Hi Trail Fans This is the Press Release which went out yesterday and today about the Millennium Trails/Overland Trail celebration. I certainly hope that some of you will be able to attend. There will also be a reception at the Roberts Ranch homestead after the 1:00 pm event for special guests. Please let me know if you will be in the area, so that I can plan on meeting you at the celebration, and invite you to the Ranch. Thanks Liz The Overland Trail http://www.over-land.com Historic Trail Preservation Walk The Overland Trail was recently designated by the White House Millennium Council as an "Official Millennium Trail." The Overland Trail, authorized by the US Congress in 1858 as a route to carry mail, was instrumental in opening up the West. Mark Twain chronicled his adventures riding in a stagecoach along the Overland Trail in 1861 in "Roughing It." Following the Platte River Road from the Missouri River to Denver, the Overland Trail then traveled north along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, west through Wyoming to Salt Lake City, finally crossing the Sierras into Sacramento. The dedication of the Overland Trail as an Official Millennium Trail and a "trail walk," supported by the Larimer County Historic Alliance, of Fort Collins, Colorado, will take place on August 5, 2000 at 1:00 PM on the historic Roberts Ranch, not normally open to the public. The Roberts Ranch is the site of archeologically significant habitation sites, Indian Teepee Rings, significant Overland Trail ruts, Signature Rock, and the Cherokee Park Overland Trail Stage Station site, made famous by Louis L'Amour in his classic book, "Cherokee Station." The "Millennium Trails" is a significant public/private partnership led by the White House to preserve critical open space, and to celebrate trails and their capacity to connect our nation's people with land, history, and culture. In attendance at this celebration of the Overland Trail will be national, state, and local legislators, in addition to leaders and members of national and local organizations who support the Millennium Trails purpose of "Honoring the past and imagining the future." Directions to the Roberts Ranch: About 20 miles north of Fort Collins, Colorado on US 287, then about 1 mile farther past the Livermore junction, (The Forks Restaurant), to County Road 80, turn right about 3.0 miles to "Overland Trail Crossing" on the Roberts Ranch. For more information: E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (970) 416-8678 FAX: (970) 221-3627 URL: http://www.over-land.com/millennium.html Map to site: http://www.over-land.com/MTmap.html