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Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Pinedale Field Office (PFO) archaeologist, Dave Crowley, will present his research on a previously forgotten branch of the Lander Road at the Oregon-California Trail Association’s National Convention at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyoming on August 10.

The 256-mile Lander Road segment of the California National Historic Trail afforded emigrants a short-cut between South Pass, Wyo., and Fort Hall, Idaho, and was the first federally funded road west of the Mississippi River. Historical research and a detailed analysis of maps and other documents indicated that two branches of the Lander Road traversed what is now the Pinedale Anticline natural gas field. This discovery revealed that the first route of the historic trail, as designed and constructed by Col. Frederick W. Lander, had been abandoned in favor of a short-cut to the south. Long forgotten, the road’s original location and function were rediscovered and confirmed by PFO archaeologists in August 2009.

For more information, please contact Dave Crowley, PFO archaeologist, at 307-367-5323 or dcrowley@blm.gov.

Related Links Oregon-California Trails Association - OCTA Archaeology meeting in Big Piney on June 15th - Pinedale Online, June 9, 2010 Drilling approved near Lander Trail NSO - Pinedale Roundup, May 13, 2010 Lander Cutoff Road of the Oregon Trail - Pinedale Online, August 10, 2005