2020 OCTA Winter Symposium

 “The Southern Crossing: 

All Roads Lead to Yuma 

February 21-23, 2020

Yuma, Arizona

The Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA) and the Southern Trails Chapter of OCTA present the "Yuma Historic Trails and the Yuma Crossing" Symposium, from Friday, February 21 to Sunday, February 23. The Shiloh Inn (pictured above; the hotel is located at 1550 S. Castle Dome Ave.) in Yuma, Arizona is symposium HQ. The symposium will focus on Yuma and its role as the primary crossing of the Colorado River and will include looks at the American Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. eras, including local tribes, the Alarcon (Coronado) Expedition of 1540, Spanish missions, Juan Bautista de Anza, the Mormon Battalion, 49ers on the Southern Route, the Butterfield Stage, military presence, and the Old Spanish Trail Highway, among others. 

The Shiloh Inn at 1550 S. Castle Dome Ave. is our host hotel. It is located at the intersection of I-8 and US 95. OCTA has a room block with single kings and double queens available. Rates are $99 per night and include breakfast. Call the hotel at (928) 782-9511 and ask for the OCTA room block. Reservations must be made by January 19 to receive the discounted rate.  

If you go on the tours, bring hats and windbreakers. Though we fully expect sunny skies and 70 degree temperatures, weather in southwest Arizona and southern California can be unpredictable in February.

  • Includes Friday night reception/concert plus lunch and dinner on Saturday as well as all speakers during the day on Saturday. There is no family/couple member price for this symposium.

  • Includes Friday night reception/concert plus lunch and dinner on Saturday as well as all speakers during the day on Saturday. It also includes membership in OCTA, which comes with four annual issues of Overland Journal, four annual issues of News From the Plains, free online access to all back issues of Overland Journal (dating back to 1983), free online access to all back issues of Overland Journal (dating back to 1982), and free access to Paper Trail, an online index of over 2,000 original trail diaries. You will also receive a membership in our Southern Trails Chapter, which includes their newsletter as well as invites to future chapter speakers, tours, symposia, and other gatherings along the Southern Route to California.

  • Includes Friday night reception/concert plus lunch and dinner on Saturday as well as all speakers during the day on Saturday. It also includes membership in OCTA, which comes with four annual issues of Overland Journal, four annual issues of News From the Plains, free online access to all back issues of Overland Journal (dating back to 1983), free online access to all back issues of Overland Journal (dating back to 1982), and free access to Paper Trail, an online index of over 2,000 original trail diaries. You will also receive a membership in our Southern Trails Chapter, which includes their newsletter as well as invites to future chapter speakers, tours, symposia, and other gatherings along the Southern Route to California.

  • Includes Friday night reception/concert plus lunch and dinner on Saturday as well as all speakers during the day on Saturday.

  • Includes Friday night reception/concert plus lunch and dinner on Saturday as well as all speakers during the day on Saturday.


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AGENDA

Thursday, February 20, 2020

09:00 AM - 05:00 PM: OCTA strategic planning session at the Shiloh Inn

05:00 PM - 07:00 PM: Registration table open at the Shiloh Inn


Friday, February 21, 2020

08:00 AM - 04:00 PM: OCTA board meeting at the Shiloh Inn

08:00 AM - 09:00 AM: Registration table open at the Shiloh Inn

09:00 AM - 04:00 PM: Pre-symposium tours of the Territorial Prison and Quartermasters Depot (depart hotel at 8:30 AM for first tour)

12:00 PM - 05:00 PM: Registration table open a the Shiloh Inn

05:00 PM - 07:00 PM; Dinner on your own

07:00 PM - 09:00 PM: Opening reception at the Sanguinetti House with entertainment by award-winning American Indian musician Steve Rushingwind               


Saturday, February 22, 2020

08:00 AM - 04:00 PM: Speakers at the Shiloh Inn (lunch will be served by the Angry Crab Shack at noon)

· Dr. Carlos Herrera: Juan Bautista de Anza

· Doug Hocking: Terror on the Santa Fe Trail: Kit Carson and the Jicarilla Apache

· Harry Hewitt: El Deseo de Cubrir Honor Nacional: The Mexican Boundary Surveyors Reach the Confluence of the Rio Colorado and the Rio Gila (Yuma) in 1849 and 1851

· William MacKinnon: Yo Mismo - Aboard the Butterfield Mail/William Allen Wallace and His Extraordinary Cross-Country Travels, 1850-1860

· Bill Heidner: Fort Yuma: The Need for a Fort and the Strategic and Cultural Significance of Yuma Crossing

· Tom Jonas: Tracing the Southern 49er Trail from Yuma Across the Imperial Desert to Warner’s Ranch in California

· John Krizek: Freighting on the Ehrenburg Road - The Adventuresome Legacy of Transportation from the Colorado River to the Interior of Arizona During Territorial Days

04:00 PM - 05:00 PM: Southern Trails Chapter Meeting

06:00 PM - 08:30 PM: No-Host Bar, Dinner by the Angry Crab Shack, and Keynote Address by Tina Clark, Historian and Archaeologist for the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area


Sunday, February 23, 2020

08:00 AM - 03:00 PM: Bus Tour of Yuma and Imperial County, California. Stops include: Mormon Battalion Monument, Fort Yuma/Mision Puerto de Purisima Concepcion, Mision San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuner and cemetery, 1776 Anza Campsites, 1540 Alarcon (Coronado) Monument, Old Spanish Highway Boardwalk across the Algodones Dunes, 1849 Camp Salvation, and Pioneers Museum in Imperial. Lunch and admission included. 



