E-News August 31, 2020

Summer Appeal Fundraiser Wrapping Up Today

OCTA Board and Membership Meetings to be Held Via Zoom

Yesterday we sent information regarding the board meeting and membership meeting with a request to email board member Jean Coupal-Smith if you would like the Meeting ID # and Passcode, but we inadvertantly left one character out of the email address. The correct email address is jcs1fun1@kc.rr.com. Following is yesterday’s message:

The OCTA Board and Membership meetings are being held next month virtually via Zoom. The board meeting will begin at 10:30 AM (Central) on Friday, September 18 and the membership meeting will begin at 10:30 AM (Central) on Saturday, September 19. A meeting ID and password will be required to attend both meetings. Please email board member Jean Coupal-Smith at jcs1fun1@kc.rr.com to reserve your spot in either meeting and to get the meeting ID and password. We are hoping to include some fun wrinkles into the membership meeting so we hope to see you all virtually next month!

Oldest Apple Tree in Pacific Northwest Succumbs to Heat at Fort Vancouver

Vancouver’s Old Apple Tree, believed to be the oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest, has passed into history.

It was 194 years old.

Over the decades, the Old Apple Tree was the embodiment of Washington’s apple industry and a tangible link to the Hudson’s Bay Company era. It witnessed the settlement and growth of the area and had survived ice, disease, the Columbus Day Storm and the encroachment of state Highway 14.

Dying leaves suddenly appeared throughout the tree last week, which prompted the city’s Urban Forestry staff to do a quick checkup. Arborists then conducted a thorough evaluation, and they found that the vascular system or cambium layer of the tree — which transports water and nutrients to the canopy — had shut down. Charles Ray, urban forester with the city, said this was largely attributed to a spiral crack in the trunk expanding. Hot weather exacerbated the problem.

To read the full story, please visit the Vancouver Columbia website.

Gateway Chapter Presentation on the Iowa Tribe and the Oregon-California Trail

Last Thursday, OCTA’s Gateway Chapter streamed a presentation on the impact of the historic trails on the Iowa Tribe. It is archived on the Chapter’s Facebook page and will remain available for viewing at your leisure. The Gateway Chapter and the St. Joseph Museums presented a virtual program featuring Lance Foster and Greg Olson presenting a virtual program about the history, present, and future of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. In the mid- 1800s the Iowa lived in Platte Indian Territory (now northwest Missouri) before being moved across the Missouri River to Kansas Territory. Oregon and California bound emigrants had to cross their land.

OCTA member Lance Foster is Vice Chair at Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and is the Tribal Historic Preservation Office, consulting for the tribe on environmental and cultural compliance. He also founded the tribal museum, is an Ioway language advocate and NAGRA officer. Foster has a BA in Anthropology/Native American Studies from the University of Montana and an MA in Anthropology and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University. An acknowledged artist, he is also author of Indians of Iowa. He currently resides in White Cloud, Kansas.

Greg Olson was the curator of exhibits and special projects at the Missouri State Archives for nineteen years. He received an MA in History from the University of Missouri and an MFA – Art from the University of South Dakota. He is the author of two books published by the University of Missouri Press and numerous publications. One of these titles, The Ioway in Missouri, won the Missouri Humanities Council’s Governor’s Humanities Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement. Olson has also published three biographies in the Notable Missourians series for upper-level elementary school students with Truman State University Press. His most recent book, Ioway Life: Reservation and Reform, 1837–1860, was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2017. He is the 2020 Center for Missouri Studies Fellow.