Oregon California
Trails Association
Jeffery/Goodale Wagon Train 2008
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The Oregon-California Trails Association JEFFREY-GOODALE CUTOFF
WAGON TRAIN Dell M. Mangum Have a comment? E-mail Us Some of the comments we've received so far: To: Mr Dell Mangum GOOD MORNING.... Yes I do have a schedule and I'll direct you to it. But first, Thank you in advance for your interest. It's been an interesting trip so far and I haven't even hooked the horses up yet. I agonized over when to start, where to camp, which roads were the best and will there be service such as water for the horses and how far to travel each day. Several years ago when I bought my first team my little brother wanted me to bring them out to his place (he is the mayor of Atomic City) and do a 2 day wagon ride out around the Big Southern Butte. We could never work out a schedule and I wanted to have a few other friends go with us. To make this short story longer, (I learned this trick from submitting stories to magazines) when I learned that the OCTA convention would be here in Nampa I thought would be neat to have a team and wagon show up and drive through the parking lot. Even though my wagon is not an old freight wagon I was going to haul team and wagon over and do that. Then I thought I'd start here in Blackfoot and drive over on the Goodale Cutoff and come back on the Oregon Trail. And again I thought it would be neat to have a few friends along. When I contacted Jim McGill about the route he told me that a wagon train was coming from Wyoming (they have since cancelled) So it's not all that much farther from Montpelier (approximately 150 miles); hey why not meet them there... Well one thing led to another and after contacting some folks in the know, I found out I need $1,000,000.00 worth of liability insurance if it is a planned event. (I could travel by myself with out a problem). About then Norma Dart volunteered to help me get a grant and whatever else to make this event happen. And some of my personal contacts started urging me to go on. Then after looking over the travel calendar I started to worry that even dedicated wagon wonderers might not be able to be away from home for almost 5 weeks. So I started to compress things. I even cut two days off that would have brought me through my home town. Then I took three short days and made 2 longer days. and changed the camp spots. Then I drove the Cutoff with Jim McGill to see where the trail really was. Up until then I was just planning on using the county and state highways. So then I moved camp spots again. Then began the problem of permission to camp at these places where there is water for animals and a place big enough and off the main road far enough so as not to be a traffic hazard. and still be access able for folks to find camp each night or morning to join us. AND THEN GET PERMISSION. The Route travels through 5 Idaho counties and after using a set of calipers to walk the entire route 3 or 4 times and some sections 8 or 9 times to find distance between hoped for camps I think it's 456 miles long. And there are 4 places where I might need a water truck to bring the animals water. BUT I am excited that things have nearly all fell into place. Just two days ago a fellow volunteered to bring water to a place his brother in law had given permission to camp at only a day before that. Most of the camp site owners want to know how many wagons, horses and folks will be there. I tell them it's sorta like when Adam and Eve ate the apple in the Garden of Eden. Adam told Eve to stand back because he didn't know how big it was going to get. If we wanted to join the wagon train for a week on the trail, what do you think would be the most beautiful section of the trip? Now this is a tough question to answer...... What do you consider as beauty? I can tell you it will for sure be different than Iowa or Nebraska. MOST of it will be through DRY country. In the spring and up through mid June it might have some color and if we have late rain it might still be green. Along the rivers, creeks it will still be green and in many places it will be farmed or ranched. A weeks worth of beauty might be stretching things... BUT if your coming to the convention you might consider the last week of travel... But if you plan on sight seeing before the convention to places such a Yellowstone or Sun Valley or down to Salt lake then nearly any place should be interesting. After I had the travel calendar set Jim McGill suggested that I move one of the camp spots over near the Craters of the Moon. So the rest day at Champagne Meadow where Goodale waited for other wagons to join up (355 wagons) has been made into a travel day. The most interesting to me will be up over Bradley Summit. It is steep on the way up and damn sure steep on the way down. Part of our route is past Castle Rocks. They are interesting... After traveling with Jim McGill and he showed me the ruts left by the wagons before the various counties made graded roads I am amazed at the places they traveled. There are places I think some cross country motorcycle riders would try to go around. We have a pickup camper and are wondering if there will be a shuttle back to the vehicle each night? Yes there will be shuttle service if needed. A few others have expressed a need to go back for horse trailers and such. We wish you the best in your endevor and will appreciate a reply. Thank
you so much. Well I appreciate your interest and hope to see you somewhere on the trail. Dell M. Mangum
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