The Dalles, Oregon

Eureka!  We found it!  THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL!  We made it!  The Dalles!  (pronounced dolls)  Praise the Lord!

Native Americans have been camping here for ten thousand years.  Lewis and Clark camped here in 1805 and 1806.  Everyone from pioneers to soldiers, miners, adventurers, gun-slingers, floozies and scallywags became the norm during the time of the Oregon Trail emigration.

Now, more decisions need to be made:  continue west by river? by road? or just stay put in The Dalles?

• By boat was expensive and the Columbia River Gorge was extremely dangerous - but it was the fastest way.
• By road was less expensive, but slow, and they, their equipment, and their livestock were worn out.  Winter was fast approaching, so to continue to travel meant snow, extremely cold nights, and lots of mud and muck.
• Staying put was always an option, but you must remember the kind of folks that embarked on this epic journey in the first place.  They were looking for a better life, the best land, and the very best opportunities for success that America had to offer.  Hardship was no obstacle.
• They might choose to "winter over" in The Dalles and continue on in the spring.  It would be just as cold, but they wouldn't be on the move, they could use the time to rest, repair, refresh the livestock -- but then those that do go on would have first pick of the land...

Even so, they had made it.  Good Lord!  They made it to the end of the Oregon Trail !!

******************

A friend had told us of The Dalles and the Columbia River Gourge years ago.  "Dalles" is French for flagstone or slab.  It describes the large, smooth, flat slabs of basalt rock at this point in the Columbia that formed a narrow channel in the river.  He said it was a must see piece of amazing beauty.  The Gourge was carved by the Missoula Flood 15,000 years ago.  The ice dam at Glacial Lake Missoula broke and a 400 foot wall of water traveling at Interstate speeds of 65-70 mph scooped out everything in it's path.  This scenario repeated itself several times.

It was about 13,000 years ago that Mongols began crossing the land bridge at the Bering Straits and humans established themselves in what would become known as the Americas.  (Just think, Gengis Khan might be in your DNA somewhere!)

In 1579, the famous Sir Francis Drake is said to have landed here.  Was he the first European to see the west coast?

Throughout the 1700's there were numerous explorations of the northwest by the Danes, Russian, Spainish, English...  It was Captain James Cook, the English sea captain that discovered the Hawaiian Islands in the 1700's, that landed at Cape Foulweather in 1778 and discovered the wealth of furs waiting there for the trappers.

Then, of course, President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase which reached all the way up here, and sent Lewis and Clark on their incredible Expedition in 1804.  Fur trappers began trickling in and a flood of pioneers soon followed.  And now, we're here!

Our 2004 vacation

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The Forts Trail

Instead of the Oregon Trail, it could have been called the Forts Trail.  Forts were built by fur trading companies or by the military.  There were a total of 40 forts, camps and military stations built on or within a day's ride of the Oregon Trail.  Unfortunately, they were not often oasis's of civilization:

Fort Hall, in 1847, Chester Ingersoll wrote that Fort Hall was "the worst place for emigrants that we
    have seen -- they are almost destitute of honesty or human feelings."  In 1850 it was  reputed to be
    "hospitable," but by 1851 it was again "a desolate place and filled with thieves."
Fort Walla Walla (originally known as Fort Nez Perces after the Indian tribe) built in 1818
Fort Bridger built in 1843 by the famous mountain man, Jim Bridger
Fort Laramie, 1/3 of the way to Oregon it was the first structure west of Missouri
Fort Kearny where several trails converged and anchored the eastern terminus of the emigrant route on the
    Platte River, also serving the Pony Express, overland stages, and the telegraph
Fort Boise, built in 1834 and presided over by the very amiable Francois Payette - very hospitable and kind

Even Fort Boise had it's troublesome characters, though.  In 1845, Stephen H. L. Meek persuaded a wagon train with nearly 1,000 emigrants to turn west at the Malheur River.  Meek looked like a veteran guide and talked like he knew the region, convincing the leaders that they "could avoid all trouble and danger by taking his route."  The untried trail led the emigrants into the high desert of Oregon and ultimately into the lava lands of Deschutes.  Thirty deaths later and two or three months of delay, the hungry, thirsty, battered survivors regained the Oregon Trail near The Dallas - and they still had the Columbia River to contend with!

