History of the Oregon Trail and Pony Express (Full Documentary)

It's strange that in Oregon the pigs run under the acorns, round and fat, and already cooked, with knives and forks attached to them so you can cut a slice when you're hungry, brothers and sisters, there are heathens right here in North America . who need to be Christianized have red skin and black hair and live I say 54 40 or fight the rich land that borders the Pacific Ocean does not belong to England it is the manifest destiny of this nation as early as 1830 Wagon Wheels began to roll The fur traders of the northwest They pushed and cursed their wagons across what they called the Great American Desert to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, then came zealous missionaries ordained to bring the Oregon Savages into the fold of Christianity in the 1840s.

Oregon Territory were further pioneered by those who until the Destroyers of Sod Land, spurred by a great decline in agricultural prices and The lure of cheap land in Oregon, by the 1850s, the yarn had become In a flood gushing from the waters of the Missouri, a multitude of saints seeking a New Jerusalem shared the same prohibition. landscape with those who sought their Fortune at the end of a brandishing ax others headed west for simpler reasons one individual commented that he was going because the thing was not fenced and no one dared to lead him away, whatever his reasons for following the path that followed.

Overall it was the same, it was a 2,000 mile stretch of dirt, rock and mud, the whole Oregon Trail Big Muddy, the wild Missouri in late March and early April, this river came alive with steamboats leaving of St. Louis. They carried thousands of immigrants and cargoes by the ton upriver to what were rightly called the starting places: the old frontier towns of Independence and Westport on the Santa Fe Trail. As time passed, the towns further up the river became starting points, Weston St Joseph and Council Bluffs, Iowa; However, for the first migrations, Independence was the center. Animal provisions and everything necessary for a complete outfit can be obtained in abundance and on the most liberal conditions in this country.

Very well, for a period, 47 blacksmith shops resonated with the incessant sound of the anvil and hammer. Oxen are cheaper and more substantial in the long run, yes. but mules are faster and can withstand the heat better five months for oxen in a humid year four months with mules with a good driver in a small oblong box with a high canvas lid when the sum total of their earthly possessions when the grass yellow and brown from winter turned green and was four inches long, enough for cattle to graze, it was time to hit the road as the Pioneers left plowed land and civilization behind, some were tight-lipped and frowning, while others whistled as if their mouth had been made for nothing else.

The Oregon Trail We followed the Santa Fe Trail past the Missouri border approximately three days from Independence the

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split a loan sign pointed the way to Oregon surely a historian commented on such a humble sign never before or since announcing a trip So long the first landmark that sparked interest was a large lump on the prairie called Blue Mound, the jeering immigrants rushed to the top of the hill, causing the experienced Wagon Master to roar at the green horns and got going. Will you freeze to death in the Oregon snow? After 1845, the treacherous Kansas River was crossed by The flat-bottomed ferry wasn't bad, those Fellers only wanted a dollar a car, that was in May 1849.

Later that same year, the gold rush inflated prices. at four dollars per wagon, two cents per mule, and ten cents per man after crossing Kansas. It was customary to elect the leaders of the companies at a certain signal, the candidates would march across the meadow and then all the other men would begin to pursue them; Each man lined up behind his favorite, so that each candidate had a sort of

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of his own men with the longest Tails who were actually running for office. Prairie flowers are beautiful beyond description. Wildflowers can be seen from miles away.

Thousands of small flowers with delicate buds and great variety and colors sprout everywhere like sweet emotions that sometimes reach the most desolate heart. The birth and flowering of the prairie flower were caused in part by a phenomenon totally unknown to those on the Atlantic coast. The prairie storm toward sunset. The storms stopped as suddenly as they began, but night had barely fallen when the tomb burst. New lightning. it shone all night a long rumble and thunder rumbled and resounded over the boundless prairie we came to a spring of water as pure and cold as if we had melted it gushed from a ledge of rocks that fell some 10 or 12 feet in all It was one One of the most romantic places I ever saw, we called it Alcove Springs and future travelers will find the name carved into nearby rocks after crossing the big blue, the

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followed the Valley of the little blue, there was a lot of grass and a lot of wood. for a while it all seemed like a big picnic from the little blue it was a short distance to the wide silver plate a mile wide and an inch deep some said others noticed the muddy surface and claimed it flowed from bottom to top built in 1848 Fort Carney.

