Dear Trail Fans, In 1854 my Pike family crossed the plains to Yreka, California & wintered there before coming up to Douglas County, Oregon in 1855. Lydia Pike was just 8 years old in 1854. Her family had traveled in 1852 from Iowa to Dallas, Texas. They found that they didn't like Texas, so decided to go to Oregon instead. There was a diary that had been used during the trip to Texas. Lydia took it up in her later years and added her own memories of the journey to Oregon. For some reason she decided to write it in the present rather than in the past, so it sounds somewhat like she was writing at the time of the trip, but she wasn't. She refers to her father as Mr. Pike, or James Pike, and to herself as Lydia Pike. Her grandmother, Sarah (Brown) Troxel was with them too. Margarita - You may want to edit some things out of this. I left in the story about the Indian who was killed. Not sure how old your students are, but you may not think this is appropriate. I'll understand & have taken out some other stories too. Feel free to use any parts you'd like to with your students. At the bottom I've included an outline of Lydia's family. Her sister, Mary, was my gggrandmother. Jackie WRITTEN BY LYDIA PIKE ARNEL OF MARCOLA, LANE COUNTY, OREGON Now, everyone that was going in this train had to have a new wagon made out of bowdock timber, well seasoned. This timber would never break or wear out. It was harder than iron. The members of our train going right from our settlement are: James Pike, his wife, and 2 children (His oldest girl, Lydia, was 9 years old and the baby Melissa Texing Jane Pike was born on the 18th day of March 1853 in Dallas County, Texas.); Mr. Keeting, his wife and 3 children; Mr. Wade, an old man; Mr. Howt, his wife and 2 children; and Mr. Briggs and family. Our train all got together and everything was arranged. They put Mr. Briggs in for the head boss as he said that he had been across the plains before. So they put him in for the captain of the train, and now I tell you, it was not long before he had 'the big head so awful'. Well, we got ready and in May we gave Texas a farewell by. We traveled along on the Big Platt River. Just before we crossed it, there came up an awful thunder storm. An awful hard one! There was thunder and lightening; the worst I had ever seen in my life. The biggest hail fell from the heavens, as big as small eggs. The wind blew so hard it tore some of the wagon sheets off of the wagons. There came one clap of thunder while James Pike was on horseback herding some loose cattle. It knocked him to his knees and made him blind for awhile. There was another train just across the river where a man, a horse, and an ox were killed by the same clap of thunder. This poor man was buried right by the side of the road in a lonely forsaken place with coyotes all around there where he was laid to rest forever. We traveled along and everything seemed to be all right until we got to a river to cross. It had a bridge that was called the Natural Bridge. It was solid rock from bank to bank on each side of this bridge. The water was 20 feet deep and was running over the bridge about 2 feet deep. Some of the train had gotten across and then James Pike's team came up. The young man that James Pike was bringing across the plains with him was driving the team and he drove too near the side of the bridge. The hind wheel went over the side. Some of the men ran in with Mr. Pike. They grabbed the wheel & wagon and held it until it was safe, so it wouldn't turn over. The family was soon jerked out of the wagon, right into the water. Grandma was scared nearly to death! Now, when they were across, then they made a fire and dried their clothes. Then they put on their dry clothes and everything was all right until Mr. Keeting was taken so sick that the train had to lay over for a few days with him. He died and was buried right by the side of the road in a nice beautiful place. But, it was a forsaken place, wild, and lonely. There were plenty of Indians around, so the train brought the family along. ... We came a long distance, our teams were getting tired and had sore feet. We had to get our oxen shod today. This morning Mr. Pike got up early and went to look after the team and he ran across a big fat Indian with his blanket spread over him. He spoke to him, but he never spoke. Mr. Pike took a hold of the blanket and saw that he had been shot the night before by a train that had camped there. When