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Hold the Date - 2012 Conference in Richfield, Utah!

The next OSTA conference will be held in Richfield, Utah on June 14-17, 2012 located along the main route of the Old Spanish Trail.

The conference is in the planning stages and detailed information will be made available at a later date.

Upcoming 2011 Trail Stewardship Workshops

OSTA is pleased to announce additional Trail Stewardship training in Montrose, Colorado on September 30/October 1st and Richfield, Utah on October 21/22. Contact the OSTA Association Manager for additional details.

Obituary for James Byrkit

Arizona native and prominent Southwest historian James Ward Byrkit passed away September 25. He was 80 years old. Born in Jerome, Arizona on June 17, 1931, Jim was raised in Clarkdale. He joined the US Army in 1949 and served during the Korean War. He earned his PhD in American Economic and Social History from Claremont Graduate University. A Professor Emeritus of Interdisciplinary Studies at Northern Arizona University, he taught at NAU from 1973 to 1996.

Jim researched and wrote extensively about Southwest topics including ancient trails, Spanish and early pioneer explorers, Native American studies, environmental issues in the Verde Valley, and Arizona mining and labor history. He wrote the widely respected "Forging the Copper Collar" in 1982, a comprehensive account of the Bisbee Deportation, and edited "Letters from the Southwest" by Charles Lummis. He collected historical maps and contributed original cartography to a number of published research works.

Jim was an expert on Arizona history and authored the entry for "Arizona" in the 1990 and 2000 editions of Encyclopedia Britannica. After retiring from NAU he continued to give over 300 original media and oral presentations on subjects ranging from the Palatkwapi Trail, to the Lost Apache Gold Mine, to birds in Arizona's Oak Creek-Sedona area. Among many honors throughout his life, the Arizona Humanities Council recognized him for his lifetime achievement in Southwestern scholarship.

In 2005, Jim authored an article for Spanish Traces entitled "The Roads not Taken Via the Courses of Least Resistance from New Mexico to California: The 1775-1776 Letters of Fr. Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and Fr. Francisco Garcés".

Arizona Trail Association seeking Executive Director

The Arizona Trail Association (ATA) is seeking an Executive Director, due to the upcoming retirement of the current Executive Director at the end of the year.

The ATA is a vibrant membership non-profit organization that builds, maintains, promote, protect and sustain the Arizona Trail. The Executive Director's primary responsibilities include fund raising and revenue production programs, membership recruitment and retention, and administration of the organization. Day-to-day trail responsibilities are carried out by a Trail Director who reports to the Executive Director. The Director reports to a Board.

We are seeking someone with strong management, outreach and fund raising skills. The individual should have the willingness to perform the wide variety of tasks that a small organization imposes. Outdoor recreation background is desirable. Please see the attached job announcement for additional details. Applications will be accepted through November 5, 2011 at ATABoardPresident@ata.org.

The San Gabriel Mission celebrates 240 years of religion, culture and turmoil

SAN GABRIEL - Richard Gilbert walked in to Mission San Gabriel Archangel on a hot Wednesday afternoon and he felt the touch of God.

"I feel more connected to God here than at any church," the visiting Chicago resident said. "I'm not sure what it is. You just feel closer to God in a mission. Maybe it's all the history."

The settlement is indeed full of history, said Chuck Lyons, a spokesman for the mission. It's a diary chronicling the birth, growth and turmoil of California, the Los Angeles basin and the San Gabriel Valley.

The mission will mark its 240th anniversary over the Labor Day weekend with La Fiesta de San Gabriel.

The mission was designed by Father Antonio Cruzado and named after the archangel Gabriel, the patron saint of earthquakes. Cruzado was originally from Cordova, Spain and built much of the mission with a Moorish influence, Lyons pointed out.

Its bell tower and outside stairway are different from the other missions, as is its construction from stone, brick and mortar instead of adobe. The mission also featured large wooden doors made from California redwoods, which are on display near the mission's museum.

"I believe we have more historical artifacts than any other mission," Lyons said. "Many are in need of restoration, but they are priceless, like family heirlooms of the San Gabriel Valley's history.

Read the full article.

360 Degree View of Fish Lake Cutoff Interpretation Displays

Explore the new Fish Lake Cutoff display in glorious 360 degree fashion. Use the zoom keys to read the interpretive display contents.

The Fishlake National Forest in Utah has been working to mark the general route of a portion of the Old Spanish Trail known as the Fish Lake Cut-off that crosses public lands administered by the Forest Service. Visitors at the site are able to read about John C. Charles Fremont, Capt. John Gunnison, Kit Carson, Lt. George Brewerton and the Ute Chief, Walkara.  Silhouette, life-sized pack trains can be found at the Johnson Valley and Doctor Creek interpretive panels.

Old Spanish Trail and Gunnison River Report

Mesa County, Colorado in partnership with various public and private organizations, has developed this plan to recognize, promote and protect the Old Spanish Trail and Gunnison River Bluffs Trail (the Sister Trails) area by:
• Developing a vision and goals for the area;
• Identifying, surveying and recording trail alignments through the area;
• Identifying trail standards to be used for construction and maintenance;
• Identifying signing standards;
• Identifying funding sources for trail and trailhead development and enhancements;
• Developing a Community Engagement Strategy; and
• Promoting long-term stewardship.

Location

The Sister Trails area includes approximately 3,000 acres of bluffs and desert land along the Gunnison River immediately south of Orchard Mesa and north of Whitewater, Colorado where the Old Spanish Trail (northern branch) and historic wagon roads traverse the area.

Read the full report.

OSTA Member John Hockaday Featured in San Bernardino County News Article

Little did John Hockaday realize buying land and building a house on Lytle Creek Road 40 years ago would lead him to research the Spanish Trail and other landmark trails in the area. He recently presented his information to the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society.

