topic Re: The Oregon Trail in Community Chat

The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:12:00 GMT

I am currently reading this book called "The Oregon Trail" by Rinker Buck. Some of you may have heard of him because of a book he wrote called "Flight of Passage" about his real life experience flying a plane across country with his brother when they were teens.

Anyway, I had never heard of him, but I saw him speak on a book segment on CSpan, and I was intrigued so I read this book.

He and one of his other brothers, in their 60s, decided to make the trip across the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon about 4 years ago. They tried to recreate it as closely as possible.

It's such a great book about so many things. First of all, he narrates a lot of the history of the Oregon Trail (which I've always been interested in.)

It's also the story of two brothers who didn't particularly get along that well learning to rely on one another and each other's strengths to make it across the country in a wagon with three mules, and no support vehicles.

Speaking of the mules, they are a central part of the story, and he describes them so well that if you are an animal lover, you will love this.

I think this is a great book and I highly recommend it (if you haven't heard of it already) if you are looking for something to read, and you like a combination of history and personal stories.

I'm almost done with it, and it's making me want to take another trip back to eastern Oregon and Washington.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:14:01 GMT

Correction:

The book is called "The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey."

Re: The Oregon Trail

cotton4me — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:18:55 GMT

Sounds really interesting - thanks. I read a book about pioneers who traveled west (can't remember the name). It was based on their journals. I couldn't put it down. What they went through and how they survived is amazing. It certainly took great fortitude and strength.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:17:43 GMT

One more thing:

I am highly aware of the impact that the migration caused by the Oregon Trail pioneers had on the Native American population.

I have read a lot about that too.

I think both histories are important for all of us to learn about.

Re: The Oregon Trail

MaggieMack — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:20:34 GMT

I remember driving across Dnner Pass as a young child and wondering how did anybody get a covered wagon over that. It still mystifies me today. Sounds like a great read! In one of my past lives, I am certain I was a pioneer woman who survived the travails!

Re: The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:22:01 GMT

@cotton4me wrote:
Sounds really interesting - thanks. I read a book about pioneers who traveled west based on their journals (can't rememer the name) and I couldn't put it down. What they went through and how they survived is amazing. It certainly took great fortitude and strength.

cottonball,

ITA! What they went through is amazing. I think it is good for us in this day and age to remember the strength and resilience that ordinary, every day people from all walks of life demonstrated back then.

Part of the book details the Mormon handcart migration. Another part of history that I never learned about.

These people were immigrants from Europe. They took a ship from Liverpool, England to NY or Boston, got on trains as far as the the jumping off points in Missouri, then built handcarts and walked all the way from Missouri to Utah or Idaho pushing/pulling their belongings!

Re: The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:24:59 GMT

@MaggieMack wrote:
I remember driving across Dnner Pass as a young child and wondering how did anybody get a covered wagon over that. It still mystifies me today. Sounds like a great read! In one of my past lives, I am certain I was a pioneer woman who survived the travails!

I have long been interested in and fascinated by the pioneers. Maybe in a past life, I was one, too! The image of a covered wagon just draws me in. My grandfather always had two "Conestoga wheels" that he restored and painted in front of his house. This was a man from Italy, living in NJ! I never knew where he got them or why. ???

I read that they would unhitch the mules, empty the wagons and lower them with ropes over dangerous terrain.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Kachina624 — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:36:56 GMT

Sounds like a good book. I've long been intrigued by the lives women lived back in those days, especially living at trading posts in the Southwest, on ranches and as miner's wives during the gold/silver mines days in Colorado.

Re: The Oregon Trail

sassenach1 — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 23:57:56 GMT

It is a great story! I read it a few month ago. What a modern historic adventure. I would love to experience a few days of the trail. Our ancestors endured incredible hardship.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 00:54:16 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
Sounds like a good book. I've long been intrigued by the lives women lived back in those days, especially living at trading posts in the Southwest, on ranches and as miner's wives during the gold/silver mines days in Colorado.

@Kachina624

I grew up in Arizona, and I remember my dad taking me to historical sites like that when I was a kid...old trading posts, even ghost towns.

I also remember going with him to the res to buy silver and turquoise jewelry from the Navajos and Hopis. My dad, an Irish guy from NJ, was great at being able to talk to anyone, and he eventually made friends with a couple of Navajo jewelry makers who made me some bangles and rings when I was a kid.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 00:57:09 GMT

@sassenach1 wrote:
It is a great story! I read it a few month ago. What a modern historic adventure. I would love to experience a few days of the trail. Our ancestors endured incredible hardship.

