From the GenGuide's Family Tree Update - January 19, 2002 Newsletter: The Oregon Trail <http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html> Before the railroad crossed America, hundreds of thousands of people poured west along the Oregon Trail. Your ancestor may have been among them. Although known as the Oregon Trail, many westward-bound settlers traveled much of the same trail. In fact, certain sections of it may be called the California Trail or the Mormon Trail. However, most certainly, the basic route from "back East" to Fort Laramie was the same. Interestingly,traveling the Oregon Trail was NOT a solitary feat. In fact one woman noted in her journal that she could see wagons in front of and behind her for as far as she could see. The sad truth was too many traveled the trail at the same time, depleting food for oxen, fresh water and firewood. In the glory days of the Oregon Trail, thousands of settler got no further than what is today's Nebraska or Wyoming. Cholera killed so many travelers, that one Oregon-bound settler said there were so many graves along the way that you could walk to Fort Laramie without ever stepping on the ground. The Oregon Trail Web site tells all of the fascinating facts about the Trail, the settlers who traveled it, the journey, and the hardships. If your ancestor traveled the Trail, you do not want to miss all this site offers. Stop at the Historic Site along the trail, read the wild and wacky "Trail Facts", and don't miss the full-text journals and diaries kept by travelers. If you want to know what it was like to walk alongside your Oregon Trail ancestor, this site will make it possible. _________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ -- oooO Oooo || || +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ { Current publications available at: } http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=rosess { http://stores.half.com/rosesss } { Rose Terry @>,--'--- _ RMTerry@prodigy.net } +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~000~~~~~( )~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ ( @ @ ) || \ / || ||| || 0ooo Give your children these two things - One is roots, the other, wings.