Oregon Wagon Trains Go Separate Ways
OMAHA, Neb. - Two men who had planned one wagon train to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Oregon Trail are at odds and now say they'll lead separate trains.
Rodney Pelling of Portland, Ore., and Morris Carter of Casper, Wyo., say they'll each lead a train along the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon. Both wagon trains will depart May 2 from Independence, Mo.
Pelling contends Carter wanted control of the train and "he's not happy being second in command." Carter, for his part, says he had to break away from Pelling because he provided him too little information and "doesn't have a clue what needs to be done."
Pelling owns coffee and stationery companies and is chairman of Six-State Wagon Train Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Portland. Carter is president of Historic Trails Expeditions of Casper, a wagon-tour company.
Pelling says he envisioned wagons that would promote the states along the trail. Pelling says he lined up two wagons under the sponsorship of Nebraska and Wyoming and has three others that will represent communities or counties in Oregon. He had asked Carter to head the group of wagons sponsored not by states but by private groups and Carter would have been subordinate to him.
The Nebraska division of travel and tourism has made plans to take part in the Pelling-led train.
Numerous communities in Nebraska and the five other states along the Oregon Trail plan to celebrate the anniversary with fairs,
festivals and re-enactments. Two Lincoln men, Tom Armstrong and Randy Terbush, plan to lead a bicycle tour of the trail, and a retired Oregon State University professor, W.L. Andersen, says he'll lead a group that will fly airplanes over the trail.
Susan Bladholm of the Oregon Tourism Office says the "official wagon train" will travel only from the Wyoming-Idaho border to Oregon City. That train includes neither Pelling nor Carter.