Author: Oscar Osburn Winther
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803252189
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392
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Book Description
The Pacific Northwest, the old Oregon country, was one of the most remote and inaccessible frontier areas, but it was also known to be rich in natural resources. The opening up of this region is a story of courage, endurance, and pioneer enterprise. Transportation in this rugged country was a problem to the settlers who would promote commerce and travel, just as it was a problem to the earlier fur traders. The construction of roads and development of water routes progressed through the years until the railroad finally came to the Northwest, but at no time did the scarcity of roads prevent settlers from pushing back the frontier. Here the whole story of travel and travelers in this region is told for the first time. The book is based largely on primary sources and, as such, is a contribution to history. As an account of courage and ingenuity, transportation monopoly against transportation monopoly, and man versus nature, it is fascinating reading. University Professor of History at Indiana University, O. O. Winther is the author of Express and Stagecoach Days in California and Via Western Express and Stagecoach.
Author: Tj Hanson
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 670
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Book Description
The Oregon Trail had its beginnings in 1843 beneath the wagon wheels of the Oregon Emigrating Company, a group of disparate Americans with a common goal: to seek a new land and make it their own. The trail met its end in 1869 with the completion of the transcontinental railway. Oregon Country is a detailed account of the Oregon Migration of 1843 in a "historical fiction" setting. In this context, the reader can enjoy the adventure as a participant, rather than as a student or scholar.During its twenty-five year history, the Oregon Trail essentially changed every year. From its rough beginnings grew an organized route. By 1846 ferries serviced most of the major river crossings, and fully-stocked supply depots awaited hungry travelers. Due to all the livestock driven west, the trail became a mile-wide swath of trampled ground, providing an easy road with no need for a guide. During the summers of 1849 and 1850, over 100,000 miners also followed the Oregon Trail, en route to the California gold fields. By the 1850s, Mormons were using the trail as a source of income, supplying emigrants with food and equipment. As the railroad extended further west, many people took the train as far as they could before switching to the trail.Only the 1843 migration held the true adventure of entering an unknown land. Guides were needed to show the way; dangerous river crossings taxed the courage of everyone; the existing fur trading posts were unable to supply necessary food and other equipment; and the first emigrants had to build their own road because the Oregon Trail did not yet exist. Wagons had never been taken all the way to Oregon, and it was entirely possible that this great experiment might end in tragedy. It is this migration, 1843, to which we often attribute the adventure and romanticism of the Oregon Trail.While researching this book, I found information to be both scarce and scattered, requiring many months to form an outline of the complexity of this event. The popular myth of western migration, championed by film and television, depicts a wagon train of smiling emigrants, traveling down a well-worn road and fighting Indians at every turn. The truth is considerably different.Research sources included the Oregon Historical Society, several Oregon historical libraries, the Oregon State Archives, numerous probate records, military discharge papers, newspaper clippings, trail diaries, and cemetery headstones. I suspect that other sources of information are hidden away in the attics of various descendents, information that is essentially not available to the public. Appendix A provides a listing of the known emigrants that were part of the 1843 Oregon Emigrating Company, along with some brief biographical data. This appendix is nonfiction, providing new knowledge to the scholarly community and, it is hoped, inspiring other researchers to help fill in the gaps.The Oregon Migration of 1843 was a watershed moment in American history. It marked the end of the trapping era and the beginnings of civilization on the Western frontier. You are about to become part of that experience. Enjoy the journey! --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Author: Rinker Buck
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451659164
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 464
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Book Description
A new American journey.
Author: Oregon. Office of the Secretary of State
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Oregon
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Roads
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : House document (United States. Congress. House)
Languages : en
Pages : 218
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Book Description
Statements of Hon. A.T. Smith, Hon. Albert Johnson, Hon. N.J. Sinnott, Hon. W.C. Hawley, Hon. J.W. Summers, Hon. J.F. Miller, Hon. U.S. Guyer, Hon. C.E. Winter, Hon. W.G. Sears, Hon. Elton Watkins, Hon. J.G. Strong, Hon. E.O. Leatherwood, Mr. W.C. Markham, Hon. R.G. Simmons, Hon. D.B. Colton.
Author: David Dary
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0307429113
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432
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Book Description
A major one-volume history of the Oregon Trail from its earliest beginnings to the present, by a prize-winning historian of the American West. Starting with an overview of Oregon Country in the early 1800s, a vast area then the object of international rivalry among Spain, Britain, Russia, and the United States, David Dary gives us the whole sweeping story of those who came to explore, to exploit, and, finally, to settle there. Using diaries, journals, company and expedition reports, and newspaper accounts, David Dary takes us inside the experience of the continuing waves of people who traveled the Oregon Trail or took its cutoffs to Utah, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, and California. He introduces us to the fur traders who set up the first “forts” as centers to ply their trade; the missionaries bent on converting the Indians to Christianity; the mountain men and voyageurs who settled down at last in the fertile Willamette Valley; the farmers and their families propelled west by economic bad times in the East; and, of course, the gold-seekers, Pony Express riders, journalists, artists, and entrepreneurs who all added their unique presence to the land they traversed. We meet well-known figures–John Jacob Astor, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, John Frémont, the Donners, and Red Cloud, among others–as well as dozens of little-known men, women, and children who jotted down what they were seeing and feeling in journals, letters, or perhaps even on a rock or a gravestone. Throughout, Dary keeps us informed of developments in the East and their influence on events in the West, among them the building of the transcontinental railroad and the efforts of the far western settlements to become U.S. territories and eventually states. Above all, The Oregon Trail offers a panoramic look at the romance, colorful stories, hardships, and joys of the pioneers who made up this tremendous and historic migration.
Author: Sally Senzell Isaacs
Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree Library
ISBN: 9781575723174
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36
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Book Description
An introduction to what life was like on the Oregon Trail, describing the wagons, daily routines, food, clothing, Native Americans encountered on the way, and dangers.
Author: Rinker Buck
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
ISBN: 1401305776
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 295
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Book Description
Writer Rinker Buck looks back more than 30 years to a summer when he and his brother, at ages 15 and 17 respectively, became the youngest duo to fly across America, from New Jersey to California. Having grown up in an aviation family, the two boys bought an old Piper Cub, restored it themselves, and set out on the grand journey. Buck is a great storyteller, and once you get airborne with the boys you find yourself absorbed in a story of adventure and family drama. And Flight of Passage is also an affecting look back to the summer of 1966, when the times seemed much less cynical and adventures much more enjoyable.
Author: Dennis M. Larsen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781636820316
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
"Much has been written about Ezra Meeker, most of it by Meeker himself. Despite the paper trail he left behind, no one has yet written his comprehensive biography. In this, the last of three volumes on Meeker, Larsen examines the pioneer's most enduring legacy-his grand and much publicized promotion of the Oregon Trail"--.
Author: Horace Sumner Lyman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Oregon
Languages : en
Pages : 456
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Book Description
