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OREGON-CALIFORNIA TRAILS ASSOCIATION
27TH ANNUAL CONVENTION
LOVELAND, COLORADO
AUGUST 18-22, 2009
Report by Robert E. Lingner
Introduction
Trappers Trail, Cherokee Trail, Overland Trail – these were the travel routes receiving attention at OCTA’s 2009 convention in Loveland. It was the first time that the group has convened in Colorado and also the first convention not held on either the Oregon or the California Trail. The meeting was hosted by the Colorado-Cherokee Trail Chapter, and its current president Camille Bradford presided over the festivities. Most events took place in a large meeting hall at The Ranch in the Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Complex just a few miles from downtown Loveland.
Overview of Activities
A familiar schedule has evolved for OCTA conventions over the years: two days devoted largely to speakers and workshops and two days devoted to bus field trips to trail landmarks and other historical sites. Interspersed with these are special luncheons and dinners, presentations by local entertainers, and opportunities to peruse displays set up by book dealers and trail-related organizations. About 350 people attended this year’s convention.
Lodging
A host hotel or motel at which special rates are available is usually chosen for each convention. In this case it was the Best Western Crossroads Inn, located about 4 miles from The Ranch. I chose to stay at this facility, as did quite a few other attendees. It was perhaps not the best choice for a cautious, elderly driver in an unfamiliar rental car. The motel fronted on a busy highway and it was often necessary to wait a long time for a break in the traffic to exit. Fortunately the route to the conference center involved a right turn into the closest lane. Turning left toward downtown Loveland on this divided highway was a much trickier maneuver.
Directions I had to The Ranch involved a mile travel on busy Interstate 25 to the next exit north, then a turn onto another road. After a day or two, I discovered the more logical and easier route on a road parallel to and just east of the interstate. Returning to the motel was a much more dangerous endeavor and required cutting across eastbound traffic on the highway that passed the motel. I eventually devised a route where I turned onto a road a block west of the motel that led to a shopping mall, navigated a roundabout and returned to the highway where a traffic light allowed a safe passage to the opposite lane and back east to the motel entrance.
Many folks had chosen motels that were closer to the meeting place. A few people were camped in trailers or motor homes and some were staying with relatives somewhere in the general vicinity. At some previous conventions, the meetings were held at the same place where the majority of guests were staying. That is usually a more satisfactory arrangement.
Some Personal Details
I first became interested in the western emigrant trails in the late 1990’s. I had been teaching courses in both U.S. geography and geology and felt that it would be interesting for students to learn how the trail routes were related to the country’s landscapes. In 1998, Sally and I took the train to visit Bobby and family in Minnesota. We secured a rental car, drove south to Independence, Missouri and from there followed the Oregon Trail into western Nebraska, stopping at all the major landmarks.
In 1999, we traveled to Denver, Colorado, drove up to Wyoming and continued to visit trail sites up to the Continental Divide. We learned about OCTA in guidebooks we used on these trips. After that we attended three OCTA conventions: Casper, WY in 2001, Reno, NV in 2002 and Manhattan, KS in 2003. We were unable to go to any subsequent ones for one reason or another. Generally the times interfered with our traditional “family week” at our cottage in Ocean Park, Maine.
Travel in the last two years was preempted by the discovery of Sally’s colon cancer and her rounds of chemotherapy. As many of you know, she died in September 2008. I was uncertain for a while as to whether I wanted to travel very much by myself. When the convention registration materials arrived this past Spring, I decided to register, with the idea that the payment was refundable up to the end of July if I changed my mind.
In June, Rich and I flew from Boston to Minnesota to visit Bobby and family. It was my first airplane trip in 21 years! Sally and I had always traveled on Amtrak during that time. The flight was quite pleasant and uneventful. It did seem strange arriving at a destination on the same day I had left home! After that experience, I had Rich set up a flight to Denver for the convention. I arranged for a rental car from Hertz so I could drive the hour+ trip north to Loveland and also navigate around during the meetings.
Day by Day Account
Tuesday, August 18. I had stayed overnight at Tom and Amy’s house in Belmont, MA so as to be closer to the airport. It was one of the warmest, most humid days so far in the summer and they have no air-conditioning or even large fans. I was able to check a large bag and navigate security at the airport without any trouble. I arrived quite early at the boarding gate and secured a couple of newspapers and a snack from a nearby vendor. The plane boarded and took off on time.
After about a four-hour flight, we landed smoothly at the Denver International Airport. It is located 30+ miles northeast of the center of the city. I made my way to claim my large piece of luggage and boarded the Hertz van that ferried passengers to the rental office. Soon I was in my rental vehicle, a KIA Rio 4-door car, and I headed west, then northwest to access I 25 leading to the Loveland area. After checking in to The Best Western and dropping my things off in the room, I drove to The Ranch to pick up my registration materials.
