Good Times: Independence Day on the Oregon Trail

By Jennifer Mueller

By as early as 1800, Independence Day celebrations were common. Traveling across the wilderness with little to call their own, celebrating the day on the Oregon Trail was a reason to escape the drudgery of five to six months of constant travel. Independence Rock was looked for eagerly, starting the trail in the early spring, the emigrants hoped to reach Independence Rock by July 4. If they had not arrived by then, they knew they were behind schedule. Many scribed their names in the rock as a memento. It was a day to rest, with a feast the most likely indulgence. Diaries often mentioned the events.

Emigrant James Nesmith: "Had the pleasure of waiting on five or six young ladies to pay a visit to Independence Rock. I had the satisfaction of putting the names of Miss Mary Zachary and Miss Jane Mills on the southeast point of the rocks."

Emigrant Margaret Hecox: "Being the fourth of July, we concluded to lay by and celebrate the day. The children had no fireworks, but we all joined in singing patriotic songs and shared in a picnic lunch."

But for an unpublished story of my own, I created a trail diary of a fictional crossing with a little more detail...

July the 4th
We lay abed this morning. All had a go as you please. Some hunted and fished, others lounged, while the children played games. Flags hung from several wagons. Another train pulled up and joined us for the celebration of our country's independence. A salute to our grand country was fired from 150 guns. All up and down the river we can hear similar salutes from those that left before and after us.

With so many women with us the feast that followed was immense. Roast antelope, roast sage hen, roast rabbit, antelope stew, sage hen stew, jack rabbit stew, antelope pot pie, sage hen fried, jack rabbit fried, fish fried. Irish potatoes brought from Ohio, Boston baked beans, rice, pickles, white bread, graham bread, warm rolls, biscuits, pound cake, fruit cake, jelly cake, Sweetwater mountain cake, peach pie, apple pie, strawberry pie, custard pie. Our two from New Orleans even introduced us to something called dirty rice made with the innards of the fowl we had killed. I don't know that I have ever eaten so much in my life.

After dinner as much brandy as could be found was rounded up and a great many toasts to our fair country were had. No one could forget the rash of Stewart weddings that took place, Alexander Stewart and Helen Vandeveer, Daniel Stewart and Charlotte Houlton, Duncan Stewart and Delia Drake.

Guest Author: P.L. Parker

This week on Unusual Historicals we're featuring The Wild Rose Press author P.L. Parker, whose time travel Oregon Trail romance, AIMEE'S LOCKET, is available now in print. Don't miss it! Here's the blurb:

The antique ivory locket was the key!

Exquisite and enchanting, it drew Aimee like a magnet. Though the locket cost every spare penny she had, it was money well spent--or so she thought! Catapulted by the locket to the year 1847, Aimee finds herself alone in St. Louis, Missouri, the jumping off site for the Oregon Trail. The much touted slogan "Go West Young Man" takes on new meaning. Seattle, her home in the present, was a distant dream, and unless she found a suitable male willing to wed, Aimee would be left behind when the emigrant train left for the Oregon Territory. Penniless and without recourse, Aimee's choices were few.

Jake Marshall, scout for the Markham Party, was the perfect, if unwilling, choice. Undaunted by his initial rudeness, Aimee entices him to the alter with the promise of her diamond earrings as payment, thereby securing her passage on the wagon train, and embarking on a chain of events that would ultimately end in the far reaches of the great American West.

***

The images of your website drew me right in. And the quote--"Suffer those who chance upon the portal of time as the gate swings open, for they will be lost."--really intrigued me. Is that from a specific story?

Actually no. That is mine. I searched everything I could think of to make sure it was mine, and found nothing. I wanted something that connected my website to time travel, which is the basis for most of my stories.

Tell us about your "unusual historicals."

All my novels--FIONA, RILEY'S JOURNEY, and AIMEE'S LOCKET, and the short story, "The Heart of the Sorcerer"--deal with time travel in one form or another. We all dream of traveling to another time and experiencing live in that strange environment. I love the research end and often get lost in research. I do try to take something "unusual" in history and add it to my stories to give them flavor and believability.

