America’s School Trust Library The Zybach Collection

The Zybach Collection · Jedediah Smith

Guidebooks and the 2023 Rendezvous

Four days in April 2023 driving the route of 1828, with a guidebook for each day built out of the journals.

The creator’s own summary: “The Jedediah Smith Society 2023 Rendezvous took place over four days, from April 2 to 5, and replicated Smith’s routes from Smith River, California to Fort Vancouver in 1828.” Fifty-odd stops in four days, and at each one the party read what Smith, Rogers or McLeod had written at that place on the corresponding day of 1828.

The four guidebooks

One for each day. Each opens with the same introduction, then works through the campsites in order — the name the project gave the place, the date in 1828, and the journal entries for that day. The creator wrote in his instructions that they “were intentionally designed to be used on a local basis in future times by JSS members, students, researchers, and others with an interest in local history and historical locations.” All four are printed here page by page.

Small reproduction of the cover of the first guidebook.
The creator’s own thumbnail for Guidebook #1. Its cover reproduces Paul Calle’s 1987 painting “In the Land of Giants” — a third-party work, identified by reference.

Five indexed map sheets were made for the guidebooks by Vyla Grindberg of Douglas County GIS. They are on the maps page.

The itinerary, stop by stop

From the creator’s working schedule of 30 March 2023. Each row is a stop and the theme he set for it. His sheet also carries driving distances, the names of the people leading each stop, and one telephone number; the Library prints the stops and the themes, and no contact details. His own file.

Day 1 — Sunday 2 April 2023

TimeStopTheme
9:15–9:45 Crescent Beach Overlook Smith’s history to this point
9:45–10:30 Walker Road headquarters
10:30–11:15 Jedediah Smith State Park Mural review; photographs
11:15–11:30 Smith River camp Templeman Grove / Tanoak Drive
11:30–1:00 Brookings — lunch Early trade relations
1:00–2:00 Harris Beach Topography and birds
2:00–2:30 Cape Ferrelo Viewpoint Smith’s route change; photographs
2:30–3:15 Gold Beach Rogue River viewpoint
3:15–4:15 Humbug Mountain Native foods, camping, pasture
4:15–5:00 Nasomah Memorial Beach Loop Road

Day 2 — Monday 3 April 2023

TimeStopTheme
9:00–9:45 Seven Devils Beach Topography and pasture
9:45–10:30 South Slough interpretive centre Vegetation and topography
10:30–11:00 Cape Arago Viewpoint Photographs; topography
11:00–12:00 Shore Acres and Sunset Bay Trade and pasture
12:00–12:30 The Hollering Place A local village
12:30–2:30 Coos History Museum — lunch The Youst archive; McLeod’s history
2:30–4:00 Umpqua Bay lighthouse Topography and campsite
4:00–5:00 The 1828 ground Discussion: an appropriate memorial

Day 3 — Tuesday 4 April 2023

TimeStopTheme
9:00–9:30 BLM elk viewing Pasturage
9:30–11:00 Fort Umpqua Hudson’s Bay Company fort construction
11:00–11:20 Drain The California Trail: the Forks
11:20–11:45 Curtin Elk (Pass) Creek staging area
11:45–12:00 Lorane Mountain La Biche
12:00–12:30 Veneta The Applegate Trail
12:30–12:45 Cheshire The California Trail
12:45–2:00 Monroe — lunch Long Tom camp
2:00–3:00 Tampico Soap Creek ford; County Road No. 1
3:00–3:15 Airlie The California Trail
3:15–4:00 Bridgeport School The Hudson’s Bay Company Luckiamute crossing
4:00–4:30 Dallas Lodging

Day 4 — Wednesday 5 April 2023

TimeStopTheme
9:00–11:00 Champoeg Artifacts, campsites, horses
11:00–12:15 Willamette Falls Museum of the Oregon Territory
12:15–2:30 Fort Vancouver Tour and summaries
2:45 The Beaches Restaurant Final stop

One stop on the second day is given in his sheet as the ground of the 1828 events, with the theme “Discussion: Appropriate Memorial.” That discussion is where the memorial stone came from. The Library names the stop and not the place.

