House Unit OKs Bill to Create Historic Trail

WASHINGTON — Legislation to create a national historic trail along the routes traveled by the Cherokees during their forced removal from North Carolina to Oklahoma was approved Wednesday by the House Interior Committee.

The bill, cleared for floor action by a voice vote, would authorize the Interior Department to mark the water route used by 3,000 Cherokees in 1838 and the principal overland route used in 1838-9.

Called the Trail of Tears because of the death and deprivation caused by the Cherokees’ removal by the government, the routes run through nine states: North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

In related action, the committee approved legislation calling upon the Interior Department to study whether the route traveled by an expedition headed by Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto should be a national historic trail.