But today, in the year 2012, we are still fascinated by the romance surrounding the word "Fort."

A List of Possessions

Oh, my!  I hope you can read this, but just in case, I'll type it out for you.  As you read down this list, imagine where you might find room for it in the wagon (maximum 16' bed and as wide as two horse's behinds), and pack that wagon so you can get to things without having to unload everything else.  Figure $500 (in 1840 dollars) per person.  There are NO convenience stores or Wal-Mart's on this road!

Food
Keg of apple vinegar
Linen sacks of flour and corn meal
Cloth bags of dried fruit, beans, rice and sugar
Coffee for browning in the skillet
Tea
Salt
Pilot Bread
Molasses
Hardtack
Eggs
Corn
Horseradish, fresh

Cook and Eating Utensils
Dutch Oven
Reflector oven
Cast iron skillet
Coffeepot
Six quart pan
Table
Tablecloth
Churns (one for sweet milk, one for sour)
Earthen and tin dishes
Knives, forks and spoons
Water keg
Teapot
Coffee pot
Matches

Clothing
Overalls
Jeans
Barn-door style britches (drop-front pants)
Cotton and flannel shirts
Boots
Moccasins
Soft hats and top hats
Wool blanket coat
Chintz, calico, and gingham dre4sses
Pantalets
Sunbonnets
Aprons

Weapons
Rifle
Shotgun
Powder and powder horn
Lead
Hatchet
Knife
Bullet mould and bullet ouch
Holster

                  Luxuries

Fine china and silverware (packed in barrels)
Linens
Books
Dolls
Jewelry
Furniture
Musical Instruments
Iron stoves

Other common items
Medicine chest
Candle molds
Tallow
Lanterns
Needles, pins, thread
Eyeglasses and look-glasses (mirror)
Combs and brushes
Washbowl
Fishhooks and tobacco (for personal use and trade to Indians)
Feather bed
Feather pillows
Comforters
Blankets
Tent
Stakes, poles, and ropes

Tools and Equipment
Axe
Shovel
Augers
Handsaw
Cross-cut saw
Plough moulds
Ropes for tying up horses
Hammer
Hoe
Chains
Spare wagon tongue
Whetstone

Hey!  I didn't see "spinning wheel" on that list anywhere !!  Oooo, the man is gonna be really unhappy that someone snuck that baby on here - 'til he reaches the Blues and wants a sweater or scarf to get him through the winter ...

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Titles

There are SO many things to see at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center at the top of Flagstaff Hill just outside of Baker City, Oregon!  Outside they have a circle of wagons with interpretive signs explaining the different kinds of wagons (innumerable!) "Traditionally the wagon beds were painted blue and the undercarriages red..."  Who knew?  I mean, on the TV shows and movies I don't think any of them were painted - and how many of us get our history from those sources!

Inside there are sign titles like:

The Free Soil Party
African American Homesteads
Railroads and the Homestead Movement
Oh Give Me A Home (The ballad of the homestead movement, original lyrics, 1873)
Starving to Death On My Government Claim (a bachelor's story)

and stories of entire families:
The Chandler Family (A Century of Ranching in Baker Valley)
Arthur and Ray Boyd
The Warner Family
The Baldock Family (One of Baker County's First Homesteads)

Stories on "Speculation and Fraud, Unintended Consequences and Cheating," Barbed Wire, the Song Don't Fence Me In...

Standard homesteads were 160 acres.  How big is an acre?  There's an interpretive sign to explain that:
One acre is almost as big as a 100 yard football field.  A standard homestead was 1/2 mile in length on either side.  The sign also explains the process of homesteading.  (In Texas, we still get a Homestead Exemption on our county taxes if we apply for it.  That law is based on the federal law, but there is no federal land in Texas, no Bureau of Land Management, so if you homesteaded in Texas it was by Texas law.)