It was the first fort built to protect wagon trains during a peak period. 800 wagons and 10,000 oxen passed through the fort in one day. The Great Medicine Road Indians called him that as they watched the prairie's endless procession of white schooners until the late 1850s. The Red Man proved to be only a slight threat. Petty theft or an occasional scalp. Most confrontations were resolved peace

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y with an exchange of gifts only when treaties were broken, when their source of life was massacred, when the white man's diseases devastated their tribes, and when white settlements began to break the law. in their rightful domain only then did trouble with the Indians really begin, they lasted as long as there were Indians along the westernmost trail along the Platte.

Curious sand hills stood on either side of the river, whimsically referred to as the Nebraska coast, these hills often rumbled with the low sound of distant thunder, the Earth began to shake all around as a herd of hairy beasts rumbled past its clumsy rolling door. Buffalo hunting, considered a great sport, was an almost daily occurrence from the Platte to the Continental Divide. The meat of the buffalo was the daily bread of the traveler, although some preferred the tongue and others the hump, all parts were excellent food, sometimes the tough skin was used to make boots for the oxen to protect their hooves from the parts. from the sandy soil, yes, and what's more, the buffalo shavings made a good cooking fire when firewood couldn't be found, many people wouldn't believe that the chips would burn longer and the wood and they had no order until they Trying it themselves shortly after crossing the South Platte, the trail ascended a broad eastern ridge.

The change was a welcome relief from the uniformity and monotony of the Platte River Road, but the relief turned to suspense when the steep, narrow ravines reached their peak. climax at Windlass Hill, a point where some swore the road hung just beyond perpendicular. The goods were unloaded. The wheels locked and the ropes came off. Fortunately, at the bottom, gentle hills led to North Platte and Ash Hollow, where a lovely forest of ash and cedar trees provided a perfect place for weary travelers to rest and repair. Thanks after the music ended, the dancers disappeared and maybe a Love Struck boy. would whisper a tender good night in the year of a blushing maiden or steal a kiss from the lips of some future bride yes sir every morning at 4 am the guards on duty fired their rifles, the women and children prepared breakfast while the men pitched the tents and surrounded the animals above at seven the March signal would sound and the Caravan would form its lazy length each day the same routine the same objective 20 miles 20 miles more like 15 generally less Courthouse Rock and its small neighboring jail Rock were portals to a new and different region a place where rocks and hills sparked poetic fantasies in letters and diaries a strangely weathered spire stood on the prairie like the trunk of a giant tree torn apart by a storm Chimney Rock looked like a haystack with a pole protruding from its top an open umbrella a Church Street, a great hill of sweet potatoes with a pile of rocks on the top and then Scottish plum, the Gibraltar of the plains, was compared with the Tower of Babel, with a Persian temple and with the ancient ruins of some great city erected by a race of giants.

Fort Laramie, 640 miles from Independence, originally an American fur trading post acquired by the government in 1849 and a garrison with troops, provided a primitive link to the United States, a rarely used guardhouse stood as a symbol lone justice in a country where law and order. They were precarious ideals, the real prison, however, was the narrow dwelling of the caravan. The closeness, added to the common difficulties of the long journey, produced conflict if a person tended to be selfish or quarrelsome, these traits would surely come to light, but they drew strength from this closeness in times of need the frequency of death referred to she prayed almost casually every day an ox or a mule would collapse in the harness the men would walk away and never be seen again a wife or a child would fall due to the sudden blow of cholera or under an iron Guns fired accidentally in shaking carriages were mentioned with monotonous regularity;

However, of the three hundred thousand that began the long Trek 90, the wagons were driven over fresh graves to help destroy the sand, wild animals that unearthed the remains, names and dates. were scratched on every available surface, most of the engravings quickly eroded, but on the record, Cliff's indelible signatures told everyone who passed that I was here and, if only in a small way, I have left my footprint in this world. Strangers themselves sometimes the path is channeled into a single pair. of furrows deeply dug into the rocky earth by a stream of iron-edged horses. Warm Springs was nicknamed the laundry tub, we spent an extra day there tidying up laundry days were few and far between, clean clothes just weren't a trademark of the high trail. and the lofty Laramie Peak, proud The Laramie Mountains, a majestic range that anxious travelers often confused with the Rocky Mountains, near the red Buttes, the immigrants last saw the plate they had followed, this unique river, 500 miles .

