The Applegate Trail
"In June, 1846, an exploration party headed by Jesse Applegate, brother Lindsay, and Levi Scott, rode South through Southern Oregon in an attempt to find an easier route to the Willamette Valley (Jesse and Lindsay had each lost a son by drowning in the treacherous waters of the Columbia Gorge on the Oregon Trail). The trailblazers then crossed the Cascades into Klamath Basin, across the high deserts of Northern California and Nevada, and finally to Fort Hall, Idaho, on the Oregon Trail. Here Jesse Applegate recruited a number of wagons to follow them over the new route. This first trip was one of extreme hardship and it was not until late November that the first wagons reached the Willamette Valley. Whether or not the Applegate Trail was easier than the established Oregon Trail is subject to controversy. Nevertheless, the Applegate Trail did become an important and strategic part in the settlement of the Oregon Territory.
The Applegate Bicentennial Wagon Train - June 6 - 18, 1976
The Applegate Bicentennial Wagon Train was organized to pay tribute to the hardy pioneers who left the first wagon wheel tracks through Southern Oregon. Early in 1975, project director George McUne, Jacksonville, began constructing authentic covered wagons to be used on the trek.
During this time, a steering committee sponsored by the Southern Oregon Historical Society and Southern Oregon State College gathered the financial aid necessary to complete the trek and organized efforts to utilize every aspect of the trip for lasting educational and cultural benefits. On June 6, 1976, the wagon train, led by wagonmaster George McUne, and Head Scout Phil Holt, left Keno, Oregon on the 100 mile trek to Jacksonville, and for two weeks forty "pioneers" relived a portion of Southern Oregon's earliest known history.
As a means of preserving the re-creation of this historic event, the steering committee and Southern Oregon Philatelic Society prepared these cachet covers to be carried by covered wagon the entire distance of the trek."
-- complete text from the vintage original print on card stock inserts in each cover.
You can own a piece of this history for your collection. The remaining, original, limited-edition, individually numbered covers are for sale in our store. We are keeping the one signed by Wagon Master George McUne, pictured above, in our club's collection for posterity.
