4 minQuilting on the Oregon TrailQuilts brought warmth, comfort, memories of loved ones, and hope on the journey West full of fear and hardship. As surely as pens were...
3 minDeath on the TrailAbout 10% of westering pioneers died on the Oregon Trail going west. That is 20 graves per mile, mostly unmarked. The Oregon Trail has...
1 minSod Houses – Humble Homes of the PrairieOnce westering pioneers reached their destination, they had to build homes. Those homes reflected the available natural resources of the...
7 minA Pioneer DiaryThese journal entries by Welsh immigrant James Bryant give us glimpses of pioneer day-to-day life on the trail west in 1862. My name is...
1 minTools Pioneers Needed to SurviveHere is a little primer of some basic tools pioneers packed in their covered wagons going West. This isn't a complete list, by any means....
7 minPioneer Christmas DiariesAmerican pioneers of lore would no doubt be shocked at what Christmas has become in our modern consumer world today. Their Christmas...
7 minThe First Wagon Trains WestWhen the Lewis and Clark Expedition first explored the far western reaches of the North American continent from 1804-1806, their arrival...
7 minPioneer Survival Guides in the 1800sThe mortality rate of westering pioneers was very high. Perhaps the greatest cause of death was pioneers not knowing the basics of survival.
7 minRabies on the FrontierRabies reached epidemic stages in some cities and territories in the 1800s and early 1900s and Americans were hysterical with fear.
9 minHow Log Cabins Were BuiltThe log cabin is an American icon. The rough-hewn, squat and humble house has long been lionized in our lore.
8 minWhat Pioneers AtePioneer survival depended on harsh realities and there was little room for sentimentality in food production.
6 minParting of the WaysBy far the most traveled frontier route West was a common trail shared by Oregon-bound and California-bound settlers.
3 minKate ShelleyIn 1881, a 17-year-old Irish immigrant girl named Kate Shelley risked her own life to save the lives of 200 souls on a midnight train.
3 minPioneer CemeteriesToday, all of us know of pioneer graveyards. They are lonely plots overgrown on random roadsides, with crumbling gravestones.