Emigrants, Trail Blazers and Personalities

The Applegates: Lots of links to the Applegates and their route to Oregon

The Applegates: The Men of the South Road Expedition The Applegates and other emigrants formed the South Road Expedition in 1846

The Alphin and McClain Families: Emigrants of 1847 to Oregon

Jon and Nancy Baker: Emigrants of 1847, Jon was Wagon Master and Nancy refused to abandon her three oak barrels of English china dishes when the going got rough

William Becknell: Father of the Santa Fe Trail A good history of the beginnings of the Santa Fe Trail.

William Becknell: An enterprising trail blazer and trader who left Missouri destined for Santa Fe with a caravan and twenty-one men. This trail served as an international road between the United States and Mexico for 25 years until the Mexican American War ended, and Missouri became a starting point for western expansion.

James Beckwourth Trail Lots of Links

William Bent Part of a family that built the most extensive commercial network in the frontier southwest. William was trapping along the upper Arkansas river by age fifteen, and in 1829 he helped his brother take a wagon train of trade goods down the Santa Fe Trail.

Portraits in Black-The Buffalo Soldiers African American Soldiers in unprecedented numbers served in the United States Army on the western frontier in the late nineteenth century.

Black Pioneers of the Oregon Country

Black Pioneers: Biographical Sketches of Black Pioneers and Settlers of the Pacific Northwest

Karl Bodmer Artist and Explorer

Karl Bodmer Lots More Links

Broncho Charlie: The Youngest Rider of the Pony Express In July, 1861, 11 year old Broncho Charlie mounted a riderless Pony Express horse, dashed out of Sacramento, on his way to Placerville and hence, became the youngest rider of the Pony Express. He rode faithfully for five months, until the operation shut down in November of that same year. At 81, he rode again from New York City to San Francisco on a seven month adventure to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Pony Express!

The Bryant-Russell Party became the first to take the newly opened Hastings Cutoff from Fort Bridger to the head of the Humboldt River.

Buffalo Soldiers and Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts A chronological list of battles and actions in which regular Army troops of African American soldiers participated from 1866 - 1893. A majority of these occur in Texas, Indian Territory, and other regions of the Mid-West.

Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Robinson, Nebraska Black soldiers (called 'Buffalo Soldiers' by the Plains Indians) garrisoned Fort Robinson for eighteen years and played an important role in northwestern Nebraska's history.

Caspar Collins: Fighting The Odds At Platte Bridge An account of a battle between Lieutenant Caspar Collins and his troops and some Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and a large party of Sioux at the Platte Bridge Station

Isaac Constant About 25 wagons made up the Isaac Constant Train in 1852 traveling the Oregon Trail to Fort Hall, then westerly along the Valley of the Humboldt to the Rogue River Valley in southern Oregon.

James Madison Coon and Nancy Iness (Miller) Coon: They traveled on the Oregon Trail from Mercer County, IL to Clackamas County, OR in 1847

Coronado in Kansas: Early Spanish Exploration

Reuben and Hannah Coyle Traveled to Oregon in 1847 with a $10 gold coin--to be used only in the event of utter poverty and desperation. It's now with the Oregon Historical Society.

Cowboys and Gunslingers Lots of links

Discoverers and Explorers: Who really found the Oregon Trail?

Donner Party Links

EMIGRANT LISTS Expanded links to all kinds of Emigrant Lists, Land Records, Census Reports, etc.

John Charles Fremont: Explorer, Mapmaker, Soldier Lieutenant John Charles Fr�mont's second Topographical Expedition left Missouri in June of 1843, and, mapping the Oregon Trail, had traveled to Fort Vancouver. Intending to return to Missouri through the Southwest, he then turned South through Oregon and Western Nevada. By January, 1844, the expedition was comprised of thirty men (including Christopher "Kit" Carson, and Thomas "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick), sixty-seven horses and mules, and a bronze mountain howitzer. Being low on provisions, Fr�mont made the decision to cross the Sierra Nevada to Sutter's Fort. It was mid-winter, and the mountains were covered with snow. The Indians they met told them it would be impossible to cross--"Rock upon rock; snow upon snow."

A timeline for the Fremont Expeditions

John Johnson Also known as "Johnson of Oposura." Read about the controversy surrounding the Johnson Massacre in the Spring of 1837 but such diarists Josiah Gregg, John Russell Bartlett, John C. Cremony, and others. How was it that only half the story was told?

The Journey of the Peoria Party A collection of journal entries written by members of the Peoria Party in 1839

The Lansford W. Hastings Route across the Great Salt Lake Desert. A very complete history of this trail, also includes a gallery of photos, biographies, diaries and journals. Hastings had previously written a book called The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California and was interested in promoting emigration to California for personal gain.

