The Overland Memoirs of Charles Frederick True: A Teenager on the California Trail 1859, edited by Sally Ralston True

Trail facts for your Friday

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3 hours ago

10 Facts About the Oregon Trail

www.mentalfloss.com

Who were the 400,000 American settlers who made the journey from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon and California on the Oregon Trail? Was it safer for them to caulk the wagon or to ford the river? An...

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This day in history, August 7, 1854, Winfield Scott Ebey wrote from what is now called Craters of the Moon along the Jeffrey Cutoff of the Oregon Trail in Idaho:

"We were in motion at an early hour this morning & moved fast as we Could, hoping to reach the water by noon. As I rode forward I thought I should never get to this place. About noon we came near the Mountain Range & at the same time Came to, & padded around the Point of a vast field of Lava, or Volcanic Rock which had been melted by some former eruption & Cast out onto the Plain some 10 or 15 feet deep leaving a narrow strip of Clear ground next the mountain on which is the road. About 3 oclk reached this Camp & found we had travelled some 18 miles to day; some 24 from the Stream [Big Lost River] -- The Co[mpany] then saw the propriety of my policy in travelling apart of the way yesterevening. We have here a beautifull little Valley hemed in between the Mountain on the Right & the Lava Bed on the left. We have Good Water & Grass & some Sage. Since getting near the mountain I have found the ground Covered with large Black Crickets some 2 inches in length & 3/4 inch in breadth. I never saw the like of them. They are very voracious eating every thing that Comes in their way. They readily devour the excrement of the Cattle, and if one of their own number gets killed, they instantly eat him up. I am told the Indians frequently feed on them in Season of Scarcity. They are a disgusting insect -- Roads have been good today. All well."

Ebey lived in Adair and Schuyler County, Missouri (northwest of Kirksville) with his parents before they all moved over the Oregon Trail to Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, arriving in October 1854. They came at the request of Winfield's brother, Isaac Ebey, who had gone west in 1848. He was born on December 21, 1831 in Sangamon County, Illinois (the same county the Donner Party departed in 1846) and died at age 33 on February 21, 1865. He died in Petaluma in Sonoma County, California but is buried in the Sunnyside Cemetery in Coupeville, Washington in Puget Sound. Ebey's Landing is now a National Park Service site on Whidbey Island.

An interesting side note to the quote above: a grave was discovered in the vicinity of that day's travel. It is believed to be the grave of Arnold Marsh, a young man from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin who was a few days ahead of Ebey on the Yantis Wagon Train. He'd died five days before Ebey reached the area, "poisoned by opening an ox that died very suddenly....He was poisoned by opening cattle that died very suddenly, from swelling of the neck. His neck was so swollen that he choked to death. He died in agony." (Eliza Jane Jones, traveling in the Yantis Train.) The rapidity of the ox's death and Marsh's symptom of neck edema suggest the ox died of anthrax, and that Marsh died of inhalation of anthrax.

OCTA published the full diary of Winfield Scott Ebey in 1997. It was edited by Susan Badger Doyle and Fred Dykes. You can purchase a copy at https://octa-trails.org/product/1854-oregon-trail-diary-of-winfield-scott-ebey/. ... See MoreSee Less

6 hours ago

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Because we think this is just great, here is more information and several photos from the recent Boy Scout project to install six T-rail markers in eastern Oregon. [See prior post of article in the La Grande Observer] This project originated several years ago with the NW Chapter of OCTA - members obtained funding, purchased the rails from a supplier in Portland, and transported the heavy rails to various sites where they could be stored until installed. At last and after a lot of groundwork by members Gail Carbiener and Ronnie Allen, including finding appropriate locations and obtaining landowner permissions, the six T-rail markers were installed on July 31 and August 1.

In spite of COVID and high temperatures the scouts installed the six markers, each engraved with appropriate quotes from emigrant diaries, at sites in Union and Umatilla counties near or in La Grande and Pendleton. NW Chapter member Jenny Miller spent her weekend with the scouts and arranged for them to meet other chapter members and to enjoy trail-related activities.

For the scouts, their work will result in earning a Historic Trails Award patch from the Boy Scouts of America. The boys had to work together under the leadership of a peer and an Eagle will be earned. For the NW Chapter of OCTA, the work resulted in six newly installed markers for future trail travelers to find, read, and enjoy. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

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Thank you to all of our wonderful OCTA volunteers. We know many of you have worked on the trails on your own or in small groups over the summer, so be sure to report your hours, mileage, and unreimbursed expenses on our website. It only takes a few seconds. Please estimate if you don't know exact numbers. We report these numbers at the end of September to our National Park Service partners, which in turn leverages our report for Volunteers in Parks funding. This funding has paid for mapping software in past years. We also report our numbers to Congress at the end of the calendar year to show how we leverage federal funding for our trails. Thanks again for all you do! ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

Oregon-California Trails Association | OCTA-Volunteers

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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"Last Thursday, Jim Wood met with dog handlers Deb and Joe Hurlburt of the nonprofit Idaho Search & Rescue Dogs in the main parking lot of Horseshoe Canyon. Their mission was to find some rumored-of grave sites nearby, the resting place of a couple residents of the former coal mining town of Sam.

"He recruited the Hurlburts after reading an article about their plans to do cadaver dog work with the Oregon-California Trails Association and find emigrant graves in the City of Rocks area. They haven’t been able to do that work yet because of COVID, but Deb said they might head down in the fall."

