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On October 14, 1995, 125 descendants ofMormon pioneerRebecca Winters gathered outside Scotts Bluff, Nebraska for her reburial.It was a perfect Fall day.The temperature had dipped into the 30’s overnight, but by midday the sun was out and the visibility at least 10 miles.

Me-a-pa-te, “the hill that is hard to get around” (Scotts Bluff) was less than four miles distant, but all eyes were on the mahogany casket being lowered into the prairie sod--the casket holding the remains of Rebecca Winters.She, like thousands of other emigrants, had perished along the Oregon Trail. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Westward Vision
The appreciable detail within this book makes it difficult, at times, to follow; and that makes it difficult to construct an overview in our memory. The author uses a narrative style that gives no indication of where the narrative is heading. Unless you already know the history and are familiar with the principal characters, the text can seem overloaded with detail, the value of which may be unclear till further in the story. For example, in chapter 14 we are not told till the final paragraph that the two women we have been reading about, Eliza Spaulding and Narcissa Whitman, "were the first women to cross the North American continent." (286) This new information gives greater value to the details narrated in the chapter than they seemed to have on first reading. The book is written such that we (almost) never know where we're going, only where we are at the moment. It is the first book I've read encompassing the period, and it may not have been the best choice for an initial broad overview.

Using divisions within the bibliography helps us find the organization of the book:


Chapters 1 - 3

Early Explorations, general accounts

Specific Explorations - Charlevoix, La Salle, Verendrye, Carver and Rogers, Upper Missouri River and Mandan Indians


Chapter 4

The Northwest Coast, 1776 - 1800

Explorations Across Canada

Spanish Explorations on the Missouri River


Chapters 5 - 6

Lewis and Clark


Chapter 7

Trading and Trapping Methods

Early American Adventures on the Missouri

Letters, Reports about She-he-ke's Return

Trouble with Blackfeet

Thompson and Pinch-Perch


Chapter 8

The Astorian Adventure


Chapters 9 - 11

Proposals to Occupy Oregon

The Yellowstone Expedition

The Arikara Battle and Aftermath

Opening of Rocky Mountain Fur Trade

British-American Fur Trade Conflict


Chapters 12 - 13

Hall J. Kelley

Bonneville, Wyeth and Jason Lee


Chapters 14 - 16

The Missionaries


Chapters 17 - 18

Emigrations of 1839-40

Emigrations of 1840, 1841, 1842


Chapter 19

Emigration of 1843


Chapter 20

Emigrations of 1844

Emigrations of 1846

Fascinating.

Noted historian David Lavender has penned probably the finest single volume on the Oregon Trail ever written. Starting in 1719, 130 years before the trail was formally established, Lavender slowly and concretely builds the story of the United States first claim to this territory by examining similar efforts by the Spanish, French, Russian and English which preceded the American claims.

Incorporating and firmly underscoring the efforts of the Native Americans, the Mountain Men, Hudson's Bay Company and the early missionary efforts, Lavender reveals that these four groups did more to claim the Northwest for the United States than any politician or political party in Washington. Always in the forefront of Western Expansion, the impact of the missionary effort was pivotal to the US claim to this Norwest portion of our nation.

This is a truly fine history and a remarkably excellent piece of writing.

A magnificent tale of stubborn true grit
David Lavender's WESTWARD VISION spans the period from the mid-17th century to 1849 as he chronicles the search for a reliable overland route to, and the subsequent settlement of, what would become known as Oregon, principally that area which borders the Willamette River as it flows into the Columbia (at present-day Portland). As the subtitle of the book indicates, this is "the story of the Oregon Trail".

For the sake of summary, I arbitrarily divide this book into five parts: earlyexploration of the Upper Mississippi River by French-Canadians seeking a route to the "western sea", the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the subsequent unsuccessful efforts to establish an easy route to Oregon via the Missouri River and its headwaters, the influx of "mountain men" into the area and the discovery of a more southerly route (the Oregon Trail), the early settlement in Oregon of Christian missionary groups sent to proselytize the Indians, and the massive immigration of land-seekers in the 1840's which ultimately resulted in the establishment of a U.S. Oregon Territory.

