The Long Haul West: Life on the Oregon Trail By ... - Lourdes College

Introduction
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Long</strong> <strong>Haul</strong> <strong>West</strong>:
<strong>Life</strong> on the Oregon Trail
By Matt Arehart
© Matt Arehart, 2011
Matt is a History major who will graduate from Lourdes College in May 2011.
He is a great storyteller and has traveled much throughout his country!
He would like to pursue a career in writing and college teaching.
<strong>The</strong> Oregon Trail was one of the most important thoroughfares in all of American history.
It was one of the world’s greatest migrations of people. It was responsible for the passage of
hundreds of thousands of people from the Upper Midwest to the Pacific Northwest in a relatively
short period of time. It was used from the early 1800’s until the 1860’s. <strong>The</strong>re were four distinct
eras during this sixty year period.
<strong>The</strong> first era was the discovery era. This took place in the early 1800’s and it was the time
in which the Oregon Country was itself found. It was followed by the Astorian era from the
1810’s to the 1820’s. This will be when the physical trail was found to be easily accessible. <strong>The</strong>
next great era of the Oregon Trail was during the 1820’s when the fur trade came alive in the
western mountains. <strong>The</strong> next era, during the 1830’s, saw missionaries head west down the trail to
the Oregon Country to convert the Indians. <strong>The</strong> final, and most influential era, was the emigrant
migration to the Oregon Territory and the Willamette Valley. This era will last from the early
1840’s until the late 1860’s and defines the common concept of the Oregon Trail. This last time
was filled with activity until it was antiquated by the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
This is a history of the brave souls who embarked on this incredible 2,000 mile trek.
Many would travel great distances just to get to the Oregon Territory. Why was the nation
suddenly in such a rush to move west? <strong>The</strong>re were several different reasons, but the most
significant was the desire for a better life. <strong>The</strong> search for precious minerals, a profitable trade
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industry, escape from religious persecution, the desire for adventure and the need for rich farm
land on which to live were all part of the American dream that drove people west down the long
trail.
<strong>The</strong> Oregon Trail was known by many different names depending on who was traveling
on it or where it went. During the Mormon migration to Utah, it was called the Mormon Trail,
and it went to the Great Salt Lake. It was known as the California Trail during the Gold Rush
when every man went out to make his fortune in California. It was called the Platte Trail because
it went through the Platte River Basin, not a pleasant place to be. <strong>The</strong> Indians had a few names
for it, too, like the Great Medicine Road of the Whites and the White-Topped Wagon Road. But
history came to know it as the Oregon Trail. 1
To understand the Oregon Trail, we must understand where exactly its path wove. <strong>The</strong>
2,000 mile path across the <strong>West</strong>ern United States began in Independence, Missouri and many
similar cities along the Missouri River. This was near the border with Kansas along the Missouri
River. From there, the trail entered Kansas and took a turn north towards Nebraska. Once in
Nebraska, the trail cut across the state diagonally to the northwest. A third of the way into
Nebraska, the trail met the Platte River at Fort Kearney. <strong>The</strong> trail followed the Platte River until
it split into the North and South Platte Rivers. This was in Nebraska near the northeastern most
point where it met Colorado. It continued on, following the North Platte River into Wyoming.
Before leaving Wyoming, the trail passed through Scott's Bluffs, home to some of the
most famous rock formations in the country including Chimney Rock. Once farther into
Wyoming, the trail’s first stop was Fort Laramie. Half way through Wyoming, it would pass by
Independence Rock before heading up the steep stretch to the South Pass. This is where the
Oregon Trail crossed the Rocky Mountains, at the source of the North Platte River. Once through
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the pass, the trail crossed the Green River and headed a short way to Fort Bridger. From there,
the Mormon Trail broke off to the south, while the Oregon Trail cut sharply to the north and
entered Idaho. In Idaho, the emigrants would meet the Snake River, right where Fort Hall stood.
At the fort, the trail split in two. <strong>The</strong> way to California went south while the way to Oregon
followed the Snake all the way across Idaho. Fort Boise stood near the western end of Idaho.
This was the last American fort on the Oregon Trail. Past Fort Boise, the trail finally entered the
Oregon Territory. It cut north to the Whitman Mission and met the Columbia River. Once at the
Columbia, it was a boat ride west to the Promised Land. 2
Discovery 1800's
<strong>The</strong> first era can be named the “Era of Discovery.” In the year 1792 Captain Robert Gray
was one the first known white man to explore what would later be known as Oregon. Gray took
to the sea on a voyage and found the Columbia River. Gray’s discovery helped convince Thomas
Jefferson to buy the Louisiana territory in 1803. This purchase from France, secured for the
United States by Monroe and Livingston, included New Orleans for ten million dollars and the
entire state of Louisiana for an additional five million dollars. 3 <strong>The</strong> great port city of New
Orleans was highly valuable, positioned at the mouth of the Mississippi River. 4
Jefferson went on to commission Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this
new territory and, if at all possible, find a route to the Pacific through it. Lewis and Clark did not
take the Oregon Trail nor did they start it. However, their reports about the American Northwest
had the mouths of Americans watering for more land. <strong>The</strong> two men and their crew traveled all
along the Missouri River and continued on to the Pacific Ocean. Gunther Barth, in his book <strong>The</strong>
Lewis and Clark Expedition, said that Lewis and Clark took a mysterious area of the continent
and turned it into a tangible, reachable part of the continent. 5 It is relevant, to the story of the
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Oregon Trail, to know how the first transcontinental explorers travelled so that we may
understand why every man in America did not jump west upon the news of the discovery.
