"Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey" by Lillian Schlissel

While on our Insight Vacations "American Parks Trail" bus tour, including the Wild West and points along the Oregon Trail, I couldn't help but be curious about the lives and conditions of the families who made the great migration west in their wagon trains across what became known as the Oregon Trail.

Our tour director, Lynn Hendrick, highly recommended that we read "Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey" by Lillian Schlissel, which I did in fact purchase while we were visiting Fort Laramie and have now started reading.

I purchased the 2004 edition, but there has been an updated edition published recently.  In this book, Lillian Schlissel has told the stories of the women who took part in the great trek on the Overland Trail between 1840 and 1870, and analyzed their lives.  More than 250,000 people made this trek during this period, one of the greatest treks of modern times.  Their journey has been romanticized by novels (eg. "Little House on the Prairie") and movies, but in fact the journey was extremely difficult.

The author has divided her description of the transit into three periods: 1841 to 1850, 1851 to 1855 and then 1856 to 1867.

The first period, 1841 to 1850, with migrations of about 5,000 per year, was the most primative and difficult. There were no clearly marked trails, insufficient supplies, terrible weather, many illnesses and deaths.   Steep hills, swollen rivers, Indians, mud were some of the many obstacles.  Women had virtually no privacy unless there were other women on the journey who could shield their body functions with their wide skirts.  Families usually journeyed within a kinship network.  Most of the women were of childbearing age, and frequently bore their children on the trail, with only a day's rest.  Children frequently died of wagon train & ox accidents, sickness and Indian raids.  The native Indians were often very helpful, supplying food, medicine, and assistance with crossing rivers and mountain passes, in exchange for traded items, such as clothing.

The second period, 1851 to  1855 saw a huge increase in migration - 50,000 in most years, because of the discovery of gold in California.  Gold fever struck the men and intensified the drive to get to the west.  By this time the American cavalry had established some outposts with supplies, such as Fort Laramie.  But there were many Indian raids, plus an extreme cholera outbreak that lasted for several years, killing those it struck within hours.  The river banks along the journey became filled with graves.

By the third stage 1856 to 1867, stagecoaches, trading posts, telegraph poles and supplies stores had been established along much of the trail.  However, this was an intensive period of Indian Wars. Following the end of the Civil War, the government moved the cavalry to the west to try and end the Indian Wars, with resulting legendary battles.  Then of course the coming of the railroads changed the form and course of the migration forever.

I recommend reading this book if you are interested in American history and women's history.