Into Oregon

We crosssed the Snake River for the last time and entered Oregon. But we were still on the eastern side of the Cascades and in their rain shadow; it was just as arid and bleak as in southern Idaho.








The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center at Baker City Oregon, is excellent. They have well done displays covering the entire trip and interesting stories taken from diaries written by people who traveled the trail by wagon train.








The Interpretive Center sits on a hilltop near the actual route of the Oregon Trail, and wagon ruts on the trail can still be seen.








Our next stop was the Tamastlikt Cultural Institute on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, OR. It tells the story of  the impact of the huge number of emigrants traveling the Oregon trail on the native American tribes living in this area at that time. Photography inside the Institute was prohibited.



In 1836 a missionary couple, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, headed to the Oregon country to establich a mission for the Indian tribes. They chose a site at Waiilatpu near what is now Walla Walla, WA, and built a mission. Narcissa Whitman was the first white woman in the territory and her trip showed others that women could endure the trials and tribulations of the Oregon Trail. The mission became a supply point for emigrants; the Oregon Trail went to their mission before turning west and heading down the Columbia River. Marcus Whitman, besides being a missionary, was also a doctor and treated the illnesses of the native population. In 1847 a measles epidemic, most likely brought in inadvertently by the emigrants, swept through the Cayuse Indians in the area, who had no immunity to measles, and killed half of them. The Cayuse, seeing that Whitman's medicine was ineffective, blamed Whitman and accused him of poisoning the Cayuse. The Cayuse took revenge by attacking the mission, killing Whitman and his wife, and eleven others at the mission. The Visitor Center for the Whitman Mission Historic Site explained that, according to local Indian customs, a medicine man was responsible for the lives of his patients. If one of his patients dies, the family members have the right to take the life of the medicine man. So this attack on the Whitman mission was justified according to Indian culture. But not according to white culture. The Army went after the Cayuse, who eventually gave up five of their members that they said were responsible for the attack. These five were tried, convicted, and executed. The attack on the Whitman mission ended Protestant missions in the Oregon country and led to war between the Cayuse and local militia.





The site of the Whitman mission, showing the foundations of the buildings and a memorial on the hilltop to those who died here.









The gravesite of those who died here.


Our next stop was the Roadtrek rally at Prosser, WA, which is in their wine country. After the rally, we continued to follow the Oregon trail to the end.







The Columbia River gorge. The Columbia river has been tamed a by a series of dams, so it is "quiet water" now. Many of the emigrants tried floating their wagons on rafts down the Columbia. Before the dams were built, there were treacherous cascades that  made it impossible to float  rafts all the way down the river.







Upon reaching the Williamette valley, the emigrants stopped at Fort Vancouver, which was esablished by Hudson's Bay company in 1825 as a fur trading post, and taken over by the British navy to extend British claim to the area. The fort was led by John McLoughlin, whose job was to keep peace with the Indians, squeeze American's out of the market, and establish British claim to all of Oregon (the boundary between Canada and the U.S. had not yet been established. McLoughlin, however, aided the emigrants by selling them food and supplies and extending them credit. This strengthened U.S. claim to the territory.

The fort has been reconstructed on the original site and is currently an active archeological site operated by the National Park Service.







Some of the buildings in the reconstructed fort and the well. Note the outhouses in the background; they seem too close to the well for me.










Oregon at last! We reached the end of the Oregon Trail at Oregon City, OR. The interpretive center was closed, however, to allow building a larger center. A few of the exhibits from the center were on display in the Oregon Welcome Center next door, but it was a let down.

From here we head for the Oregon coast and south to California.