item that is very hard to plan in advance is trail marking, so
the website will have the latest information on those dates as they become
arranged. The website has a Member Websites I Links page and E-Mail Directory.
Refresh your screen to make sure you have the latest version of the website.
If you have some special stones and want to share them or pictures, send
them to me and I Will find a place on the website for them.
Letter to the Editor -
Update:
"The March 11, 2000 Northwest Chapter meeting in Albany, Oregon is one that
Trudy and I will always remember. The antics that JIm Renner and Dave Welch
started putting us through I What are they going to come up with next? Friends,
but at times like this you re not sure. Then look what happens.
We thank every member of the Chapter for the wonderful gift of naming a
Meritorius Achievement Award for us and being ft s first recipients. We were
amazed at the presentation and almost unable to stay standing. OCTA has meant
so much to both of us. The wonderful friendships that are formed, the excitement
at finding something new that not many know about and the wonderful conventions
where we catch up with old friends OCTA has been a meaningful part of our
lives and we will always cherish and enjoy many delightful memories."
Sincerely, Dick & Trudy Ackerman
MEMBER OF THE QUARTER
Rich
Herman from Vancouver, Washington has been with the NW chapter for several
years and loves trail marking. Rich has a love for the trail that-shines
very bright not to mention his second love...talking about the trail!
MISCELLANY
Joyce Bolerjack reports three new memberships! Welcome to:
Northwest OCTA Update and
Journal
, President
