Volume 17, Number 3 September 2006 Page 1

CROSSROADSUTAH CROSSROADS CHAPTER

OF OREGON/CALIFORNIATRAILS ASSOCIATION

Roy Tea

Roy Tea receives top honor of OCTAMerreil Mattis award forBest writing in 2006

Crossroads to host OCTA training session on trailPreservation — would you like to join the October meet?

OCTA’s preserva-tion training program cov-ers three aspects of trailpreservat ion : mapping,marking and monitoring(the 3Ms). The program ispresented over one to threedays depending upon therequirements of a given au-dience. It includes lecturesand classroom discussionsand field problem solvingwhen possible.

OCTA’s Mapping

Emigrant Trails (MET)Guide is the basis for themapping portion of theprogram. The MET guidedescribes techniques foridentifying, classifyi ngand documenting emigranttrails.

The meet is Oct.20 and 21 in Salt Lake.

The mapping pro-gram also includes instruc-tion on the use of USGS

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Roy Tea – there arefew adjectives left to de-scribe this grand old manof Utah Crossroads. He isa charter member of ourOCTA chapter. He hasguided the majority of ourfield trips. Not only as aguide, but he has writtenmost of the guidebooks we

have used on our fieldtrips.

A few years agoRoy was able to guide afield trip to MountainMeadow from AmericanFork to Beaver withoutever getting on I-15.

He was honored atlast year’s OCTA conven-tion in Salt Lake City asthe outstanding OCTAvolunteer for 2005.

He has written anumber of articles forOCTA’s Overland Jour-nal as well as our news-letter.

He has led themarking of the historictrails in Utah with the spe-cialized rail-markers – all83 of them.

The list could onfor another page or more.

But the retiredUtah Dep art men t ofTransportation engineerhas received another cov-

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Crossroads is the newsletter of the Utah Cross-roads Chapter of the Oregon-California Trail Associa-tion. It is published in March, June, September andDecember. Questions and suggestions for improve-ments or criticism can be sent to Jerry Dunton atjhd@sisna.com or to P.O. Box 9645, SLC, UT 84109.Officers are:Brent Reber, president, b_reber@msn.comMarie Irvine, vice president, mirvine@xmission.comCraig Fuller, secretary, cfuller@utah.govGar Elison, treasurer, garelison@comcast.net

You have received a ballot for OCTA board of directors — vote and return it —NOW!

Signup for OCTA’s October training session

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maps for documentingtrails both in paper andcomputer-based formats.Instruction also includesuse of Global PositioningSystem (GPS) units fordocumenting the trail loca-tion on maps.

Monitoring is theprocess whereby volun-teers keep track of what ishappening to the trails byperiodic visits and photodocumentation. The train-ing program includes infor-mation on laws and regula-tions that protect historicresources and how they areapplied. Interactions with

both public and private land-owners are examined. Chap-ter-based groups to conducttrail monitoring are defined.

In the field session,the lessons learned in theclassroom are tested in thefield. Students map and clas-sify a trail segment applyingMET techniques and moni-toring plans.

Th e preserva tiontraining program is intendedto provide a basis for chaptermapping, markin g andmonitoring activities. Thefinal aspect of the programis to develop an action planto guide the chapter programthat follows.

Preservation trainingis open to OCTA memberswho are seriously consider-ing involvement in one ofthe three Ms. Participationcan range from home-basedcomputer research to fieldinstallation of markers. It isdesigned to offer some-thing for members of allcapabilities and interests.

If you are interestedand would like to attendplease contact: Brent Reberat 446-0450 Cell: 631-1135Email: b_reber@msn.com orVern Gorzitze at 484-9623Email:vergor@viawest.net

Minutes of the SeptemberCrossroads board meeting

Utah CrossroadsC h a p t e r , O r e g o n -California Trails Associa-tion. Board Meeting Min-utes for 5 September 2006,held in the Board Room,Utah State Historical Soci-ety, 300 South Rio GrandeStreet, Salt Lake City,Utah.President: Brent Reber,Secretary: Craig Fuller,board members present:John Eldridge, Roy Tea,Ma ri e Irvi ne (v ic e -president), Jerry Dunton,Charles Burkhalter.

