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Oregon-California Trails Association

23 hours ago

Railroad conducter Paul Henderson had been called “The Trail Detective” and “The Caboose Historian.” For 50-plus years, Henderson and his wife Helen documented and mapped the history of the Oregon, California and other trails when America was expanding westward.
They left behind a veritable treasure trove of information for authors and researchers to pore over for that time period.

It’s all contained in a special archive housed at Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering, Nebraska.

Continue reading via the link here.

(And yes, that's OCTA's own Barb Netherland pictured here!) ... See MoreSee Less

Hendersons' Oregon Trail Collection called priceless

www.starherald.com

Railroad conducter Paul Henderson had been called “The Trail Detective” and “The Caboose Historian.” For 50-plus years, Henderson and his wife Helen documented and mapped the history of the Or...

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Oregon-California Trails Association

23 hours ago

For your Monday morning . . .For four days in mid-July 1847, Canadian artist Paul Kane visited the mission at weyíiletpuu. During his time here Kane sketched multiple people and images with the intent to develop those sketches into paintings later. Among presumptive depictions of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman are sketches of tamáx̣aš and tílewkeyˀkt, and a drawing of the mission site itself.

Artists give us a perspective on the world around us, whether historically or present-day. Sometimes how artists choose to portray the world around them varies, especially as time elapses. When was a time where your memory of something differed from a depiction of it?

#WhitmanMissionNHS
Sketch of Whitman Mission by Paul Kane done in 1847. Royal Ontario Museum. ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

24 hours ago

Today in history, July 13, 1846, the Donner Party pulled out of camp at Independence Rock in Wyoming. Charles Stanton wrote about the rock in his July 19th letter to his brother Sidney:

"A drive of five miles brought us to Independence Rock, in the appearance of which we were all disappointed, as we expected to find a rock so high that you could hardly see its top; but instead of that, in seen from the distance, it looked tame and uninteresting. It is about 600 yards long, and about 140 feet high, of an oval shape--one solid mass of granite, rising perpendicularly fro the green bottom lands of the Sweet Water.--Its sides, to the height of 80 feet, are covered with names of travelers who have passed by. There is an indentation about half way up it top, where there is a single pine tree growing. Hastings, in his trip to California in 1842, in attempting to climb the rock to this tree, was taken prisoner by Indians."

The reference to Hastings suggests that someone in the party had a copy of Hastings Guide.

Stanton continued:

"In about eight miles further, we came to the Devil’s Gate, where we nooned, and the most of our party walked down to take a look at it. The Sweet Water at this place makes a gap through a rock mountain, which on either side rises 400 feet from the water. The rock is of granite, single pieces of which, as large as an ordinary house, are found in this place. We drove on till sun down, and caught up with Bogg’s company, which had left us the day before, and encamped. No scenery in our whole route has been more delightful than that seen in this day’s drive. The valley of the Sweet Water is about five miles wide. On one right was a long line of rock hills or mountains, from three to five hundred feet in height, rising directly from the smooth level of rich meadow land. Nothing could present a greater contrast with the sterile granite mountains, than this." ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

2 days ago

On this date in history, July 12, 1864, Mary Kelly was killed and buried about 14 miles west of what is now Douglas, Wyoming. She was about five or six years old.

In May 1864, the Kelly family left their home in Anderson County (just north of the ghost town of Geneva) in eastern Kansas and headed to Montana. Josiah and Fanny Kelly, their niece, and the adopted Mary Hurley Kelly, were on the wagon train. Josiah Kelly was a Union army veteran who had come to Kansas in 1856 as an abolitionist and he had two black employees who also came along. One is known only as Franklin and the other, Andrew Sullivan, was their hired driver. Joining them was a single man named Gardner Wakefield. Along the way, another Kansas couple, William and Sarah Larimer and their 8-year old son Frank, joined them, as did Noah Taylor and a Reverend Sharp.

