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Christmans Tree Lighting Event on the grounds of the St. Therese Mission

Adjacent to the Old Spanish National Historic Trail that once served as a vital trade route for caravans between New Mexico and California, the St. Therese Mission site provides opportunities to explore America’s history and to learn and practice the ‘Little Way’ of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the ‘greatest Saint of modern times’ against the backdrop of the rich and diverse environment of the Mojave Desert.

OST Days in Tecopa, California a Huge Success!

Members of the Old Spanish Trail Association (OSTA), the BLM, National Park Service (NPS), and other trail enthusiasts recently gathered in Tecopa, California to celebrate the National Historic Trail.  The Old Spanish Trail Day event was hosted by OSTA and sponsored by the BLM, the NPS, Tecopa Hot Springs Resort, China Ranch Date Farm, Resting Springs Ranch and other organizations interested in protecting the legacy of the trail.  The event included talks by national and local historians, guided field trips to trail segments, and a barbecue with traditional “western trail” music. Read More

Old Spanish Trail Featured in American Archaeology

The fall 2012 issue of American Archaeology featured the Old Spanish Trail. Read the article below.

 

“Weaving a Legacy” Exhibit at Pipe Spring National Monument

For thousands of years local Native Americans weavers have used an incredible variety of materials, tools, and techniques to craft useful and beautiful items.  The Pipe Spring National Monument and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians museum is featuring a special exhibit called “Weaving a Legacy” and a series of interpretive programs.

Made possible with museum collections from Pipe Spring National Monument, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, the Bureau of Land Management, the Southern Utah University Archaeology Repository, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians and individual tribal members, this exhibit allows us to look into weaving’s past and present. 

“Weaving a Legacy” will be available for viewing through November 2012. For the complete listing of programs, visit www.nps.gov/pisp or call 928-643-7105.  Pipe Spring National Monument is located 15 miles west of Fredonia, AZ on AZ 389 or 45 miles east of Hurricane, UT on UT 59 and AZ 389. 

Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for solar energy development released

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, the Department of the Interior, in partnership with the Department of Energy, will publish the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for solar energy development in six southwestern states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The final Solar PEIS represents a major step forward in the permitting of utility-scale solar energy on public lands throughout the west.

The Solar PEIS will serve as a roadmap for solar energy development by establishing solar energy zones with access to existing or planned transmission, the fewest resource conflicts and incentives for development within those zones.

Read the full press release and/or the final report and view the 6-state map.

Chimney Rock National Monument Bill Passes the House

H.R. 2621, the Chimney Rock National Monument Establishment Act ion May 16, 2012 passed in the House by unanimous consent.

Photo credit: Mark Roper

The Old Spanish Trail Association signed a letter of support for the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area in southwestern Colorado’s San Juan National Forest. Chimney Rock is arguably the most important cultural site managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Exhibiting many of the features that earned Chaco Canyon a World Heritage Site listing, Chimney Rock was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Between A.D. 925 and 1125, the ancestors of modern Pueblo Indians occupied Chimney Rock and the surrounding lands, and the site remains of cultural significance to many descendant tribes. Hundreds of cultural elements surround Chimney Rock’s soaring twin rock spires, including the Great House Pueblo. Chimney Rock is the most northeasterly and highest (7,600 feet) Chacoan site known to exist. Every 18.6 years the moon, as seen from the Great House Pueblo, rises between the rock spires during an event known as the Northern Lunar Standstill.

The Main Branch of the Old Spanish Trail passes into Colorado out of the Carson National Forest, 15 miles south of this hill.

Old Spanish Trail Association Intervenes on
Hidden Hills Solar Project

The Old Spanish Trail Association concerned about the impact of cultural resources by the proposed Hidden Hills Solar Project has intervened in the case arguing that early portions of the trail run immediately south of the project site and may, in fact, cross part of the HHSEGS project.

Since 2007, OSTA has been locating and recording segments of the Old Spanish Trail between Tecopa, CA, and the Nevada state line. OSTA possesses extensive information on the Old Spanish Trail and is a recognized entity to speak for the Trail. OSTA requested to participate fully in all matters pertaining to cultural resources, visual resources, and the Old Spanish Trail and to contribute documented scholarship and field data to show that the HHSEGS project impacts the Old Spanish Trail.

Docket for Hidden Hills Solar Electric Generating System Power Plant Licensing

2012 Trail Stewardship Workshop in Taos, NM

 

Old Spanish Trail Featured in High Country News

"Once you know what you are looking for you start seeing these old roads everywhere, cutting across the land." The 49-year-old Pfertsh is tall and lean and wears a newsboy cap and black T-shirt. He gestures with quick hand-chops, the overlapping tribal-style tattoos on his arms adding a tinge of color to the landscape's sea of beige. He's spent most of the last two years seeking out faint patterns on the land for Montrose-based Alpine Archaeology. The ones he's showing me today happen to be remnants of one of the West's earliest, most important and least documented road systems: the Old Spanish Trail.

Read More of the March 19, 2012 High Country News Article

Los Angeles Heritage Day Celebrates Diverse History

On Sunday, April 29, 2012, the L.A. Heritage Alliance will host its Fourth Annual L.A. Heritage Day in partnership with El Pueblo Historical Monument, to share this history through tours, five museums, a scavenger hunt, children’s activities, presentations, giveaways, food, and other activities.

“In an area sometimes perceived as having no ‘real’ history, L.A. Heritage Day is an opportunity for people to learn about and enjoy the fascinating people, places, and events that have shaped Southern California,” said Cindy Olnick, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Conservancy. “It’s also a chance to learn about the incredible variety of local preservation groups, museums, libraries, and historical societies serving people today throughout Los Angeles County.”

This year’s L.A. Heritage Day will take place inside the historic Pico House at El Pueblo Historic Monument (http://elpueblo.lacity.org/), adjacent to Olvera Street and across the street from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is the birthplace of L.A., the original site of the early pueblo where the city was founded in 1781. Special tours of Olvera Street, Avila Adobe, Chinese American Museum, and Plaza Firehouse Museum will be available.

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 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