WESTWARD VISION is the result of extensive research on the part of the author. Its wealth of details is both its strong point and its undoing. Probably the most commendably concise chapters (5 and 6), considering the length of the event, deal with the amazing Lewis and Clark Expedition. Perhaps Lavender thought the history of the two-year trek adequately covered elsewhere. In any case, the following chapters on the exploits and travails of the fur-trapping mountain men and the missionaries are so full of minutiae that it would require the reader to take extensive notes in order to keep track of the various groups and individuals endeavoring to cross the Great Divide into Oregon in the 1820s and 30s. (Reading this book for pleasure, I wasn't prepared to expend that much effort.) Only in Chapter 19, which gives an account of the 1843 journey of the first large immigrant train - almost 1000 persons- over the Oregon Trail, does the narrative regain a concise clarity. A major failing of the the volume is the lack of adequate maps to locate the majority of the named and innumerable places and geographical features: rivers, river forks, buttes, mountains, rocks, forts, mountain passes, river fords, trapper rendezvous, and settlements. Perusing contemporary state highway maps didn't help much. And in a work this extensive, I would have expected a large section of illustrations. Except for several very crude drawings, there were none.

What elevates WESTWARD VISION, and compels me to award four stars, is that the author makes his point magnificently, i.e. that it took many tough people with large reserves of true grit to expand the fledgling United States to the Pacific's shores. The crossing was hard:

"At the rainswept crossing of the North Platte, blue with cold, cramped by dysentery and pregnancy pangs, Mary Walker (an 1838 pilgrim) sat down and 'cried to think how comfortable my father's hogs were' (back home). As for Sarah Smith, Mary sniffed, she wept practically the entire distance to Oregon." And even recreation had a sharp edge, as at the 1832 trappers' rendezvous:

"... a few of the boys poured a kettle of alcohol over a friend and set him afire. Somehow he lived through it, and fun's fun."

Finally, Lavender eloquently suggests the reason so many embarked on the Oregon Trail at all:

"What matters is not whether fulfillment was attainable in reality (at the Trail's end), but rather that at long last in the world's sad, torn history an appreciable part of mankind thought it might be. That was both the torment and the freedom - to go and look."

Eminent
This is an excellent account of the great quest for the Northwest, which eventually culminated in the vast migrations of Americans along the Oregon Trail.From the early exploration efforts of Jacques Cartier (1530's); Jean Nicolet (1630's); Marquette and Joliet (1670's); LaSalle (1680's); Bourgmont (early 1700's); the Verendryes (1730's to 1740's); Jonathan Carver (1760's) and others too numerous to mention, we see how the English, French, Spanish and Americans all had the goal to establish roots in Oregon.When the mountain men came into the picture searching for their beaver pelts in the early 1800's, it was this breed of men that finally opened the routes across the Rocky Mountains which lead the wagon trains through to the Northwest.Lavender then takes us up to the first overland migrations (1840's) of the missionaries and others in search of a better way of life, along with all their sacrifices and perils.This is a great book and very insightful of events leading up to the Oregon Trail. ... Read more

Product Description
The Oregon Trail traces a journey into the heart of the American Plains by Francis Parkman, who undertook his 1846 expedition in order to document the vanishing frontier; his keen observations and vivid style quickly established his reputation. Parkman depicts the hardships of travel across mountains and prairies, sketching vibrant portraits of his encounters with other sojourners as well as Western wildlife. Upon its original publication, this classic was reviewed by Herman Melville, who found it "excellent," with "the true wild-game flavor," "straight-forward throughout, and obviously truthful." This new Dover edition of one of the very greatest classics of American frontier literature is the lowest-priced edition now available. Unabridged republication of the eighth edition published by Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, in 1883.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

The Oregon Trail

Francis Parkman lived from 1823 to 1893. The Oregon Trail, an account of his travels in 1846, was his first published book. Parkman's journey would have been much easier to follow if the book had a map tracing his route.

My reading edition of The Oregon Trail is that in The Library of America volume [53] containing both The Oregon Trail and Parkman's The Conspiracy of Pontiac; but since I haven't yet read the book on Pontiac, I'm placing my review under the present volume. The Library of America edition of The Oregon Trail (TLA.OT) is of Parkman's 1849 first edition published by George P. Putnam, with a correction of the title, restoring it to Parkman's intention. The book was revised and reprinted several times, the last edition, illustrated by Frederick Remington, in 1892.

The year 1846 is also the year of the Donner Party's attempt to reach California. In chapter 10 of the Oregon Trail, Parkman mentions them, although not by name. He has stopped at a place he calls Richard's trading-house (TLA.OT: 118) near Fort Laramie. A group of emigrants on their way to California are there, and Parkman is introduced to a Colonel R----- who is the emigrants' erstwhile leader.