Mary Hurley Kelly died while trying to escape after being captured by a band of about 200-250 Oglala Sioux. The massacre that occurred near Little Box Elder Creek in Wyoming claimed the lives of five people and is known as the Kelly-Larimer Massacre. Noah D. Taylor, Reverend Sharp, Franklin, and another traveler whose name is unknown were buried in a single grave right where they were killed along the creek. Mary's scalped and arrow-ridden body was found a few days later and buried by her uncle.

By the one Sioux account (as recounted in Mari Sandoz's 1942 book "Crazy House: Strange Man of the Oglala), the Indians had gone to see the white man's "Holy Road" (the Oregon Trail) that they had heard about, met some whites, and ate and smoked with them. While they were eating, a Sioux messenger arrived, reporting that U.S. soldiers had killed some of their relatives on the Missouri River, apparently putting their heads on poles. The Sioux, agitated, then shot some of the emigrants, with Sharp, Taylor, and Franklin being killed immediately.

The grave the four men shared was relocated during the 1954 construction of a reservoir. Although it was a little distance from the others, Mary was also buried where she was killed. When the other men's grave was moved, they were reburied closer to Mary's grave.

Read more in Randy Brown's "Attack on the Kelly-Larimer Wagon Train" in Overland Journal 5-1 (Winter 1987), free to download for OCTA members at www.octa-journals.org.

Fanny Kelly was captured by the Sioux and freed five months later. She moved to Ellsworth, Kansas with her husband, but after he died of cholera a few years later, she moved to Wyoming to live with the Larimers. She later wrote a book about her experiences called "Narrative of My Captivity among the Sioux Indians" in 1871. However, Sarah Larimer published a book of her own about her brief experience in 1870 called "The Capture and Escape; or, Life among the Sioux" and was accused of plagiarism by Fanny Kelly. Larimer escaped almost immediately after being captured.

In the summer of 2021, the Overland Journal will feature a new article with more details on this incident. The author is a descendant of a family that was on the Pella Wagon Train that intervened during the attack (also on the Pella, Iowa train was a 16-year-old Wyatt Earp and some of his brothers, bound for San Bernardino). Join OCTA now at www.octa-trails.org to receive your quarterly issue in the mail. ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

2 days ago

On this date in history, July 12, 1850, Daniel Lantz of Centerville, Indiana died near the Green River in southwest Wyoming.

The National Road, the first federally sponsored highway, enters Indiana just east of the town of Richmond, passes directly through it and heads for Centerville six miles west. From there it continues across Wayne County toward Indianapolis. Funneling traffic west, the road was extremely busy during the peak years of the California Gold Rush, 1849 and 1850.

During the Gold Rush years beginning in 1849, there was a very large emigration of men from the towns, villages, and farms of Wayne County. Out of about 110 graves that can be identified on the Oregon-California Trails across the West, 53 are in Wyoming. And remarkably, three of these Wyoming graves are graves of Wayne County people.

Two of the Wyoming graves, Alva Unthank and Martin Ringo, are in Converse County, Wyoming, a mere eight miles apart, just a little nearer than their homes had been in Indiana. There is no other connection between the two. Unthank died in 1850, Ringo in 1864.

The third grave of a Wayne County resident is that of Daniel Lantz of Centerville. He is buried about five miles north of present Granger, Wyoming, near the western border of Sweetwater County in southwestern Wyoming.

To learn more, read Randy Brown's short story at
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/grave-daniel-lantz.

OCTA members can download for free a more detailed article about Lantz in Overland Journal 9-3 (Fall 1991) at www.octa-journals.org and it can be purchased for $5 at www.octa-trails.org. ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

3 days ago

On this date in history - here are some timely thoughts from the folks at Sutter's Fort State Historic Park. ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

3 days ago

On this date in history, July 11, 1846, the American flag was raised at Sutter’s Fort for the first time. After the US Army arrived, John Sutter raised the Stars and Stripes above the walls of his compound. There was so much cannonading that nearly all the glass at Sutter's Fort was broken.

