Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Darryl Pickett Winner Of Sixth Grade DAR Essay Contest

Winners of the 1996-1997 Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest in Prescott Middle School are Jade Hall, fifth grade; Darryl Pickett, sixth grade; Megan Taylor, seventh grade; and Amanda Phillips, eighth grade. This week's essay is written by Darryl Pickett. Others will follow weekly, space permitting. The contest is sponsored by the Benjamin Culp Chapter of the DAR.

"Trails West"

Riding from Missouri to the Pacific northwest in an air-conditioned automobile with radial tires and air-ride suspension, one would have difficulty even imagining that pioneer families made the trip without stopping to buy gas.

The deep ruts of the road made by one wagon after another cutting its wheels in even as far back as 1843 can still be seen along certain sections of the Oregon Trail.

The 2,000-mile trail began at Independence, Missouri, near the Missouri River and ran northwesterly through Nebraska, then up the Platte River through Wyoming. They crossed the Rocky Mountains, parts of Idaho and Washington before arriving in the Williamette Valley of Oregon.

The Oregon Trail was the longest of the overland routes that were so necessary in the expansion of the United States into the west.

It began when pioneers who had settled in the Mississippi valley areas of Arkansas, Missouri and surrounding states heard stories from explorers, missionaries, traders and fur trappers who had gone west, about the great forests and fertile valleys in Oregon region and the surrounding lands west of the Rocky Mountains.

These stories stirred the hearts of hundreds of families, causing them to pack what few belongings they could fit into a covered wagon and yell "Westward Ho!" The settlers were so eager for new opportunties, they were willing to face the dangers and hardships on the trail even if it meant risking their lives.

The settlers knew they must plan on being on the trail at least four or five months. They were actually moving into a canvas-covered wagon which was called a "prairie schooner," so named because from a distance its white top looked like the sails of a ship. The wagon was pulled by a team of oxen or mules.

About a hundred families joined together to make the trip forming a caravan or "wagon train."

Each wagon train was guided by a scout who knew the route and the best places to camp. The people in each wagon train elected a leader, called a wagonmaster and agreed to obey his orders. He usually had one main rule: "Keep moving!" They only stopped at noon and at dark. On a good day the wagon train could travel fifteen or twenty miles.

The trail led them over vast regions of dusty plains and waterless deserts, barren of trees. They wound around through dangerous mountains and crossed swift streams and wide muddy rivers. There was always the danger of an Indian attack. The pioneers just had one goal in mind, reaching the land that would grow fine crops and feed their livestock with plentiful grass.

Most of the "trains" started in the springtime to avoid heavy snow in the rockies.

Many of those crossing the Oregon Trail kept diaries telling about the day-by-day hardships and tragedies.

They wrote of the extreme hunger and thirst, the terrible heat, the bitter cold and the physical exhaustion. They rememberd the crude crosses that marked the burial places of loved ones who didn't survive the long ride. Mostly the memories they wrote about were of good things like the prairie wild flowers, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the smell of food cooking on the warming campfires at night.

After reaching their destination, they were able to put their trials behind them and enjoy their "promised land".