Preservation of the Old Oregon Trail started with Ezra Meeker, who came over on the Oregon Trail in 1852, and settled on MacNeill's Island. In 1853 he brought his family over the Naches Pass directly into Steilacoom. In 1906 he felt the Old Trail was being forgotten, so he got a wagon and a team and set out across the country placing stone markers along the route of the trail.

Since then many states, counties, and cities found the route on their survey maps and marked crossings along the modern highways. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) also placed many markers across the country. TheBureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Forest Service, and National Park Service (NPS) also own and/or interpret many Oregon Trail sites and segments.In Oregon the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council ran the 1993 wagon train and built the Oregon Trail Kiosks in rest areas along Highway I-84 which closely parallels and many times is the Old Oregon Trail.This was headed by NW OCTA past president .

OCTA works with all of these, and we have recently joined in a partnership with them and several other trail related organizations such as Trails West, to promote preservation of our heritage. Trail Marking and mapping are the chief and most visible portion of the preservation work, but the greater task is behind the scenes. Since so much of the trail is today privately owned, we must seek out the owners through land records and try to establish good relations with them. We watch newspapers for announcements of developments which will impact the trail. Many of these we can do nothing about, but many times we can work with the owners to preserve as much as possible of important trail sites.