1926-S Oregon 50C NGC MS65 CAC. Beautiful bright white 26-S Oregon Trail Commem in gem uncirculated with recent sticker from CAC Coins. Certified Acceptance Corp.

The featured Oregon Trail half dollar, a 1926-S, is graded MS-65 by NGC. The MS-65 grade is verified by the Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC), with 44 coins being verified at the MS-65 grade. This coin features blast white surfaces with sporadic areas of light brown toning. Perfectly struck devices make the design on this coin pop out at you. A very beautiful coin in un-circulated condition that is full of history.

Before the California Gold Rush in 1849, American pioneers had already begun to migrate West to the rich farmland of the Willamette Valley in the Oregon territory and followed a route which stretched over 2,000 miles; from Independence, Missouri to Fort Vancouver, now Vancouver, Washington. The Oregon Trail was a grueling enterprise, made even more perilous by non-existent roads and the constant threat of violent storms, prairie fires, dysentery and cholera, not to mention sporadic Indian attacks. Many travelers on the Oregon Trail would perish, but the promise of a new life compelled the pioneers to push on. By 1846, more than 6,000 people would travel on the Oregon Trail.

In 1926, the New York based Oregon Trail Memorial Association, Inc. petitioned Congress to authorize a half dollar to "commemorate the heroism of our fathers and mothers who traversed the Oregon Trail to the far West with great hardship, daring, and loss of life, which not only resulted in adding new states to the Union, but earned a well-deserved and imperishable fame for the pioneers." The President of the Association, Ezra Meeker, who made the journey along the Oregon Trail in 1851, superficially sought to use the funds raised by the half dollar to erect memorials along the Trail. Later events would prove that the promoters of the half dollar had a little more than unbridled greed on their minds. Congress, however, was apparently satisfied that the commemoration was of national significance. On May 17, 1926, Congress passed legislation authorizing the coining of "no more than six million" coins and the Oregon Trail commemorative half dollar was born.

The Oregon Trail half dollar was completed by James Earle Fraser and his wife, Laura Gardin Fraser. Mrs. Fraser had designed several commemorative coins, notably the 1922 Grant half dollar and dollar, and her husband, who is credited with the obverse design of the Oregon Trail half, is remembered for creating one of the most memorable of all modern coin designs, the Buffalo nickel.