Patrick Gass was part of the expedition and the first to publish a journal about the trip.
His first entry described the expedition on the 14 th of May 1804. <strong>The</strong>y began where many a
person would begin the Oregon Trail, near the Missouri river. <strong>The</strong> “corps” as Gass called it
consisted of 43 men. <strong>The</strong>re were of course the two captains, Lewis and Clark. <strong>The</strong>n half of the
men belonged to the regular United States military and the other half were of various specialties
for the specific journey ahead.
This first expedition west was very different than that of the later experiences but is still
so important to the overall story. For these first 43 men, the journey would be six times as long
as the later trail blazers. <strong>The</strong>y would also take to the water as their means of transport. <strong>The</strong>y rode
the river in what Gass called a batteau and two periogues. <strong>The</strong>se were boats that are specific to
North America. 6
Once the Lewis and Clark expedition found the Oregon Country, people would find it to
difficult a trip to embark upon since it would take so long and be far too financially burdensome.
So ends the era of discovery for the Oregon Trail, at least for the time being.
Astorians 1810's-1820's
<strong>The</strong> birth of the actual Oregon Trail would not come until the year 1812. Surprisingly it
would not be found by pioneers heading west, but by a group of fur traders fleeing eastward.
This would all begin with a man named John Jacob Astor.
Astor owned the American Fur Company that operated in the Oregon Territory. This
company came to be in the year 1808; two years after the Lewis and Clark expedition explored
the region. He had competition from the British fur companies in the area. This would only be a
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problem until Astor went to Congress in 1816 and had an act passed that banned foreign traders
from working on United States land. This would grant Astor the ability to run a monopoly in the
Northwestern fur trade.
In 1813 Astor founded a trading post in Oregon; it was named Astoria after him. This
trading post would change hands several times and end up in the hands of the British. It would
stay this way until the 1840s. 7 Robert Stuart would be the first white man to take the Oregon
Trail. Stuart, an American fur trader in Astoria, led a group of broken and rundown traders east
on the trail back to safety. <strong>The</strong>y were fleeing from the British. <strong>The</strong> group left Astoria on the
Columbia River. <strong>The</strong>y would then use the soon to be infamous South Pass through the Rocky
Mountains. <strong>The</strong>y would return all the way back to the Missouri River. 8
Later, mountain men of the northwest followed in the wake of Robert Stuart and his men.
<strong>The</strong>y were the next to open up the south pass. <strong>The</strong>y would be led by a man named Jedediah
Smith. <strong>The</strong> pass is rediscovered in 1824 and this time it would not be lost again. <strong>The</strong> mountain
men were a very unique part of the culture of the Northwestern territories. <strong>The</strong>y are made up of
two different groups, the miners and the trappers. <strong>The</strong>y for the most part lived off the land,
without any type of civilization. <strong>The</strong>y followed the Oregon Trail back to Missouri where they
sold their furs. 9
<strong>The</strong> American mountain men were quite fascinating. <strong>The</strong>y would travel up into the
wilderness of the mountains and trap all year round. Once a year they would come together for
the annual sale of their furs. This would be the only time that these men would see another white
man, unless they were to chance upon one another in the wilderness. At this gathering they
would sell their goods and be resupplied for another year. <strong>The</strong>y would receive items such as
“powder, lead, traps, tobacco, guns, knives, [and] hatchets.” 10
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Missionaries 1830’s
In the 1830s a Christian movement to save the Indians came about. <strong>The</strong>re were three
main missions on the frontier. <strong>The</strong>y were the Tschimakains, Clear Water and Waiilatpu. 11
From
that movement came one of the first waves of early western travelers. In 1863 Dr. Marcus
Whitman, a Presbyterian missionary, and his wife Narcissa, headed to the Oregon Territory. <strong>The</strong>
Whitmans would become the most important missionaries to the history of the Oregon Trail.
<strong>The</strong>y set their mission up in Walla-Walla and preached to the Cayuse Indians. <strong>The</strong>ir mission
would also be an important stopping point for numerous bands of pioneers upon arriving in the
territory. However, for all of their hard work and dedication to the Indians of the upper northwest
their lives would end in tragedy. 12
News of the Whitman massacre was forwarded to the American nation and the
government of the United States by the Reverend William Roberts. He wrote that the Cayuse
Indians had formed an alliance with the Walla Walla and the Nez Perce Indians to band against
the white man. Many of the Indians had become gravely ill from the diseases that the white men
brought and they placed sole blame upon them. While all that they had wanted to do for the
Indians was help them they, Marcus and Narcissa, along with nine others would lose their lives. 13
Emigrants 1840's-1860's
<strong>The</strong> Emigrant era was by far the most exciting time in the history of the Oregon Trail.
During this brief time period, hundreds of thousands of people made the trip west. <strong>The</strong>re were at
least 500,000 people that made their way west by this route. During the busiest year in the trails
history, 1852, over 70,000 embarked. Most of these people were headed out west for the chance
at rich fertile farm land.