Read the rest at the link here. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

Historian recruits canines for Horseshoe Canyon research

www.tetonvalleynews.net

Last Thursday, Jim Wood met with dog handlers Deb and Joe Hurlburt of the nonprofit Idaho Search & Rescue Dogs in the main parking lot of Horseshoe Canyon. Their mission

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Today in history, August 6, 1850, ninety-three Brewsterites (a splinter group of Mormons), twenty-seven wagons, two hundred head of cattle, and a few horses started for New Mexico and then California from Independence, Missouri along the Southern Route to California. The company was organized in Independence on July 15, 1850 with Jackson Goodale as captain. It appears that James C. Brewster was with them, as he writes to his splinter church's publication, the Olive Branch, several times enroute, though his name is not mentioned in the list as published. The list with number in each family is found in the Olive Branch for October 1850, and is as follows:

Jackson Goodale 7
W. O. Wilder 4
Z. H. Brewster 10
George Meeter 10.
John Prior 2
William W. Lane 3
Ira Thompson 6
J. B. Wheeling 7
John W. Crandal 9
A. Patching 7
A. W. Lane 5
O. F. Beckwith 1
William J. Conner 3
Robert Kelly 1
Royce Oatman 10
John Kelly 1
John Richardson 4
(Olive Branch, vol. 3, p. 37.)

After the death of Joseph Smith, William E. McLellin and other early church leaders returned to Kirtland, Ohio to pick up the remnants of the church there. The group adopted the original name of the Latter Day Saint church, the Church of Christ. They would become more popularly known as Brewsterites. Brewster, whose attacks on, and disagreements with, the church leadership in Salt Lake City, caused him to break with the followers of Brigham Young.

At the organization of the new church in Springfield, Illinois, Hazen Aldrich was selected as the organization's first president. He selected James C. Brewster and James Goodale as his counselors in the First Presidency. The church published a periodical known as the Olive Branch.

Because Brewster lived in Springfield, the newspaper eventually moved operation to Illinois. On June 23, 1849 the group held a General Assembly in the Kirtland Temple. Six members accepted Brewster's revelation to move to the Rio Grande Valley to establish a new Zion. In October 1849, a newspaper article indicated that Kirtland was a temporary headquarters and they planned to move west.

In 1850, Brewster declared that there was a land called "Bashan" in the Rio Grande Valley that God had selected as the new gathering place for the church. Dissension caused the group to split near Santa Fe, with Brewster following the northern route. Royce Oatman and several other families chose the southern route via Socorro and Tucson. Near Socorro, Royce Oatman assumed command of the party. They found New Mexico's climate wholly unsuited to their purpose, so they pushed on toward California.

The story of Royce Oatman and his family will have to wait until our "This Day in History" post on February 18. To learn more now, order "The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman" by Margot Mifflin at https://octa-trails.org/product/blue-tatoo-life-of-olive-oatman/. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

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Six fresh news items for you! ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

Six fresh news items for you!

web-extract.constantcontact.com

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Join the Gateway Chapter and the St. Joseph Museums as they present a virtual program on August 27th (Thursday) at 1:30 pm Central. Lance Foster and Greg Olson will present a virtual program about the history, present, and future of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. In the mid-1800s the Iowa lived in Platte Indian Territory (now northwest Missouri) before being moved across the Missouri River to Kansas Territory. Oregon and California bound emigrants had to cross their land.

OCTA member Lance Foster is Vice Chair at Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and is the Tribal Historic Preservation Office, consulting for the tribe on environmental and cultural compliance. He also founded the tribal museum, is an Ioway language advocate and NAGRA officer. Foster has a BA in Anthropology/Native American Studies from the University of Montana and an MA in Anthropology and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University. An acknowledged artist, he is also author of Indians of Iowa. He currently resides in White Cloud, Kansas.

Greg Olson was the curator of exhibits and special projects at the Missouri State Archives for nineteen years. He received an MA in History from the University of Missouri and an MFA – Art from the University of South Dakota. He is the author of two books published by the University of Missouri Press and numerous publications. One of these titles, "The Ioway in Missouri," won the Missouri Humanities Council’s Governor’s Humanities Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement. Olson has also published three biographies in the Notable Missourians series for upper-level elementary school students with Truman State University Press. His most recent book, "Ioway Life: Reservation and Reform, 1837–1860," was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2017. He is the 2020 Center for Missouri Studies Fellow.

Gateway thanks the St. Joseph Museums for hosting and coordinating this fantastic virtual program. It should be of interest to all OCTA members.

Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81993595920. ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

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"Literary works of Oregon Trail pioneers now are permanently displayed at six new sites in Union and Umatilla counties thanks to an ambitious group of Hermiston Boy Scouts.

"The youths installed a total of six Oregon Trail markers made from old metal railroad ties at four Oregon Trail locations in Union County and two in Umatilla County. The work took place Friday, July 31, and Saturday, Aug. 1. Each marker has an engraved passage from a pioneer diary. The passages are descriptions of what diary writers saw at the approximate site of each marker."

A special thank you to Jenny Miller of OCTA's Northwest Chapter for volunteering your time to guide these Boy Scouts through their project! ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

Words of the pioneers adorn Oregon Trail sites

www.lagrandeobserver.com

LA GRANDE — Literary works of Oregon Trail pioneers now are permanently displayed at six new sites in Union and Umatilla counties thanks to an ambitious group of Hermiston Boy

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Today in history, August 5, 1849, Cantonment Loring was established near Fort Hall. From 1849 to 1850, Cantonment Loring, a U.S. military camp, was located 3 miles downriver from Fort Hall. Its garrison was assigned to protect the Oregon Trail, but the camp was abandoned due to long-distance supply difficulties. Instead the Army dispatched expeditions from Oregon to guard the trail to Fort Hall during each summer after 1855, as the migrations continued.

For a great article about the establishment of various forts along the trail, download "News From the Plains" (January 1998) and see pages 10-12. The excerpt about Cantonment Loring is attached below. You can download that issue for free at the link here:

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2 days ago