Brent Reber wel-comed all who were in at-tendance.

Since Craig did nothave a set of the previousboard meeting minutes,

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2007 OCTA ConventionVisit Website at

http://visitscottsbluff.com/OCTA/

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The grand old man of Crossroads,Roy Tea, wins top OCTA award

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eted award.Roy was given the Merrill Mattis

award for outstanding writing in the Over-land Journal for 2006.

The Mattes Award for Excellencein Writing is awarded annually "for theOverland Journal article best representingthe goals, objectives and interests ofOCTA and its members." Articles arejudged on the basis of excellence in writ-ing and research, timeliness, readabilityand topic. As in the past, weight was givento text over illustration, original research

over review of secondary sources, and full-length article over essay. The winner re-ceives a plaque and recognition at the An-nual Convention.

This year’s articles from Volume 23of the Overland Journal were:

Spring 2005“Luke and John, Where Are You? ASearch for the Burial Sites of Luke Hal-loran and John Hargrave,” by Al Mulder“The Limitless Plain: The Great Salt LakeDesert – The Trail Location and the Trialsand Tributions of the Emigrants WhileCrossing This Desert on the Hastings Cut-off” (Part 1) – by Roy Tea“Relics of a Historic Tragedy,” by JimMcClain

Summer 2005“Hasting Cutoff: Bryant’s Trail to SkullValley,” by Rush Spedden“The Limitless Plain: The Great Salt LakeDesert” (Part 2), by Roy Tea

Fall 2005“Kansas Trails, Tall Grass and Trials, asExperienced in the California Gold RushLetters and Diary of James and David LeeCampbell,” by David W. Jackson“Out to Sea on a Prairie Schooner,” byMargaret F. Walker

Winter 2005“The Abbot, Downing & Company’s Fa-mous Thirty Stagecoaches: The WellsFargo & Company Order, October 8,1867,” by Ken Wheeling“Wyoming’s Rivers and the OverlandTrails,” by Keith H. Meldahl“The Covered Wagon Babies’ Club,” byEllen Osborn

Roy was unable to attend the 2006convention in St. Joseph. The award wasaccepted by Vern Gorzitze and presented toRoy by Crossroads President Brent Reberat the annual bar-b-que on Sept. 16th.

Visit website for OCTA’s 2007 ConventionIn Scottsbluff Nebraska

http://visitscottsbluff.com/OCTA/

The 25th Anniversary Convention

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Minutes of Utah Crossroads September board meeting

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there was no review ofthem.

As George Ivorywas unable to attend, BrentReber provided an update ofmembership of the chapter.Four or five new membershave joined Utah Cross-roads.

Robert and LyndiaCarter were absence; JerryDunton and Brent Reberprovided an update for theSeptember 16th barbequeand program at Benson’sMill in Tooele County.Jerry indicated that twochecks of $50.00 each havebeen sent to reserve the millfor the chapter. One checkwill be refunded if the chap-ter cleans up after the bar-beque and meeting. Therewas some concern aboutmosquitoes at the mill and itwas suggested that peopleattending the barbeque pre-pare accordingly. The din-ner will begin promptly at5:45 pm. followed by a lec-ture on the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail. A screen willbe needed for the presenta-tion.

The October fieldtrip was discussed. Brentasked for possibilities. Onewas to visit the “east” endof the Hole-in-the-RockTrail. Jerry indicated that

this was not a good tripnow as it will require someextensive planning, espe-cially the need for the useof 4-wheel drive vehicles.A second possibility wouldbe a day-trip visiting Emi-gration Canyon. Jeff Carl-strom would be the tourguide. Brent volunteeredto contact Jeff to make ar-rangements. Other sugges-tions for future field tripsincluded Fort Bridger toProvo Canyon, Nine MileCanyon and the Domin-quez-Escalante Trail ineastern Utah.