One of the best documented of the endeavors was taken by the Boatman party. It comes
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straight out of Mary Ann Richardson’s journals. <strong>The</strong> Boatmans, from Illinois, would head out in
1852. <strong>The</strong>ir party consisted of Willis Boatman, age 24, and Mary Ann Richardson, age 18. <strong>The</strong>y
were married October 14, 1851. Also, a brother of each came along; they were John Boatman
and William Richardson.
<strong>The</strong>y departed on March 29, 1852. Mary Ann’s account of leaving was the typical
reaction. This was a huge adventure for such young adults and they were nervous, anxious and
sad to leave their families not knowing if they would ever see one another again. One account
from Catherine Scott Colburn recounts, everyone cried because they would never see their
families again. 14
Before leaving it was necessary to make many preparations. Some of the items the
Boatmans list taking are “bedding, clothing, cooking utensils, provisions to last six months [and]
medicine.” 15 Another emigrant, Joel Palmer, who left in 1845, made a much more detailed list of
supplies. For food they took; “200 [pounds] flour, 30 [pounds] pilot bread, 75 [pounds] bacon, 10
[pounds] rice, 5 [pounds] coffee, 2 [pounds] of tea, 25 [pounds] sugar, half bushel of dried beans,
1 bushel dried fruit, 10 [pounds] salt, ½ bushel cornmeal and [a] small keg of vinegar.” 16 Palmer
also went into great detail on what sort of nonfood items they took with them. He took a “sheet
iron stove, Dutch oven, cast metal skillet, tin plates, cups and saucers, two churns – one for sweet
– one for sour milk, keg for water, tools – hand saw, plow molds, ax, shovel, rope, rifle and
shotgun.” 17 This would have been considered travelling light for the six month journey ahead of
the emigrants.
<strong>The</strong> Boatman party would be traveling in a wagon specifically engineered for this
journey. <strong>The</strong>y had what was named a Conestoga which was the best of the best when it came to
wagons. <strong>The</strong> “wagon box…could be made water tight and used as a boat when fording
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streams” 18 This type of wagon was not typical of all the emigrants; most would just convert old
wagons from the farm. <strong>The</strong> beasts of choice to pull the wagons were oxen. <strong>The</strong>y were more
desirable than horses or cattle. Horses were not strong enough to pull the heavy wagons and
cattle were too valuable to put through such rigors. <strong>The</strong> oxen were a bit slow but that was made
up for by their durability. <strong>The</strong>y were also not highly sought after by the Indian thieves on the trail
because they served them no good purpose. <strong>The</strong> oxen could live off of the land very easily; they
did not need the same type of grazing that the cattle did. 19
Now that all the preparations had been made for the six month journey west, the emigrant
would have been ready to head off. Most emigrants would signify starting the Oregon Trail with
the crossing of the Missouri River. This was done somewhere around Independence, Missouri.
<strong>The</strong> Boatmans’ journey began on March 29, 1852 when they left their lifelong homes in Illinois.
On their first day of travel, the Boatmans travelled 12 miles to meet up with another party they
were to travel with. <strong>The</strong>se people were the Turners. Deacon Turner was a good friend of the
Boatman family and it was better to travel in larger numbers. <strong>The</strong> Boatmans would camp over
night with the Turners before starting the journey all together. As a whole this will add to the
Boatman party. 20
<strong>The</strong> next day they woke up at four in the morning to prepare to leave by ten. During this
time, as was customary, a captain of the party was elected. In this case, Deacon Turner was
elected. <strong>The</strong> complete party consisted of “18 people, 10 men, 5 women” 21 <strong>The</strong>y were the four in
the original Boatman party, Deacon Turner and wife, their son and his wife with two children,
four hired hands, one with a child. <strong>The</strong>re were five wagons for the complete party. <strong>The</strong> wagon
trains were all different sizes, conditional on how many people were going to go west. <strong>The</strong>
Bidwell-Bartleson, for example, consisted of “20 wagons, 69 people.” 22
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While on the trail, the emigrants found all different ways to entertain themselves. At
night, the Boatman party would all come around the Deacons fire and read the Bible and sing
hymns. <strong>The</strong>y were very religious and even tried to observe the Sabbath when at all possible. This
would become increasingly hard for the party to do later in the trip as there might not always be
an adequate place to camp on the Sabbath. It was mainly observed because it was not viewed as
healthy for the people or the stock to travel for such long periods of time without rest. Mary Ann
also considered them “wandering Israelites.” 23
John Hawkins Clark of Cincinnati recalled his own forms of entertainment from his time
on the Oregon Trail. ”<strong>The</strong>re are many musicians belonging to the different encampments
surrounding us, and after supper all commenced to practice the sweet tunes that were to enliven
us while sitting around the camp fire…this concert lasted until near midnight.” 24
<strong>The</strong> Boatman party reached the Missouri River around midday and there were already
hundreds of wagons waiting to ferry the river. After signing up to cross, the Boatmans, would
have to wait for over a week. At this time, the Boatman party got their first real look at the nature
of the people they were travelling with.
On the first day of waiting to ferry the river, the party met with some of their neighbors.
<strong>The</strong>se people told them that it would be alright to let their cattle graze freely out on the field.
