|
|
|
Reviews
The Oregon Trail: An American Saga
|
By David Dary
|
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2004. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 423 pages. $35.00 paper.
|
Reviewed by Susan Badger Doyle
Pendleton, Oregon
|
|
|
| David Dary is the noted author of several books on the settlement, development, and social history of the West. In his latest work, The Oregon Trail, Dary tackles the essence of the mythic West in a sweeping survey of the corridor of routes used during the nineteenth-century American expansion from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast. The title is somewhat misleading. Although the Oregon Trail was the first route of the American pioneers who traveled overland in covered wagons to settle in the Pacific Northwest, Dary expands its meaning. He uses the name Oregon Trail to encompass all the routes in the great central corridor that went up the Platte River and through South Pass as new opportunities arose in Oregon, California, Utah, and other destinations in the West. Hundreds of thousands of westering overlanders poured over many trails that formed the corridor that began as the Oregon Trail. |
1
|
|
Dary begins with a background summary of Pacific Northwest history, including the earliest indigenous peoples, exploration by Europeans and Americans, and early settlement by fur traders. This section is particularly relevant for readers interested in the early history of the Northwest. He next shows how the route of the Oregon Trail followed routes established earlier by mountain men, traders, and missionaries. The central part of the book is a chronological presentation of the emigrant trails era, 1841–1869, with emphasis on the peak emigrant trails years, 1843–1855, and separate chapters on the defining years 1849 and 1850. Dary correctly presents the trail as an evolving system. He describes the profound changes wrought by the California gold rush, the dramatic increase in traffic in the 1850s, the impact of the Civil War, Indian conflicts, and advances in transportation and communications in the 1860s. He notes the end of the era with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in May 1869 and concludes with a summary of the use of the trails as settlement and military routes into the 1890s. |
2
|
|
This book is a straightforward history of the development, use, and impact of the overland trails that avoids a dramatic focus — taken by most popular works — on the hardships, difficulties, and daily experiences of traveling the overland trials. It is more about why and how the trails developed than about what it was like to travel over them. Individual experience on the trails is not entirely neglected; excerpts from diaries and reminiscences are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. Sometimes quite lengthy, these excerpts provide personal accounts that enhance the author's historical discussion, but they are not the main focus. |
3
|
|
In a rare departure from traditional trail histories, the last chapter, "Rebirth of the Trail," brings the story up to the present. Dary discusses how Ezra Meeker's efforts at marking and promoting the Oregon Trail were instrumental in reviving interest in it, leading to Hollywood films that romanticize it, Congressional measures that memorialize it, the formation of historical associations that promote and preserve it, and the proliferation of interpretive centers along the corridor of trails. This delineation of the continuous chain of reinterpretation of the Oregon Trail through successive generations demonstrates how the Oregon Trail continues to be relevant and vital today. |
4
|
|
The Oregon Trail is well written and readable. Particularly useful are the appendixes on historic landmarks and major routes of the Oregon and California Trails. A glossary of terms and concepts is also helpful. Knowledgeable trail enthusiasts will notice some misspellings on the maps and in the appendixes and glossary, as well as notable factual errors in the text. This comprehensive and detailed book summarizes and touches upon the highlights of the immensely complex western emigrant trails era. It provides an overview for the general reader or student of the development of the Oregon Trail and subsequent destination trails. It is also an encyclopedic compilation of facts, names, and dates that will be a useful reference for interested readers and trail buffs. |
5
|
|
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|