"FABRICATION OF NEW MARKERS" To mark the various emigrant trails to California and southern Oregon, trails West uses its distinctive "T" markers made from steel railroad rail.  Here are several photos showing the process used to fabricate these "T" markers. * * * * * * * * * THE LONG RAILS HAVE TO BE CUT A 30-plus foot long piece of rail is readied for cutting.  It is picked up using a forklift, moved into place, and then slid through the cutting area of a cutoff saw.  Making one cut takes about 10 minutes.  Pictured are Jack Lepisto, Tom Dougherty, and Richard Hallford working at Tom's home. Photo by Don Enneking. * * * * * * * * * ADJUSTING THE SAW Richard Hallford watches while Tom Dougherty suggests what to do and Don Enneking makes the changes suggested. They are trying to make the Trails West cutoff saw perform better while cutting rail for new markers.  That is a piece of rail sticking out of ether side of the saw.  Photo by Jack Lepisto. * * * * * * * * * SATISFIED Jack Lepisto, Don Enneking, and Tom Dougherty look over the pieces of rail they helped cut during the day they spent at Tom's house.  They cut enough pieces (three per marker) to fabricate 25 new Trails West "T" markers.  Reportedly, they all enjoyed a big lunch prepared by Tom's wife, Jeannine. The "only" thing remaining to do to fabricate new markers is to weld the three pieces together, drill out the top bar to take an inscription plate, clean the rust off the steel marker, and then prime them.  Photo by Richard Hallford. * * * * * * * * * ASSEMBLY Ray Frederickson (on the right) drove from his home in Arcata, California to Tom's house located south of Sacramento and spent several days welding the three marker pieces together to form new markers.  Tom helped Ray with the process.  Photo by Richard Hallford. * * * * * * * * * CLEANING After the new markers were drilled to accept inscription plates, they had to be cleaned with power brushes.  All of the rust and other surface contaminants had to be removed before painting.  Among the several people who did that dirty job were Don Buck (on the left) and Milt Otto.  Photo by Richard Hallford. * * * * * * * * * PAINTING The final step in the fabrication process was to prime the markers.  This was done to protect the newly fabricated markers while waiting to be installed along one of the emigrant trails.  Dee McKenzie (far left), Dick Brock, and Alison Portello (far right) are shown painting.  Dee is wearing a face mask because he had just finished helping to clean a marker  Painting was a messing job because each marker had to be turned to complete the job.  Dick is waiting to do that.  Photo by Richard Hallford. * * * * * * * * * Twenty-five new markers are now ready to be installed along one of the many emigrant trails to northern California or southern Oregon.  They will be stored until needed on one of our trail-marking outings.  We normally have two trail-marking outings every summer. It should be obvious that to fabricate the markers Trails West needs is a lot of work.  We feel it is worth the effort because through this lengthy process we are able to mark the many emigrant trails with semi-permanent steel markers.  That permits modern-day travelers to follow the trails and know where they are.  Given the historical importance of the emigrant trails to northern California and southern Oregon, we of Trails West feel that we are helping to preserve some of the history of the region.

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