The Applegate Trail of 1846, describes the events that happened more than 150-years-ago, on the first wagon train, to take the trail through southern Oregon that would later be called the Applegate Trail. This trail left the Oregon Trial near Fort Hall in Idaho, and used the established California Trail through Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and California, to become the new southern emigrant route into the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
After an arduous overland journey, Levi Scott and his son John arrived in Oregon City in November 1844. Scott joined the Jesse Applegate's 1846 expedition seeking a better, safer way through the Cascades to the Willamette Valley. Their new southern route wound through the Umpqua Valley, three mountain ranges, and the Black Rock Desert before meeting the established California Trail. Applegate recruited emigrants and while others went ahead to prepare the road, Scott led the initial wagon train west. He details a harrowing trip. Retracing the trail in 1847 and 1849, he again faced narrow escapes and deadly encounters with Native Americans. Edited and extensively annotated, Scott's unpublished autobiography has become "Wagons to the Willamette." An exceptional contribution to Oregon Trail history, it is the only first-hand account written by someone who not only searched for the southern route but also accompanied its first wagon train.
Drama, Adventure, and Family Struggles Abound as Three Generations Head West on the Oregon Trail When Tabitha Brown's son makes the fateful decision to leave Missouri and strike out for Oregon, she refuses to be left behind. Despite her son's concerns, Tabitha hires her own wagon to join the party. Along with her reluctant daughter and her ever-hopeful granddaughter, the intrepid Tabitha has her misgivings. But family ties are stronger than fear. The trials they face along the way will severely test Tabitha's faith, courage, and ability to hope. With her family's survival on the line, she must make the ultimate sacrifice, plunging deeper into the wilderness to seek aid. What she couldn't know was how this frightening journey would impact how she understood her own life--and the greater part she had to play in history. With her signature attention to detail and epic style, New York Times bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick invites readers to travel the deadly and enticing Oregon Trail. Based on actual events, This Road We Traveled will inspire the pioneer in all of us.
"Bruff's Wake tells the story of forty-niners who survived hardship with resolve and endurance. The accompanying illustrations, which include a number of Bruff's sketches paired with modern photographs taken at the same sites, give vivid depictions of life and death on the California Trail in 1849. In addition, Bruff's route is correlated to the geography of the modern era, so that the trail can be traced on modern maps. Taken together, the narrative, sketches, photographs, and geological descriptions of the terrain, coupled with generous quotes from Bruff's long-out-of-print journal, allow the reader to follow in Bruff's wake" -- Publisher's description, p. [4] of cover.