Friday, February 21, 2020

  • Yuma Territorial Prison tour (9 AM)

    Yuma Territorial Prison tour (9 AM)

    The tour departs the Shiloh Inn at 8:30 AM.

    Opened while Arizona was still a U.S. territory, the prison accepted its first inmate on July 1, 1876. For the next 33 years 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, served sentences there for crimes ranging from murder to polygamy. The prison was under continuous construction with labor provided by the prisoners. In 1909, the last prisoner left the Territorial Prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex located in Florence, Arizona. It was also the third historic park in Arizona.

    Notable prisoners include:

    Burt Alvord Cochise County lawman and train robber
    Bill Downing - Train robber
    William J. Flake Mormon pioneer imprisoned for violating the Edmunds Act
    Pearl Hart stagecoach robber
    "Buckskin Frank" Leslie gunfighter and killer of Billy Claiborne
    Ricardo Flores Magón Mexican revolutionary, founder of the Partido Liberal Mexicano
    Pete Spence outlaw involved in the Earp-Clanton feud

    The prison was also featured in the short story and movie "3:10 to Yuma."

    Price $8.00

  • Quartermasters Depot tour (1:30 PM)

    Quartermasters Depot tour (1:30 PM)

    Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park is on the grounds of the former Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The depot was established by the U.S. Army in 1864 to store and distribute supplies to frontier army posts in what is now Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. One purpose of the depot was to ensure that a six-month supply of much needed goods such as ammunition, food, and clothing was on hand at all times. The goods and supplies were brought to Yuma from California aboard ships that traveled around the Baja California peninsula and up the Gulf of California to Port Isabel, Sonora at the mouth of the Colorado River. Supplies were shipped up the Colorado on river boats to Yuma and stored at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot.

    The supplies gathered at the quartermaster depot were shipped throughout the southwest via river boats and overland on mule team freight wagons. Up to 900 mules were kept in stables at Yuma Quartermaster Depot. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Yuma in 1877 signaled the end of the depot. When the railroad reached Tucson in 1880, the quartermaster depot was closed. The quartermasters moved to Fort Lowell in Tucson.

    The Signal Corps, having arrived at Fort Yuma and the quartermaster depot in 1875, remained there until 1891.

    Following the departure of the Signal Corps, the property was transferred to the control of the U.S. Weather Service which worked out of the depot site until 1949.

    The Yuma Quartermaster Depot fell into a state of disrepair in the years following 1949. Some of the facilities were used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other governmental agencies.

    Price $8.00

  • Combined Prison and Depot Tour

    Combined Prison and Depot Tour

    Save by going on both Friday tours!

    Price $15.00

  • Opening Reception at the Sanguinetti House 7 PM - 9 PM

    Opening Reception at the Sanguinetti House 7 PM - 9 PM

    Known as "The Jewel of Historic Yuma," the charming 19th-century adobe was the home of Italian immigrant and entrepreneur E. F. Sanguinetti (1867-1945). Located in the heart of historic Yuma, it stands as a testament to the “Merchant Prince of Yuma’s” remarkable legacy. Operated by the Arizona Historical Society, the Sanguinetti House Museum and Gardens are open to the public for tours and tea throughout the day. Enjoy their exhibits and treat yourself to a delightfully decadent sweet from the Sanguinetti Chocolate Shoppe. The evening will feature a no-host bar and entertainment from award-winning American Indian musician Steve Rushingwind from the Cahuilla Tribe of southern California. Attendance is included in your symposium registration.

    Price $0.00


Sunday, February 23, 2020

  • Bus Tour of local trail sites, 8 AM - 3 PM

    Bus Tour of local trail sites, 8 AM - 3 PM [3 remaining]

    Bus Tour includes box lunch and stops related to:
    -the Mormon Battalion
    -Ft. Yuma
    -Spanish missions
    -1776 Juan Bautista de Anza camp sites
    -1540 Alarcon (Coronado) Expedition
    -Old Spanish Highway boardwalk across Algodones Dunes
    -1849 Camp Salvation
    -Pioneers Museum in Imperial

    Price $65.00


Special Instructions

Options for dietary restrictions (such as vegetarian or gluten-free) are available. Please use the space below or  contact us at (816) 252-2276 or [email protected] to discuss your needs and reserve these options.


Please read the liability waiver and indicate your acceptance by checking the box.

The undersigned agrees that neither the Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA), its directors, officers, employees, and agents, nor, to the extent legally permissible, any private or public (state or federal or instrumentality of either), landowner or tenant licensee in possession of any land on or over which any tour, field trip, or outing takes place, or through which it travels, in connection with or as part of any meeting or convention of OCTA, shall have any responsibility or liability, in whole or in part for any loss, damage, injury to person or property, delays and delayed departure or arrival, missed carrier connection, cancellations.
Changes in schedules, program, or itinerary, or mechanical defect or failures, or for any negligent act or omission of any nature whatsoever which results from, or arises out of, or occurs at or during any activities, programs, tours, field trips, or outing there at, or part thereof, or any accommodations, transportation, food, or other services or facilities furnished or supplies there at, or any additional expenses occasioned thereby, or any liability sustained or incurred as a result of any of the foregoing.
All persons registering at or attending any such meeting or convention shall be bound by the foregoing and deemed to have consented to the same by such registration or attendance.

$100.00

Registration fee is $1.00 plus 3% credit card fee:

$4.00
$104.00

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