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Oregon Trail Books
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 BOUND FOR IDAHO: The 1864 Trail Journal of Julius
Merrill
Irving R. Merrill, editor (OCTA
member)
Paperback.........219 pp...........#1259..........$13.95 _
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 Merrill's journal
is unique, for it seems to be the only known record that describes the entire
route of the Oregon Trail to Idaho in 1864. Merrill, with an eye for detail
and a talent for description, traces his progress west, recording not only
great differences in the terrain and trail but interaction with soldiers,
Indians and strangers he meets along the way. |
CHIMNEY ROCK ON THE OREGON TRAIL
Merrill J. Mattes (OCTA founder)
PB......24p. ......#1603........$3.00 [Add
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This
volume offers a complete description of the famous landmark, including
more than 30 direct quotations from representative journals and
guidebooks (1830-1863). This publication was funded in part by OCTA in
memory of Charles W. Martin, Sr. |
COVERED WAGON WOMEN:
 Diaries and Letters from
the Western Trails, 1840-1849
Kenneth L. Holmes, editor. Paperback.
The women who traveled
west speak through these letters and diaries. Here are the voices of Tamsen
Donner and young Virginia Reed, members of the ill-fated Donner Party; Patty
Sessions, the Mormon mid-wife who delivered 5 babies on the trail between
Omaha and Salt Lake City; Rachel Fisher, who buried both her husband and
her little girl before reaching Oregon. Still, others make themselves heard,
recording details along the way from the mundane to the soul-shattering.
(11 volumes in
) |
THE
COW-CHIP LADY: Ada McColl
Trudy Ackerman (OCTA member)
PB.......#1602....... $6.00
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Ada
McCollâs photograph is one of the most commonly published pictures in
Western-history publications. Known as the âThe Cow-Chip Lady,â she
personifies the pioneering spirit of independence that is the West.
Painstakingly researched, and including over a dozen photographs and
maps, this book answers questions regarding Adaâs life and history and
provides a unique glimpse into pioneer life in the late 1800s. |
THE DISCOVERY OF THE OREGON TRAIL: Robert Stuart's Narratives
of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812-13
Philip
Ashton Rollins, Ed.; Introduction by Howard Lamar (OCTA
member)
Paperback..........535 pp..........illus., maps appendixes,
index..........#1336..........$24.95
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Robert
Stuart saw the American West a few years after Lewis and Clark, and kept
a journal of his epic experience. A partner in John Jacob Astor's Pacific
Fur Company, the Scotsman shipped to Oregon in 1810 and helped found the
ill-fated settlement of Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River. In 1812,
facing disaster, Stuart and six others slipped away from Astoria, and headed
East. His journal describes their hazardous 3,700 mile journey to St.
Louis. |
THE EMIGRANTS GUIDE TO OREGON AND
CALIFORNIA:
The 1845 Pioneers' Guide for the Westward Traveler
Lansford W. Hastings
Paperback..........152 pp..........#1191..........$9.95
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Prepare yourself for a trip westward through time --
back to 1845 and the days of the pioneers. This book is one of the most
collectible books about California and the Westward movement. It is rich
with practical information about how to go and what to bring, but it is even
richer in describing what you'll see along the way and when you get there.
This book was an important reason why many pioneers chose California as a
destination. |
FLYING THE OREGON TRAIL
And Coast-to-Coast (And Back)
Maurice Brett
PB......280p......157 photos....#1606.........$22.95 [Add
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This
is the tale of an
Englishmanâs dream-fulfilling flight, the thrills,
scares and fun of coaxing a vintage plane over the Rockies, finding
constantly needed fuel, unrolling homemade maps of territory he knew
only slightly-plus tripping a Leica camera on a wing strut! British wit
fills this narrative of 6 friends on a 20th Century Oregon Trail
odyssey. |
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GRAVES AND SITES ON THE OREGON AND CALIFORNIA
TRAILS
Second
Edition. Randy Brown and Reg Duffin (OCTA members).
