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OCTA > Overland Journal Volume 22 Number 3 Fall 2004

Overland Journal Volume 22 Number 3 Fall 2004

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Overland Journal 22-3, Fall 2004
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Oregon-California Trails Association

2 hours ago

It is Friday with the Donner/Reed PartyDecember 9 – Fridays with the Donner PartyThere was a glimmer of optimism that arose in the stranded party during the week leading up to December 9. On the 4th Patrick Breen ( https://www.google.com/books/edition/Diary_of_Patrick_Breen/Aq9LAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 ) wrote, “it is a relief to have one fine day,” and the next day, “looks delightful after the long snow & storm.” William C. Graves, son of Franklin Ward Graves, published a memoir in the Russian River Flag newspaper on May 3, 1877 ( https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=RRF18770503.2.3&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 ), “My father was the only man in the company who had ever seen snow shoes; and upon his return made fifteen pairs. He and Stanton, Fosdick and wife, Foster and wife, Mrs. Pike, Mrs. McCutchen, Mr. Eddy, Miss Mary Ann Graves, Wm. Murphy, the two California Indians, and two other men, whom I have forgotten, started on them (Dec. 15), and resolved to go through or die in the attempt.” Before making this attempt at crossing, Charles Stanton sent a letter to George Donner (who was camped a few miles back down the valley), saying, “You will please send me 1# your best tobacco. The storm prevented us from getting over the mountains we are now getting snow shoes ready to go on foot I should like to get your pocket compass as the snow is so very deep & in the event of a storm it would would be invaluable Milt & Mr Graves are coming right back and either can bring it back to you... Yours Very Respectfully, C.T. Stanton”. The snowshoe image is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowshoe#/media/File:Snowshoe2.jpg . ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

18 hours ago

"Wagon Master: Hansen's Hand-Crafted History," the latest documentary from OCTA, Is on its way to Cannes. Watch it here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wagonmaster ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

22 hours ago

"Lewis Jones wore a few hats. He was a Santa Fe trader, merchant, and financial backer for other Santa Fe merchants and traders. This created his success. Jones was one of the early settlers in Independence. Lewis and his wife, Elizabeth, were married on January 16, 1820. They had six children."Independence was like a hub for markets helping to outfit wagon trains. Because of the role Independence played with the Santa Fe trade, this community quickly developed. In July 1827, sales of lots occurred. With the first sale, Jones purchased some lots. Other successful businessmen like Smallwood V. Noland did the same. In 1831, Jones was appointed a Justice of the County Court, and in 1842, Lewis help to found the West Fork Baptist Church. The church wasn't far from Raytown, Missouri, and is noted as being "the first permanent church organization of any denomination in the central southwestern portion of Jackson County.""It's believed Lewis Jones purchased this land and house in 1846. With increased trade expanding in Independence, other structures were going up. Taverns were being established. Hotels were going up like the Merchant's Hotel built by Smallwood Noland."In 1849, Lewis Jones built and owned the Nebraska House which was a hotel, and across the street from Noland's Merchant Hotel. Lewis also joined others in the wagon business. Jones is listed as an early well-known settler of the Fort Osage Township."Read more at the link here. ... See MoreSee Less

Built in 1840, the historic Lewis Jones house in Independence, Missouri won't be tested by time | CJ Coombs | NewsBreak Original

original.newsbreak.com

Lewis Jones House in Independence, Missouri.Photo by25or6to4, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. On April 21, 1994, the Lewis Jones House in Independence, Missouri was listed on the National Registe...

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Oregon-California Trails Association is at Fremont County Museum System.

2 days ago

In 1879 Harvey Morgan and 2 others were heading to Lander from South Pass. Their freight wagon was attacked by a band of Sioux about 7 miles south of town at Dead Man's Gulch. 😧 All 3 men died. Harvey's skull was found in 1915 when a water line was being dug. His remains were reinterred but the skull was considered an important artifact about Lander. A cabin was built and designated as the Pioneer Museum, and Harvey became Accession #1. The City of Lander came to be after the height of Oregon California Trail travel, but is an integral connection with so much history that happened in South Pass, along the Lander Trail, and in the Wind River Valley. Join us in this informative and entertaining story. https://youtu.be/yuTb3LBRWLUOnly In Wyoming Wyoming Public Radio#wyominghistory #historymuseum #landerwyoming #WindRiver #southpass #deadmansgulch #skullartifacts 💀 ... See MoreSee Less

Alas, poor Harvey!

