The Oregon-California Trails Association is an

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

organization based at

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. OCTA is dedicated to the preservation and protection of overland emigrant trails and the emigrant experience. OCTA Chapters work closely with

National Trails System The National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nati ...

partners to help interpret and sustain the quality of outdoor recreation experiences along these trail corridors. For example, OCTA's guide to ''Mapping Emigrant Trails'' (MET Manual

became the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

's benchmark protocol for

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

-assisted

topographical map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historic ...

ping along other historic and scenic trails. Three major historical trails crossed America's western territories as wagon train routes to Santa Fe, Oregon, and California. The

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...

began in 1821 as a foreign trade route to

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. It was unique in

American History The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

due to its overland commerce routes rather than seafaring transportation. The

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

became more heavily traveled in 1843 by settlers wanting to establish new homes in the northwest. Other pioneers forked off on the equally long and grueling

California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

to seek their fortunes in the gold fields. The association succeeded the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, founded by pioneer

Ezra Meeker Ezra Morgan Meeker (December 29, 1830December 3, 1928) was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail by ox-drawn wagon as a young man, migrating from Iowa to the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. Later in life he worked to ...

in 1922 as the Old Oregon Trail Association to memorialize those who traveled to the U.S. West Coast via the

. The group was incorporated in New York in early 1926. The organization is best known for promoting the

Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar The Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar was a fifty-cent piece struck intermittently by the United States Bureau of the Mint between 1926 and 1939. The coin was designed by Laura Gardin Fraser and James Earle Fraser, and commemorates those wh ...

. It was succeeded by the American Pioneer Trails Association (APTA) in 1940. Oregon-California Trails Association is considered a successor to OTMA.

References

External links

OCTA web site

Partnership for the National Trails System web site

OCTA The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for ...

Historic trails and roads in the United States

Organizations based in Missouri Trails and roads in the American Old West {{US-protected-area-stub

See also

References

External links