Returning soon to the motel, I acquired a list of nearby restaurants. I was pleased to discover that there was a Cracker Barrel in a mall not far from the motel. The shopping mall was quite large with several subdivisions. I drove around for some time without finding that particular restaurant, although there were many others. I finally asked a store employee who was outside collecting shopping carts. He directed me to another part of the mall. I rode over there but still had no luck. Finally I returned to the motel and asked the desk clerk. With her help I finally discovered the location, tucked away on the far end of the mall on a small road paralleling the interstate. The large sign was tilted for viewing from the interstate. From where I had driven it was viewed edge-on and I hadn’t gone quite far enough.
In Massachusetts we had visited many times the Cracker Barrel site in Tewksbury just off I 495. I have also been to one in Sturbridge. This one in Denver was set up exactly like the others: rocking chairs on a long porch, gift shop right inside the door, and dining rooms off to the left. The only difference was in the old-time paraphernalia decorating the walls. I came to it for two more meals later in the week.
Later I returned to the convention hall for a Welcome Reception where snack foods and bar drinks were available. Entertainment was by the OCTA band. It’s a group of OCTA members and their friends who play trail music on traditional trail instruments. I introduced myself to and sat with a couple from Manhattan, Kansas.
Wednesday, August 19. As is often the case now-a-days, a continental breakfast is available at the motel not far from the front desk. All the typical cold things were there, plus a heated pan with scrambled egg and meat. Conferees were easily identifiable. OCTA has in recent years provided a large name badge on a cord that hangs around a person’s neck. The badge has a zippered compartment where tickets for the various events can be kept handy. Most people wore this down to breakfast. Of course there were non-OCTA guests at the lodging place too, identified as being without such badges.
Before heading to The Ranch for the opening ceremonies, I drove into downtown Loveland to check the location of the Rialto Theater and nearby parking sites. An event that evening was scheduled there. This took me a little longer than expected and I missed the first few minutes of the opening meeting that involved a color guard and flag ceremony. When I walked in, a native American elder in traditional Indian dress was giving a blessing partly in his tribal tongue.
A woman from the Forest Service entertained with some Colorado songs. The author Dan Rottenberg spoke briefly on Jack Slade, the subject of his recent book. More on that colorful figure is found later in this report.
Ron Bywaters then gave some remarks. He is an Australian who was part of a rather unusual venture called “Tractors Across the USA 2009”. Eleven tractor enthusiasts arrived in New York City by plane in June. The tractors arrived from Australia by ship: five restored tractors built between 1955 and 1966. The group then embarked on a 10-week trek across the country towing travel trailers. Average speed of the tractors is about 30 mph. The itinerary was timed to include a few days of OCTA’s convention. The tractors were parked for viewing outside the convention building. More about this unique tour can be found at the website
An OCTA business meeting then commenced, presided over by Glenn Harrison, OCTA president. There followed reports from various committee chairmen and other officers. Results of the recent election were formalized and the gavel was passed to the new national president Bill Martin. He will serve for two years.
After a short break, Lee Whiteley was introduced as the keynote speaker. His talk was “Pathways to Gold: Colorado’s Cherokee Trail, 1849; Smoky Hill Trail, 1859”. Whiteley is an OCTA member, a fourth generation Coloradan, and the author of several books and articles about local travel routes. His illustrated talk provided an introduction to the landscape and wagon roads of eastern Colorado as well as to the people who used them.
Early trails through the region generally ran north-south, as travelers avoided the rugged Colorado Front Range. A quote from an unknown source in 1830 described the Rockies as “a barrier of safety placed to keep people from crossing through the country, the abode of wild beasts, where human beings would never thrive”. Maps by explorers visiting the area in the 1820’s labeled the plains east of the mountains as the “Great American Desert”. This label, now seen as inaccurate, discouraged further travel and exploration, not to mention settlements. Exact location of trails also was dictated by the easiest crossing points of two major rivers issuing from the mountains, the Arkansas River to the south and the South Platte River to the north.
Earliest travelers were mountain men seeking beaver pelts. After 1849, trail users were merely passing through headed for the gold strikes in California. The Cherokee Trail formed a connection between the Santa Fe Trail to the south and the Oregon-California Trail in the north. The latter followed the North Platte through Nebraska and into Wyoming, missing the area that is now the state of Colorado.
