December 20, 2022
To the Whitman Mission. Starting with this Indian raid on a wagon train in 1854, west of present-day Boise, the Oregon Trail across Idaho became dangerous without military escort. While most of the settlers were just passing through, the Native tribes resented their depletion of local firewood and game. Horse grazing in a field near […]
December 20, 2022
Along the Snake River. Just north of Pocatello, in Blackfoot, we paid a visit to the Idaho Potato Museum. Not only does it have a restaurant, it was surprisingly fun and interesting. Idaho produces about 1/3 of the potatoes grown in the US, nearly all of them on land artificially irrigated from the Snake River. […]
December 20, 2022
To Fort Hall We’ve rejoined the Oregon Trail heading north from Fort Bridger, in southwestern Wyoming. This is Kemmerer, a Wyoming coal mining town where John Cash Penney (yes, that was he real middle name) established his first store in 1902. Penney got his start in nearby Evanston, Wyoming, working for a pair of partners […]
December 20, 2022
This is the Place! There are about 77,000 wild horses, or mustangs, roaming the western US. To control their numbers, the Bureau of Land Management periodically rounds them up into corrals, like this one on the outskirts of Rock Springs. Horses evolved in North America, spreading to Asia and Europe before going extinct here at […]
December 20, 2022
Crossing the Continental Divide. Passing through downtown Casper, Wyoming, early the next morning. Fort Caspar (yes, slightly different spelling than the town) was the migrants’ last stop before departing the North Platte River, which they had been following for over a month. The small military cemetery at Fort Caspar, Wyoming. Fort Caspar originated as a […]
December 20, 2022
Over Scotts Bluff and Into Wyoming. As we arrived in the outskirts of Scottsbluff, we came across the grave of Rebecca Winters. A Mormon emigrant, age 50, she died here in 1852 of cholera. Her husband Hiram chiseled her name into an iron wagon tire, which still stands over her final resting place. Always good […]
December 20, 2022
Following the Platte River. The Platte River is wide and shallow, and looks like it should be easy to cross. But the waters hide deadly quicksand. The Oregon Trail migrants followed the southern bank, while the Mormons and later transcontinental railroad, joining from Omaha, followed the northern bank. More signs of trouble along the Oregon […]
December 20, 2022
Across the Plains to Fort Kearney. We’ve left St. Joseph and are following the Pony Express – and the Oregon Trail – west across the Missouri River into Kansas. The corn fields of northeast Kansas, along the Oregon Trail. Following the Pony Express into Seneca, Kansas. Asking myself if I need crop insurance. Seneca, Kansas. […]
December 20, 2022
On to St. Joseph. Railroad cars beside a grain elevator outside Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City has long been a major transportation hub in the center of the country. Before departing it entirely, we paid a visit to the TWA Museum at the airline’s former corporate headquarters at Charles B. Wheeler Airport just outside of […]
December 20, 2022
Starting out from Independence, Missouri. Ready to depart on the Oregon Trail? In August 2021, this was the route my 11-year-old son followed (with the exception of a short trip up to St. Joseph, the other starting point for the Trail), on a road trip that took two weeks. The county courthouse in Independence, Missouri […]