Trustingly the Boatmans let their cattle go. While sleeping during that first night the men heard
the cattle bells stir. So they woke and went after their cattle. <strong>The</strong>y finally caught up with the
cattle five miles away in a swamp. It took a half day to free the cattle and bring them back. It was
clear to them that the neighbors they had trusted were deceitful with them. After that they
decided to move camp away from these neighbors. On their tenth day, they were finally able to
ferry across the Missouri River. It was the 20 th day of May. 25
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Mary Ann Boatman described ferrying across the river as a very slow process. <strong>The</strong>
endeavor took a considerable amount of man power. <strong>The</strong> emigrants ferried across on what was
called a scow. A scow is a wooden raft big enough to hold two wagons at a time. <strong>The</strong> mechanics
of it was a rope fastened at either side of the river and the scow was pulled across by the riders.
<strong>The</strong>y also used pole and oars to assist in getting across. All of the livestock would have to swim
across along side of the scow.
Once the Boatmans had successfully crossed the Missouri River, they camped in Omaha,
Nebraska. <strong>The</strong>y had now officially left civilization behind them for good. <strong>The</strong>y received a
message from the emigrants up ahead on the trail that the Indians were dangerous and everyone
should be traveling in large parties for their own protection. <strong>The</strong> Boatman party would join up
with the Scott party for just this reason. <strong>The</strong> Scott party was considerably larger than the
Boatman party and all together they made up a train of 30 wagons. Deacon Turner would be
chosen again as captain of this even larger party. Of all these wagons that combined to make this
large Boatman-Scott party every man was armed and ready to fight. It was now the 22 nd of May
and they were ready to head out.
<strong>The</strong> teams were very slow and, to keep the weight of the wagon low, the people walked
along the wagons. Some of the people on foot would go out ahead of the wagons. <strong>The</strong>y would
act as a scout looking for reasonable places to feed and water their teams. <strong>The</strong>y would also scout
for places to camp for the night. As soon as a suitable place to stop was found the wagons would
all pull into a circle and form a protected little city. Once this mobile city was made for the night,
everyone would have to work. <strong>The</strong> typical jobs included, but were not limited to, building fires,
collecting water, setting up camp, guarding the cattle or making dinner.
<strong>The</strong> Boatman-Scott party soon had their first encounter with the Indians. This encounter
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with the Indians would be typical of every encounter the party would have. During the evening
hours, a small band of Indians rode up to the camp. When the emigrants heard them coming
toward the camp everyone became quite terrified. However, the Indians meant no trouble; they
had only come by to beg some food off of the settlers. <strong>The</strong> emigrants out of fear of consequence
fed the Indians. Regardless of the hostility of the natives, the party awoke early in the morning,
ate a quick breakfast and was back on the trail making distance between themselves and the
Indians. 26
A month would go on with no mentionable disturbances for the Boatman-Scott party.
That was until they came to Sand Hill Plain. This area was mostly flat with small mounds all
around. <strong>The</strong> feed for the animals was still plentiful and there was an adequate amount of water
nearby. <strong>The</strong>re was also still a good supply of fuel for building fires. On the down side, this is
where they also encountered their first mosquitoes. <strong>The</strong> mosquitoes came in thick clouds. <strong>The</strong>y
were so dense that “one had to close their mouth to keep from having it filled.” 27
<strong>The</strong> Boatman-Scott party travelled for two or three days. Mary Ann Boatman
remembered how odd it was that they had not seen an Indian for this amount of time. Another
peculiar thing about the Sand Hill Plain was that there was a very foul odor. <strong>The</strong>y would soon
discover the reason for both the lack of Indians and the foul odor. 28 <strong>The</strong> lack of Indians was not
specific to Mary Ann’s account. James Clyman in 1844 also shared the same Phenomenon. “<strong>The</strong>
emigrants did not see any Indians on one long stretch of the trail: from the point at which the
trains reached the Platte at Grande Island to the vicinity of Ft. Laramie.” 29
On May 31, someone scouting ahead found a suitable place to camp for the day. All was
well here and they had camp set up by four in the afternoon. While they were camped there, a
herd of elk came by them. Every man in camp likely shot at the elk but none were brought down.
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This was a great disappointment to the emigrants as they had not had fresh meat since they left
home.
After the emigrants had eaten dinner, the women went wandering off. <strong>The</strong>y decided to
investigate the mounds that littered the plains they were travelling. Upon looking inside of the
mounds, to their surprise, the women discovered that the remains of dead Indians had been
shoved into the hollowed out mounds. This was the main factor in why there was such a foul
odor on the plain, many of the mounds were crammed full with Indian remains. 30 Ahead on the
trail the party would see many mass emigrant graves as well. <strong>The</strong> graves were marked and filled
by the dreaded disease cholera. This factor would explain why there were no more Indians
around this area, besides the obvious that they were all filled in the ground. 31
Soon it was obvious that something was terribly wrong with the Boatman-Scott party. It
was soon all over camp that Deacon Turner had contracted cholera. <strong>The</strong> captain was sick. He was
“sitting in his chair…moaning aloud.” 32 Every man and woman did what they could to help the
Deacon get better. Alas, all of their efforts were for naught, because Deacon Turner was dead by
nine the next morning. <strong>The</strong> camp decided that he deserved a coffin for a proper burial. <strong>The</strong>
bottom to his wagon was torn out and crafted into a coffin and he was buried. 33
Death would become a common thing after this point on the trail. Several parties would
experience great amounts of death. Three separate accounts stand out from Tricia Wagner’s book.