Once again we were treated to a rare event:  a musical historian and her brother put on a show for us playing different instruments and music from the 1850's.

I'm tellin' ya' folks, you gotta take vacations and stop at every museum you can to find the true history of America!  I am a HUGE fan of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States, but the true history of America is it's people.  You find that in spades here!

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Mountain Climbing in a Wagon

Coming from the east into the Rocky Mountain portion of the Oregon Trail was a breeze.  No, really!  The rise into the Rockies was so very gradual that usually the emigrants didn't even know that they had cleared the continental divide and were on the Pacific drainage side.  The Blue Mountains, however, were a whole different experience.

The ascent up the Blues - the first forested land and mountain terrain they encountered in the 2,200 miles that they had crossed - the ascent was heartbreaking for man and beast.  The shallow wagons were stacked with goods and furnishings to their canvas-covered ribs and were therefore very top-heavy.  Top-heavy wagons didn't take too well to trying a spiral route up the mountains, so the emigrants took the Blues head on.

Some inclines were so steep that it took 20 or more oxen to pull the fully loaded wagons up to the tops.  Going down the other side was terribly dangerous because of gravity pulling the heavily loaded wagons down faster than brakes and men hauling back on ropes and animals standing in the way could control.  The shattered remains of out of control wagons were found at the bottom of many ravines.

Unbelievably thick and tall old-growth trees covered the Blues.  At high noon in the forest it was almost as dark as night.  If a traveler lost sight of their wagons for even a minute they may never find their way back.  If their livestock wandered out of sight - absolutely essential for hauling these wagons up and down the Blue Mountains - they might be lost forever.  The howl of wolves and the snarling of panther set traveler's nerves on edge all night long.

Diaries were kept by travelers of every sort.  To me, these diaries are more fascinating than any work of fiction ever produced.

I suppose this blog is my diary of the 21st century.  It details the places Granpa and I go and the things that we do - from snorkeling to canning bread and butter pickles to, well, suffice it to say, there is LOTS more for me to share!

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Day Trip !

The wagon train we chanced upon at Fort Walla Walla started out from Baker City, Oregon.  Since coming to Washington we've heard of that place several times.  We figure if a wagon train could make it to Walla Walla in two weeks we ought to be able to make it to Baker City in a day trip.  So off we go!

The Blue Mountains have been a backdrop for us since arriving in Walla Walla.  Today we will drive around, through, over, and behind them.  The area is very sparsely settled - most of western Washington and Oregon is.  It's very arid here with very, very low humidity.  Every vineyard and wheat field we see is constantly being irrigated, but with water things are a deep rich green.  There are wind farms on the Oregon border;  we can see them from our lodgings.

We drop down through Milton-Freewater and Pendleton to pick up Interstate 84.  There is a world famous wool manufacturer in Pendleton.  (Wait a minute!  I thought the sheep manufactured the wool!)  They have a museum there, and I would LOVE to go through it - maybe I could see someone actually spinning wool into yarn - but they're only open Monday through Friday.  Bummer.

Picking up the Interstate we travel through the Umatilla Indian Reservation and into the Blue Mountain Forest State Scenic Corridor.  There are small campgrounds up and down this area of the highway with interpretive centers at each one detailing wagon train daily activities, with quotes from actual diaries of the 1800's emigrants.  Very nice!

In the beginning I said that we could make a day-trip of this.  Well, not if we stop and read all of these!  So we stop at several, I take some iPhone shots of the interpretive signs, and while John drives on down the road I read the photos to him.  Best of both worlds!

The Summit

We reach the base of the summit.  The National Park Service has graciously built a beautiful visitor center here.  The view is spectacular.

And as we leave, Granpa can't resist stopping for one last picture.