Mr. Pike came back to the train, he told them to hurry up, and get away from there. If any Indians should come while they were there, they would kill every one of us. So we hurried up and got on our way. Tonight we camped with the other train. They said that they did it. The Indian was stealing one of their horses. He had the end of the lariat rope which the horse was staked out with, pulling the horse toward him. He was laying down in a little holler where the buffalo had been rolling and wallowing. The guard saw the Indian stick up his head, so he took aim at him and shot him in the breast, too dead to kick. Today we traveled through buffalo nearly all day. Talk about seeing buffalo! I bet a rattlesnake, we saw over ten thousand million! It was a nice level prairie land and there was no timber or brush close. You could see as far as your eyes could see on both sides of the road and before you. The whole country was right black, all buffalo. They all were coming to meet us. They were all grunting the buffalo grunt. It sounded like thunder away off in the distance. I tell you, they were not one bit afraid of us. They would walk right against our teams and wagons. The men would hit them with their ox whips. Some of the men rode ahead of the train and by the side of the foremost wagon to clear them out of the way of the train. There was fear that they would stampede our oxen and run over us, for they would just as soon run right into the train or wagons as not. They were all going one way, towards the south-east. Mr. Pike killed a fat yearling buffalo calf today. It was an awful nice one. Well, we were awful glad when we got out from being among the buffalo. Now we are at the Big Hot Spring. This is a stream of hot boiling water running out of a bank. The stream is as big around as a quart cup and there is a little lake right below where the water comes out of the bank. It is about 25 feet wide and about 28 feet long. This water was hot and had a heavy smoke over the whole little lake. All of the time the women washed there and cooked beans, rice, and potatoes. They made coffee. They just set the things down in this hot water and let it cook, for the water was boiling all of the time. It was a site to look at and a nice place with plenty of good grass around. We had a nice time there. Well, this morning we rolled out on our long journey that is before us. Our team is getting worn out and sore feet. We will lay by here a day or two and let the teams rest up awhile and then we will roll on. Mr. Pike has just come to camp with a big fat five prong buck. Oh my, how nice and fat, it is so nice. Lydia Pike and Sis Keeting; these two girls were the same age, the same size, and were always together. They walked all the way across the plains, never riding except when they were crossing a stream or a river. Just as they got across, they were going on foot. Sometimes I have known of them being a half a mile ahead of the train. It is the biggest wonder in this world that the Indians had not gotten them. It just happened that no Indians ever saw them or they would have been gone. The train got onto them about this many times. They told them that the Indians would get them and for them to stay close to the train, but they were not afraid. You could not scare them one bit and the next day it was the same thing, over & over, all the time, and every day. One evening after we had camped and supper was over, a little before sundown, Lydia and Sis Keeting were on the edge of a little branch close by a tree. They saw a snake curled up. They went to the camp and told everyone about what an awful snake that they had seen. Mr. Pike took up his gun and killed it. It measured 10 feet long and was 12 inches around it's body. It's head was 6 inches across. It was spotted much the same as a rattle snake with old rusty brown spots and white spots. It had no rattles. It was an awful snake. We came up a long slope of a hill, just as we got in a nice valley, a lovely pretty level place, our teams were going on and seven great big Indians stepped up to our wagons. The first thing they would say was "how, tobacco, how tobacco" and then they would want to smoke. So you had to give them some tobacco and then smoke with them. Then they wanted something to eat. They would take a hold of the wagon sheet and pull it back and look at the people in the wagons. They would get so close to the wagons that the wagons would nearly run on them. It scared