1. My Journey West A pictorial journal of the Oregon Trail and my family’s move west

2. Going to California Today Pa came home and said, “We are moving to California”. Your Ma and I have been talking it about for months. There’s gold in California. Here is a map of the trail we will take. March 22, 1864

3. Leaving Last night our neighbors gave us a farewell party. One neighbor gave us some handkerchiefs and quilts. Mr. Black gave us shoes for the 2,000 mile journey. He gave Papa a new rifle. Other friends gave us dried fruit, pickles, beans and bread. Papa says I’ll learn to drive the wagon and herd the livestock. Today we are leaving Oak Grove, Missouri for Independence, Missouri. We’ll get there tomorrow. It is really hard leaving behind so many of our things and our friends behind. We leave on the Oregon Trail on April 17 th. April 15, 1864

4. On the Trail Today I walked 15 miles in the scorching heat. My feet hurt and I have a lot of blisters. Mama says to walk barefoot. Our wagon train reached the Shawnee Mission today. This is my first time seeing Native Americans. Even though they look interesting Mama told us to stay away from them. Tomorrow we leave for Alcove Spring. April 19, 1864 Shawnee Mission

5. April 25, 1864 This trip is harder than I thought. My feet hurt even more and I have more blisters. Little Georgie Smith got left behind. Thank goodness Mrs. Shores found him. We’re at Alcove Spring! It’s so beautiful. Mama is washing clothes and Papa and I went swimming. We’ll rest here for an extra day.

6. One of the cows ran off last night. Papa and Mr. Jefferies had to find it. Today we arrived at Fort Kearney. It is not really a big fort, it’s just a bunch of sod buildings. We will rest here for 3 days so the oxen can travel again. Papa bought me some candy to put in our pockets. My little sister’s fever went away. We were able to get the medicine we needed at the fort. May 7, 1864

7. Today we walked 12 miles. We passed 2 wagons with sick people. Mama told us to stay away from them so we didn’t get sick. I’m happy to see Courthouse Rock. It looks like a giant castle. We carved our names on top. We see a lot of graves and dead oxen as we continue our journey. May 17, 1864 Courthouse Rock

8. Chimney Rock I’m happy to rest at Chimney Rock. It is very tall and looks like a giant pen. I will send a picture that I drew to my friend Addy when we get to Fort Laramie. I hope there are letters for me there. I had to drive the oxen yesterday. I did not like the sound the whip made when it hit the ground. It scared me. June 4, 1864

9. June 10, 1864 We are at Fort Laramie! I mailed my picture to Addy. She sent me a letter. We are 1/3 of the way to California. We have to repair the axle on our wagon. We will buy one more ox. One of ours died on the trail. We will see Independence Rock next. Mama says we’ll leave the plains behind. Mountains and rivers are next.

10. Independence Rock We’re at Independence Rock. It is huge. We found our families names carved in the rock and carved ours too. It’s hard carving your name in rock. Devil’s Gate is west of Independence Rock. We will pass that next. June 16, 1864

11. South Pass We are at South Pass. We are about ½ way to California. Tonight we will celebrate with singing and dancing. Even though we are in Oregon Territory we have thousand’s of miles left to go. It took along time and it was very hard to get this far. I hope that it won’t be as hard the rest of the way.

12. July 15, 1864 We made it to Fort Bridger. This trading post is great. You can buy new supplies and oxen. We are glad to be here. The trail is rough. Mama is washing clothes and I am watching my little sister. She is hard to watch because she moves around so quickly. I can’t keep up with her because I am so tired.

13. Fort Hall We were at Soda Springs. My sister and I drank some of the water. It was so good. Now we are at Fort Hall. We are glad to be here. This is a fur trading post. The oxen are tired and so am I. The Indians came to our camp. We thought they were going to attack but they really wanted to trade, so we traded some cornmeal for some buffalo skins. July 25, 1864

14. City of Rocks We recently parted ways with the part of our wagon train. Some were going to Oregon and the rest to California. We are now at City of Rocks. This part of the trail has been busy. July 29, 1864

15. Granite Pass This pass was very gentle and not very steep. It was easy to control the wagon going down the hill. August 1, 1864

16. Forty Mile Desert We are starting across the forty-mile desert today on our way to the Carson route over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We are so close now to California but Pa says we have many big challenges ahead. August 5, 1864

17. Carson Pass We made it through Carson Pass. It is beautiful. There are lakes and trees everywhere. This pass was named after Kit Carson. We are now over the Sierra Nevada Mountains on our way to the gold fields. August 10, 1864

18. California Gold Fields Home at last. We made it to California. August 16, 1864