The first wagon train
to the west coast passed through Fort Laramie in 1841. When I taught Wyoming
History I was often asked, “What years did people travel on the Oregon Trail”?
Well, there’s the answer, or at least part of it, the Oregon Trail was first
traveled in 1841.
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| Trail Ruts Near Guernsey Wyoming, 13 miles West of the Fort |
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| On the Grounds of Fort Laramie today |
This
first train west, was organized and captained by adventurer John Bartleson who
set the entire trip up with no real knowledge of the west and certainly not enough
knowhow to lead a large group of people overland to California.
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| Even Today Mountain Men Can Be Found Camping at the Fort |
So
how did he do it? Easy, he tagged on with a group of Jesuit missionaries
heading west. The difference was that the missionaries knew they needed a guide,
and they hired one, a good one. Thomas “Broken Hand,” Fitzpatrick led the group
of missionaries and Bartleson’s wagon train into Idaho where his duties to the Jesuit’s
ended. From that point on the train traveled with the advice and hand drawn
maps of ‘Broken Hand’ and with a lot of luck, some of it bad, made it to the
coast.
It
should be noted that parts of the trail were traveled as early as 1836 and
trappers started laying out this route as early as 1810 or 11.
Nearly
forgot, when did travel on the trails west end? Most historians agree around
1869. Who needed a wagon, by then they had a railroad?
4 comments:
I understand that there was a system of overland routes used by Indian tribes. Do we know whether any of them became part of the Oregon Trail?
In this area early mountain men are given credit for blazing trails, but many were following Indian trails, especially in difficult to travel terrain.
On when travel ended, while no doubt most travel no doubt ended in 1869, not all did. I've even heard of one instance in which a Missouri family traveled that route in the early 20th Century, as they moved their family and farming equipment from that state to Wyoming. Also, local travel continued on it, and in some areas of the state the highways and county roads are on it now.
As an example of the latter (county roads going down the Oregon Trail, some recent photos of Ryan Hill in Natrona County. The road in this area is called the Oregon Trail Road, as for the most part, the road is the old trial: http://warmonument.blogspot.com/2014/09/willow-springs-natrona-county-wyoming.html
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