"Fearful was the fate that months after overtook some of the members of that party. General Kearny, on his late return from California, brought in the account how they were interrupted by the deep snows among the mountains, and maddened by cold and hunger, fed upon each other's flesh!" (TLA.OT:121)

If Parkman actually talked with or recalled the face of anyone from the Donner Party, he doesn't mention it, and the above quotation is all he says of them. The Colonel R------ is William Henry Russell (1802-1873). The Donner Party was, in fact, part of the Russell Party before going off on its own via the Hastings Cut-Off after crossing the Continental Divide through the South Pass. At the time Parkman is speaking with him, Russell has been deposed as leader, but the Donner Party has not yet split off. "His men, he [Russell] said, had mutinied and deposed him; but still he exercised over them the influence of a superior mind; in all but the name he was yet their chief." (TLA.OT:121) Lilburn Boggs eventually took over leadership of the Russell Party (see, for example, Ethan Rarick's Deparate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West, page 51), but Parkman does not mention Boggs. This narrative of Parkman's experiences on the Oregon Trail can then be read as concurrent (up to a time) with the tragic experiences of the Donner Party.

California emigrants took the Oregon Trail until after crossing the Continental Divide through the South Pass, and so spent part of their journey with emigrants to Oregon; but Parkman was not on the Oregon Trail as an emigrant at all. In fact, he doesn't appear to have even reached the Continental Divide. The book has no map of his travels, and he's not always clear, but he seems to have gotten only as far on the Oregon Trail as Fort Laramie. While there he learns of an upcoming gathering of "Dahcotah" Indians, waging war against the Snake Indians. An "Ogillallah" chief, called the Whirlwind, has lost a son in battle, and he is determined to "chastise the Snakes". Parkman learns that the gathering will take place "at 'La Bonte's Camp,' on the Platte. Here their warlike rites were to be celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity, and a thousand warriors, as it was said, were to set out for the enemy's country." (TLA.OT: 110-11) Parkman is overjoyed.

"I was greatly rejoiced to hear of it. I had come into the country almost exclusively with a view of observing the Indian character. Having from childhood felt a curiosity on this subject, and having failed completely to gratify it by reading, I resolved to have recourse to observation. I wished to satisfy myself with regard to the position of the Indians among the races of men; the vices and the virtues that have sprung from their innate character and from their modes of life, their government, their superstitions, and their domestic situation. To accomplish my purpose it was necessary to live in the midst of them, and become, as it were, one of them. I proposed to join a village, and make myself an inmate of one of their lodges; and henceforward this narrative, so far as I am concerned, will be chiefly a record of the progress of this design, apparently so easy of accomplishment, and the unexpected impediments that opposed it." (TLA.OT:111)

So Parkman resolves to be at 'La Bonte's Camp' for the upcoming Dahcotah rendezvous. Several chapters cover his journey there and his adventures with the Dahcotah, including a buffalo hunt and time spent in the Black Hills. He and his companions eventually return to Fort Laramie and from there head south, down to Bent's Fort on the Santa Fe Trail. They hunt buffalo along the Arkansas river, and journey east towards Fort Leavenworth and civilization, essentially completing their circuit.

"We had met with signal good fortune. Although for five months we had been traveling with an insufficient force through a country where were were at any moment liable to depredation, not a single animal had been stolen from us. And our only loss had been one old mule bitten to death by a rattlesnake. Three weeks after we reached the frontier [by which he means the western edge of the United States as it stood in the midst of the Mexican War of 1846], the Pawnees and the Camanches [sic] began a regular series of hostilities on the Arkansas trail, killing men and driving off horses. They attacked, without exception, every party, large or small, that passed during the next six months." (TLA.OT: 337)

Hardly the Oregon Trail
This book was a disappointment to me and I should have researched it more before purchasing it. It was my hope to read about the settlers moving West on the old Oregon Trail but this book had nothing to do with that. Instead, it was an account of Parkman's experiences as he traveled in some of the Western areas of the U.S. (Wyoming area, Black Hills, etc.) Much of his time was spent with the various Indian tribes as he befriended them and learned much of their culture. He also spent a great deal of time hunting. My real problem with his story is that it was so repetitive. Many of the accounts were similar and it seemed like we were going over and over the same thing. I read almost every thing I can find on Western adventure and exploration but this one is sure not on the top of my list.

An Excellent Book - but misnamed
This is an excellent book giving the reader a first person view of the Frontier in the 1840s.The details make the reader feel as if they were living the adventure themselves.

If you are looking for a book that tells of a journey on the Oregon Trail, this is NOT the book for you.A better for the book title might have been "A Summer On The Frontier: Life Among The Indians and Explorers."The author follows the Oregon Trail until he reaches Fort Laramie, and then spends the rest of his time among the indians who inhabited the plains and badlands at the time.

