HHH Book Day

Welcome to the HHH Book Day where we feature our bloggers books. If you are looking for a good book to read, this is the place to discover one. Enjoy!

The Ranchero's Gift

When Maya Garza’s step-father drags her to the cantina, planning to auction her off to cover his debts, she is desperate to escape. She sees no hope as she stands atop the table with a room full of men leering at her. Yaniv Madrigal is searching for his brother, and he can’t believe his eyes when he finds his brother bidding for a young woman. A woman who has the look of a trapped animal. Will Yaniv and Maya find a solution to their trouble before the unthinkable happens? 

Thimbles and Threads

Mending Sarah's Heart by Susanne Norquist 

Rockledge, Colorado, 1884

Sarah doesn’t need anyone, especially her dead husband’s partner. With four brothers to mentor her boys and income as a seamstress, she seeks a quiet life. If only the Emporium of Fashion would stop stealing her customers and the local hoodlums would leave her sons alone. When she rejects her husband’s share of the mine, his partner Jack seeks to serve her through other means. But will his efforts only push her further away?

Bygones by Mary Davis

Texas, 1884

Drawn to the new orphan boy in town, Tilly Rockford soon became the unfortunate victim of a lot of Orion Dunbar’s mischievous deeds in school. Can Tilly figure out how to truly forgive the one who made her childhood unbearable? Now she doesn’t even know she holds his heart. Can this deviant orphan-train boy turned man make up for the misdeeds of his youth and win Tilly’s heart before another man steals her away?

Christmas Next Door

Visit an Old West Texas town where a mysterious benefactor leaves gifts each Christmas, but also where four pairs of neighbors battle over hearsay, secrets, and mysteries.

THE MARSHAL NEXT DOOR by Vickie McDonough (1885)

The marshal’s deputy claims he’s seen the marshal’s young sisters snooping around businesses where there have been recent thefts. Marshal Yates can’t believe his sisters might be the thieves and seeks out a woman to mentor the impetuous teenagers. But when evidence is found against his sisters, will he have to arrest them at Christmastime?

The Christmas Gazebo

Two Christmas Romances of past and present 

For over a hundred years, people have gone to Springlake, Florida for inspiration. But sometimes, visitors to this Victorian village find romance as well. 

The Reckoning 

When Morgan Shaw crept into the hold of an old pirate ship replica at San Diego’s Annual Tall Ship Festival, her only intention was to avoid the guy who had just dumped her. What she didn’t expect was to wake up aboard a real pirate ship three-hundred years in the past. 

FREE on Kindle Today on Amazon!

The Witness Tree

Past betrayal has turned John Kliest’s passion to his work as a builder and surveyor in the Moravian town of Salem, North Carolina. Now, to satisfy the elders’ edict and fulfill his mission in Cherokee Territory, he needs a bride. But the one woman qualified to record the Cherokee language longs for a future with his younger brother. ... Clarissa Vogler’s dream of a life with Daniel Kliest is shattered when she is chosen by lot to marry his older brother and venture into the uncharted frontier. Can she learn to love this stoic man who is now her husband? Her survival hinges on being able to trust him—but they both harbor secrets.

Daughter of Liberty

The gripping saga of the American Revolution begins! It is Eastertide, April 1775, and in the blockaded port of Boston, Elizabeth Howard plays a dangerous game. As the infamous courier Oriole, she is hunted by the British for smuggling intelligence and munitions to the Sons of Liberty by night, while by day she flirts with British officers to gain access to information the rebels so desperately need. But she hasn’t counted on the arrival of Jonathan Carleton, an officer in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons. The attraction between them is immediate, powerful—and fought on both sides in a war of wits and words. When Carleton wins the assignment to ferret out Oriole, Elizabeth can no longer deny that he is not only the possessor of her heart, but also her most dangerous foe. And while Carleton fights his own private battle of faith, Elizabeth learns the bitter consequences of following her impulsive heart as her dangerous role thrusts her into the carnage at Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill.