For more on the Bear Flag Revolt, read: http://www.militarymuseum.org/BFR.html ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

4 days ago

Almost ready!We're nearing the home stretch of the Chimney Rock Museum renovation! Here's a little sneak peek of the new exhibit we've got inside 👀 ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

5 days ago

Today in history, July 9, 1846:

Charles Stanton (pictured here) , who had left Independence, Missouri with the Donner Party in May, wrote in a letter dated July 12 about the events of the 9th:

"On Thursday morning we left the Platte and the long range of black hills on our left, and struck off towards the Sweet Water. At noon, Col. Boon came up full of excitement, stating that he had been out with some others, and had killed eight buffaloes, among which were several fat cows and calves, and requested all who wanted buffalo meat to get what they wanted. ... In the afternoon, we drove a few miles and encamped by a fine spring."

Chales Tyler Stanton was born in Pompey, New York, on March 11, 1811. He worked as a store clerk but took a keen interest in botany and geology. Stanton moved to Chicago in 1835 where he established his own business. ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

6 days ago

Today in history, June 8, 1849:

Charles B. Bishop, a member of the Washington City and California Gold Mining Association (which was captained by J. Goldsborough Bruff) died while encamped below a hill near modern-day Torrington, Wyoming.

Virtually nothing is known of Bishop. He is listed on the company roster as a 25-year-old from Washington, DC and a veteran of the Mexican-American War. Many company members were federal employees. The company departed Washington on April 2 and headed to Pittsburgh to board a steamboat bound for St. Louis and then another to St. Joseph.

On Sunday morning, July 8, Dr. Henry Austin wrote:

"I was called to a man who was sick about 5 am. I found him with symptoms of Cholera of which he died at one this day. The train started on the march leaving one wagon in which the sick man was behind. I stayed of course to attend to him the symptoms continue to be less favorable. The train stopped before it proceeded far on this road and returned and layed by for the day. Several of the men are preparing for the funeral."

Captain Bruff described the preparations:

"The messmates of the deceased laid him out, sewed him up in his blue blanket, and prepared a bier, formed of his tent-poles. I had a grave dug in a neighboring ridge, on left of the trail, about 400 yards from it. Dry clay and gravel, and coarse white sand-stone on the next hill, afforded slabs to line it with, making a perfect vault. (Bruff himself carved the lettering on the head and footstone.) I then organized a funeral procession, men all in clean clothes and uniforms, with music (a key bugle, flute, violin, and accordion) and two and two, with the Stars & stripes over the body we marched to the measured time of the dirge, deposited the body of our comrade in the grave, an elderly gentleman read the burial service, and we filled up the grave, erected the stones, and returned to camp."

The funeral was attended by another company, the New York Colony Guards, a military-style company complete with uniforms. They provided a firing party of eight men, giving the ceremony a military air, apparently in honor of Bishop's Mexican War experience. The long-lost grave was rediscovered in 1988 by long-time OCTA members Bill and Jan Hill of Centereach, New York. The grave was signed by Randy Brown of OCTA in 1995.

For more information, download Overland Journal Vol. 7 No. 1 (1989), "Charles Bishop Grave Rediscovered" by Bill Hill. It's free to download for OCTA members at www.octa-journals.org and $5 on the OCTA website at www.octa-trails.org. ... See MoreSee Less

Oregon-California Trails Association | Merrell J Mattes Collection and Overland Journals

www.octa-journals.org

Here, you can utilize hundreds of original 19th century trail diaries and have access to over three decades worth of OCTA's flagship scholarly journal, the Overland Journal. Or, click on the Merrill J...

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Featured Products

Bruff's Wake: J. Goldsborough Bruff & the California Gold Rush, by H. L James $24.95
The Oregon Trail Revisited, by Gregory M. Franzwa $24.95
In Pursuit of a Dream (DVD) $20.00
Reading, Writing and Riding Along the Oregon-California Trails (An Educational Activity Book), by William E. Hill $8.95

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