What stimulates your interest? How do you get your ideas?

I have to admit, I'm a great one for switching on the TV and wandering over to the Discovery Channel. Ancient history is my favorite and I am always looking for the weird moments in history that leave some specific mark on present day.

What prompts a storyline?

FIONA, my first novel, grew from watching a segment of the Discovery Channel about the discovery of Caucasian Mummies in the Taklamakan Desert of Northern China. These mummies, possibly Tocharian Celts, existed in that part of the world long before Caucasians were thought to have made their appearance. No one knows where they came from or where they went. Maybe they subsequently interbred with the nearby Uyghur tribes, which could account for the lighter skin and rounder eyes of the peoples in the area. It is a question whose answer is lost in time.

After I set the parameters of my story, I purchased a copy of Elizabeth Wayland Barber's THE MUMMIES OF URUMCHI. She discusses textiles, basketry, weaving and carding, and other aspects of these people's daily life, things I needed to give color to my slant on life 4,000 years B.C. My heroine, Fiona, is based on the discovery of one such mummy, a young blonde woman, possibly a sacrificial victim. Dismemberment was a common form of torture to the ancients. In almost every culture, there is mention of this horrific end result. There wasn't much I could do to alleviate her suffering, but perhaps I could write her a better end.

Any others?

I watched the Discovery Channel again. My next brain stimulator was the discovery of the frozen man discovered in a part of the Alps straddling the border of Austria and Italy. Who was he? What was his life like? Why was he there? I was hooked. The more I researched this tidbit, the farther back I went. Ultimately, I based RILEY'S JOURNEY in the last Ice Age, approximately 40,000 years ago, when Cro-Magnon man and Neanderthal both occupied this planet. So much information! My main research was the internet, but I also purchased Stephen Oppenheimer's THE REAL EVE, MODERN MAN'S JOURNEY OUT OF AFRICA. About the time I finished RILEY'S JOURNEY, a woman's body was discovered in Oregon, much older than when man was previously thought to have migrated to the Americas. Of course, I had to mention her in my story.

What about your latest release, AIMEE'S LOCKET?

The Oregon Trail has long been of interest to me. Living in Idaho, I've grown up with the stories of the pioneers' journey west, their hardships and their triumphs. As 1847 isn't too far back, it was easy to follow the path of the early settlers, ergo, AIMEE'S LOCKET was conceived. Again, I researched the internet, but I've even taken a tour with a historical guide along the Oregon Trail which borders Idaho and Oregon. He led us to a spot where a family of emigrants' journey finally ended. This site is located near Huntington, Oregon. These emigrants were part of a small group of families who were first attacked by Indians near what is now American Falls. Losing everything, the family hid in the reeds and then continued on foot. Two young men rode for help and did survive. The father kept his family together until the Indians struck again just outside Huntington and their suffering ended. The bones were so decalcified due to starvation, it was almost a miracle their grave site was ever found.

Do you feel as if your characters come alive vividly as you write? Do they assert themselves in ways that surprise you?

Oh, most definitely. By the time I've finished a story, I feel like the characters are my friends--people I know. I go back and read parts periodically and get emotional. In fact, when I was finishing "Aimee's Locket," I cried for her at the end. Each of my ladies is very different, but my humor does tend to come out in each one, which I'm thankful for.

What are you currently working on?

I just finished a vampire story, ABSOLUTION and am currently going the rounds of submission. Since I've had so much interest from my fans around the world as to what happened to my people in RILEY'S JOURNEY, I am currently working on a sequel. How fun to revisit my earlier research and pull out a new story. I'm almost finished with the first draft and having a great time.

What's the most challenging aspect of writing? Easiest?

I find that making sure the character reacts/speaks like his/her character would. That is a challenge because I wouldn't necessarily say what my character says, but fun to imagine. The easiest is coming up with ideas. I have a notebook that I write down ideas and I'm pretty far ahead, but when I finally sit down to write the next, often it is a whole new idea. My sons are good inspiration. They're always coming up with ideas for stories as well.