Hewitts and the Mathenys: Both families set out for Oregon in the Great Migration of 1843

Hudspeth Cutoff Benoni M. Hudspeth and John J. Myers were the two individuals who lead the first wagons on a new branch of the California Trail, which left the main trail near Soda Springs and rejoined the main trail near Malta, Idaho.

Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West With Col. Fremont's Last Expedition Across the Rocky Mountains; including three months' residence in Utah, and a perilous trip across the Great American Desert to the Pacific. Written by S. Carvalho, the artist of the Expedition

William Henry Jackson: Frontier Photographer and Artist William Henry Jackson was an early photographer of the American West, as well as an accomplished artist. He traveled the Oregon-California Trail in 1866 and 1867, and later in life painted a series of watercolors based on his experiences. Scotts Bluff National Monument houses 63 of Jackson's historic paintings and many are on display in the monument's museum.

Jewish Pioneers of the Southwest

Chief Joseph Words spoken by this Nez Perce chief

Chief Joseph Surrenders: Great Speeches from The History Place

Andre Longtain trapper and Oregon pioneer. Information put together by his g-g-grandaughter, Sharon Osborn-Ryan

The Lost Meeks The Oregon Trail emigrants who chose to follow Stephen Meek thought his shortcut would save weeks of hard travel. Instead, it brought them even greater misery.

Links to The Lewis and Clark Expedition

All about the Lewis and Clark Expedition with additional bio-info on Merriwether Lewis and William Clark.

Exploring the West from Monticello: A Perspective in Maps from Columbus to Lewis and Clark

Randolph Barnes Marcy The Prairie Traveler, a bestseller in its day, this book was essential to the westward traveler, and no doubt saved many lives with its practical and experienced advice

William Henry and Lavina Ann McCormick: Pioneers of 1859 This narrative is a truly fascinating account of a family's trip across the Plains to Oregon in 1859.

The McCully Train in 1849 and through 1853 The authors of this web site have put together much information about the McCully Wagon Train from first hand accounts

John McLouglin Father of Oregon

Joe Meek: The River of the West Joe Meek's Years in the Rocky Mountains This story written by Oregon Historian Frances Fuller Victor in 1870, is of Joe Meek and his years as a mountainman. Meek came west in 1828 as an employee of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and spent the next twelve years engaged in the fur trade. He worked for the various fur companies and later became a free trapper. He often traveled with Bridger's brigade, and participated many of the important events of the period.

Joseph Meek In his passage from bear slayer to party organizer, Meek provides a stark measure of the tremendous change that swept over the West in just one generation.

Mormons on the TrailLots of Links

Mountain Men and the Fur Trade Lots of Links

Mountains of the Rocky Mountains named after Minnesota Explorers: Stephen Long and Zebulon Pike

The Mormon Pioneer Story has some interesting information on the Mormon emigrants to Salt Lake City, including info on fur trappers, blacksmiths, even silk stockings.

William Henry Parker: The Trek West " A winner of the 1996 DAR essay competition. Written by his g-g-g-g-granddaughter, Cameron S. Boisvert.

People of Color on America's Western Frontier A very complete list of links to numerous categories

People of the West The PBS site

John Wesley Powell Powell was 35 years old in 1869 when he led his first expedition through the Grand Canyon. He was a geologist, a teacher, and a one-armed veteran of the Civil War. After exploring the west, he went on to a distinguished career, eventually becoming the head of the newly formed United States Geological Survey.

Elisha Stevens leader of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party of 50 men, women and children, and 11 wagons. They opened up the "California Trail."

The Stephens Party Story: Two years before the Donner tragedy they blazed the first wagon trail through the Sierra Nevada and into California

Elisha Stephens leader of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party of 50 men, women and children, and 11 wagons. They pioneered the "Greenwood's Cutoff," named after the man who was hired as their guide, Caleb Greenwood.

The Stephens Party Story: Two years before the Donner tragedy they blazed the first wagon trail through the Sierra Nevada and into California.

John Sutter The man who saw his immense wealth and power overrun in the world's rush to pick California clean of gold

Emily Towell Emigrated in 1881 from Missouri to Oregon

Elbridge Trask: A Yankee sailor, western explorer, Mountain Man, and Oregon pioneer

Whitman Party Links

Who Discovered the South Pass? The Detroit Advertiser having asserted that Fremont was the discoverer of the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, a correspondent of the Detroit Free Press denies the truth of statement and the editor of that journal publishes this letter from Ramsay Crooks, Esq., of New York in June 1856.

Women of the West