For
at least a decade before the California gold rush of 1849, there was a growing
migration of settlers to the West. Most of these pioneers were bound for the
rich farmland of the Willamette Valley in the Oregon territory and followed a
route which stretched over 2,000 miles from Independence, Missouri to Fort
Vancouver, now Vancouver, Washington. Crossing the continent on this Oregon
Trail was an arduous undertaking in the 1840s, made even more perilous by
non-existent roads and the constant threat of violent storms, prairie fires,
dysentery and cholera, not to mention sporadic Indian attacks. Travelers on the
trail organized themselves into small companies to better fend off the many
hazards en route. Due to the rigors of the trip, many did not make it the whole
way. But the promise of a new beginning was at the end of the journey, and this
spurred on a continuing exodus. As difficult as it was, more than 6,000 people
used the trail by 1846. Only the discovery of gold in California in 1848
reduced the flow of traffic.
Due to the rigors of the trip, many did
not make it the whole way
In 1926, a New York corporation calling
itself the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, Inc. petitioned Congress to
authorize a half dollar to "commemorate the heroism of our fathers and mothers
who traversed the Oregon Trail to the far West with great hardship, daring, and
loss of life, which not only resulted in adding new states to the Union, but
earned a well-deserved and imperishable fame for the pioneers." The
Association, whose president was the pioneer Ezra Meeker (who made the journey
in 1851), ostensibly sought to use the funds raised to erect monuments along
the route. Subsequent events proved that the promoters had little more than
unbridled greed on their minds. Congress, however, was apparently satisfied
that the commemoration was of national significance, and passed legislation on
May 17, 1926 authorizing the coining of "no more than six million" coins. Thus,
the Oregon Trail Commemorative Half Dollar was born - along with the beginning
of a speculator rush for limited edition coins.
The design was completed
by the famed husband and wife team of James Earle and Laura Gardin Fraser. Mrs.
Fraser had designed several commemorative coins, notably the 1922 Grant half
dollar and dollar, and her husband, who is credited with the obverse design of
the Oregon Trail half, is remembered for creating one of the most memorable of
all modern coin designs, the Buffalo nickel.