How do we contact you?

For further information about me, please visit my website, my blog at www.plparker.blogspot.com, my myspace page, or just e-mail me at plparker92@yahoo.com.

***

Thanks for stopping by today! P.L. will be giving away a signed copy of AIMEE'S LOCKET to one random commenter. I'll draw the winner next Sunday. Void where prohibited. If you need a topic to get you started, here are a few. Does the idea of an Oregon Trail story appeal to you? What about the difficulties of such a journey hold the potential for romance? And what about time travel stories? Best of luck!

Excerpt Thursday: P.L. Parker

This week on Excerpt Thursday we're featuring an excerpt for P.L. Parker's time travel Oregon Trail romance, AIMEE'S LOCKET. Join us on Sunday when she'll be here to talk about her research and inspiration, as well as give away a copy. Don't miss it! Here's the blurb:

The antique ivory locket was the key!

Exquisite and enchanting, it drew Aimee like a magnet. Though the locket cost every spare penny she had, it was money well spent--or so she thought! Catapulted by the locket to the year 1847, Aimee finds herself alone in St. Louis, Missouri, the jumping off site for the Oregon Trail. The much touted slogan "Go West Young Man" takes on new meaning. Seattle, her home in the present, was a distant dream, and unless she found a suitable male willing to wed, Aimee would be left behind when the emigrant train left for the Oregon Territory. Penniless and without recourse, Aimee's choices were few.

Jake Marshall, scout for the Markham Party, was the perfect, if unwilling, choice. Undaunted by his initial rudeness, Aimee entices him to the alter with the promise of her diamond earrings as payment, thereby securing her passage on the wagon train, and embarking on a chain of events that would ultimately end in the far reaches of the great American West.

***

"Sure you don't want to take me up on my offer?" Jake's teasing was old.

"You wish!" She huffed and stalked out, forgetting to check the hallway first and banged into a boarder walking by. A lascivious leer devoured her, replacing the boarder's previously blank expression.

"Looking for customers?" He smacked his bulbous lips, reminiscent of an overeager suckerfish. "I just might be interested."

Her shoulders drooped in disgust. "You are soooo sickening." She glared at him. "How about you get out of my face before I ream you a new orifice?"

Startled, the man's mouth flew open as he gaped in surprise.

Jake stepped into the hallway and lowered his voice to sound ominous in the ensuing silence. "The lady was just returning to her room. I suggest you do the same."

The hapless man barely glanced at his threatening stance before he scurried down the hall. Jake's lips twitched. He couldn't blame him. He'd made the same offer more than once today. But, damn, if she wasn't a feisty piece of woman. At least she hadn't threatened to ream him a new orifice--whatever that was.

"Thanks...again! Seems like all I do is thank you for one reason or another." Aimee hesitated, appearing unsure. Her vulnerability stirred deeper feelings in him, making him uncomfortable. "I've had more creepy offers from more creepy men in one day than I've had in my entire lifetime!"

"If you keep running around in your underclothes, it's pretty much what you can expect."

He followed her across the hall. "Stay in there and don't answer the door, and if anyone bothers you--scream. I'll hear it."

She slipped into her room and pivoted, staring up at him. "Why are you helping me?"

On the old Oregon Trail

Two thousand miles across the great American desert, fifteen miles a day (on a good day), I take a bit of offence to that I'm from Kansas, but at the time, that's what it was. This huge expanse of nothing to cross to get to the rich fertile farm lands of Oregon and the gold fields of California. Back in 1992, I worked in a Ghost Town in Montana and sitting on the shelf was a paperback that I picked up to read. Back home I reread it and stopped part way through, it stank. That was the day I said I could do better and picked up a pen and paper, hey it was 1992 how many of you had computers in the house. It was an Oregon Trail book and it started my writing career, and in researching my rebuttal, I found out that the author should have been writing fantasy. Four-six months was turned into two years. The first trip of 1842 was turned into 1839 I believe. They were rushing to stamp out the possibility of Russia establishing a colony. I can forego a little artistic license, but the six months to two years, I find unpardonable.