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Mount Rainier Wildlife

We are always on the look out for anything from crickets, to chipmunks, to bear, bison, and moose.  We're not seeing much around here.  Then, in the blink of an eye as we approach a bridge, a bear ambles up into the road and begins walking across the bridge like he has all the time in the world.  I'm frantically trying to get a camera of some kind and get it on and focused before this guy gets to the end of the bridge.  I barely accomplish it.

I think it's a hoot that the wildlife uses people bridges to get across rivers and streams!  Really, why should they get their feet wet if they don't have to?  Smart critters!

Look closely at the photo below.  Mr. Bear is getting ready to step up onto a fallen log and walk across it, too.

This is our FOURTH bear on this Walla Walla contract trip.  That's so cool!

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Wet Britches

Okay, so the snowball fight was fun, but I ended up with a wet behind from the shoot-out.  Ewww.

We mosey on down the road with Granpa jumping out for photo ops, and me not wanting to because folks wouldn't know it was the snow that wet my pants and not me.

God is a pretty good florist, huh?  Must have been when His feminine side was dominant.

Then Granpa comes up with our first good look at the summit.

Kinda pretty.  Mount Rainier is the highest mountain in Washington state and in the Cascade Mountain range.  It has 26 glaciers and 36 square miles of snow fields like you see in the foreground of the photo.  It can easily be seen from as far away as Seattle and, on really clear days, from Portland, Oregon.  At 14,411 feet it is a favorite place for mountain climbers, and it is the most heavily glaciated mountain in the lower 48 states.

Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc.  The most recent eruption was 1854, but activity has been reported as recently as 1894.  It she blows again it would be really, really bad because of all the glaciers.  They will turn into a lahar (volcanic mudflow) that would immediately impact the homes of 150,000 residents and could result in a tsunami in Puget Sound around Seattle.  Therefore, there are lahar sirens and posted evacuation routes.  (How come I find all of this out AFTER we visited?)

This was home to American Indian tribes such as the Nisqually, Cowlitz, Yakama, Payallup and Muckleshoot.  In 1792, Captain George Vancouver sailed into Puget Sound and became the first European to see the mountain, subsequently naming it in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.

The summit was first climbed in 1870, and John Muir climbed it in 1888.  About two deaths a year occur among mountaineers attempting to summit these peaks because of rock and ice falls, avalanche, hypothermia, and climbers falling.  In 2012, one park ranger lost his life in a rescue attempt during a storm.  The ranger lost his footing while trying to help load climbers into a helicopter and slid 3700 feet to his death.  Needless to say, Granpa and I aren't doing any summit attempts today!

Mount Rainier became America's fifth national park in 1899 thanks to President McKinley.

There are earthquake swarms all the time on the mountain as a result of hot volcanic fluids moving around inside the mountain.  (That's kinda creepy!)  But these swarms aren't necessarily an indication of imminent eruption (Whew!)

Granpa is a flower-guy photographer, too.

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Mount Rainier

Well, Fort Walla Walla was amazing - and the wagon train was certainly an awesome bonus.  Now what?

How about checking things out east of here?  This is where a road atlas has the advantage over a GPS contraption.  Looking, looking, looking...  ah, ha!  How about Mount Rainier?  Yup, that's a winner!

As soon as we get high enough to find snow, we, of course, have to stop and play...  It's high noon on the slopes of Rainier!

Obviously, Granpa could be called Dead-eye John...

Help!  I've fallen and can't get up!!

But, in the end, we'll be friends forever!

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Tankless Hot Water Heaters

I understand that tankless hot water heaters have been in use in Europe for decades.  We've had ours for about ten years.  When we built the house,

we had it plumbed for two heaters: one to run the kitchen and guest bath, and one for the laundry room and master bath.  The heater we got for the master bath has been a real gem; the heater we got for the kitchen has been a nightmare! 

Finally (Praise the Lord!) it fried it's brains yesterday, and we get to buy a new one.  So Granpa spent yesterday merrily shopping the internet.  Wow!  the prices have really gone down!  Now we could buy one for $200... but I don't think we will go that low.  Sometimes it doesn't pay to buy cheap.

