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

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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
Page 1 and 2: Introduction The <
Page 3 and 4: the pass, the trail crossed the Gre
Page 5 and 6: problem until Astor went to Congres
Page 7 and 8: straight out of Mary Ann Richardson
Page 9 and 10: While on the trail, the emigrants f
Page 11 and 12: with the Indians would be typical o
Page 13 and 14: The Boatman party
Page 15: on the trail. 38 The</stron
Page 19 and 20: Mary Ann said this of the river,
Page 21 and 22: families who travelled there for ma
Page 23 and 24: Endnotes 1 Robert Richmond, A Natio
Page 25: List of Sources Primary Sources A N

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