<strong>The</strong> first was a party who while burying six deceased souls, lost another six members of their
party. Another wagon train reported losing a family of seven in one night. <strong>The</strong> third, and most
significant loss of life, came in a two day stretch when a wagon party lost forty members. <strong>The</strong>se
may seem like drastic accounts but to the mid-nineteenth century pioneer this would have been
the norm. 34
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<strong>The</strong> Boatman party stayed at the grave of Deacon Turner until mid afternoon mourning
the late Deacon Turner. It was decided that they would move away from the place of such
sickness and sorrow. By that same evening, it was apparent that Mary Ann’s brother William
Richardson was sick. Again they did what they could for him. <strong>The</strong>y laid hot clothes over him and
surrounded him by hot stones. For all of their effort with William success was achieved. He
began to feel better by the morning. William was young and healthy for the most part. For this
reason, cholera did not have quite the same result as it had for Deacon Turner. Whether he was
well enough to walk was of no matter because he was made to lay in the wagon when the train
moved on for the day.
By the end of the day when the Boatman-Scott party had come for a rest that night,
William Richardson was feeling much better. However, that same night the youngest Turner
youth was stricken with cholera and a huge storm moved in over the camp. <strong>The</strong> storm was so
violent that trees were being ripped out of the ground and Mary Ann compared it to the force of a
hurricane. By the next morning, the storm had subsided but the Turner boy was even worse for
the wear. He would eventually die on that day. Again his coffin was constructed and he was laid
to rest. Again the camp was moved away from the site where the tragedy had occurred. 35
On the same morning of the day the young Turner boy died, so too did an old woman die.
<strong>The</strong> woman insisted she would be alright and that the camp should move on with her in a wagon.
By the time the party stopped for noon she was dead. Now the floor of Mary Ann’s wagon was
taken for the coffin and the old woman was buried. Once again the party moved on and camped
somewhere else.
By the time the midnight guard duty came in that night, the only remaining male Turner
was too sick to go out for his shift of guard duty. By the morning he was dead and they buried
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him. Now all of the male Turners, save for one young one, were dead. At this point, the Scott half
of the Boatman-Scott party decided that they were going to leave the others and head on alone.
<strong>The</strong>y left them so as not to contract cholera as it was highly contagious. <strong>The</strong> Boatman half stayed
around for an extra day while the surviving Turners decided what they would do. <strong>The</strong>y finally
decided to head back east and try to consolidate their losses. 36
Now the Boatman party was back to its original size upon leaving home, plus one. Mr.
Warner, one of the Turners hired men, wanted to continue on. <strong>The</strong>y camped all alone that night
feeling depressed and ostracized. <strong>The</strong> next day they woke early, drove hard all day and went late
into the night. That night a big black wolf was seen scouting the small Boatman party. <strong>The</strong>y
drove the next day without incident. <strong>The</strong>y were travelling very light now and were able to make
great distances in a short amount of time. This makes plenty of sense seeing as that they were all
young and able bodied. This trend went on for a couple of weeks. One morning upon waking,
Willis Boatman, Mary Ann’s husband, found his brother-in-law William stark raving mad. He
was naked except for his undergarments and he was soaking wet from freezing cold water. He
had apparently been trying to drive the oxen to the water throughout the night. At this point,
everyone realized that William was very sick. Again the group did all that it could and tried to
help brother William recovers from what ailed him. <strong>The</strong>y were at least able to calm him and he
was able to leave the world with dignity. On that day William breathed his last breath. 37
It had been two months and thirteen days since the Boatman party had left Iowa. <strong>The</strong>y
were now one short and had seen several unnerving deaths far too close to home. In Alcove
Springs, Kansas, 110 miles west of Gardner, there was, and still is today, a mass grave of over
two-hundred known graves. This is relatively close to how far along the Boatmans were in their
journey. It is put into perspective how tough the trail was that so many people were dead so soon
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on the trail. 38
<strong>The</strong> Boatman party continued on, starting early and ending late. <strong>The</strong>y continued to push
like this all in hopes that they would be able to catch up to the Scott party. Within a week they
would come upon Mr. Scott’s party. <strong>The</strong>y most likely were in such a hurry to meet up with the
Scotts because Mary Ann had become close with Mrs. Scott and her daughter. Mary Ann was
young by most standards and needed female companionship. Also, it is believed that she was
pregnant and would have needed a woman to help her give birth.
<strong>The</strong> reunited Boatman-Scott party had now made it to the Platte River. Many people died
along the Platte. <strong>The</strong>y would pass graves by the dozens. One train that they passed had just
finished burying six dead and another six had died during the time it took to bury the first six.
Another said that they had just finished burying a family of seven. Yet another said forty had
died within two nights and a day. Death was an everyday factor along the trail.
Now the emigrants would ran into another big problem. So many emigrants had gone
before them and let their cattle and stock graze on all the lands grass. Now they faced the
problem that all of the grass had been consumed or destroyed. <strong>The</strong>y would have to go great
distances at night with their stock to find anywhere for them to graze. 39 After several weeks of
trudging westward in this manner, they saw the first Indians they had seen since the cholera
outbreak. This would be both a blessing and a curse. For the most part it meant that the cholera
epidemic was over with and on the other hand it meant that the troublesome Indians were back
and they would have to be on the watch for them. <strong>The</strong> Indians told the Boatmans that there was a
bridge ahead that they would have to cross. Of course the Indians said that they would need to
pay them. <strong>The</strong> Boatmans refused payment until the time of service. This turned out to be a good
thing, because the bridge had been built by white men and could be crossed freely. <strong>The</strong> bridge
15

was built of timber and was there because of a quicksand creek.