If you are looking for vivid picture of life among the indians, buffaloes, and explorers, this IS the book for you!

Just what I expected
I ordered this book based on the film, " The Oregan Trail," which I enjoyed watching. The book is a good follow-up to the movie, making much of the content even more real for me.

The Wild West
Parkman's travelogue on the Great Plains is a major work of life among the Native Americans.His descriptions are honest and capture a society that was fading even while he was writing.The book had a major impact on the way that non-westerners saw the Great Plains.This was both good and bad.Parkman wrote through the lens of a Boston aristocrat and was full of prejudices against those who did not meet his standards.This was dangerous in that many who read about the "backwardness" of the Native Americans used this as justification for "civilizing" them.Although this was probably not Parkman's intention, it was a consequence of his writing.In addition, he promoted the hunting of buffalo for sport, which led to the decimation of the buffalo heards on the Plains.

Another major issue with this book is that, in spite of its title, it is not about the Oregon Trail.Parkman went no further than the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and he did all in his power to dissociate himself from the pioneers moving along the Oregon Trail.If you are looking for a history of the trail, this book will not satisfy your needs.

However, in spite of the misleading title and the prejudices that surface throughout the book, it is still a fine piece of writing that opens up a world that has been lost to today's readers.Read it and enjoy your travels into another time and place.
... Read more

Product Description
Traveling overland on the Oregon Trail in 1848, Ira Hooker, his wife Sarah, and six members of their family left St. Joseph, Missouri heading for the Oregon Territory.Buffalo, Indians, horse-trades, sun dogs and bunchgrass-this detailed account of their journey was handed down from the author's grandfather.An excerpt from A Man Is A Man: A Hooker Family Saga.Illustrated.Index. Appendix. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good quick read
This is a very good book to start out with if you are interested in the Oregon Trail.Tells a great story. ... Read more

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CONTENTS:

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Customer Reviews (1)

The first wagon train to Oregon
The author teaches Oregon Trail history at Eastern Oregon State College and has liberally used excerpts from diaries and letters to give a first-person feel for his narrative.The accounts of fording the rivers make you realize that none of them were routine, but an accident could happen at any moment.You feel the heat and dust of the plains and the cold of the mountains as these pioneers did.This was the first emigrant wagon train to Oregon; their experiences aided the passage of the thousands who followed.I had difficulty laying the book aside to eat or sleep. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

More depth and background would have improved the stories
The people who undertook the journey across the great American prairie from points in Iowa and Missouri to the shining light of Oregon were a hardy and determined lot. Unfortunately, many were not hardy enough. The elements, diseases, lack of clean food and water, hostile natives and sometimes even buffalo stampedes all created hardship and death. This book is a collection of very short stories about people who made the trek.
While the stories are interesting, all are at most one page in length so there is no depth to any of the tales. This lack of depth turns what could have been a complete explanation of an event into a compressed vignette. The stories are good, but could have been much better with the expenditure of a little more ink on paper.

Good tales from the Trail
Although geared for a younger audience, I believe adults will enjoy reading this short, little book too.Each page of this 58 page booklet is a story in itself, describing the many perils and more blissful moments which the pioneers encountered along the Oregon Trail.A brief but entertaining and educational read for all ages.

WAGON TRAIN ANECDOTES
Rugged outdoorsman Rick Steber has compiled 50 of his newspaper columns into a tidy collection for history buffs, simply entitled THE OREGON TRAIL. Just 58 pages, this little gem about westward migration contains facts gleaned from letters, journals and interviews of Oregon emigrants and their descendants.

Enchanced by excellent pen and ink sketches by Don Gray, this slim volume is crammed with historical data and real life anecdotes about dozens of brave pioneers, who took the northernmost route to the Pacifc between 1843 until after the Civil War.Such a wide time span provides a variety of Trail experiences.

This book is a must-read for elementary children studying westward migration, as well as for anyone contemplating a fictionalized tale about the Oregon Trail.This first volume in Steber's Wild West Series reads as swiftly as an Indian arrow; it includes highjinks and massacres, births and death, courtship and sacrifice.Steber presents it in an easy-to-digest format, as we delve into our past. This was a time of ego and intitiative; these tales emphasize the Human element. I would like to read others in the series, whose titles are: Pacific Coast, Indians, Cowboys, Women of the West, Children's Stories, and Loggers. This series provides handy reference for students of the West, a time in our American history which fascinates people from all over the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Commendable accomplishment
A spirited read and praiseworthy effort to promote the historical importance of the Oregon Trail.
In 1993, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Great Migration westward, Candy Moulton, Ben Kern and Earl Leggett, with multitudes of others along the way, traveled from Independence, Missouri to Independence, Oregon in covered wagons.Although at times having access to today's modern conveniences and comforts, the undertaking no doubt was laborious, fatiguing and strenuous.
Candy's writing style is creative and harmonic, bringing together quotes from overlanders' diaries and journals to emphasize the hardships and perils these pioneers had to confront.
Enjoyable and insightful.

