The Word “Oregon”
The vast Oregon Territory sprawled from the Pacific to the Rockies across what are now the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming and Montana as well as British Columbia.…
Star Service
In 1845, they imposed a stricter, performance-based classification system on the railroads' compensation and also established the Star Route service to make carriers' contracts in remote areas more competitive. The work of getting the…
The Word “Mail”
The word "mail" derives from Middle English maille, or "metal link," for the woven-metal bags carried by the armed couriers of the Hanseatic League, an organization formed at that time to protect the…
Diamond Mountain
The mapmakers won't print it, says Frank, but back up there on the other side of Diamond Mountain is where the old Trail came through. Two squaws were picking pin.on nuts one day…
The Word Wyoming
The word Wyoming comes from two Delaware Indian words meaning large meadows, and it takes only a day's walk along Highway 26 to reach the state line. As I head toward Casper, to…
Oregon
A great name has been found. Rogers was to make it Ourigan in his second proposal, 1772, and in 1778 Carver was to use the spelling that endured, Oregon. No…
Daniel Boone’s Grandsons
Irving says that two of Daniel Boone's grandsons were with this party. But a grandson of Daniel Boone was by now standard equipment for any adventure story.
Missourians
Harriet Ward and Harriet Clarke were sharply aware of emigrants of lower social standing on the road. Very rowdy emigrants were described as being from Missouri, and the epithet "Missourians" covered…
Schooled In
On the 11-ail, Agnes spent the greater part of her days with her sister On the trail, Agnes spent the greater part of her days with her sister Elizabeth, even though…
Mile 939: Clayton’s Slough
West of Rock Avenue on the Oregon Trail in what’s now central Wyoming, emigrants came to an odorous, swampy place where their livestock often got stuck in the mud and…
Mile 937: Avenue of Rocks
About nine miles west of Emigrant Gap, the Oregon Trail wound through a narrow gap between two ragged ridges of sandstone and shale rocks, upended strata we now would call…
Mile 927: Emigrant Gap
"This leg of the trip, Emigrant Gap (today sometimes called the Poison Spider Route), was a bitter introduction to what lay ahead: long stretches of hot, hilly trail with little…
Two Can Keep a Secret
"In a great many tales of the same type the "curse" on the treasure is human greed. An old proverb, common among prospectors as well as others, reminds us that…
The Code of the West
"In the absence of law and in the social conditions tha obtained, men worked out an extra-legal code or custom by which they guided their actions. This custom is often…
Semi-Arid and Sub-Humid Climate
"There has been a tendency on the part of writers to mix a good deal of sentiment with their history of the West. Because of the peculiar difficulties to be…