Looks like we'll buy one off the internet that is apparently available from Sears or Home Depot.  Our son says that's good because if we ever need to replace a heating element it will be really easy to find the part (though we've never had to replace one in our master bath heater.)  I'm excited!

Being travelers has made us much more aware of our home and what we did right in building it.

•  The tankless hot water heaters drawn no electricity unless someone turns on the tap, so we don't have to pay ANY energy cost while we're gone.  (Awesome!)
• We put the house in the center of the ten acres - that way no one in the future can build their home close to the house.  There's a beautiful little spot in the back corner by a 100+ year old oak tree, but Granpa nixed that idea because of possible proximity to future neighbors.
• We chose wrap-around porches so the house provides its own shade and the logs are protected from weather and sun damage.  It's also easy access to the 18 windows and 2 sets of atrium doors we put in, so I can wash all those windows and doors very, very easily.
• We have exit doors from the living room, master bedroom, laundry room, and, of course, the front door, which makes daily living very convenient, but we put no doors on the west side of the house so we don't have to worry about those Texas summers coming in every time kids want to breeze in and out - and in and out - and in and out...  We also placed doors and windows so that, if the air conditioner ever quits, we can open them and get an instant breeze flowing through.
• As an entertainer, I don't have to "get away" from guests or family to chill out for a minute, so I chose and open kitchen/dining/living area floor plan.  I'm an okay housekeeper, too, so the kitchen doesn't need to be hidden from view.  I also put the kitchen on the front side of the house so that I could see Granpa pulling in the driveway from work, and I'd know it was time to put the ice in the glasses and the food on the table.  With about a two acre front yard I also get to watch the kids 'n grandkids playing outside while we grownups chat in the kitchen.
• All of our doors are 36" wide - inside and out.  That's so when we get really, really old we can get our wheelchairs in and out easily.  (I plan to have wheelchair races with Granpa around the wrap-around porch!!)  The guest bath has two door so it's easy to wheel in and out of it; the master bath has a removable cabinet that, when removed, allows a wheelchair easy access to the toilet.  The added bonus was when my momma had an accident and broke her ankle she could stay with us and her wheelchair was no problem!  We put in "tall" toilets, too, so transitioning from the wheelchair to the potty was easier.  (Granpa is 6' 4" so he likes the taller seat right now.)
• We have 9' ceilings in the bedrooms, and an 18 foot vaulted ceiling in the living room to help out with Texas summers.  (Heat rises.)
• Halls are wasted space not living space, so we have no halls.

Well, I could go on and on, but, suffice it to say that all of our traveling and living in other peoples constructions proves to us that we did good.  About the only thing we would change is the tankless water heater for the kitchen and guest bath - and today we get to do just that!  Woo-hoo!!!

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Cook Wagon (not to be confused with Chuck Wagon)

What's so interesting to us about the cook wagon is that Granpa and I worked with the SBTC Disaster Relief Feeding Units during the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustave and Ike.  Cooking on the move in the late 1800's and early 1900's must have been much like Disaster Relief cooking.  One difference would be that they feed upwards of 40 men, and we fed upwards of 4,000... During the Gustave/Ike deployment on Galveston Island, we combined three kitchens and turned out about 40,000 meals a day!

Their cook wagon was 10 feet wide and 16-18 feet long.

Cooking was done on a cast-iron wood or coal-burning stove.  (Don't cha' know that that wagon had to have a reinforced floor!)  They had the doorway screened off, but I think you can still see enough to tell how the interior was set up:

Just like in Disaster Relief, the cook's day began at 3:00 a.m.  These meals were made from "scratch."  Disaster Relief meals were pre-cooked meats and the rest was from scratch.

We cooked breakfast just for our crews, lunch was a hot meal prepared for walk-up lines or served from what's called Cambro's out of Red Cross or Salvation Army vehicles called canteens.

