Pioneer Journey To The Oregon Country (1960)

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] by the late 1830s the Oregon country was becoming well known to people living in the United States though few white men had ever been there first reports about the Oregon Country came from several [Music] sources Captain James Cook an English Explorer told of the area in a report published in 1784 the American explorers Lewis and Clark in 18005 described the resources of the Oregon area in 1810 John Jacob aser a wealthy American Merchant established fort atoria in Oregon the fort could be reached by either an Overland or sea route it became a headquarters for Trappers and Traders who searched for the fur bearing animals of Oregon within a few years a number of trading posts were established in Oregon by the Canadian Northwest and Hudson's Bay companies to handle the valuable fur trade following the Trappers and traitor came missionaries who brought the Christian way of life to the Wilds of Oregon in the United States in the late 1830s a bill was presented to Congress offering free land in Oregon to Americans who would settle there to people who had been having hard times due to poor crops and poor prices thoughts about a new region and a new start in life were very tempting by the early 1840s families from Missouri Kentucky Illinois Indiana and even the Atlantic Seaboard states started for Oregon covered wagons sometimes drawn by horses More Often by oxen or mules were used to make the long journey over the trail to Oregon the jumping off place was Independence Missouri and from there the trail wound through Plains deserts and mountains nearly 2,000 miles of wilderness dotted by a few trading posts and Military forts This Way West became known as the Oregon Trail and was heavily traveled by pioneers during the 1840s and 50s our story tells of a Pioneer Journey to the Oregon Country this boy Noah Atkins made this journey with his parents and sister many many years later he recalled his experiences in a letter written to his granddaughter dearest granddaughter what was it like to Journey to the Oregon Country many many years ago to a 10-year-old boy like myself it was the greatest of Adventures traveling with me was Elizabeth my sister and there was dear Ma and Paul we were going to Oregon from Missouri to start a new Farm on the very first day I learned that the other folks in our Wagon Train had different reasons for making the journey Mr kimson was a wheelright hoping to set up a shop in Oregon the Reverend Mr Harley and his wife were Bound for missionary work with the Indians obad Foster was a blacksmith who hoped to find work in Oregon his grown sons and their families like most of us were going to farm the man who led our Wagon Train Captain Thomas McDaniel was our pilot it was Captain McDaniel who advised us to start the journey in late April that way we'd reach Oregon Country sometime in September to do that P figured fured we'd have to make about 15 m a day any way you looked at it it would be at least 5 months travel the first day we made Camp early after supper Captain McDaniel told the men they would have to elect a councel the council would be our government on the trail the men of the council would settle any arguments and would also Act was lawmakers for the people of the trade after some talk Mr kimson old Obadiah Foster and Pa were elected as Council proud you bet I was the first thing the council did was to set watches to guard the train Paul drew the first watch of 4 hours how he stayed awake I don't know cuz I was more tired than i' ever been in my life in fact I was tired every night on the trail you see our days generally began about 4:00 or 5 in the morning we had to make our miles before the sun got hot a bugle blast would be sounded by the last man on [Music] watch right off there was plenty of commotion in the camp wagons were checked campfires were set bread was baked bacon was sliced and fried while beans were set to Boiling and so was good strong coffee our food was plain and we had to eat it sparingly because we couldn't carry much of it with us for fear of it spoiling or loading down the wagons if our Hunters made a kill we'd also have fresh meat before every meal PA would say great then we'd eat our simple food breakfast over the women and girls broke Camp the men and boys would start hitching up the teams to the wagons by 7:00 we were ready to pull out this routine kept up for about 10 weeks as we crossed the flat Prairie lands in that 10 weeks we had come almost 900 miles with more than a thousand left on our journey sometimes I'd get to drive the team when PA rode Guard Captain McDaniel said guards were always necessary in case we met up with Indians and one day P brought the news that he and Obadiah Foster had run into a band of Indians I knew I shouldn't leave the wagon but I wanted to see real live Indians Obadiah knew their language and talked with the Indians from the parts of the conversation I could make out the Indians needed food P figured that just this once it wouldn't hurt to give the Indians what they asked for Paul called back to me to bring up a small tack of cornmeal [Music] I was good and scared as I walked up to the brave he was very polite and to tell the truth I felt sorry that he and his people were going hungry that was an exciting day but most times our travels were quiet even lonely as we travel the girls wrote in their Diaries or picked wild flowers while the women would collect bits of fuel or take their turn driving at times the men would Scout ahead go hunting for fresh gain or drive mostly drive cuz we had to keep moving moving moving when the weather got dry dust was a big problem the dust would sting our eyes sometimes we could hardly see but still we kept moving rolling through South pass we knew we had reached the halfway mark on our journey it was late July then and we'd come about 950 Mi seeing the Rocky Mountains ahead we knew that another few days journey would bring us to the edge of Oregon Country it was on the Sabbath that we came to the mountains we stayed in Camp to hear the Reverend Mr Harley preach a sermon afterwards we prayed for strength to make good lives in argon then we had an old-fashioned hymn sing for me let me hi well we safely crossed those Rocky Mountains and as the days passed into August we saw Graves reminders that not all who set out for Argon reached their [Music] goal one day Captain McDaniel and I went looking for water water was hard to come by on some stretches of bet Trail I thought I heard something Captain McDaniel called out but no answer [Music] a family the father ill with [Music] fever they had been left by another Wagon Train which had moved on when the father did not get any better we couldn't promise to take them with us the folks of our Wagon Train would have to decide that Captain McDaniel explained the situation to all of us the abandoned family would slow us down our last few weeks on the trail live off our already low supplies and they need a lot of care would we take them with us a vote was called for yes we pushed on with our new friends with each mile Aran country became more pleasant and Greener finally we reached the banks of the Columbia River the most welcome side I'd ever [Music] seen within a week or so we had reached our destination after 6 months of travel somewhere down there we would settle and make our new Farm we had come a long way but now we were home Oregon like the family in our story many other Pioneers continued to make the long journey to the Oregon Country in the 1840s and 50s the settlers cleared the land for farms for towns and more people came to build to work the blacksmiths and the wheel wrs the newspaper editors and the lawyers the school teachers and the doctors The Lumberjacks and the miners and as more and more Americans made the Pioneer journey to Oregon Country they strengthened the claims of the United States to this area it was immigration along the Oregon Trail that helped to place the boundary at the 49th parallel between Canada and the Oregon Country in 1846 3 years later in 1849 this area became a territory of the United States which now stretched from sea to Sea the Journey of the Brave Pioneers had linked a new Rich territory to a growing Nation [Music]