PB 8 x 11....157
pp..99photos...#1231.....$17.95
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This
popular OCTA publication describes the markers at graves and sites on the
Oregon and California Trails that have been installed by OCTA's Graves and
Sites Committee and OCTA chapters. The second edition is greatly expanded,
representing the numerous markers installed by OCTA since the publication
of the first edition in 1991. The book is arranged by state in the sequence
of markers from east to west. The exact texts of the signs are presented
as well as ninety-nine photographs of individuals, locations, and installed
markers. General background information, access, ownership, and directions
are provided for each marker. This is an invaluable guidebook for anyone
interested in visiting the graves and sites along the trails that have been
marked by OCTA. Moreover, it offers a comprehensive compilation and description
of these important signs that mark the fading remnants of the Oregon and
California Trails. |
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
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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, sex
ratios, morals, manners, religion, burial customs and more. |
IN TAR AND PAINT AND STONE
Levida Hileman (OCTA member)
PB...... 349 pp........#1609........ $19.95 [Add
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In
an indispensable book for genealogists and trail buffs, Levida Hileman
presents a comprehensive history of Independence Rock, plus an
alphabetical listing of over 2,000 names she and other surveyors have
found inscribed on the Rock âin tar and paint and stone.â It contains an
index, bibliography, and 64 historic photos. |
JOE MEEK: The Merry Mountain
Man
Stanley
Vestal
Paperback..........336 pp..........#1506
$17.95..
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At
nineteen, Joe Meek joined the Rocky Mountain Fur Company of Jedediah Smith
and headed west on an odyssey of hair-raising adventures.. After the Last
Rendezvous in 1840, he helped drive the first wagons to
Oregon. |
THE MARCH OF THE MOUNTED RIFLEMEN:
From Fort Leavenworth to Fort Vancouver, May to October,
1849
Raymond Settle
Paperback.........#1396..........$12.95
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Here
is the only complete record of one of the longest marches ever made- a five
month, two thousand mile trek to establish forts along the Oregon Trail.
|
THE McCULLY TRAIN: Iowa to Oregon 1852
Sanford R. Wilbur and Sally H. Wilbur
(OCTA members)
Paperback, 198 pp #1600 $14.95 [Add
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A
rare murder trial on the Oregon Trail is one of the events described by
Johns McKiernan, in a previously unpublished journal, in this chronicle
of the 1852 McCully family wagon train. Included also are nine other
accounts of this trip and biographical, and genealogical information on
all known participants. |
ON
SIDESADDLES TO HEAVEN: The Women of the Rocky Mountain
Mission
Laurie Winn Carlson
Paperback....268 pp.....#1542......$19.95
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645
The
author analyzes the lives of the first six white women missionary wives to
cross the Rocky Mountains. At a time when a woman's fortune and future was
tied to the man she married, four of the six married virtual strangers, on
short notice, with no financial security. Carlson gives a fresh view of the
pioneers of the women's movement. |
THE OREGON, CALIFORNIA, AND MORMON TRAILS BY AIR: A Pilot's
Guide to the Emigrant Trails
William White (OCTA Member)
Paperback..........photos and maps......215 pp.......#1420.......$16.95
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Provides
interesting and educational routing options to Portland, Oregon, Reno, Nevada
and Salt Lake City, Utah. Whether you are a commercial pilot, a private pilot,
or a non-pilot interested in Trail history, this guide will be a valuable
tool and make fascinating reading. Enjoy a perspective of the still remaining
ruts. Coordinates for the major attractions allow detailed plotting and locating
of landmarks. |
THE
OREGON TRAIL: A Photographic Journey
Bill and Jan Moeller
PB ....... 168 p...... #1617....... $18.95
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In
their RV, the Moellers set off from Independence, Missouri in the spring
to arrive Oregonâs Willamette Valley the following fall. Along the way,
they meticulously traced and captured on film the remnants of the Oregon
Trail. The resulting 111 full-color photographs, accompanied by selected
entries from pioneer diaries, evoke for the reader the frontier as the
emigrants saw it. |
THE OREGON TRAIL
Francis Parkman
Paperback..........758
pp.........#1328..........$33.00
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Francis
Parkman was a 23 year old scion of a prominent Boston family when he decided
to write the history of the struggle of the French and English for domination
of the North American continent. To learn firsthand about the Indians of
the Plains, he prepared himself with guides, supplies, and information setting
out from Westport, Mo. in the spring of 1846 and returning in that September.