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In 1879 Harvey Morgan and 2 others were heading to Lander from South Pass. Their freight wagon was attacked by a band of Sioux about 7 miles south of town a...

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Oregon-California Trails Association

2 days ago

Lila Meroe Williams Aamodt, aged 83, died of pancreatic cancer on November 30, 2022. She was born August 12, 1939, in Rochester, MN, the second of five children of Marvin M. D. Williams and Orpha S. Williams.Early life interests were music and science. Piano was her favorite instrument, and her siblings remember her playing at home a lot. She was the soloist for a piano concerto during high school with the local orchestra. She also played violin and oboe. In college, she loved the challenge of learning to play the organ.Science was a second interest as a young woman. She graduated in 1961 from Beloit College with a B.S. in biology and chemistry. In 1967 Lila earned a Ph.D. in microbiology at Yale University where she met and married Gary Aamodt in 1964. Her wedding present was a harpsichord. Gary and a friend founded A-R Editions to publish newly discovered historical musicology. Lila joined as co-owner when the company moved to Madison, WI, and was manager of its Recent Researches music series. In Madison, she played the harpsichord and recorder with a local Renaissance group, raised her two children, and was active as a leader and choir member at Luther Memorial Church where she made many lifelong friends.She was always learning. In 1992 she and Gary moved to Eden Prairie, and Lila took an extensive two year course and became a docent for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where she volunteered for 20 years. Later, as Lila worked through a divorce, she pursued new interests including dogsledding, cross country skiing, singing, swimming, stand up paddling and bicycling. After she moved to Kansas, she learned to play the ukulele and handbells.In 2012 Lila moved to Mission, KS, to be near her daughter Carla’s family and explore new horizons. She volunteered at the University of Kansas hospital as a standardized patient and at Saint Luke’s Hospital as a patient visitor. She took an interest in family genealogy and learned that several relatives had been in the Civil War.Learning her family’s history sparked an interest in the American Civil War and the history of the American West in general. She became active in the Civil War Roundtable and took part in a new living history project in Independence, MO, portraying life in 1849. She loved learning about the historical emigrant trails that started in Independence. She served leadership roles in the Trails Head Chapter of the national Oregon California Trails Association (OCTA) and in the Kansas City Area Historic Trails Association (KCAHTA) and received awards for her work.Lila developed a love of travel that continued throughout her life. She was extremely well traveled and enjoyed trips with her husband throughout the United States, Eastern and Western Europe, Peru, Morocco, Russia, India, Kenya, and China. They learned scuba diving and especially enjoyed that sport in Bonaire She continued traveling after the divorce, and traveled to Mongolia, Costa Rica, Botswana/Zimbabwe, six US river cruises, and five national parks in Utah. More recently, she and her daughter, Carla, hiked at Rocky Mountain National Park (2019) and snowshoed at Yellowstone National Park (2022).Lila was predeceased by a sister Martha (Charles) Stockton, a brother Kenneth (Sandy), and a son Christopher (Luoluo Hong). She is survived by Gary and their daughter, Carla Aamodt (Thomas Worth), two grandchildren, six nieces and nephews and their families; a brother Jay, a sister Hester, and two cousins.A Memorial Service for Lila will be held on Sunday, December 11, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1700 Westport Road, Kansas City, MO. Visitation will be at 1PM, followed by the service at 2PM. Memorial donations may be made to OCTA (octa-trails.org) or to Immanuel Lutheran Church. Cremains will be interred at the Luther Memorial Church columbarium in Madison, WI.Memorials may be made at:https://octa-trails.networkforgood.com/projects/179227-lila-aamodt-memorial ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