An exciting account of a modern day wagon train journey
Candy Moulton and Ben Kern have captured the reality of the west through the experiences of their 1993 expedition by wagon train from Independence, Missouri to Independence, Oregon. Through excerpts from Ben's daily journaland diaries of their historic predecessors you will feel the essence ofevery phase of this spectacular undertaking. The tasteful blend of historyand the modern day adventure fill the gap from past to present. The authorshave you hearing the creak of the wagon, the rumble of iron tires onhard-packed earth, and the jingle of trace-chains. You can almost feel therolling lilt of the wooden seat beneath you, and smell the approaching rainoverwhelming the everpresent scent of the sagebrush and dust. If you wantto feel like you are really there on the trail, this is the book for you.You soon will be anticipating the view or the adventure that waits aroundthe next bend or on the next page. This is one of those books that is hardto put down. --- Jefferson Glass, Local Historian ... Read more

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From the time Dr. Lord left for the goldmines of California, he recorded in astonishing detail his observations of the Oregon Trail, the physical and social climates of Northern California, and the trip through Panama, all in a polished work of great literary merit. ... Read more

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Travel along the Oregon Trail with the pioneers who dared to "face the elephant" as they moved west in search of a new life. Compiled from the trail diaries and memoirs that document this momentous period in American history, Oregon Trail Stories is a fascinating look at the great American migration of the 19th century.
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Customer Reviews (5)

Personal Stories
This book was very helpful to my daughter when she was working on her 7th grade wagon train project.Insight as to howdifficult the journey west was for those who were brave enough to try.

The Human Touch for Social Studies Lessons
I used this text as a read aloud with my class as we studied the Oregon Trail.The class was attentive because each of them realized how the writings gave them a glimpse into the lives of actual people. They were no longer just learning about facts, as each reading became like a soap opera behind a major event.I like the way the text offers accounts from different experiences along the trail, most of which shed light on major events that occured at that time.

Oregon Trail Stories
Its a wonderful book to add to a library of other Oregon Trail books. Recommended as such, because its a wonderful reference point, but its doesn't read like a story so much as more reference material.

oregon trail stories
This is a great book to read. Its hard to keep my attention, but this book had my interest. Lots of good imformation.

Respectable, educative of western emigration
I always enjoy reading personal accounts of the Oregon/California Trail.Taken from actual diaries, letters, memoirs and reminisces, these are true to life experiences from the pioneers themselves.A few to mention, without being overly exhaustive would be:
Catherine Sager Pringle and her six siblings becoming orphans of the trail when in the course of twenty six days both parents died.They were then taken to and raised at the Whitman Mission in Washington.
Lucy Jane Hall Burnett's account of taking the disastrous Stephen Meek Cutoff.
The insightful David Campbell reminisces traveling to California.After burying their dead, they would have the cattle trample over the ground to deter any Indian tendencies of digging them up for clothing.Also, numerous brief battles in California for statehood are well described.
Patrick Breen's day to day experiences of being stranded for months in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with the Donner Party are harrowing.
James Longmire's memoirs of traveling over the continent are both entertaining and perceptive.
Excellent. ... Read more

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Volume II, based on contemporary records, offers a broader but no less vivid view of what it was like to go west in 1846 and pictures what was found in California and Oregon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I'm a direct line descendant so I'm biased...
...EE Parrish doesn't get into flowery language or detail, but one does get the sense of his personality.We see him disgusted when a buffalo is killed and the meat not taken care of right away (it rots and goes to waste).We find him sick for much of the journey although he never outright states what his illness was.He mentions concern for his children, especially when one of them has a leg run over by a wagon wheel.
He has a feel for the legacy he leaves behind (several children, numerous grand children coupled with his long life.)
He even has comments directed to the future descendants :-)

The book reads easily.I just wish I had more from both before and after his journey.I should read it again! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

History relived
I enjoyed this story of a man who loved the oregon trail and retraced it backwards from Oregon to Missouri, reminding people along the way about the courage and history of those who blazed the trail out west, before much of it was lost to memory. We owe alot to people like him who kept their stories alive and marked the trail for us today to appreciate all that those trailblazers accomplished. ... Read more