Jerry Dunton re-ported on the newsletter.The upcoming newsletter,which will be e-mailed theweek of September 18, willcontain six or eight pages.Jerry indicated that he isnow mailing only forty orless newsletters. E-mailingthe newsletter is saving thechapter a great deal ofmoney.

Ne w bu si nes s :Brent reported that DavidWelch, preservation officerof OCTA will be holding atwo day training sessions(October 20 and 21) ontrail preservation. The ses-sions will be held in theZephyr room of the UtahState Historical Society.One and half days will be

spent in class and a half-day in the field. Brent en-couraged all board mem-bers and officers of thechapter to attend.

Brent ind ica tedthat election for presidentand vice-president, and theselection of a newslettereditor to replace JerryDunton need to be heldand a nominating commit-tee chosen. Brent reportedthat Lyndia Carter hasagreed to chair the nomi-nating committee.

Roy Tea said thatthe chapter and preserva-tion officer needs somemore carsonite posts toplace on the various trails.He indicated that fiftywould be needed. Severalposts need to be replacedas they have been de-stroyed. Brent said hewould find out where theposts can be purchasedand the cost. It is believedthat a cost-share grantfrom the National ParkService may help in thepurchase of the posts.

Ro y Te a andCharles Burkhalter dis-cussed the idea of publish-ing a “Kiosk and Rail PostMarkers: Marking Emi-grant Trails in Utah andfeeder trails from Idaho &Wyoming” book. It is a

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Minutes of September meeting of Crossroads directors

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collection of all semi-permanent trail markers,placed by the CrossroadsChapter of OCTA in andabout Utah, Idaho, andWyoming. The book doesnot include carsoni temarkers nor how to driveto information. It does in-clude GPS coordinates ofthe markers and a recordof them. According toCharlie, the OCTA placedmarkers fall under the Ar-chaeo logical ResourcesProtection Act (ARPA) of1979. This resulted in alengthy discussion aboutwhether such a bookshould be published assome sites are on privateproperty and the BLM Of-fice is not particularlywarm to the idea. Craigraised the question aboutthe philosophy of conser-vation vs. use (education)of historic trails by UtahCrossroads and OCTA.

Marking the trailand publishing maps, de-scription, and location ofsites can draw attention totrails, yet it also draws at-tention to those who shootup markers and destroyother items associated withhistoric trails. Roy andCharles were concernedthat the detailed informa-

tion they and others havegathered over many yearsof work on historic trailsshould not be lost. Suchinformation should bemade available, perhapsplacing the information,photographs, and otherdata in research facilitiessuch as special collectionlibraries and state histori-cal societies.

Charlie also saidthe Kaysville Kiosk hadbeen moved..

Meeting adjournedat 5:10 pm.

YOU HAVETHE

BALLOTFROMOCTA

VOTENOWAND

RETURNIT

NOW!

OCTA, Elderhostel offering 2 trail adventures in 2007

OCTA is onceagain partnering withElderhostel to offer 15-daytours along the OregonTrail from the trail's headin Independence, Missourito the trail's end in OregonCity, Oregon, a total tripof about 2,000 miles.

Elderhostel handlesall of your travel, hotel,and meal arrangements.The tour bus you travel onhas tour guides who willtake you to dozens of his-toric sites and explain the

history along the way.Two treks set next

summer, one beginning on13 June and the other on 15August. Elderhostel can becontacted directly for moreinformation by emailingBill Breshears at william.breshears@elderhoste l.organd you can visit theirw e b s i t e a t w w w .elderhostel.org.

A one-year freemembership to Oregon-California Trails Associa-tion is part of the package.More information on mem-bership is available on ourwebsite at http://www.octa-trail s.org/j oin_o cta .html.

Vote for OCTA’s boardOf directors andReturn you ballot

NOW!

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Carsonite markersPlaced, replascedAcross Skull Valley

On June 3rd withour work party -- consist-ing of Maurice Johnson,Reed Wahlquist, CharlieBurkhalter, Allen Heaps,Victor Heath and myself –met at 8 a.m. at 300 Westand 2100 South. Weclimbed into two trucksand proceeded to HopeWells.