That night when they were camped along the trail a group of 20 Indians came to them
begging for supper. <strong>The</strong> emigrants were scared of repercussions so they fed them. More Indians
came the next morning while they were preparing breakfast and also begged a meal. <strong>The</strong>
emigrants short on supplies had to turn them away. When the Boatman-Scott party went to head
out for the day, they noticed that one of the better cows had come up missing. When the men
went to look for it, they found the cow with two Indians. <strong>The</strong> Indians had stolen the cow in
return for not being fed. <strong>The</strong> men were able to trade for the cow and the party moved on. 40
For about a month they went on with no problems until one of the older men got sick.
<strong>The</strong> group could not decide what to do and the man demanded that they move on and he would
ride in the wagon. He was dead at noon when they checked on him. However, fortune would
hold out and this would be the last time they saw death among their own until they got to the
Oregon Territory. <strong>The</strong>y were now at Fort Laramie. 41 Once the Boatman-Scott party had left Fort
Laramie, they headed along the Platte River until its end. At the end of the river was going to be
one of the hardest legs of the trip, the Great American Desert. <strong>The</strong> initial stretch of waterless
desert was a fifty mile trek. <strong>The</strong>y would now have no more wood for fuel and they would have to
use buffalo chips for their fires. <strong>The</strong>y would also have to bake bread in the morning to last all
day as they would not be able to stop much. 42
After this fifty mile stretch of desert, the party came upon the Sweetwater River. <strong>The</strong>y
forded the river and camped on the other side. This was a great camping site to come into out of
the desert. <strong>The</strong>re was fresh water, plenty of food for their stock to graze upon and there was
plenty of fuel. <strong>The</strong> people spent their time here lounging and playing. <strong>The</strong> name of this place was
Devil’s Gate. When they woke the next morning they were very refreshed, had breakfast, and
16

filled up every container they had with water and left very early. From here it was 90 miles to the
South Pass. 43
<strong>The</strong> Boatman-Scott party began up the Sweetwater Mountains. <strong>The</strong>se would lead the
group into the South Pass. Here in the South Pass water was very scarce. Just to get to it was a 3
mile walk down hill and then back uphill. At the top of the summit there was snow the women all
had a snow ball fight. <strong>The</strong>y then began their trip down from the summit. It took careful driving
but they made it down without any trouble. <strong>The</strong>y stopped near the bottom at a campsite named
Pacific Springs. This was a very good site because there was fresh water and plenty of fuel here.
Now a big decision was ahead of the party. <strong>The</strong>re was a fork in the road named the Parting of the
Ways. One route, the easier route, led to Fort Bridger but was way out of the way. <strong>The</strong> other
route, named Sublette’s cutoff, was a tough one hundred mile journey over rugged desert. <strong>The</strong>
Boatman-Scott party decided that they should take the latter route to save time. 44
At this point the emigrants we are following had come to Big Sandy Ford on the Green
River. It is so named Big Sandy because the crossing was completely quick sand except for one
spot where it was safe to cross. <strong>The</strong> only challenge was finding where this safe spot was. So to
find the safe spot a man would go on horseback and find the crossing. Once found the teams
would be taken across one at a time. <strong>The</strong> team would go up from the spot one hundred yards and
then charge full speed across. <strong>The</strong> entire process took two hours. After this crossing there was
another fifty miles of desert.
<strong>The</strong> cattle were now fed and as much water as could be drank was stored and carried
away. This was important because there would be absolutely no water for the next fifty miles.
After this they departed. Everyone walked on this part of the voyage. Most of those people
walking also carried containers of water. <strong>The</strong>y travelled all day and all night for this stretch of
17

the journey. <strong>The</strong>y would stop for dinner and then continue on. This was all well and good until
one of the wagons flipped. This was caused by a combination of restless ox and a sleeping
driver. 45 Wagon accidents were quite common on the 2,000 mile journey west. <strong>The</strong>y were made of
wood; many were make shift from item found around the farm. John Clark recounts a story he
heard along the trail of a gruesome accident. On June 18 th of 1852 he came upon an old woman
walking behind her wagon. When he greeted her he did not expect the response he got. She
replied to him “one of my grandchildren fell out of the wagon yesterday and both wheels ran
plum over his head; oh dear! I shall never forget yesterday!” 46 While trying to console the
woman on her loss he was shocked to discover that the child was still alive.
<strong>The</strong>y took the wagon flip as a good sign to stop for the night. When they woke they had a
quick breakfast and were off again. By three in the afternoon the cattle began to sniff the air and
it was apparent to the emigrants that the beasts smelled water. A scout was sent out and sure
enough the loop back of the Green River was only two miles ahead. However, before the fresh
water could be reached, there was a poisonous alkali pool ahead. <strong>The</strong>re was a problem presented
with this. <strong>The</strong> stock not knowing that this was poisonous would surely want a drink of the water.
So all of the men went ahead to guard the pool from the stock. Only two of the oxen drank from
the pool. One got laid up for a week from it and the other died. 47
<strong>The</strong>y finally made it past the desert to the Green River. <strong>The</strong>y would now have to prepare
to ford the Green River once more. This would be the most difficult ford of the journey for the
Boatman-Scott party. It was too deep for the oxen to touch bottom and extremely swift. <strong>The</strong>
Boatmans would be the first to cross. About halfway across the ox started to get swept
downstream. John had to jump out and swim with the team leading them in the correct direction.