Hockaday said a local, Grandpa Gretchel, told him about an old wagon road, and soon Hockaday found that the Spanish Trail, Mojave Indian Trail and the Los Angeles to Cajon wagon road all went through his property.

He said that Ute legend tells of a trade route from Utah to the California coast, used for thousands of years. The Mojave Indians were master traders from their villages near Needles. The Ute trade route joined the Mojave Trail and followed the Mojave River to near today's Silverwood Lake.

Read the full article.

Mountain Meadows Named National Historic Landmark

In June 2011, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the Mountain Meadows Massacre Site in Washington County in southwestern Utah as an a new National Historic Landmark. This meadow was the site on September 11, 1857, where 120 emigrants, most of them from Arkansas, were massacred by Mormon militiamen. It is a discontiguous district made up of two parcels, capturing two known locations of the events that occurred from September 7-11, 1857, and later burial, commemoration, and memorialization efforts that continue to the present.

The two parcels include approximately 760 acres of the existing approximately 3,000-acre National Register of Historic Places historic district listed in 1975. The landscape remains remarkably intact with an encircling range of mountains confining an upland valley covered with native vegetation, primarily sage and short grass. Much of the Mountain Meadows is used as pasture and range lands.

Visible on the landscape is the trace of the California Trail/Old Spanish Trail. The natural features of the landscape are largely unchanged, providing extraordinary integrity of location, setting, association, and feeling.

Historically Mountain Meadows provided fresh water and good pasture for travelers passing southwest to California. It became a rest stop for man and beast, a place to replenish before entering upon the unforgiving deserts of southern Nevada and California. According to historical accounts, the 19th-century landscape of Mountain Meadows was much more lush than today, with grasslands dominating, and less deeply eroded with ravines and gullies.

John C. Frémont, passing through the Mountain Meadows in 1844, described the high valley as “an extensive mountain meadow, rich in bunch grass, and fresh with numerous springs of clear water, all refreshing and delightful to look upon.”

Read the National Register of Historic Place Nomination.

History Czar! Internet Podcast Features the Old Spanish Trail

The Old Spanish Trail as told by Liz Warren and Ashley Hall was featured on History Czar! Internet radio. The History Czar interviews leading experts in history and is an educational service providing information in an engaging format by hosts who love the subject.

Old Spanish Trail Podcast

Note: Depending on your internet connection you may have to wait a minute or two for the podcast to begin. Be patient.

Old Spanish Trail Featured on NPR Earth Notes

Listen to a KNAU Earth Notes broadcast featuring the Old Spanish Trail and the recent program to train OSTA Trail Stewards.

EARTH NOTES

Back Issues of Spanish Traces Available On-Line

The complete library of Spanish Traces front covers and a sampling of free issues for download are available HERE.

Antonio Armijo's 1830 Diary

The Old Spanish Trail linking Santa Fe, NM to the San Gabriel Mission in California was officially opened in 1829/1830 by Mexican trader Antonia Armijo.

Read his official June 19, 1830 government report here.

In Search of Dominguez & Escalante Photographing the 1776 Spanish Expedition through the Southwest

Mac Gregor, Greg and Halus, Siegfried

Foreword by Frances Levine
Essay by Joseph P. Sánchez

More than two hundred years after the fabled Dominguez and Escalante expedition, Greg Mac Gregor and Siegfried Halus have created a remarkable visual record of the expedition. Using Escalante’s journal as their guide, the photographers followed the expeditionary route, circling through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona, and documenting the frontier as first witnessed by the Spanish explorers on horseback.

Quoting widely from Escalante’s journal, the authors present first hand accounts of the expedition alongside their photographic narrative. Essays by the photographers discuss their methodology and experiences as modern day explorers retracing the steps of the friars. In his historical essay, Joseph P. Sánchez writes about the lasting legacy of the Spanish expedition.

To order this book, visit the Old Spanish Trail Retail Store

Exploring Desert Stone: John N. Macomb's 1859 Expedition to the Canyonlands of the Colorado

Exploring Desert Stone: John N. Macomb's 1859 Expedition to the Canyonlands of the Colorado Steven K. Madsen Madsen’s work provides the first detailed investigation of the 1859 Macomb Expedition into western Colorado and the canyon country of Utah. Beyond his first-rate analysis, Madsen presents the most important elements of the venture’s documentary record, making this fascinating study and significant contribution to our understanding of the Southwest also a valuable resource for anyone who loves the American West. The book contains many references to the Old Spanish Trail (eastern portion--NM, CO, UT). The mapping and scientific group followed the Main Branch of the Old Spanish Trail going out and part of the Armijo Route coming back to Santa Fe. Macomb's beautiful map in the back pocket shows several post-1848 expedition routes, in addition to Macomb's. Mr. Madsen's text is masterfully written. His inclusion of diaries of two Macomb scientists provides reinforcement of Madsen's summary. Some superb drawings of trail features are matched to recent photos. 288 pages To order this book, visit the Old Spanish Trail Retail Store

Announcing "American Journey" CD

Original music and arrangements by American composers American Journey by Steven Sharp Nelson & Marshall McDonald and featuring the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Xun Sun, conductor. Includes the Old Spanish Suite: Sunrise, Rainstorm, March, and Celebration and four other musical selections. To order this CD, visit the Old Spanish Trail Retail Store

OSTA's Interactive Travel and Adventure Map

Our interactive map can help you plan your next travel adventure and enjoy a sampling of sites along the trail.

Old Spanish Trail Slideshow Video

Experience images of the Old Spanish Trail with original music from the Old Spanish Trail Suite (arrangements by American composers Steven Nelson & Marshall McDonald).

NEW! - Old Spanish Trail YouTube Video

Spanish Trail Suite - Video and Music DVD