# 98 - The Oregon Trail

This article will start a new series: the Traditional American Commemoratives.

It started in 1892 and ended in 1954. Only in 1982 it came back, with the name Modern American Commemoratives.

I will start with the one that is considered the most beautiful of them: the "Oregon Trail".

The Oregon Trail Memorial half-dollar was struck intermittently by the US Mint between 1926 and 1939. The coin was designed by Laura Gardin Fraser and James Earle Fraser, and commemorates those who traveled the Oregon Trail and settled the Pacific Coast of the United States in the mid-19th century.

The Indian side designed by Laura Fraser features a dramatically rendered Native American, standing erect with outstretched arm in what is described as a gesture of peace or as if warning the people of the East of the perils and hardship of the Trail. The Native American wears a headdress, has a blanket and bow, and is superimposed on a map of the United States, with a line of Conestoga wagons heading west.

The wagon side designed by James Fraser depicts a Conestoga wagon drawn by two oxen, heading into an extremely large setting sun, with resplendent rays. The designers’ initials appear behind the wagon and five stars appear below the vehicle. They represent the five states and territories through which pioneers would have passed.

Each $.50 coin weights 12.5g and have a 90% silver purity.

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