From that trip emerged this book.
|
OREGON TRAIL COOKBOOK
Leslie Whipple
Paperback.......8½ x 11......illustrated......170 pp.......#1283
$14.95
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This
cook book includes a list of the principal articles necessary per person
for an outfit going to Oregon or California. Along with an abundance of pioneer
recipes and stories, prominent Northwest chefs have contributed contemporary
recipes. Organized into food categories both familiar and unfamiliar, the
book will delight the palate and fascinate the mind. |
OREGON TRAIL REVISITED: Silver
Edition
Gregory M. Franzwa (OCTA
Founder)
Paperback....417 pp......140 photos......map....#1447
$19.95
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This new and improved
favorite guide tells the story of the trail from Independence to the valley
of the Willamette. There are detailed instructions guiding the traveler to
and over the trail wherever it can be reached by car. Also included is a
two week "speed trip" using U.S. highways. 650 |
OREGON TRAIL: VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY
Dan Murphy, photography by Gary Ladd
PB.....9 x 12.....K. C.
Publication......#1271......$8.95
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Travel with the
emigrants who sought a better life as they trekked from Missouri to Oregon.
There are 27 vignettes about their experiences on specific days during their
trip. Beautifully illustrated with 57 color photos, 6 historic paintings,
27 tracking maps. |
OREGON TRAIL: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
William E. Hill (OCTA
Member)
PB........179 pp.....#1218........$12.95
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With a unique blend
of maps, guides, emigrant diaries and journals, old drawings, paintings and
photographs, William Hill tells the story of the Oregon Trail in an interesting,
easy-to-read manner. This book is filled with information for everyone, from
the armchair traveler to the Oregon Trail buff. |
OVERLAND MIGRATIONS
David Lavender
PB............110 pp..........#1220...........$7.50
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Topics
in this history of the migrations to Oregon, California and Utah include
the "fever" preparation for the trek, the start, the overland experience,
the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails and the final years of these old
wagon roads. |
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THE PLAINS ACROSS:
The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West,
1840-1869
John D. Unruh, Jr
PB..........592 pp..........#1223..........$22.95
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This
book, the doctoral research of this young historian, was published in 1976,
won seven book awards and was finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in history. This
history is not only for scholars; it will repay with interest the general
reader with an affinity for the West. |
| |
POWERFUL ROCKEY: The Blue Mountains and the Oregon
Trail
John
W. Evans (OCTA member)
Paperback............374 pp..........#1264
$22.95
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This
book, a significant contribution to trail literature, meticulously examines
the route from Farewell Bend to the Umatilla and from 1811 to 1860. Greatly
enhanced by the use of lengthy diary quotations, Powerful
Rockey also uses quad maps and photos to accurately present this
very difficult segment of the route to Oregon. |
SEVEN TRAILS WEST
Arthur King Peters (OCTA
member)
Hardback..........252 pp..........#1237..........$45.00 _
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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. |
SURVIVING THE OREGON TRAIL, 1852 As told by Mary Ann and Willis
Boatman and Augmented with Accounts by other Overland-Travelers
Weldon Willis Rau (OCTA member)
Paperback .... 256 pp .... #1611 .... $18.95 [Add
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This volume opens a window to the travails of the
overland journeyers-their stark camps, treacherous river fordings, their
trepidations at crossing ancient Indian lands. Included here are
firsthand accounts of this fateful year, featuring the words and
thoughts of a young married couple, Willis and Mary Ann Boatman,
released for the first time in book form. |
TERRIBLE TRAIL: The Meek Cutoff,
1845
Keith
Clark and Lowell Tiller (OCTA
member)
Paperback.........Roster of names..........#1199
$14.95
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The authors have crafted
the definitive account of the Meek Cutoff, a 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." |
TRAVELING THE OREGON TRAIL 2nd Edition
Julie Fanselow (OCTA member)
Paperback.......214 pp...........#1206..........$15.95
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The
author describes the history and attractions along the entire route. She
highlights historic sites, nearby recreational attractions and where to stay
and eat. Detailed maps and photos including an eight page color section capture
the trail's dramatic scenery. |
TREASURES IN THE TRUNK: Quilts of the Oregon
Trail
Mary Bywater Cross (OCTA
member)
Paperback..........174 pp...........#1297..........$22.95 [Add
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As
thousands of women arrived in the Northwest by way of the Oregon Trail, they
brought with them their treasured possessions, including heirloom quilts.
