Top A-S T-Z Contact Us Catalog

BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND
William C. Bullard
Paperback..........#1419..........$6.50 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
150 years ago Americans gathered in the frontier hamlet of Independence, Missouri, to carry out a disorganized, audacious dream. They carted their civilization across a vast plain, scaled the Rockies and extended the United States all the way to the Pacific Ocean. This elegant and beautifully written book is copiously illustrated with early photos and was published to commemorate the opening of the National Frontier Trails Center in Independence, Missouri. 

GREAT PLATTE RIVER ROAD: The Covered Wagon Mainline Via Fort Kearny to Fort Laramie
Merrill J. Mattes (OCTA Founder)
Paperback..........583 pp..........#1192..........$26.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This book looks at the border towns, trail routes, river crossings, stage stations, military posts, and such landmarks as Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff. It goes far beyond geography and Indian encounters, it reveals cultural aspects of the great migration - food, dress, equipment, organization, camping, traffic patterns, sex ratios, morals, manners, religion, burial customs and more.  

OCTA, THE GROWING YEARS
Ruth Anderson (OCTA Member)
Paperback..........#1523..........$5.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
A companion piece to Preserving Our Historic Trails, The Story of OCTA, this volume details the ongoing development of OCTA during the years 1987-1997. This publication includes reports of internal organization, as well as OCTA's actions and focus on trail preservation.

LAW FOR THE ELEPHANT :
Property and Social Behavior on the Overland Trail
John Phillip Reid
Paperback.........437 pp..........#1534 .........$15.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
To coincide with the publication of Policing the Elephant, the Huntington Library has produced a paperback edition of this path-breaking study. In this volume, Reid demonstrated how seriously overlanders regarded the rights of property and personal ownership as they went west.

PONY EXPRESS Voyage of Discovery
Anthony Godfrey and Roy Webb
PB................. 64 pp .................#1526............... $7.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]  
The legend of the Pony Express, a massive undertaking to unite the two coasts of America in 1860, spawned many half-truths and tall tales. Learn about the valiant pony riders, the hardworking station keepers and the creative financiers and the obstacles that constantly threatened their success.

PRAIRIE TRAVELER
Randolph P. Marcy
PB ...........275 pp ...........#1276...........$10.95
[Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Originally published in 1859, Captain Marcy's book became the principal guide book for westward-bound emigrants. Filled with helpful information that was essential for safe passage west, today the book is a fascinating view of the strenuous and hazardous life faced by prairie travelers.

PRESERVING OUR HISTORIC TRAILS, THE STORY OF OCTA
Ruth Anderson (OCTA member)
Spiral-bound paperback..........#1228.......$5.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Written by OCTA's historian, this 8 by 11 inch book tells the story of the founding of OCTA, its growth and its programs and activities during the first five years, 1983-1987.  

SCOTTS BLUFF
Merrill J. Mattes (OCTA Founder)
Paperback...........#1357..........$4.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]  690
This book describes the early exploration of Scotts Bluff by fur traders and the events that led to the Scotts Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska. Also included is a guide to the area and suggested readings.

SEVEN TRAILS WEST
Arthur King Peters (OCTA member)
Hardback..........252 pp..........#1237..........$45.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Explores in text and many unusual illustrations the major routes that linked East and Far West, especially the trail blazed by Lewis and Clark, the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon-California Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Telegraph and Transcontinental Railroad. Archival photographs, paintings, maps, and documents constitute the 208 illustrations, 56 of which are in full color.  

SOUTH PASS, 1868: James Chisolm's Journal of the Wyoming Gold Rush
Introduced and edited by Lola M. Homsher
Paperback..........244 pp..........#1372..........$12.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
A staff writer for the Chicago Tribune, the author was sent to report on the gold strike made in the late 1860s at South Pass on the western trails. This is his journal, illustrated by himself - a graceful observant narrative full of the real essence of frontier mining camp life.

SOUTH PASS: Key to Empire
Arthur Cobery (OCTA Member)
PB saddle stitched.......44 pp.......8 x 11.......#1427......$5.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This volume traces the history of the legendary pass from its discovery in1811 to its decline in the late 1860s. It focuses on the passage of such colorfuol traveloers as Jed smith, Captain Bgonneville, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, John Bidwell, and Brigham Young.  

Top A-S T-Z Contact Us Catalog

TERRIBLE TRAIL: The Meek Cutoff, 1845
Keith Clark and Lowell Tiller (OCTA member)
Paperback......Roster of names.......#1199.......$14.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
The authors have crafted the definitive account of the Meek Cutoff, an horrific episode of western history that, in terms of fatalities, rivaled the notorious Donner Party expedition of 1846-47. This revised edition includes new information and an updated list of the settlers who survived -- or failed to survive -- that "terrible trail."  

TRAGEDY AT THE LITTLE BLUE: The Oak Grove Massacre and the Captivity of Lucinda Eubank and Laura Roper
John G. Ellenbecker and References by Lyn Ryder (OCTA member)
PB...#1301.... Intro, Maps, Photos, Annotations ....$10.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
On a hot August day in 1864, two white women and 3 children were captured by Cheyenne Indian warriors. The Indian attack on the settlers was a desperate attempt to drive them away forever. This is the story of the Little Blue Indian Raid in Nebraska Territory. 

TRAIL WEST: A Bibliography-Index to Western American Trails, 1841-1869
John M. Townley
Hardback..........309 pp..........8 x 11..........#1236..........$29.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This comprehensive reference includes an alphabetical list of sources by author, a chronological index by years, subject index, trail segment index and two maps: Trails of the American West and Stage Line and Express routes.  

TRAILING THE PIONEERS: A Guide to Utah's Emigrant Trails, 1829-1869
Peter DeLafosse, ed. (OCTA member)
Paperback.....126 pp.....#1185.....$12.95  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
A guidebook to Utah's five emigrant trails: Spanish Trail, Bidwell-Bartleson Trail, Pioneer (Mormon-Donner) Trail, Hastings Cutoff, and Hensley's Salt Lake City Cutoff. Authors are Steven K. Madsen, Roy D. Tea, Jack B. Tykil, Rush Spedden, Will Bagley, and a Selected Bibliography by Harold Schindler. Index, maps, photos.

TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO THE PONY EXPRESS TRAIL
Joe Benson
Paperback..........200 pp..........#1329..........$14.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Explore the routes between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento California the easy way with this well-written, comprehensive guide.

WEST FROM FORT BRIDGER:
The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails Across Utah, 1846-1850
J. Roderic Korns & Dale L. Morgan, eds; Rev. and Upd. by Will Bagley & Harold Schindler 
Paperback..........328 pp..........#1287..........$15.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This new edition is revised and updated by historians Harold Schindler and Will Bagley to incorporate much exciting new material, including the Salt Desert Journal of Edward Kern and two "waybills" by Lansford W. Hastings. Although he credited this book to his deceased friend, Roderic Korns, Dale Morgan did much of the work that makes this book a classic. Contents includes the Journals of James Clyman, Edward Bryant, Heinrich Lienhard, and chapters covering the Jefferson Map, Hastings Map and Waybills, Golden Pass Road, and Salt Lake Cutoff.  

Top A-S T-Z Contact Us Catalog

GENERAL TRAIL BOOKS