Julie McDonald Zander
Description
The stalwart adventurers who set out from Independence, Missouri, in the 1840s to settle a new land in Oregon Territory left behind their homes and fa
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milies, never knowing what awaited them. Their trail took them across prairies and through mountain passes and required them to ford one river after another as they ventured west on a trip that took them at least five months with slow plodding oxen pulling heavy wagons filled with all their belongings.
They reached landmarks along the route—the North Platte River, Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock, Independence Rock, Scotts Bluff, and Fort Laramie, where they could restock supplies but at exorbitant prices. They sought to reach Independence Rock by the Fourth of July, which meant they’d cross the Blue Mountains before the snow flew, heralding the onset of winter. Most passed Devil’s Gate and crossed through South Pass before stopping at Fort Bridger on the Blacks Fork of the Green River before heading north to Soda Springs, American Falls, and Fort Boise.
Some stopped at Waiilatpu, a mission run by Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, to recover from their journey and restock.
But most continued on to The Dalles Methodist Mission. After 1846, when the Barlow Road opened, some paid the toll to take their cattle and wagons across the rough route around Mount Hood to avoid navigating the treacherous Columbia River. But most floated their wagons and belongings on flat-bottomed boats known as bateaus down the Columbia to the Willamette River and Oregon City.
From there, they claimed the free property that had lured them west, the fertile farmland and forested lands where they logged trees, built cabins, and established their homes and families.
This is a pictorial book of the trip across the Oregon Trail.
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St. Helens Press