The Coos History Museum, Fort Umpqua and the OCTA talks

Three stops generated papers of their own, and two talks were given to the Northwest Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association — one seven weeks before the Rendezvous and one three days after it ended. The April talk is printed here slide by slide.

The eight illustrations, and their captions

For his article in the Society’s journal the creator chose eight pictures and wrote a caption for each. The captions are printed here as he wrote them. Two pictures are his own and one is a painting from 1845; those are shown. Three were made by other photographers on the trip, and those are named and linked rather than reproduced. Two are withheld: their captions give the place. His caption sheet.

  1. Illustration 1 from the creator's 2023 article.
    This painting of Fort Vancouver was made in 1845 or 1846 by British military spy, Henry Warre, while under orders to "obtain a general knowledge of the capabilities of the Oregon Territory in a Military point of view" in "perfect secrecy, so far as possible." The fort was being constructed during Smith’s winter 1828-29 stay there and he may well have been among its first occupants. Illustration 1; 1_Warre_1845-8.jpg, 1.8M.

  2. Harris Beach looking south. The geological effects of the 1700 Cascadia earthquake and subsequent tsunami are still apparent today and formed formidable barriers to Smith’s expedition. Note the people and driftwood at the base of the cliff for scale. April 2, 2023 photo by Peter Meyerhof.

    Illustration 2. Photograph by another hand; identified by reference and not reproduced here. 2_Meyerhof-IMG-8.jpg, 1.4M.

  3. Illustration 3 from the creator's 2023 article.
    Sunset Bay. The expedition spent two days here, with good forage and need to forge a difficult two-mile path through coastal brush and bogs to reach present-day South Slough and Coos Bay. February 2, 2023 photo by Bob Zybach. Illustration 3; 3_Zybach-1422_Sunset_Bay-8.jpg, 3.4M.

  4. Withheld from this edition pending review. The item keeps its place in the register and its permanent link.

    Illustration 4. Its caption identifies the place of the 1828 attack and the burials, and is not reproduced. 4_Tsp_21S_Rng_12W_1858-8.jpg, 437k. The entry keeps its number and its link is not published.

  5. Withheld from this edition pending review. The item keeps its place in the register and its permanent link.

    Illustration 5. Its caption identifies the place of the 1828 attack and the burials, and is not reproduced. 5_Moore-Umpqua_Site-8.jpg, 3.0M. The entry keeps its number and its link is not published.

  6. Fort Vancouver restoration by the National Park Service (NPS) as it appears today: to the same dimensions and appearance seen by Smith while being constructed in 1828, and as painted by Warre in 1845-46. April 5, 2023 photo by Peter Meyerhof.

    Illustration 6. Photograph by another hand; identified by reference and not reproduced here. 6_Meyerhof-IMG_9818-8.jpg, 2.2M.

  7. Illustration 7 from the creator's 2023 article.
    Aaron Ochoa, Fort Vancouver Chief of Interpretations, providing information about the cannons in front of the Chief Factor’s house. April 5, 2023 photo by Bob Zybach. Illustration 7; 7_Zybach-1479-8.jpg, 2.9M.

  8. The final stop at Fort Vancouver Chief Factor’s house on the way to a parting regale at The Beaches Restaurant on the Columbia River. (L-R) Rob Foxcurran, me, Jim Anderson, Suzi Schoensee, Aaron Ochoa, Virginia Jaquez, Eric Tschuy, and Peter Meyerhof. April 5, 2023 photo by Matt Dalimata.

    Illustration 8. Photograph by another hand; identified by reference and not reproduced here. 8_Matt_Dalimata_1480-8.jpg, 2.1M.

The photographs, day by day

Participants pooled their photographs into four folders, one per day. The full registers — every file, its date and its size — are on the photographs page.

Provenance

Creator
Bob Zybach, assisted by Joe Molter; for the Jedediah Smith Society
Dates
2–5 April 2023
Published at
orww.org/1828_Umpqua_Memorial/JSS_2023_Rendezvous/
Rights
The guidebooks, the itinerary and the OCTA talks are the creator’s own work. Everything else on this page is identified by reference.

Series · The guidebooks page by page · Maps · Chronology · Submit a correction