The Indians called it nibraska, land of shallow water, in early French times. Trappers called it plat, a French word meaning flat water. Most of the time it looked like a small, bankless stream on the land, but this sad, miserable river stretched a long green strip across an empty moor, a lifeline of grass. and water, invaluable to the westward migration, the trail led toward a huge stone outcropping on the arid plain. There were no alternatives here, everyone traveling west had to pass Independence Rock, the trail's most famous landmark and the rock's shadow. The early fur traders celebrated the 4th of July here by naming The Rock Independence, it was an easy climb and at the top we had a

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view of the surrounding country about four miles west of Independence Rock.

The Sweetwater River cut a V-shaped crevasse through Granite Ridge Devil's. door I remember when a young girl of 18 fell from the top of the ridge We buried her in the gorge and someone wrote an epitaph, it was fitting here lies the body of Caroline Todd, whose soul has lately gone to God. Redemption was too late. was redeemed at the devil's gate the tattered eye of Split Rock watched each caravan for days this silent sentinel in the rattlesnake hills watched as the caravans crossed and recrossed the Sweetwater between Split Rock and the South Pass the weather turned The exception was a small oasis in the form of a grassy swamp; the ice destroyed a natural peat bog, insulating the winter ice and preserving it during the warm summer months.

We dug 18 inches and came to a bed of solid, clear ice. We put some in barrels of water. and we enjoyed the luxury of ice water throughout that hot day as we approached the famous southern platforms. The South Pass, a wide 20-mile saddle in the Rocky Mountains, was generally adisappointment. Heck, if you didn't know it was a mountain pass, you wouldn't know. from everywhere else, the Oregon Buttes to the south, the snow-covered Wind River Range to the north, but until they saw water flowing west toward the Pacific Ocean, the immigrants could not believe they had crossed the column backbone of the continent from which they had come.

A thousand miles across trackless wilderness and across deep, wide rivers for two months they had endured scorching sun and torrential rain, some had not made it that far, but those who had were halfway to Oregon. The city was located overseas on the east bank of the Mississippi. of Nauvoo had prospered to become the largest in the state of Illinois was the headquarters and meeting place of the Church of Latter-day Saints in 1844 Joseph Smith, founder and leader of the church, announced that he was a candidate for president of the United States but political and religious violence broke out.

Smith was imprisoned on charges of treason and murdered by an armed mob. Two restless years passed before the lion of Lord Brigham Young led a portion of the Saints on a winter exodus across the frozen Mississippi, initiating one of the most astonishing folk movements in

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, in the late 1840s. , hundreds of Mormon families had joined the crowds lumbering west along the Oregon Trail, first in wagons and then in handcarts. The Saints fled the violence and followed the prophecy to a new homeland in a Rocky Mountain valley. They crossed the South Pass, advanced through Little Sandy, and followed the well-watered route toward Fort Bridger.

Jim Bridger had built a small trading post on the Black Fork of the Green River. It marked the place where the Mormon Trail forked and headed toward the Valley of The boundary of the Great Salt Lake sublease became popular when the 49ers traded the Oregon Rush for the Gold Rush, impatient and in a hurry, large hordes of prospectors of gold took the arid 50-mile non-stop race to the Green River. We saved three days by taking the limit. and then joined the toughs at Fort Bridger on Bear River, the wagons fanned out from miles over this Broad River valley to Soda Springs and when the miniature geysers and the bubbling springs and they all had the stingy taste of soda water.

I remember an old man with a vivid imagination who claimed that he made good lemonade when he mixed it with sugar and syrup. About a week after leaving Soda Springs, the immigrants arrived. Fort Hall, owned by the Hudson's Bay Company of England, this whitewashed stronghold on the plane had its early heyday, the decline of the fur trade meant ruin in 1853, it was completely abandoned near Fort Hall, immigrants found a river that early French trappers called cursed and A mad, deceptive calm would suddenly transform into a maze of rapids and foaming white water for 200 miles through desert-covered rocks and wagons.

Twisted along a river so crooked it was called the Perpendicular Serpent. The canyon walls denied thirsty men and beasts a drink. The surrounding country is harsh, broken and devoid of grass, indeed a land of fracture, violence and fire, yet this harshness was interrupted by an impressive and irresistible array of waterfalls. I have been a country of mosquitoes before, but I confess I never saw them in all their darkness, they were so sick. he could reach out and grab a hand that flowed through Miles beneath a landscape of lava an underground river erupted From the walls of the Canyon above the Serpent to a thousand springs, three islands provided easy springboards as the caravans cautiously made their way through the dangerous snake, the most difficult was at the western end your feet became heavy and began to drag clouds of alkaline dust it stung your eyes and the alkali on the ground poisoned the water the dry air shrank the wheels of the carts and without warning the tires rolled even the tongues of the carts broke now the heavens above were brass and earth smoke and iron Under your feet everywhere the stench of brewed sage the foreign immigrants took their last look at the threatening serpent The river was changed by the ominous Blue Mountains that loomed high on the western horizon, their distinguished peaks seeming a resting place for the clouds as the migrants watched in amazement and remembered the grim warning that an early blizzard would be fatal to these mountains.

