Update September 2018 Colorado/Cherokee Trail Chapter News and Events Welcome New and Returning Members Bill and Sally Burr Jack and Jody Lawson Emerson and Pamela Shipe John and Susie Winner . Chapter Members Attending the 2018 Ogden, Utah Convention L-R: Gary and Ginny Dissette, Bruce and Peggy Watson, Camille Bradford, Kent Scribner, Jane Vander Brook, Chuck Hornbuckle, Lynn and Mark Voth. Photo by Roger Blair. Preserving the Historic Road Conference September 13-16 Preserving the Historic Road is the leading international conference dedicated to the identification, preservation and management of historic roads. The 2018 Conference will be held in historic downtown Fort Collins and will celebrate twenty years of advocacy for historic roads and look to the future of this important heritage movement that began in 1998 with the first conference in Los Angeles. The 2018 conference promises to be an exceptional venue for robust discussions and debates on the future of historic roads in the United States and around the globe. Don't miss important educational sessions showcasing how the preservation of historic roads contributes to the economic, transportation, recreational, and cultural needs of your community. The planning committee for Preserving the Historic Road 2018 has issued a formal Call for Papers for presentations at the September 13-16, 2018 conference. Interested professionals, academics and advocates are encouraged to submit paper abstracts for review and consideration by the planning committee. The planning committee is seeking paper abstracts that showcase a number of issues related to the historic road and road systems such as: future directions and approaches for the identification, preservation and management of historic roads to identify priorities for the next twenty years of research, advocacy and action. Historic and scenic roads as elements of sustainable design and environmental stewardship, or as resources to mitigate the effects of climate change, Historic and scenic roads as mechanisms for community advocacy and economic development, Practical and successful examples of historic road inventories, safety innovations, preservation policy, transportation policy, pavement and materials science, highway maintenance, technical conservation methods, and risk analysis for historic roads, Historic road structures and systems, roadside architecture, cultural landscapes, viewshed management, rural roads conservation and suburban sprawl issues, Recent past topics, such as the US Interstate System, and the impact of road development on culture, race, travel, land planning and the economy in the second half of the twentieth century, Historic and scenic roads as instruments of tourism development, interpretation, and road history, Thematic interpretations of the historic road or of road culture as seen from alternate disciplines (American Studies, Cultural Geography, Native American Studies, etc.), Colorado specific examples of any of the topics presented above, and International examples of any of the topics presented above. Further information on Abstract submission guidelines can be found by going to the official conference website at: http://www.historicroads.org/ or by going to their Facebook page Preserving Historic Roads. A fascinating Event if you can make it: On September 17, 1868 a large group of Cheyenne, Arapaho and Lakota warriors attacked 50 United States Army volunteer scouts, under the command of Major George A. Forsyth and Lieutenant Frederick H. Beecher, on the Arickaree River about 18 miles southeast of Wray. The Army scouts were in search of a band of Natives believed to have raided a freight train in Kansas. When attacked, the scouts retreated to a sandbar in the middle of the Arickaree River, and concealed themselves behind the bodies of their horses. Major Forsyth dispatched scouts to walk the 75 miles to Fort Wallace, Kansas for reinforcements; four of those scouts made it to Fort Wallace on the 22nd and 23rd. Carpenter Company H and I "Buffalo Soldiers" under the command of Colonel Henry Bankhead Carpenter arrived at the battle site on the morning of September 25 to the relief of the besieged scouts. Major Forsyth named the sandbar “Beecher’s Island” in honor of Lieutenant Beecher, who died during the attack. Three other Army scouts died during the battle, and two more died later from wounds sustained at the fight; another 20 scouts were wounded. The number of Native American casualties is in dispute, but a noted Cheyenne warrior known as “Roman Nose” almost certainly died at the battle. In 1898, thirty years after the battle, three surviving members of Forsyth’s scout band came back to Beecher Island to locate the battle site, and erected a sandstone marker memorializing the battle. The next year the local chapters of the Grand Army of the Republic organized the Beecher Island Park and Memorial Association (later the Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association). The Association has held September