The real six month trips started in 1842 though a handful of people made it across in the two years previous. This was several years after Narcissa Whitman and her husband made the trip to found a mission, she was the first woman to head west and her letters back home sparked the first real interest. If a woman could do it, anyone could. Taking off from Independence, MO the route followed the rivers west, the Platte, the Snake, the Columbia, dozens other smaller ones. Some they had to cross, they used as a traveling water source and followed their banks. Only a trickle was flowing when gold was discovered jumping the numbers from hundreds or thousands a year to tens of thousands. New short cuts were discovered from miners wanting to get west faster, the Mormons crossed to Utah in the same period many of them pulling handcarts it was in their best interest to cut time off. Slowly the jumping off point moved north, from Independence to St. Joseph, MO to finally Council Bluffs, IA, the former Mormon wintering over site. They were only there for a few seasons as they made their trek to the Great Salt Lake but it set up the resources to supply them leaving and it cut several weeks off the journey. By the end of the era four months was a usual crossing.

Whole books were written to pass on vital information to those following them, a large amount of the space filled with supplies to be taken. In our time of fast food, and convenience stores carrying six months of food is a novelty. Not only that they had to hope they would have enough left to help them get through the first very lean winter as they set up their homes and farms. Or the funds to buy it in a land where there wasn’t much. A handful of stops along the way gave some chance but in a heavy travel year what those trading forts did have could very well be gone by the time you got there.

For each and every person in the party it was suggested that they carry, 200 pounds of flour, 30 pounds of pilot bread (similar to that ubiquitous hardtack), 75 pounds of bacon, 10 pounds of rice, 5 pounds of coffee, 2 pounds of tea, 25 pounds of sugar, half a bushel of dried beans, one bushel of dried fruit, 2 pounds of baking soda, 10 pounds of salt, half a bushel of corn meal, half a bushel of corn and a small keg of vinegar. Seeing as it was large families that often traveled together the amount of food alone becomes staggering. Vegetables unless pickled were non-existent. Many would add luxuries to that list, cocoa was available, a product along the lines of soup bouillon, cheese, flavored essences like peppermint and lemon. But the cost of them would of course be more, they were saved for special occasions.

The wagons in addition to carrying the supplies for the six-month journey all with only canvas to keep out the elements, also had to carry everything that would be needed to start a house and farm out of nothing. An ax, a saw and a plow, were mandatory. However, if your child would get schooling you had to bring your own books, furniture if you were lucky to have room. Think of it like having a regular sized cargo van and fitting everything you would need to eat for six months as well as everything you could possibly fit to get you started on the other end and then while one of you drove the rest walked along side it. What would be your most prized possessions that you couldn't leave behind? The cross-country railroad wasn't finished until 1869, it was a once in a lifetime trip for most. There was no chance to go back for more.

The most dangerous part of the trip wasn't Indians despite what the prejudices were, it was sickness and accident. Perhaps Indians killed 300 people in some 20 years. Deaths for all other causes estimates are as large as 30,000 deaths, but a more conservative estimate is 20,000 for the entire 2000 miles of the Oregon Trail--an average of ten graves per mile. Assuming 350,000 people emigrating, which is commonly thought, that averages to one death for every seventeen people who made the trip. Cholera was a big factor caused by drinking infected water. But many occurred from more mundane things poor sanitation practices in cooking and food storage, bad water, and poor living conditions. Diseases that we now have vaccines for but were killers then caused many more deaths; pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, small pox and various other miscellaneous sicknesses and diseases.

Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger early on, Fort Hall, Fort Boise, were all stops along the way, but they weren't vacations, most they were only there overnight, buying a few supplies if they had the money and if there were even any available. Maybe a drink. The great American desert, the Rocky Mountains, and then just as they are about to collapse from exhaustion they had to cross the Blue Mountains before finally pulling into Oregon City. The end of a journey, but not the end of the ordeal, arriving in fall they had no houses to live in, no crops stored for the winter. They still had a lot of work to do.