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Mary Ann said this of the river, “the water was so swift it washed John’s pants and socks off.” 48
In any case they made it across with no real harm and they camped there a day. 49
Here where they camped they came across a note, near three fresh graves, that read; “we
a company of emigrants of five wagons called a halt here yesterday noon finding a man about
forty years, woman about thirty-five, with front teeth filled with gold , [something] around her
neck, been dragged down to waters edg[e]. a boy about ten years old all have their throats cut
from ear to ear. Advising all that coming to be on the look out for Indians.” 50 <strong>The</strong>y moved on
from that spot quickly and drove on throughout the night until midnight. <strong>The</strong>y would have
continued on, however, they came across an abandoned wagon. This was used to build a fire
because there was scarce fuel source. All was well this night and the caravan went on for a few
weeks with no problems. 51
<strong>The</strong>y finally arrived in the Snake River Valley. Yet again the Boatman-Scott party was
going to be reminded why it was so important to keep away from the Indians. <strong>The</strong>re was a camp
of Indians who would go around and get the dead salmon from the river banks. <strong>The</strong>y would then
go and trade them with the emigrants. <strong>The</strong>se people were more than excited to see fresh meat and
ate it all up. By the morning everyone was sick. <strong>The</strong> reason for the sickness became apparent to
them further down the river. <strong>The</strong> river was littered with ox carcasses that went for a drink in the
river to find that the bank of the river was too steep to get back up and the poor creatures would
end up drowning. Many of the fish had been feeding on the rotting flesh of the dead beasts and
were dead as well. As Mary Ann said, this “ended the feast of fish.” 52
Along the Snake River, the Boatman-Scott party came upon a cabin. This would have
been something quite odd to have seen in this wilderness country. Two men lived in the cabin
and told people they could make their wagons water tight boats. <strong>The</strong>y also told them that the
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destination was only four days by river. <strong>The</strong>ir destination, little did they know, would be at the
bottom of the Snake River. <strong>The</strong> two men all along were profiting off of the poor people’s
weariness. Happily for the party, they ignored the two men and moved on. 53
<strong>The</strong> Boatman-Scott party had now made it to Salmon Falls on the Snake River. This was
a very popular place to cross the river. <strong>The</strong> people would water proof the wagons, one rope was
across the river and a couple of ropes attached to the boat and rope. This concept worked fairly
well. Except in this for instance when the rope snapped and three men and a young boy were
thrown into the river above the falls. <strong>The</strong> young boy drowned but miraculously the three men
were pulled out of the water. <strong>The</strong> Boatman-Scott party decided to move on so as not to have to
experience any more tragedy. 54
<strong>The</strong>y went twenty miles downstream to another ferry location. However, some
opportunistic men had taking over the running of the ferry and they were charging a fortune to
cross. Seeing that the party had no money to spare they just continued on the south side of the
river. This turned out to be a blessing as the river bows in favor of the southern side. Here at the
foot of the Blue Mountains lay a treacherous 350 mile journey to the Willamette Valley. <strong>The</strong> Blue
Mountains were almost impossible to get up. <strong>The</strong> grade was steep and the men were tired. Once
they did finally reach the summit a perfect campsite was found and they rested there for a bit.
<strong>The</strong>re was so much fuel for the fire that they made it rage. This was the first that they had seen
timber or forest for nearly one thousand miles. 55 <strong>The</strong> Boatman-Scott party would not experience
any trouble once they descended from the summit of the Blue Mountains. <strong>The</strong>y went on to meet
the Dalles at the mouth of the Columbia River where they boarded a steam ship and made their
way to their own special paradise.
At the conclusion of the Oregon Trail sat rich fertile farm land that would supply the
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families who travelled there for many generations. <strong>The</strong> Oregon Territory when first settled was
without government and therefore lacked the stability of the places where the settlers had come
from. <strong>The</strong> subject of government was a tricky subject for the area because there was no clear
owner of the land. Both the British and the Americans felt that they had claim to the region,
however neither set up any sort of government. <strong>The</strong> pioneers that had come there from America
bestowed with the love of law and order which had been handed down from the revolutionary
fathers and survived through the civil war would create their own provincial government. That
was until the United States would claim the land as its own. While there was a clear lack of
government in the Oregon Territory the American nation saw a real threat to their people from
the hostile Indian nations that occupied the territory. To combat the threat of the Indians wiping
out the Americans army troops were sent to the region to look after these affairs. 56
<strong>The</strong>se settlers had very important roles in the nation’s production of food and natural
resources. Until the railroad was constructed, shipping would be a huge industry in the Upper
Northwest. <strong>The</strong>ir production included but was not limited to; “petroleum, lumber, livestock, and
a variety of cereal grains, fruit and other farm products.” 57
Transcontinental Railway 1860’s
In 1862, President Lincoln would sign an act that would secure the future of a
transcontinental railroad and telegraph lines and the end of the Wagoner era. This in itself would
be the beginning of the end for the Oregon Trail. Once people and information could be
transferred, quickly and efficiently, there would be no use for a disease ridden trail that was
swamped with poor Indians whose only options were to beg from the white travelers. With the
act signed in 1862 it would take two separate companies until 1869 to complete the line. Once
the first transcontinental rail line was finished it would be a race to create many more lines and in
21

1883 the nation owned six more lines. 58
Conclusion
<strong>The</strong> Oregon Trail was an incredibly hard journey that many hundreds of thousands of
people would make over the course of only a half century. <strong>The</strong>y went for any number of different
reasons and not all of them would make it to the trails conclusion. <strong>The</strong> young nation was rushing
to secure its boundaries and future. Those who did make it to the Oregon country would find
beautiful fields of green and unlock a rich land for the American nation. While those early
pioneers would surely not have known how instrumental their journey was to decades and
centuries to come, they did know that it promised a better life for themselves and their children
to come. <strong>The</strong> Oregon Trail is the romantic story of a nation defining itself and a people who
could not be stopped from living out their manifest destiny.