After completing their journey, many women turned again to quilting. This
book contains 100 color and 50 black and white photos of quilts and recounts
the stories of the women whose quilts are featured, including their reasons
for traveling west. Index and bibliography. |
UTTER DISASTER ON THE OREGON TRAIL
Donald
Shannon (OCTA member)
Paperback.....218 pp.....#1178......$16.95
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Discusses
the 1860 Utter and Van Ornum Massacres. Generally, attacks on emigrant trails
were hit and run, but in this incident, a prolonged attack was sustained
against the encircled wagons for 2 days. Until recently, all versions identified
the train as the Otter party. Contemporary accounts seem to be responsible
for the misspelling. The name is of German derivation and when pronounced
sounds like Otter. The correct spelling was uncovered during the research
for this book. This work is the culmination of many years of research and
successfully addresses the inaccuracies and questions surrounding the tragic
events associated with the disaster. The documentation factually relates
the story as it unfolded. |
WAGON WHEEL KITCHENS: Food on the Oregon
Trail
Jacqueline Williams (OCTA
member)
Paperback..........222
pp..........#1278..........$14.95
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Hardback.................................#1277..........$29.95
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"This
lively book puts the reader squarely on the Oregon trail - baking bread in
a dutch oven over a campfire, searing buffalo meat, and trading for fresh
vegetables and fish. Through emigrant guides, diaries, and 'receipts' of
the day, Williams constructs the meals that succored emigrants as they crossed
the Plains. To understand trail women's contributions to the migration, simply
try one of Williams' 'pinch and a handful' recipes - and do it over an open
fire in a rainstorm." --
Glenda
Riley. |
WE REMEMBER...BEYOND THE WIDE MISSOURI: 2000
OCTA Convention
Paperback ..... 58p ..... #1591 ..... $5.00 [Add
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A
collection of short essays about the history of people and places
near the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, now know as
Kansas City. Prepared by trail devotees, the essays are background
information for OCTA 2000 convention. |
WESTWARD VISION: The Story of the Oregon
Trail
David Lavender
Paperback..........424 pp..........#1238..........$16.95
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Lavender
illustrated this vision that propelled the early exploration for a northwest
passage and sent trappers into the region charted by Lewis and Clark. He
describes the efforts of emigration societies, missionaries and pioneer settlers
plus the routes to the "Promised Land." |
| |
WOMEN'S VOICES FROM THE OREGON TRAIL
Susan Butruille (OCTA
member)
PB..........251 pp..........#1295..........$14.95
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The author artfully blends
women's diaries, songs, history, poetry, recipes and quilts to create a sensitive
narration of women's roles in opening the West. The second section provides
a guide to women's history along the trail, showing where to find markers,
signposts, landmarks and historical sites. |
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