Gold was discovered in the Colorado Front Range in 1859. Miners were thus attracted finally to make rough settlements in the area. The slogan “Pike’s Peak or Bust” brought lots of gold-seekers (although no gold strikes were actually made on Pike’s Peak itself). There was little trail travel during the Civil War. Although trail use resumed after the war, the completion of the trans-continental railroad in 1869 pretty much spelled the end of wagon travel.
Whiteley covered these topics in much more detail. He also talked about Bent’s Old Fort and various changes on the Santa Fe Trail over the years. His presentation carried travel history through the coming of the U.S. 40 auto road and finally the interstate highways.
The noontime meal on this first day was labeled as “Agency Appreciation Luncheon”. Presentations were made to representatives of various government branches for their support of the trails and of OCTA’s goals. The lunch was self-serve deli sandwiches and a salad buffet.
Wesley Brown was the first afternoon speaker. His principal interest over the last three decades has been old maps. He is a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Map Society and is an expert on maps relating to the exploration and settlement of Colorado from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. Here he specifically talked on “Mapping the Gold Rush to Colorado”. The Gold Rush first brought people into the area to stay. The population experienced a staggering growth in 1858-59. People from the east actually entered the mountains for the first time in large numbers, a migration that had a devastating effect on the native Indian communities.
The next speaker was Colleen Sievers, an archeologist with the Bureau of Land Management office in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Her topic was “Partnership Projects in Trail Recordation and Preservation”. She reviewed many examples of such projects, especially joint efforts between the BLM and OCTA volunteers.
Last came an excellent illustrated presentation by Jack Fletcher and his wife Pat entitled “Cherokee Trail Through Time: Fort Gibson to Fort Bridger 1849-1869”. Both former teachers, authors and either past or present OCTA board members, they have become authorities on the Cherokee Trail through studies beginning in 1983.
The Cherokee Trail was named for Indians who traveled from northeastern Oklahoma to the goldfields of California in 1849 and 1850. It connected the Santa Fe Trail in southern Colorado to the Oregon/ California Trail to the north. It saw use by various traveling groups into the 1860’s.
The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to gatherings of the various local chapters of the organization. Since there is no Massachusetts chapter, I returned to the motel and then went to the Cracker Barrel again for supper. This time I ordered from the breakfast menu, as those items are available all day.
Wednesday Evening After eating, I drove to downtown Loveland and parked in a lot near the venues of the evening programs. Loveland is a town of about 50,000 people. It has been acclaimed as a great place to live in many listings: AARP - #1 place to “revitalize your life”; U.S. Art magazine – one of the top Great Art Destinations; Money Magazine and Forbes Magazine: one of “best places to live”; Reader’s Digest: ranked 3rd in “Top 50 places to Raise a Family” (1997). Hewlett Packard was a major employer, but it has now left town. A Kodak plant has recently downsized.
I joined a number of OCTA members at the Loveland Museum where we toured a special map exhibit. These traced the history of maps from early foot trails to the establishment of railroads. Many were antique documents on loan from other places. The Rocky Mountain Map Society had assisted with this show.
We then gathered in front of the museum for a short guided walking tour of the downtown area. This included the old 1902 rail depot (second on the site and no longer used in passenger service), an old Opera House and a 19th century grain mill structure. The tour ended at the Rialto Theater.
A large number of people were gathered in front of the theater. The street was temporarily blocked off. The Australian tractors, mentioned earlier, were again on display here. Scheduled for this night was the “world premier” of a one-hour film produced in cooperation with OCTA called “In Pursuit of a Dream”. Intended for broadcast television, it follows a group of about 24 teenagers and a few adults re-creating travel in covered wagons on the westward trail.
Several of the young people were present for the occasion. They arrived ceremoniously in a covered wagon. As they climbed out in turn and approached the theater entrance along a red carpet, their names and roles were announced over a loudspeaker. They were all dressed in period costume.
We had special commemorative tickets for this showing, affixed to a cord to be placed around the neck. I had forgotten mine and had to make a quick trip to get it from my car a block or less away. When I got back, the theater had pretty well filled and I followed a group heading for the balcony. The show was preceded by several speakers, including OCTA association manager Travis Boley and the mayor of Loveland Gene Pielin. A special guest and speaker was Denny “Scott” Miller, an actor who had played a major role in the TV series “Wagon Train” back in the early 1960’s.
Finally the movie was shown. In the days following I heard mixed reviews of this production. Some thought that it failed to show many of the main aspects of the highlights and trials encountered along the trails. From the balcony I missed a lot of the dialogue. I thought that it was because of my hearing difficulties, but later heard the same complaint from people who were seated nearer to the screen. The filming had taken place over just a two-week period, so only covered a few trail segments. Apparently the movie is still a “work in production” and may undergo subsequent editing. There will also be a series of short videos made from the film to be shown in classrooms.