22

Endnotes
1 Robert Richmond, A Nation moving west: Readings in the History of the American <strong>West</strong> (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1966), 124
2 This paragraph was made up using different maps of the United States and trail specific maps.
3 Louisiana’s northern and western boarders were undefined and thus stretch as far as ones imagination could
stretch.
4 Lawrence Kaplan, Thomas Jefferson <strong>West</strong>ward the Course of Empire (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc,
1999), 34.
5 Gunther Barth, <strong>The</strong> Lewis and Clark Expedition. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 1998), 46.
6 Robert Richmond, A Nation moving west, 123.
7Ibid.
8Wallace Stegner "<strong>The</strong> Oregon Trail...Road to Destiny." Trails <strong>West</strong>, 1979, 40-74.
9Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Waiilatpu was the mission where the Whitmans were stationed.
12 Robert Richmond, A Nation moving west, 322.
13 Ibid 324.
14 Weldon Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852: As Told by Mary Ann Boatman (Pullman: Washington State
University Press, 2001), 10.
15 Weldon Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852,10.
16 Thomas A. Rumer, <strong>The</strong> Wagon Trains of '44: A Comparative View of the Individual Caravans in the Emigration of
1844 to Oregon (Spokane: <strong>The</strong> Arthur H. Clark Company, 1990), 92-93.
17 Thomas A. Rumer, <strong>The</strong> Wagon Trains of '44, 92-93.
18 Weldon Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852,13.
19 Ibid., 13.
20 Ibid.14.
21 Ibid.,14.
22 Thomas A. Rumer, <strong>The</strong> Wagon Trains of '44, 96.
23 Weldon Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852,16.
24 Robert Richmond, A Nation moving west, 169.
25 Weldon Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852, 23-25.
26 Ibid., 28-35.
27 Ibid., 47.
28 Ibid., 47.
29 Thomas A. Rumer, <strong>The</strong> Wagon Trains of '44,123.
30 Weldon Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852,48.
31 Ibid.,48- 49.
32 Ibid., 50.
33 Ibid.,50.
34 Tricia M. Wagner, It Happened on the Oregon Trail. (Guilford: Morris Book Publishing, LLC, 2005), 48.
35 Weldon Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852,51-53.
36 Ibid.,54-55.
37 Ibid.,64-68.
38 Stegner Trails <strong>West</strong>, 40-74.
39 Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852,73-77.
40 Ibid., 78-79.
41 Ibid., 80-84.
42 Ibid.,101-103.
43 Ibid.,106.
44 Ibid..,119-120.
45 Ibid, 122-124..
46 Richmond, A Nation moving west, 173.
23

47 Rau, Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852, 125.
48 Ibid., 128.
49 Ibid.,126-127.
50 Ibid.,129.
51 Ibid.,131.
52 Ibid., 151.
53 Ibid.156.
54 Ibid., 159.
55 Ibid.,167-173.
56 Richmond, A Nation moving west, 318.
57 Ibid., 319.
58 Ibid., 266.
24

List of Sources
Primary Sources
A Nation Moving <strong>West</strong>: Readings in the History of the American Frontier. Robert W. Richmond
and Robert W. Mardock, editors. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966.
Rau, Weldon W. Surviving the Oregon Trail 1852: As Told by Mary Ann Boatman. Pullman:
Washington state University Press, 2001.
<strong>The</strong> Mountains We have Crossed: Diaries and Letters of the Oregon Mission, 1838. 7 ed.
Clifford M. Drury. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
Secondary Sources
Barth, Gunther. <strong>The</strong> Lewis and Clark Expediton. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 1998.
Donnelly, Joseph P. Pierre Gibault, Missionary: 1737-1802. Chicago: Loyola University Press,
1971.
Kaplan, Lawrence S. Thomas Jefferson <strong>West</strong>ward the Course of Empire. Wilmington: Scholarly
Resources Inc., 1999.
Packman, Francis. <strong>The</strong> Oregon Trail. Elmer N. Feltskog. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1994.
Rumer,Thomas A. <strong>The</strong> Wagon Trains of '44: A Comparative View of the Individual Caravans in
the Emigration of 1844 to Oregon. Spokane: <strong>The</strong> Arthur H. Clark Company, 1990.
Stegner, Wallace. "<strong>The</strong> Oregon Trail...Road to Destiny." Trails <strong>West</strong>, 1979, 40-74.
Wagner, Tricia M. It Happened on the Oregon Trail. Guilford: Morris Book Publishing, LLC,
2005.
25