reunions since 1899. All the events and activities being held to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Beecher Island, the Grand Reunion of Forsyth Scouts, and the 119th Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association Reunion taking place across the great states of Kansas and Colorado are contained in this Official Program . Below is a schedule of events and for the most current updates of events follow on Facebook: The Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association or The Grand Reunion of Forsyth Scouts . There is an very interesting article about this battle in the most recent issue of Colorado Life available in most Colorado Bookstores. Also in the same edition is a nice write up on Fort Lupton featured at our 2009 OCTA Convention. ...and while I'm on the Colorado Life Magazine, it might be nice for a volunteer to step up and do a piece for these guys on the Cherokee Trail celebra ting the 150 anniversary of the National Historic and Scenic Trail of the US. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 119th Beecher Island Reunion Schedule of Events Black Powder Shoot Flyer Beecher Island BBQ Cook Off Flyer Costume Contest Flyer Tons of more info can be found at the Historic Roads websit e History of the Cherokee Trail (part 2) Not everyone in the Cherokee Nation viewed the gold rush with the same enthusiasm. By the late spring of 1850 many leaders in the Cherokee Tribe became alarmed at the large numbers of men and even females leaving for the gold fields. An article written on March 19, 1849(1), in the Cherokee Advocate, describes California as land without law or government. On Monday June 10, 1850, The Cherokee Advocate published an article warning about the gold fever. The paper lamented the loss of tribal members taken from their homes by the lure of fame and fortune. The editor of the Advocate wrote: "In this universal rising his majesty tul-lo-ni-ca [Cherokee for yellow] has driven numerous Cherokees into the chase, and it is to them too gold for riches at once, and through the journey of life repose in golden dreams" (Cherokee Advocate June 10,1850:2). In this statement the editor was revealing Cherokee attitudes towards gold and wealth in general. The Cherokee were seeking their dreams like all other westward bound gold seekers. Their dream was achieving security so they could rest peacefully seeking harmony with their world. So powerful was this dream of gold to the Cherokee that "it is confessedly the strongest tempter that we have any idea of." "The Cherokees," the editor went on to write, to California "have gone male and female to join in this golden scramble, with families behind, in some measure to take care of themselves, on a mission of four to five years, effecting and demolishing our settled pursuits, plunging hundreds into utter ruin, and depopulating our community" (Cherokee Advocate, June 10,1850:2). The editor perceived the migration of Cherokees from the reservation to California as damaging to tribal stability. In his column on the gold rush he called "for the wisest counsels of our leaders in order to check in some measure this mania that is so much distempering our regular occupations." In a plea for reason the editor added, "I assure our friends with the best feelings for their welfare, that this California gold, although, admitted to be as plenty as dirt, will be their ruin, in nine hundred cases of a thousand" (Cherokee Advocate, June 10,1850:2). In spite of the misgivings by some of the Cherokees who remained in the Indian Territories, westward bound gold seekers continued to leave the nation. A record of events on the progress of a party traveling on the Santa Fe Trail, was submitted on a regular basis to the Cherokee Advocate. One such article was actually a letter written to the Advocate by O.W. Lipe. This letter covered almost a full page in the May 27th, 1849, Advocate. Lipe mentioned the problems encountered on the trail, such as which route could be traveled with the greatest ease and success (Cherokee Advocate, May 27,1849:2). Even though the party is able to make good time on the trail they were often detained by the loss of cattle and had to wait for the return of the men who went in search of them. The author of this article also discusses the worry and tension the party experienced due to accidents and the low food supply. In his letter to the Advocate the traveler noted he felt very fortunate that he had not encountered any serious accidents but had a close call with misfortune when he fell from his horse. As the result of the fall he suffered only a sore mouth but at the time of writing this letter he had recuperated within a couple of days as his appetite had returned (Cherokee Advocate, May 27,1849:2). Cooking on the trail is also mentioned in Lipe's letter as the author boasts of his "Baking Biscuits." He also considers the cows to be valuable as they have supplied the train with a "good quantity of milk" and are easy to keep within certain boundaries.