Grandma Troxel nearly to death. She was so awful afraid of Indians. You could just look around over the level land, all covered with grass about knee high, you could see Indians popping up their heads all over the valley. They were just as thick as a band of sheep, but they did not harm us any and we traveled on. Now we have gotten to the Well Springs. One is boiling hot water and one is clear and cool as ice. It is as clear as crystal. These springs are 2 feet apart, side by side. They are around as a tube and as big across the top as a big washing tub. They are quite deep, about 4 feet, and there is a quiet stream of water running from these beautiful springs. There is fine grass here, rolling hills, brush, and some timber. Back on the hills, you can see about half a mile down the valley way. We will have to go. We have camped here all night and expect to go on in the morning if nothing happens. Well, this is a beautiful morning and breakfast is over with. Soon we will be ready to move on again. Someone looked down the road and they saw a crowd of people coming on horseback. They said, "Oh look at the Indians coming, they will kill all of us!" Their guns and swords were gleaming in the sun and this scared all of our men in the train. They all ran away from the wagons and took to the hills & brush. They left the women and children to fight the Indians. Mr. Pike, Mr. Briggs, and Mr. Howt were the only men that stayed with their families. They took their stand, their guns in hand, and stood up like soldiers. When the crowd got a little closer, Mr. Pike said, "Oh, it is the soldiers coming!" Now, you may think there were some proud people! We were all so proud when the soldiers rode up. They said we had better stay the night and start the next morning, for we had 2 miles to go through the tulies. These were just as thick as they could stand and were about 10 feet high. You could not see one inch in them. It was damp and wet marshy land. They had cut the tulies and made the wagon road out of them. The road was only wide enough for the wagon to go through the tulies. The soldiers said there was danger in going through this place, so the soldiers went clear through these touleys with us. They stayed all night with us again, then they went back to meet some more wagons and help them through. We traveled, & traveled, & traveled and at last we got through to California, Yreka, where they were digging for gold. There were white men and Chinese men all mixed up together and Indians, too. Now it is close to the last of November and our train is now separated. Some went one place and some went another. Mr. Pike went up on what was called Little Green Horn and wintered there. The snow fell 5 feet that winter. In the spring he moved off Green Horn down into the valley among the miners, and stayed until the middle of the summer. Then he moved to Douglas County, Oregon on Deer Creek four miles above Roseburg. .... Descendants of James Pike 1 James Pike b: 25 Dec 1822 <Adair Co.>, Kentucky d: 25 Nov 1895 Marcola, Lane, OR Burial: 27 Nov 1895 Baxter Cem, Isabel, OR (now Mohawk Cem, Marcola) - +Mary Troxel b: 17 May 1819 Ohio Co., Kentucky m: 11 Jun 1845 Rock Creek, Keokuk, IA d: 07 Dec 1891 Marcola, Lane, OR Burial: Mohawk Cemetery, Marcola, Oregon 2 Lydia Pike b: 17 Apr 1846 Rock Creek, Keokuk, IA d: 28 Dec 1932 Marcola, Lane, OR Burial: Mohawk Cemetery, Marcola, OR -- +Clinton Arnel b: 03 Oct 1838 Missouri m: 29 Nov 1866 Benton Co., OR d: 22 Jul 1927 Marcola, Lane, OR 2 Nicholas Pike b: 19 Feb 1848 Shoal Creek, Appanoose, IA d: 12 Jun 1852 Pettis Co., MO 2 John Pike b: 17 Oct 1849 Shoal Creek, Appanoose, IA d: 08 Jun 1852 Pettis Co., MO 2 Malissa Texing Jane Pike b: 18 May 1853 Dallas, Dallas, TX d: 03 Jun 1938 Salem, Marion, OR Burial: City View Cemetery, Salem, OR -- +Amos Britton Wood b: 08 Nov 1850 Buchanan Co., MO m: 29 Sep 1870 Benton Co., OR d: 10 Aug 1927 Salem, Marion, OR Burial: City View Cemetery, Salem, OR 2 Jonathan Pike b: 13 Sep 1855 Roseburg, Douglas, OR d: 26 Mar 1878 The Dalles, Wasco, OR Burial: Pioneer Cemetery, The Dalles, OR 2 Sintha Ann Pike b: 03 Sep 1857 Roseburg, Douglas, OR d: 08 Mar 1862 Douglas Co., OR 2 Mary Joseph Pike b: 04 Nov 1859 Roseburg, Douglas, OR d: 11 Dec 1946 Salem, Marion, OR Burial: Mohawk Cemetery, Marcola, OR -- +George Washington Savage b: 08 Dec 1853 Blodgett, Benton, OR m: 20 Oct 1876 Umatilla Co., OR d: 15 Jul 1935 Marcola, Lane, OR Burial: Mohawk Cemetery, Marcola, OR