Donate to OCTA Trails Head Chapter

An American legacy is at risk. The historic trails trod by half a million pioneers, gold rushers, adventurers, families—people in pursuit of a better life in the West—are under constant threat from development, including energy-related projects. Many miles of wagon ruts and swales still exist in silent testimony to those hardy souls who built the nation as we know it today.

YOU CAN HELP by supporting the preservation work of the Oregon-California Trails Association, on behalf of the Oregon and California National Historic Trails.

Join National OCTA first as required and then join the Trails Head Chapter to participate in trail preservation activities. The Emigrant level is the basic National membership for individuals at only $50 yearly. Click the link to join the Trails Head Chapter after joining National OCTA. Trails Head Chapter membership is only $10 yearly.

As an Emigrant member, you will receive the Overland Journal, OCTA’s quarterly scholarly journal and News From The Plains, OCTA’s quarterly newsletter. You will receive a 5% discount on books and merchandise from the OCTA online store and catalog. You are also eligible for one vote in OCTA’s annual election, and you will be invited to OCTA annual conventions and symposia.

As at all levels of membership, you have the opportunity to join a local OCTA chapter, and you will have access to a members-only section of OCTA’s website (www.octa-trails.org and octa-journals.org). All memberships in OCTA give many opportunities to participate in events, traveling the trails, and preservation activities across the nation. Trails Head Chapter members are most involved in Kansas and Missouri activities, events and preservation. Receive Member Benefits and help us Save the Trail.

• Donate to the Save the Trail cause. The Oregon-California Trails Association is a 501(c)(3) organization. Our non-profit ID is 84-0962140. Our office is located at 524 South Osage St., Independence, MO 64050.

• Your donation will help fund important trail preservation work. You can send a check or make a secure online donation by clicking the donate button below. A tax receipt letter will be provided.

• Donate to OCTA Specialty Funds for Endowment, Preservation and Legal Defense.

• Establish a memorial. Funds set up as a remembrance for a family member or friend can further their trails interest in perpetuity. Memorial contributions to OCTA can be sent directly to OCTA headquarters or through the Network for Good. To post a new obituary, contact webeditor@octa-trails.org.

• Join OCTA. Learn about all the opportunities to participate in trail preservation activities.

• Keep in touch. If joining isn’t your cup of tea, and you’d just like to keep up with what’s happening with the trails through an occasional newsletter, Contact Us to tell us a little about yourself.

Diary Excerpt from the Trail

Anna Maria Goodell 1854 May 2 “May 2nd. Have just got off the bar [sand/gravel]. It is a beautiful morning. We stoped [sic] at Ft. Leavenworth and about 40 Mormons left the boat. This afternoon stopped at Weston. Saw a great many wagons and oxen and horses ready to start to California and Oregon.”

*****The Goodell family, headed to Oregon in an organized company, had traveled by railroad and steamboat from Detroit, Michigan via Chicago to St. Louis and had continued on steamer until switching to wagon. Source: “Vermillion Wagon Train Diaries, 1854: Anna Maria Goddell [sic] & Elizabeth Austin”, 78-130, quote on p. 91, in Holmes, Kenneth L., editor. Covered Wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails, 1854-1860, Vol. 7. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1998 [reprint of 1987 ed.].

Discover and enjoy many rich snippets of diary excerpts from pioneers in many counties across Kansas and Missouri at the bottom of our Home Page. Click each county to see diary excerpts from those who traveled the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails.