From nearby Liberty, Missouri, in early April 1846, about fifty families prepared to make the journey to the far away Oregon Territory. I was then ten years old.
After we left Missouri, we went through a wildemess and over a trackless plain. And the journey became harder and harder.
Of those long weary months I cannot clearly tell.
THE OREGON TRAIL
I know it was April when we started and October when we reached Salem in Oregon. Sometimes we stopped several days in camp where we found a lot of water and good grazing. Then there were days we toiled over the arid plains till far into the night to reach the life-giving water that was a necessity to us and to our trains. The children of the company walked many many miles... sometimes I think I walked half of the way to Oregon!
But after all, we had but few difficulties compared with some of the emigrant trains. Some years you know, cholera wiped our entire families and trains were raided by Indians. Yes, we were very lucky.