They were the last dumping grounds for the coveted furniture that made up the elegant trash found along the Colonial Route relics that had crossed the Alleghenies and turned toward the western frontier could not survive the Oregon Trail, in contrast to the long pole and the constant threat of snow, our spirits were renewed by sparkling streams of pure water and the cool shade of the first forest since we left Missouri, now Rolling Hills descended into the valley of The immigrants from Columbia knew that this river passed through Cascade Mountains and flowed into the Pacific. The goal was now within reach.

The Dalles, a small Methodist mission marked the end of the wagon road. From here, immigrants floated down the river to Fort Vancouver on wood rats in 1845, yet Sam Barlow insisted that God never made a mountain without leaving a passage through it. He demonstrated this by opening A Wagon Road beyond the snowy cone of Mount Hood and into the Willamette River Valley. The raft ride was a nice contrast to the dusty trail. except when the Old River tumbling through rocky lava beds picked up the little rats and dumped them um Beyond Beacon Rock Calm waters and hanging waterfalls enchanted the view on the way to Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was the main base of supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company, the first The emigrants arrived tired, hungry and with few provisions.

Dr. John McLaughlin, commander of the fort, provided supplies and extended credit to impoverished travelers. Ironically, this generosity from McLaughlin, a British subject, helped secure Oregon for the United States. Oregon's destiny was now manifest: the roots of an empire. They were beginning to grow an Empire that would soon leap over the continent and claim both coasts. The tracks that took people West were swapped for tracks that kept them there in the 1870s. New tracks would begin to take people West by the tens of thousands and what were once vital and important became casualties. of abandonment and decay.

The spectacular falls were replaced by dams and power plants. Small settlements grew into large towns and cities, but for a brief moment in history, like the shadow of a passing cloud on the face of time, an incredible stretch of 2,000 miles. travel by foot and wagon left its mark was the first Wagon Road to cross the continent remembered as the Oregon Trail the foreigner Russell one of the most colorful businessmen of the American frontier cheerful and a little reckless Russell had a talent for getting things done a conservative devotee of Alexander Majors on a large scale his word was as good as his signature over the years Majors had earned the reputation of being the best freighter in the West William B.

Waddell a man of great business ability but Cautious by nature Waddell was not willing to gamble in April 1860 The firm of Russell Majors and Waddell launched a cross-country mail service. Mail was transported by horse, it was transported faster than ever. It was transported on the Pony Express. Fifty foreigners. California becomes the 31st state, but in 1850, two thousand miles separate California from the other states two thousand miles of desert the gold rush of 1849 had brought thousands to California now these new citizens demand a regular mail service that connect them with the rest of the country mail service in the 1850s is slow, irregular and expensive letters transported by box cars take months to cross the continent some letters never reach all oceans Government-contracted steamers carry most Some mail the sea route, including a 50-mile trek through the jungles of Panama, takes about six weeks to deliver, but the schedules of the Pacific Male Steam Line are very unreliable when trying to improve mail service The government experiments with mules, pack horses, and even camels, none of which are successful.

The Postal Department awards a six-year contract through the Butterfield Oberlin Mail company, a company formed by the fusion of atoms. The companies American National and Wells Fargo Express in 1858 The Butterfield stages are relayed back and forth along the southern or Oxbow road, this road forms a long, flat semicircle between St Louis and Memphis to the east and San Francisco to the west, but the promoters of the central route claim that this passage west is more direct and therefore faster, it follows the old Oregon and California trails, shorter, yes, but the mailmen are worried about winter storms and Indian raids during 1859.

Several Unrelated events draw attention to the central path that the slavery issue has brought to the nation. on the brink of Civil War both North and South want the wealth of California and its growing population the South has access to California along the Butterfield Trail the North must maintain the central route the Pikes Peak Gold Rush The Cargo from Comstock Fortune seekers once again pack their suitcases and belongings and rush west along the Central Highway the trains have crossed the state of Missouri and there are plans to lay tracks to the South Pacific Ocean birds the Southern Highway the north advocates the central route in 1859 one more factor promotes the central route California continues to demand faster mail service.

