‘:. OIGoN HIsToRIc TPms REPORT I ii Presented by the Oregon Trails Coordinating Council May, 1998 h I Oregon Historic Trails Report Table of Contents . Executive summary 1 Project history 3 Introduction to Oregon’s Historic Trails 7 C Oregon’s National Historic Trails 11 C Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail 13 Oregon National Historic Trail 27 Applegate National Historic Trail 47 a Nez Perce National Historic Trail 63 C Oregon’s Historic Trails 75 Kiamath Trail, 19th Century 77 o Jedediah Smith Route, 1828 87 Nathaniel Wyeth Route, 1832/1834 99 C Benjamin Bonneville Route, 1833/1834 115 o Ewing Young Route, 1834/1837 129 Whitman Mission Route, 1841-1847 141 c Upper Columbia River Route, 1841-1851 167 John Fremont Route, 1843 183 o Meek Cutoff, 1845 199 o Cutoff to the Barlow Road, 1848-1884 217 Free Emigrant Road, 1853 225 o Santiam Wagon Road, 1865-1939 233 C General recommendations 241 Product development guidelines 243 Acknowledgements 247 4Xt C’ Executive summary C The Board of Directors and staff of the Oregon Trails Coordinating Council present the Oregon Historic Trails Report, the first step in the development of a statewide Oregon Historic C Trails Program. The Oregon Historic Trails Report is a general guide and planning document that will help future efforts to develop historic trail resources in Oregon. o The objective of the Oregon Historic Trails Program is to establish Oregon as the nation’s leader in developing historic trails for their educational, recreational, and economic values. The Oregon Historic Trails Program, when fully implemented, will help preserve and leverage C existing heritage resources while promoting rural economic development and growth through C heritage tourism. c; The opportunity to realize these benefits will depend on the entities that have the authority to act and collaborate on the program’s behalf: land management agencies, government commissions, heritage organizations, and tourism associations. The Council recommends that 0 these entities move forward with the Oregon Historic Trails Program. C Oregon’s historic trails represent the transformation of the American West and are o essential to understanding Oregon’s history. The sixteen trails described in this report combine to tell a story, beginning before whites arrived and continuing through the Nez Perce War of 1877. Together they present an interwoven account of native peoples, explorers, and settlers brought o into contact by their movements through a shared landscape. The outcomes of their travels and C activities shaped the place we live today. They shaped Oregon. The Council challenges organizations and communities along Oregon’s historic trails to adopt these recommendations, preserving and developing resources as appropriate, and continuing the work initiated by this report. C Jim Renner, Executive Director C Oregon Trails Coordinating Council C C C C C C -1- C C Project history Project history The Oregon Trail Advisory Council was formed in 1984 by executive order of Governor Victor Atiyeh. The Advisory Council was responsible for evaluating the condition of the Oregon o Trail and reporting on its condition to the Governor. The Advisory Council’s 1988 Our Oregon C Trail: A Report to the Governor, provided a detailed analysis of Oregon Trail remnants in the state; political and private concerns surrounding the Oregon Trail; and the Trail’s preservation and development. The Oregon Trail Advisory Council made a series of recomniendations for the Oregon Trail that served as a mandate for the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council. C In December 1990, Governor Barbara Roberts, responding to the Oregon Trail Advisory C Council’s report, supported the founding of the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council as an independent non-profit corporation. Governor Roberts called for the Council to plan activities for the Sesquicentennial celebration and coordinate G to the development of four interpretive centers planned for Baker City, on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, in The Dalles, and in C Oregon City. The Council’s mission was to develop the Oregon Trail as a major historical C attraction and tourism opportunity that would result in positive economic and cultural impacts o for the State. The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center on Flagstaff Hill near Baker City opened to record attendance in May 1992. The Council anticipated that it would dissolve at the end of the Sesquicentennial o commemoration. The year-long series of events and activities heightened awareness of and C interest in Oregon’s heritage resources. The development of capital projects complemented by o marketing and educational outreach activities provided economic and cultural benefits to the r communities along the route of the Oregon Trail. The success of the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council’s programs and the continued support of the State of Oregon encouraged the Council’s C board of directors to consider recognition of