Welcome!

This website is a collection of the DRAFT data collected for the 2011 nomination of 6 high potential route segments of the Old Spanish National Historical Trail in a contract administered by the Old Spanish Trail Association on behalf of the NPS, BLM, and USFS. SHPOs and THPOs in 6 states, as well as over 100 volunteers and stakeholders participated in this project, which included historical, ethnographic, geographic, and field research conducted by Mark Henderson and Rachel Preston Prinz. The drafts were written by Mark Henderson and edited by Rachel Prinz. This data will be submitted to the National Register once OSTA's consultant (not us) completes the MPDF. We are providing this data as a service to the OSTA membership, to the various stakeholders, and on behalf of the American people... to whom this amazing trail belongs.
Please fell free to contact us, and/or use these documents in your own research, with appropriate citation.

MOST Important

The National Trails System Act (P.L. 90-543 as amended, 16 USC 1241-1251) 
defines “high potential route segments” as follows (Section 12 [16USC1251]):

(2) The term “high potential route segments” means those segments of a trail 
which would afford high quality recreation experience in a portion of the route 
having greater than average scenic values or affording an opportunity to 
vicariously share the experience of the original users of a historic route.


This means... we are not looking for perfect traces, we are looking for intact, minimally disturbed landscapes with what appear to be period trail traces, which give the recreational user the FEELING as if they have stepped back in time - as if they were there when Armijo (or others) were - observing the western frontier of an America that wasn't even born yet!