The last wood available to the pioneers crossing Kansas and Nebraska was near the crossing of the Big Blue. Joel Palmer in his Journal of his Travels over the Rocky Mountains noted the area of the Big Blue was the "last opportunity to procure timber for axle trees, wagon tongues, &c." ...
The coming of the railroads to the West ended the importance of the Oregon Trail as a major transportation route by wagon train. The Trail Today The Oregon National Historic Trail commemorates the history of westward migration in the mid-1800s over 2,000 miles, following original trail ruts ...
While many wagon trains traveled abreast of each other, (to avoid eating wagon dust) there were times on the trail when the wagons had to travel single file. Standing next to (and in the middle of) the ruts I stood there silently and tried to take in what it must have been like to ...
So the image was not of the wagon train in motion, but of the wagon at a standstill while the photo was captured. As far as we know the image that Mr. Gilchrist is holding is the oldest of its kind- not just on the Oregon Trail, but of any immigrant trail. The caption on the p...
The passage of so many thousands of wagons cut deep ruts in the trail’s surface, which can still be seen in many places today. There were numerous natural landmarks along the way that travelers used as guideposts and morale boosters. Some of the best known included Blue Mound in Kansas...