@sassenach1

I agree! I would have liked to do maybe two or three days of it, on an easy part, of course! I'm a sissy.

You're right, they were tough people. I can't imagine it.

At the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon, they have a life size exhibit of the trail, complete with the sounds. It's the closest you can get to actually feel what it was like. I remember the sound of a child falling from a wagon and being run over by the wheels, which happened a lot. Tears came to my eyes when I thought of all the hardships.

Re: The Oregon Trail

azgal — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 01:08:47 GMT

Sounds like a good book.

I've been to the Oregon Trail Interpretive center in Baker City Oregon. Very interesting. You can even see the old ruts from the wagons.

@Kachina624 I read a really good book" Conversations with Pioneer Women". It's the oral history of Pacific Northwest women. A newspaper reporter interviewed these women late in their lives. It's an old book and may be hard to find. I found it at Powell's books in Portland which is huge. It's a city block!

Re: The Oregon Trail

Marienkaefer2 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 01:12:34 GMT

@azgal wrote:
Sounds like a good book.

I've been to the Oregon Trail Interpretive center in Baker City Oregon. Very interesting. You can even see the old ruts from the wagons.

@Kachina624 I read a really good book" Conversations with Pioneer Women". It's the oral history of Pacific Northwest women. A newspaper reporter interviewed these women late in their lives. It's an old book and may be hard to find. I found it at Powell's books in Portland which is huge. It's a city block!

@azgal

Yes, seeing those ruts made an impression on me. (no pun intended.

I will look for the book too. I think I may have heard of it. Iived in Portland for ten years during the 1990s. Love Powell's.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Kalli — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 01:50:43 GMT

Sounds like a great book. I'm always looking for a good read and since I'm retiring very soon, I'll actually have time to read without guilt!

(On a side note: I remember playing the computer game The Oregon Trail years ago with my son and I died of typhoid, I think. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. )

Re: The Oregon Trail

Lucky Charm — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 01:55:35 GMT

@Kalli wrote:
Sounds like a great book. I'm always looking for a good read and since I'm retiring very soon, I'll actually have time to read without guilt!

(On a side note: I remember playing the computer game The Oregon Trail years ago with my son and I died of typhoid, I think. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. :smileywink: )

I remember that game well!

Book sounds very interesting OP.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Kachina624 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 01:56:43 GMT

@azgal wrote:
Sounds like a good book.

I've been to the Oregon Trail Interpretive center in Baker City Oregon. Very interesting. You can even see the old ruts from the wagons.

@Kachina624 I read a really good book" Conversations with Pioneer Women". It's the oral history of Pacific Northwest women. A newspaper reporter interviewed these women late in their lives. It's an old book and may be hard to find. I found it at Powell's books in Portland which is huge. It's a city block!

@azgal Thanks, I'll add it to my reading list. Sounds like it's right up my alley. I enjoyed the book Tom Boy Bride by Harriet Backus. It's about the wife of an engineer who worked at the Tom Boy Mine in Colorado years ago. You can visit the site of that mine today if you have a jeep and lots of courage. I hear it's a wild ride.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Another new name Sue — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 01:59:10 GMT

It's fascinating to learn about the pioneers, and the book sounds wonderful. I would have liked to do something like that.

I just wonder how the women, in particular, with physical challenges such as expecting a baby and having a couple others in tow, walking all day in who knows what kind of shoes and then cooking dinner over an open fire. Whew. And I complain about ironing!!

If you search "pioneer women" on Amazon, there is a number of books about these women, diaries too.

Re: The Oregon Trail

azgal — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 02:08:49 GMT

@Kachina624 That sounds like an interesting book. I visited a mine in Bisbee Az but it wasn't a wild ride. Don't know if I could handle that.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Kachina624 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 03:03:41 GMT

@azgal I have several Indian-made pieces of turquoise jewelry that came from the Bisbee Mine. Wasn't it an open pit mine that has been backfilled? The gold and silver mines were underground.

Re: The Oregon Trail

Maudelynn — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 03:03:54 GMT

This sounds like a great read. Thanks for posting! I'm also a fan of covered wagon stories and have read quite a few, some, as someone posted upthread, were based on diary entries of pioneer women. I can't imagine the heat and dirt and exhaustion. Finding drinking water for the animals was always forefront in the pioneers' minds. Clothes were washed in a tub that hitched to the bottom of the wagon, rocks and water were added and the swaying of the wagon cleaned the clothes. Butter was sometimes made this way too. Very interesting tid bits, for sure.

Thanks again for the recommendation.