It Happened on the Oregon Trail

Many of the events along the Oregon Trail are well known--the perils of the Applegate family as they rafted down the raging Columbia River, the plight of the Donner Party as they found themselves snowbound and starving at Truckee Lake. But do you know the whole story? It Happened on the Oregon Trail includes these events as well as many lesser-known happenings, providing insight about the adventurous emigrants who, beginning in the 1840s, headed west in covered wagons in search of a better life. These stories reveal the hardships and the joys of the 2,000-mile journey as the travelers left from the "jumping-off" cities along the Missouri River to cross the plains, mountains, deserts, and rivers to reach their final destinations in Oregon and California. You'll read about Lafayette Tate, who experienced "trail justice" for committing murder; about Catherine Hickman and David Parks, who met on the Trail and were married in a trailside wedding; and about Solomon Butcher, a frontier photographer, who captured life on the Great Plains. In an easy-to-read style that's entertaining as well as informative, Tricia Martineau Wagner recounts some of the most captivating moments from our nation's great westward migration.