Two nights ago, we were surrounded by a severe thunder and lightning storm. For almost two hours, huge bolts of lightening lit up the sky around us. We saw livestock in the fields, and one horse was just standing there in the pelting rain. Then it started to hail. We pulled over to the side of the road a few times, but we really had nowhere to hide. It was scary..
My friend Debbie and I have been following along the Oregon Trail (although we are doing it backwards since we are traveling eastward). We stopped at Scotts Bluffs, Nebraska. It was one of the major landmarks for the California, Oregon, and Mormon trails as they traveled westward.
Between 1840 and 1860, 500,000 people traveled by coveted wagons, on horseback, or pulling handcarts piled with their belongings. Some were gold seekers; others were looking for land in the Oregon Country. 70,000 Mormons were fleeing religious persecution. From the top of the bluffs we could see the Platte River Valley below us…even today, the open prairie extends beyond the horizon. The travelers frequently left useful information written on animal skulls bleached by the sun.
They confronted extreme weather, cholera and other diseases, broken axles and all kinds of problems on trips that typically took 4-6 months.It’s astonishing that 90% of them survived.Although the literature is full of imagery of savage Indian attacks, in fact there are only 342 documented instances. Most of the violence occurred among the travelers as quarrels broke out; the biggest killer was disease.
I’ve read numerous letters and memoirs of men and women on the trek west. Being in the actual places and seeing the vast distances and difficult conditions gave me a far deeper appreciation of how difficult the journey was; and the difficult circumstances etched themselves into their character, values, and expect. The severity of the storm only brought that point home.
Thanks for tuning in!
Margaret
Leave a Reply