Lexington Missouri was a busy trading center on the western frontier. Here, two successful businessmen, William Russell and William Waddell, partnered and began delivering supplies to the forts of the United States Army. Alexander Majors was a modest farmer who in 1848 sold his farm, bought six wagons and began hauling freight along the Santa Fe Trail. Six years later, he owned and operated the largest transportation company in the West. In 1855, Majors became business partners with Russell and Waddell in this new venture. Russell was responsible for obtaining the contracts. The field chief in charge of operations, Wandel, was the money man.

The financial. Within two years, this company had established a monopoly on all military trade west of the Missouri River route and formed the Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Central Company in January 1860. With the support of California Senator William Gwen Russell decides to take a gamble by proving reliable mail service on the central route to secure a million-dollar government mail contract to help accomplish this. He wants something spectacular, something that will capture the imagination of foreign audiences. Other investments have put the transport company. Russell, deeply in debt, however, confident in the government mail contract, persuades them to carry out the project before the great and living God that, while I am an employee of Russell Majors, I will not drink intoxicating liquors.

Foreign company, it is a huge company. 500 horses are purchased a sturdy young Swift and built to endure St Joseph Missouri is selected as the eastern terminus is the first town on the Missouri River served by both the Telegraph and Railroad Sacramento California is designated as the western end of the Run along along the company's 2,000-mile route More than 150 stations Relay stations are located every 10 to 15 miles. These stations are small shelters where riders will be allowed two minutes to change horses. Home stations are located every 50 to 75 miles at these larger stations. New writers will take over the pine chair cover called a backpack; most letters will cost between five and ten dollars.

The operators know that this shipment will not break even, they must have the government mail subsidy of one million dollars while Congress appropriates funds to continue the Overland Telegraph to California 1860. The riders and their horses are ready waiting for a special. the train speeds the mail to San Jose after a brief celebration the first messenger crosses the Missouri River and travels west a rousing farewell in San Francisco a boat ride to Sacramento and the

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rider heads east like a ghost in the night thanks foreigner the The last two emails arrived in Saint Joseph and San Francisco.

Butterfield's time is cut in half. The entire country celebrates, except for the Native Americans who fear that their land will soon be taken away. At the end of May. Paiute Indians kill a horseman and several station employees. Horses are kicked out of the stations. They are burning. After two months of operation, Majorsclose the Pony Express. Six weeks passed before the uprising was crushed. The losses are serious: 150 horses, seven stations, 16 men dead. This is a devastating setback for a company already in financial difficulty, but when regular service resumes in July, Russell in a desperate bid to obtain the government contract increases the weekly delivery schedule to twice a week (it depends). of political favor in Washington Congress distracted by a national election and the threat of a Civil War does not act Russell still waiting for a miracle continues to go into heavy debt Waddell grandees prophesy Doom November 1860 Telegraph lines now extend to the west to carry Carney to Fort Churchill for the Pony Express Winter storms lengthened average delivery time to 15 days December A political storm breaks out in Washington Russell is implicated in a bun Scandal involving embezzlement of government funds.

The charges against Russell are dropped, but his name remains tarnished. February 1861. Texas militia interrupts operations on Southern Road. Now Congress transfers the Butterfield Overland Mail company to the central route and awards it the million dollar contract under this contract. Russell's firm will be paid almost half a million dollars to operate the Pony Express from St Joseph to Salt Lake City, but it's too little, too late. Russell Majors and Waddell's shipping empire is at the mercy of its creditors and the Mail company operates the Pony. Express until the end of October, when the telegraph became transcontinental, the need for

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mail service ended during its short 19-month lifespan, the Pony Express provided efficient and reliable mail service on the central route and kept alive a link with Northern California at a crucial time. and made the horseman a national hero, not a conquering hero of Venice or Rome, rich, laden with booty for his city and home, and returning with honor, the darling of fame, was never recorded with greater royal acclaim by the rich, the poor, the wise and the clown.

Then, reaching the streets of this city, I went to the end of the road and delivered the government mail. Russell majors 1l, although touched by fame, his lives quickly passed into obscurity years later, each would be remembered and honored for his mail service between countries his brief bankrupt mail service that became legend