2 days ago

Some trail scenery for everyone this morning."We are within sight of Laramie Peak now, though it will be several days before we are opposite it. We have driven fast today and passed a great many ox teams, though the dust is so heavy that it almost blinded us. Distance traveled thirty miles." -Oregon emigrant Francis Sawyer in 1852Just after passing Scotts Bluff westbound emigrants caught their first view of Laramie Peak, which many emigrants erroneously referred to as the "Rocky Mountains". #TrailTuesday #MidwestNPS Image- The best views of Laramie Peak from the summit of Scotts Bluff can often be found just before sunset during the winter. NPS Image. ... See MoreSee Less

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Oregon-California Trails Association

3 days ago

"In the 1980s, the ‘New Western History’ challenged the existing interpretive authority of the American historiographies on the frontier narrative, and thus also the Sutter narrative, by raising questions about the traditional understanding of the history of the ‘Wild West’. People were no longer interested in the white, mostly male pioneers who were the accepted heroes of the Great American Story; instead, they wanted to know about the indigenous societies decimated by the westward migration, the rarely mentioned women, and the rest of the hitherto invisible cast of the Winning of the West story."As far as the Sutter story is concerned, it came out that he had hundreds of indigenous slave labourers who not only built his fort, but also maintained it. And that he traded in indigenous children. Interestingly, at the very moment when cracks were starting to appear in the dazzling façade of the hero myth, the Swiss exile community United Swiss Lodge of California (U.S.L.O.C.) from Sacramento had begun work on more prominently commemorating their ancestor."The U.S.L.O.C. approached private and political interest groups in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft with the request that they lobby for some form of commemoration of Sutter, as he had been a citizen of the Basel-Landschaft village of Rünenberg. And so it came about that, from the mid-1980s, the owners of the General Sutter Distillery in Sissach and a number of the Canton’s state councillors campaigned for financial involvement in the installation of a larger-than-life Sutter statue in Sacramento."Read more at the link here. ... See MoreSee Less

John Sutter, pioneer with a dark side

blog.nationalmuseum.ch

From hero of the old West to racist colonialist: Opinion on Swiss pioneer Johann August Sutter has changed in recent decades.

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Oregon-California Trails Association

3 days ago

It is Tuesday on the trails. Look at this beautiful hand-loomed jacquard double weave coverlet. It is thought that this coverlet was woven in Indiana and came across the Oregon Trail in 1852. Think about how it provided warmth or comfort to someone on that long journey.https://museumcollection.ohs.org/argus/ohs/… ... See MoreSee Less

Oregon Historical Society Museum Collection

museumcollection.ohs.org

The Oregon Historical Society museum collection safeguards thousands of objects related to the history of the region. The museum collection includes three-dimensional objects such as personal items, a...

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Oregon-California Trails Association

4 days ago

The Southern Trails Chapter of the Oregon California Trails Association invites you to join us in Tombstone, Arizona for the 2023 Trail Gathering from Tuesday January 24th through Thursday January 26th. Gain in-depth knowledge of the history of Tombstone, and the trails that traveled through this area. Come join us at historic Schieffelin Hall in Tombstone for this unique event. https://youtu.be/M5133B8OAD4 After you view the video easily register here: https://tombstonearizona.thetaleofthetrail.org/#tombstone #arizona #trail #oregontrail #californiatrail #travel #southwest #overland #butterfield ... See MoreSee Less

Tombstone - Trails Gathering

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https://tombstonearizona.thetaleofthetrail.org/The Southern Trails Chapter of the Oregon California Trails Association invites you to join us in Tombstone, A...

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Oregon-California Trails Association

4 days ago

We reported last week that Lila Aamodt, who stepped down as president of our Trails Head Chapter just last month, ended her brave battle against pancreatic cancer. She fought with a smile on her face and lived life fully to the very end, engaging in trail activities all over the country this past summer and autumn. A memorial service will be conducted Sunday, December 11th, at Lila's church. Immanuel Lutheran Church is located at 1700 Westport Road, Kansas City, Missouri, on the north side of the street, two blocks east of State Line Road. Visitation is at 1 pm and services at 2 pm. Lila is pictured here last month with Ross Marshall as she received a Meritorious Achievement Award from her chapter at the conclusion of her very successful presidency. We will all miss Lila so very much. ... See MoreSee Less

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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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