Oregon’s other historic trails. The Council o postponed its dissolution until at least 1995. The 1993 Oregon Legislature provided additional funding support for the completion of o three Oregon Trail interpretive C centers at Oregon City, The Dalles, and the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The Legislature allocated $2,000,000 in Oregon Lottery funding to be administered through the Council’s matching grant program. Based on a formula of need and the amount of o federal funding coming to each project, $500,000 was distributed to the End of the Oregon Trail o Center in Oregon City; $500,000 was distributed to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in r The Dalles; and $1,000,000 was distributed to the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. C During the 1993 Legislative session, the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council received a Q new and broader mandate: to work toward the interpretive development of Oregon’s other o national historic trails (the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Applegate Trail, and the Nez Perce Trail), in addition to the Oregon Trail. This mandate came with the passage of Senate Bill 98 authorizing the creation and sale of an Oregon Trail commemorative license plate through the C end of December, 1995. For every Oregon Trail license plate sold, a $2.50 surcharge was C C C C C a 0 C “transferred to the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council for the purpose of developing interpretive C facilities along national historic trails in Oregon.” The Council responded to this mandate by initiating a matching grant program available to qualified organizations developing projects such 1 as interpretive waysides, staffed interpretive centers, and interpretive trails. License plate sales c through December 1995 provided $1,000,000 for interpretive facility projects. These funds were 0 distributed through the Council’s matching grant program with $250,000 going to each of the 0 four national historic trails. In 1995, the Oregon Legislature voted to extend the Oregon Trail a commemorative license plate program through December 1999, providing a four year extension for the Council’s work. The Assembly also passed House Joint Memorial 6 proclaiming 1995 as C) the Year of the Meek Cutoff Trail to honor the sesquicentennial of its first crossing. 0 The 1995 bill which had the greatest impact on the Council was House Bill 2966, the 0 Oregon Historic Trails Bill, which recognized sixteen historic trails in Oregon and provided an a opportunity for the Council and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to work together on the development of a statewide historic trails program. c HOUSE BILL 2966 C Relating to historic trails. Q Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon: SECTION 1. Oregon recognizes the value and significance of its historic trails, including: (1) The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail; 0 (2) The Oregon National Historic Trail; 0 (3) The Applegate National Historic Trail; (4) The Nez Perce National Historic Trail; (5) Alternate routes of the Oregon Trail including: (a) The Whitman Mission Route; 0 (b) The Upper Columbia River Route; 0 (c) The Meek Cutoff; Q (d) The Free Emigrant Road; and (e) The Cutoff to the Barlow Road; and (6) Major historic trails of Oregon including: 0 (a) The Klamath Trail; 0 (b) The Jedediah Smith Route; C (c) The Nathaniel Wyeth Route; (d) The Benjamin Bonneville Route; (e) The Ewing Young Route; C; (f) The John Fremont Route; and 0 (g) The Santiam Wagon Road. C SECTION 2. In preparation for the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition, the State Parks and Recreation Department may: (1) Work with property owners to mark the historic trails of Oregon; and 0 (2) Cooperate with the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council to develop a statewide () program to research, recognize and promote Oregon’s historic trails as heritage tourism C resources that will have a positive economic and cultural impact on the state. C C C C C __ C 0 C O Project history a With the four-year extension of the Oregon Trail license plate program and the passage of the Oregon Historic Trails Bill, the Council elected to continue operating beyond 1995 and to 0 remain an independent organization maintaining direct oversight of its funds. The Council’s O mission broadened to include the sixteen trails named in the Oregon Historic Trails Bill and the o Council also adopted a d.b.a. name--the Oregon Trails Coordinating Council--to reflect its interest in historic trails statewide. The Council entered into a cooperative agreement with the Oregon Parks and Recreation o Department to facilitate development of the statewide historic trails program described in the O Oregon Historic Trails Bill. The agreement enabled the Council to work closely with State Parks by transferring its operations to the Parks headquarters office in Salem. In exchange for office o space, the Council agreed to develop the statewide historic trails program.