We followed thetrai l and placed the‘Hasting Cutoff NationalTrail’ Carsonite markers atvarious one mile and halfmile intervals and in placeswhere it was hard to findthe trail because of thelarge sagebrush. We placednine markers before wecame to the section linefence the drove around the

fence and placed anothermarker southeast of themarker near the bend in theroad leading to RedlumSpring. We placed one inthe ruts on the north side ofroad part way to the springand replaced a missingmarker by the road as thetrail starts up the hogs backto the summit.

We drove over

Hastings’ Pass, which isnow a Wilderness Area, tothe west side of the CedarMountains. And place an-other marker in the ruts onthe south side of the roadeast of the burn plant. Af-ter placing 13 carsonitemarkers, work was com-plete and we headedhome. – Roy Tea

Kaysville kiosk moved

A Salt Lake Cutoffmarker was place on athru street in Kays-ville. Later the streetwas closed makingdifficult to find the ki-osk. Now it has beenmoved 220 feet to thewestside of SunsetDrive allowing it to beseen by passersby.

Photos by Charles Burkhalter

Kiosk was to left of truck, off theside of road in the trees

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James Clyman’s graveJames Clyman, mountain man, guide is buried in Tulocay Cementery inNapa,Calif. Clyman guided Lansford W. Hastings eastward in 1846that led the way to the opening of the Hastings Cutoff. Later at FortLaramie he met James Frazer Reed who he had served with in theBlackhawk War in Illinois. Clyman warned Reed not to take Hastingsroute, but, of course, Reed ignored the warning. Clyman was born in1792 and died in 1881.

Copied from the originalAugust 16, 2006

Oregon California Trails Association524 South Osage StreetP.O. Box 1019Independence, MO 64051-0519

Dear OCTA President,

Many thanks to you and the other members of the Oregon-CaliforniaTrails Association, who worked on our “Oregon Trail in the Blues”Passport in Time volunteer project during the week of June 24-30,2006. Your contributions and commintment to scientifically identi-fying and document the trail through the Wallowa-Whittman Na-tional Forest in the Hilgard and Pelican Creek areas is truly appreci-ated. This work has added immeasurably to our knowledge and database of cultural resources associated with the Trail on our Forest, andwill be utilized in planning future projects such as logging, roadbuilding, or other projects with the Trail corridor.

In these times of sporadic support for heritage projects, you enthusi-astic and knowledge based volunteerism is even more appreciated asit provides for the ongoing preservation of our shared national heri-tage related to the story of western expansion. Thank you again foryour support.Sincerely,

s/Steven A. EllisSteven A. EllisForest SupervisorWallowa-Whittman National Forest

Need hotel reservations?Try OCTA, save money

A hotel registrationsystem can be used by OCTAmembers and others toreceive substantial discountsand at the same time helpingout OCTA.

OCTA has receivedtheir first check for hostingthe online hotel registrationsystem. Be sure to rememberto book your rooms online atwww.octa-trails.org and saveyourself up to 15% per book-ing. The link is on the home-page and in the "links" sec-tion. OCTA receives 6% ofeach booking plus a $3 book-ing fee. It does have a posi-tive impact on OCTA's reve-nues and does save youmoney.

Committee opens searchFor Board Candidates

In December therewill be an election for newofficers and members ofthe board of directors forUtah Crossroads ChapterThe need is critical and weurge every member to of-fer their talents and time.

If you are inter-ested in serving, pleasecontact Lyndia and RobertCarter expressing your in-terest. Lyndia and Robertcan be reached by phone801-489-8256.

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Brent Reber , standing, wel-comes Crossroads membersand guets to a sunny, but coldafternoon to chapter’s fallbamquest at Benson’s Mill

The group lined up for a greatdinner provided by Meiers’sChicken. The weather was coldand everyone was dressed forthe event, and the food was hotand delicious.

A. Oscar Olson educated thegroup with talk and slides on theHole-in-the-Rock Expedition of1879 and ‘80 in Southern Utah.

Benson’s Mill in Tooele offeredand great setting the outingeven with cold weather.