The Oregon Trail was the pathway for Fremont in 1842, perhaps the most overvalued explorer of all the West; albeit this comment may to some seem harsh.Kit Carson and Bill Williams led Fremont across the Rockies almost by the hand.Carson and Williams themselves had been taken across by the Indian tribes.But Fremont could write; and the story which he set down of his first expedition inflamed the zeal of all.Men began to head out for that far-away country beyond the Rockies.Not a few scattered bands, but very many, passed up the valley of the Platte.There began a tremendous trek of thousands of men who wanted homes somewhere out beyond the frontier.And that was more than ten years before the Civil War.The cow trade was not dreamed of; the coming cow country was overleaped and ignored.
Our national horizon extended immeasurably along that dusty way.
In the use of the Oregon Trail we first began to be great.The chief figure of the American West, the figure of the ages, is not the long-haired, fringed-legging man riding a raw-boned pony, but the gaunt and sadfaced woman sitting on the front seat of the wagon, following her lord where he might lead, her face hidden in the same ragged sunbonnet which had crossed the Appalachians and the Missouri long before.That was America, my brethren! There was the seed of America's wealth.There was the great romance of all America--the woman in the sunbonnet; and not, after all, the hero with the rifle across his saddle horn.Who has written her story? Who has painted her picture?
They were large days, those of the great Oregon Trail, not always pleasingly dramatic, but oftentimes tragic and terrible.We speak of the Oregon Trail, but it means little to us today; nor will any mere generalities ever make it mean much to us.But what did it mean to the men and women of that day? What and who were those men and women? What did it mean to take the Overland Trail in the great adventure of abandoning forever the known and the safe and setting out for Oregon or California at a time when everything in the far West was new and unknown? How did those good folk travel?
Why and whither did they travel?
There is a book done by C.F.McGlashan, a resident of Truckee, California, known as "The History of the Donner Party," holding a great deal of actual history.McGlashan, living close to Donner Lake, wrote in 1879, describing scenes with which he was perfectly familiar, and recounting facts which he had from direct association with participants in the ill-fated Donner Party.He chronicles events which happened in 1846--a date before the discovery of gold in California.The Donner Party was one of the typical American caravans of homeseekers who started for the Pacific Slope with no other purpose than that of founding homes there, and with no expectation of sudden wealth to be gained in the mines.I desire therefore to quote largely from the pages of this book, believing that, in this fashion, we shall come upon history of a fundamental sort, which shall make us acquainted with the men and women of that day, with the purposes and the ambitions which animated them, and with the hardships which they encountered.
"The States along the Mississippi were but sparsely settled in 1846, yet the fame of the fruitfulness, the healthfulness, and the almost tropical beauty of the land bordering the Pacific, tempted the members of the Donner Party to leave their homes.
These homes were situated in Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, Missouri, and Ohio.Families from each of these States joined the train and participated in its terrible fate; yet the party proper was organized in Sangamon County, Illinois, by George and Jacob Donner and James F.Reed.Early in April, 1846, the party set out from Springfield, Illinois, and by the first week in May reached Independence, Missouri.Here the party was increased by additional members, and the train comprised about one hundred persons...."In the party were aged fathers with their trusting families about them, mothers whose very lives were wrapped up in their children, men in the prime and vigor of manhood, maidens in all the sweetness and freshness of budding womanhood, children full of glee and mirthfulness, and babes nestling on maternal breasts.Lovers there were, to whom the journey was tinged with rainbow hues of joy and happiness, and strong, manly hearts whose constant support and encouragement was the memory of dear ones left behind in homeland.
"The wonderment which all experience in viewing the scenery along the line of the old emigrant road was peculiarly vivid to these people.Few descriptions had been given of the route, and all was novel and unexpected.In later years the road was broadly and deeply marked, and good camping grounds were distinctly indicated.The bleaching bones of cattle that had perished, or the broken fragments of wagons or castaway articles, were thickly strewn on either side of the highway.But in 1846 the way was through almost trackless valleys waving with grass, along rivers where few paths were visible, save those made by the feet of buffalo and antelope, and over mountains and plains where little more than the westward course of the sun guided the travelers.
Trading-posts were stationed at only a few widely distant points, and rarely did the party meet with any human beings, save wandering bands of Indians.Yet these first days are spoken of by all of the survivors as being crowned with peaceful enjoyment and pleasant anticipations.There were beautiful flowers by the roadside, an abundance of game in the meadows and mountains, and at night there were singing, dancing, and innocent plays.Several musical instruments, and many excellent voices, were in the party, and the kindliest feeling and goodfellowship prevailed among the members.
