Research: Oregon Trail
As much as I enjoy researching history through reading, I especially appreciate visiting historic sites and museums. Since I mostly write stories that take place in the historic settings of Colorado and Wyoming, thankfully, visiting those sites usually isn’t too difficult. To research Unsettled (and potentially other stories), I was able to visit several sites along the Oregon Trail. These are all easily accessible if you are in the area of southeastern Wyoming.
You can read the first two stories in the Tailing Times series now.
Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site
Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site (Guernsey, Wyoming vicinity)
Remnants and evidence of the westward movement are still visible in various ways and locations. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to visualize the line of wagons and carts climbing the hills near Guernsey. One sign of change that could cause you to wonder, though, is why the trail would climb over the hills in the first place when there is so much flat land between the hills and the river. Well, in the 1800s, before we tamed all the rivers into narrow channels, the river basin was much wider.
From the parks service: At this site, where the trail was forced away from the river and crossed a ridge of soft sandstone, the track is worn to a depth of five feet, creating some of the most spectacular ruts remaining along the entire length of the Oregon-California Trail. The geography of the area dictated that practically every wagon that went west crossed the ridge in exactly the same place, with impressive results.
Register Cliff Historic Site
Register Cliff Historic Site (Guernsey, Wyoming vicinity)
Register Cliff and other similar sites (like Signature Rock) along the trail provide an incomplete, but interesting historical record of explorer and migrant names with the years of their passage.
This one “signature” alone tells a story of the westward movement that survives today. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) more to spark your imagination.
Unfortunately, carving names and other messages in the cliff continued for more than 100 years, so not all the names are historical in the sense most of us care about. However, the additional “graffiti” doesn’t make it difficult to find older records (as I have seen some websites report). Erosion over time has been a significant factor in erasing the past, though. Pieces of the cliff have broken off and, for the same reason it was easy for the settlers to carve their names, many signatures have eroded away and are difficult to read.
Still, I had no trouble finding names and dates from the 1820s and particularly around the time I was interested, the 1850s. I found a name for “Goldie’s” family with the year of their migration. It was fun to imagine their arrival at the cliff and making their mark on history.
From the parks service: Following a day’s journey from Fort Laramie, emigrants spent the night at Register Cliff, which rises one hundred feet above the North Platte River valley. The soft, chalky limestone rock made it easy for emigrants to inscribe their names into the cliff before continuing on their journey. The earliest signatures date to the late 1820s when trappers and fur traders passed through the area. Most of the names visible today were carved during the 1840s and 1850s, when the Oregon Trail was at its height.
Today, visitors can walk along the cliff base to view the signatures up close. The cliff is defaced with modern graffiti, but the historical inscriptions at the east end (left end as you face the cliff) are protected by a tall wire fence. The historic site also contains a pioneer cemetery with several graves.
Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie (Fort Laramie, Wyoming)
With several restored buildings and a fully-stocked trading post, Fort Laramie is a fantastic site to see what life was like at the fort and for people in the area. It is a national treasure. Based on availability of docents, though, some of the areas and instructional programs were not available on my most recent visit. You may want to check ahead if you want a guided tour or to visit the trading post.
From the parks service: Originally established as a private fur trading fort in 1834, Fort Laramie evolved into the largest and best known military post on the Northern Plains before its abandonment in 1890. This “grand old post” witnessed the entire sweeping saga of America’s western expansion and Indian resistance to encroachment on their territories.
The National Historical Trails Interpretive Center
The National Historical Trails Interpretive Center (Casper, Wyoming)
When we think of the westward movement, it is easy to just think of the “Oregon Trail,” but that was only one major route and purpose of the trails across the plains and South Pass in southern Wyoming. This museum and interactive center does a fantastic job of reminding us of the routes and goals of the historical travelers. With lots of interesting activities, this center is a great place to take kids. (And yes, kids that we are, Lori and I enjoyed riding in the virtual wagon across the river).
From the parks service: The National Historical Trails Interpretive Center is a must-see destination while visiting Casper. Not only does it have historical information relevant to Wyoming but has a fantastic view of Casper. During your visit, you will be able to explore exhibits related to names that are truly legendary in Western history, and on the Oregon, California, Mormon and Pony Express Trails. Through these hands-on exhibits, we capture the real-life drama that over 400,000 pioneers experienced as they followed these trails between 1841 and 1868.
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Now on Kindle Vella
If you enjoy westerns or mid-twentieth-century adventure fiction, you might enjoy Buffalo Chasers: A Wild West Show* or Missouri Compromise: A Young Trapper’s Tale* on Kindle Vella.
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Cover image by everett collection/shutterstock.com. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.