The story of the Oregon Trail as it stretched from the from the roaring square at Independence, Mo., for 2,020 miles to the valley of the Willamette River, south of present-day Portland, Oregon. Included are detailed instructions guiding the vacationer to precise locations along the trail, wherever they may be reached by contemporary roads and streets; plus a two-wwk "speed trip" along the trail via interstate highways.

With numbers swelled by Oregon-bound settlers as well as hordes of gold-seekers destined for California, the 1852 overland migration was the largest on record in a year taking a terrible toll in lives mainly due to deadly cholera. Included here are firsthand accounts of this fateful year, including the words and thoughts of a young married couple, Mary Ann and Willis Boatman, released for the first time in book-length form. In its immediacy, Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852 opens a window to the travails of the overland journeyers--their stark camps, treacherous river fordings, and dishonest countrymen; the shimmering plains and mountain vastnesses; trepidation at crossing ancient Indian lands; and the dark angel of death hovering over the wagon columns. But also found here are acts of valor, compassion, and kindness, and the hope for a new life in a new land at the end of the trail.

The 1852 overland migration was the largest on record, with numbers swelled by Oregon-bound settlers as well as hordes of gold-seekers destined for California. It also was a year in which cholera took a terrible toll in lives. Included here are firsthand accounts of this fateful year, including the words and thoughts of a young married couple, Mary Ann and Willis Boatman.

A major one-volume history of the Oregon Trail from its earliest beginnings to the present, by a prize-winning historian of the American West. Starting with an overview of Oregon Country in the early 1800s, a vast area then the object of international rivalry among Spain, Britain, Russia, and the United States, David Dary gives us the whole sweeping story of those who came to explore, to exploit, and, finally, to settle there. Using diaries, journals, company and expedition reports, and newspaper accounts, David Dary takes us inside the experience of the continuing waves of people who traveled the Oregon Trail or took its cutoffs to Utah, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, and California. He introduces us to the fur traders who set up the first “forts” as centers to ply their trade; the missionaries bent on converting the Indians to Christianity; the mountain men and voyageurs who settled down at last in the fertile Willamette Valley; the farmers and their families propelled west by economic bad times in the East; and, of course, the gold-seekers, Pony Express riders, journalists, artists, and entrepreneurs who all added their unique presence to the land they traversed. We meet well-known figures–John Jacob Astor, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, John Frémont, the Donners, and Red Cloud, among others–as well as dozens of little-known men, women, and children who jotted down what they were seeing and feeling in journals, letters, or perhaps even on a rock or a gravestone. Throughout, Dary keeps us informed of developments in the East and their influence on events in the West, among them the building of the transcontinental railroad and the efforts of the far western settlements to become U.S. territories and eventually states. Above all, The Oregon Trail offers a panoramic look at the romance, colorful stories, hardships, and joys of the pioneers who made up this tremendous and historic migration.

"With his lively pen and lyric camera, Mr. Hokanson takes us on a journey of discovery. The open road is, in part, a defining characteristic of this country, and the Lincoln Highway is one of the historic traces ... like the Oregon Trail, the Camino Real, or the National Road. Not just for tourists, the Lincoln Highway accelerated the processes of social mobility, changed our geography, and led inexorably to a new America. This is an important story, well researched and beautifully, perceptively told." -- William L. Withuhn, Curator of Transportation, Smithsonian Institution Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

No available information at this time. Author will provide once available.