The Cook Wagon folks fed their crews breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sometimes between meal snacks!

Breakfast for them was hot biscuits, pancakes or muffins, applesauce or some other fruit, ham, bacon or sausage with eggs and fried potatoes, butter, jam or honey and lots of hot coffee - all cooked on that one itty-bitty stove!!

Dinner and supper would be meat, potatoes, gravy, vegetable, homemade bread, fruit, and a dessert!  A single meal for a full crew would require 20 pounds of beef roasts or more, 10 pounds of potatoes, literally gallons of gravy, several loaves of homemade bread (did you get that? homemade bread!) 5 or 6 pies, 2 or 3 cakes or dozens of cookies with milk or coffee to drink.

The farmer having his crop harvested would provide the food to be cooked.  With Disaster Relief, food was provided by the Salvation Army, Red Cross, or FEMA - all SBTC had to do was cook and serve.  As with the farmer, if we were given good food to cook it wasn't hard to find a team to do the cooking.

This is what a cook wagon looks like today.  This was the set-up in Port Arthur, Texas following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Meal prep was done in the "wagon" (18-wheeler trailer) and we had a walk up serving line.  The "yellow hats" are the SBTC team members. 

After hurricane Rita, SBTC decided the Salvation Army kitchens were too hot and cramped, and they developed a way to roll out cooking equipment under a tent and prepare meals outdoors in an airy, expansive environment. SBTC's purpose in doing disaster relief is to me the needs of people in distress - including the need to have hope when they have lost everything and don't know what to do next or where to turn to.  We share the hope that WE have found for ourselves in Christ Jesus.  You know, when I find something really, really good, I want to share that with all of my family and friends - and even strangers!  And there is absolutely nothing better than eternal salvation through Jesus - and all you have to do is say a simple prayer:

Dear Lord, I thank you for being that bridge to God.  I thank You for giving Your life so many years ago that I may have eternal life in heaven.   Please forgive me for things I've done against Your will in the past.  From now on I will try to live my life using the Bible, Your Word, as my guide.  Lord God, it is in the name of Your Son, Jesus, that I pray.  Amen

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Dallas Cowboys

Woo-hoo!  Granpa's ready!

Thirsty Steam Engines

Remember, Walla Walla was founded on wheat.  In 1899 they raised it for about 25 cents a bushel and the average yield was 25 bushels per acre.  I  tried to discover what wheat prices were back then but didn't find a quick answer.  If  you can discover it, let me know!  The Walla Walla Daily Statesman reported in 1899 that residents:

Babcock had  5,300 acres in wheat
Reser had       4,500 acres
Pickard had    2,800 acres
Upton had      2,200 acres
Bradbury had 2,200 acres
Struthers had  2,000 acres
Crocker had   2,000 acres
Wheeler had  1,500 acres
Wilson had    1,400 acres
Welch had     1,200 acres

Dat's a LOTTA WHEAT !!!  No wonder they need new-fangled machinery, and those steam engines were thirsty beasts.  Some early steam engines were the Case, Advance Rumley, Russel, Minneapolis, Best Gaar Scott...  Lots of competition for the farmer's dollar.

But waggoners were still necessary.  So, someone built a water wagon just for those thirsty steam engines:
 

You drive it down into the nearest body of water and let 'er fill herself up!  (Worst case scenario had the driver using a bucket to fill it - what a major bummer THAT would have been!!!!)

Another specialized wagon was the "header box" wagon that was used in harvesting the wheat:

This baby was enormous.  As long as a wagon's axles were kept well-greased and out of the winter weather, they lasted a long, long time.  Why one side was twice as high as the other I'm not sure.  Maybe it was as wide as a stalk of wheat was tall, and the "head" stacked higher than the base of the stalk so it needed a higher side?  Nowadays agriculture colleges like Texas A&M have downsized crops so that all the growth is in the harvestable part of a plant and the stalk is a very minimum height.  Pretty smart, huh?  I wouldn't know whether to downsize the wagon or just load more crop into it...

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