The Planter's Daughter

Adella Rose Ellis knows her father has plans for her future, but she longs for the freedom to forge her own destiny. When the son of Luther Ellis's longtime friend arrives on the plantation to work as the new overseer, Adella can't help but fall for his charm and captivating hazel eyes. But a surprise betrothal to an older man, followed by a devastating revelation, forces Adella to choose the path that will either save her family's future or endanger the lives of the people most dear to her heart. Seth Brantley never wanted to be an overseer. After a runaway slave shot him, ending his career as a Texas Ranger and leaving him with a painful limp, a job on the plantation owned by his father's friend is just what he needs to bide his time before heading to Oregon where a man can start over. What he hadn't bargained on was falling in love with the planter's daughter or finding that everything he once believed about slaves wasn't true. Amid secrets unraveling and the hatching of a dangerous plan, Seth must become the very thing he'd spent the past four years chasing down: an outlaw.

A High-Country Christmas

Two sweet tales of mishaps, memories, and emotions that test the mettle of two Western couples in the Colorado high country at Christmas. Just in Time for Christmas - Abigale Millerton is seventeen with a ranch to run, a fear of heights, and a cowboy intent on stealing her heart. Snow Angel - As a four-year-old, Lena Carver lost something precious at Christmas. Twenty years later, she's about to lose her heart.

The Daughter's Predicament

(Book 2 in Quilting Circle series)

Can a patient love win her heart? As Isabelle Atwood’s romance prospects are turning in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams. While making a quilt for her own hope chest, Isabelle’s half-sister becomes pregnant out of wedlock and Isabelle—always the unfavored daughter—becomes the family sacrifice to save face. Despite gaining the attention of a handsome rancher, her parents are pressuring her to marry a man of their choosing to rescue her sister’s reputation. A third suitor waits silently in the wings, hoping for his own chance at love. Will Isabelle capitulate and marry the man her parents wish her to, or will she rebel and marry the man they don’t approve of? Or will the man leaving her secret love poems sweep her off her feet?

The Pilgrims and Our Spiritual Roots

                         By Elaine Marie Cooper

   Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal of the year. There’s nothing like the traditional turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie to make my mouth water!

This holiday takes on added meaning for me as well, because my ancestors arrived on the Mayflower nearly 400 years ago. So when we share food with loved ones while thanking our God Who has provided the abundance, we are recreating the spiritual roots and grateful attitude of the Pilgrims who knew their survival depended on the Almighty. 

Our family tradition in my home has been allowing each member to voice what they are grateful for in the last year. Sometimes the answers are amusing, sometimes incredibly heartwarming. 

   While we understand that the First Thanksgiving was celebrated here by the Mayflower survivors along with the Native Americans who helped them, the first official proclamation that was decreed to celebrate such a holiday was in 1777. It was a recommendation to the thirteen states by the Continental Congress to set aside December 18^th that year as a “solemn thanksgiving” to celebrate the first major victory for the Continental troops in the American Revolution: the Battle of Saratoga. 

   The Battle of Saratoga has significant interest for my own family since one of my ancestors was a soldier there. But he was not on the American side—he was a British Redcoat. After surrendering to the Americans, he escaped the line of prisoners and somehow made his way to Massachusetts and into the life and heart of my fourth great-grandmother. 

This family story was the inspiration for my Deer Run Saga that begins in 1777. 

Some may wonder why such detail was afforded this holiday in my novels set in Massachusetts, while Christmas is barely mentioned. The reason is simple: Thanksgiving was the major holiday in the New England colonies, with Christmas considered nothing more special than a workday. It was also considered a “papist” (i.e. Catholic) holiday.

According to Jack Larkin in his book, The Reshaping of Everyday Life, “The Puritan founders of New England and the Quaker settlers of Pennsylvania had deliberately abolished (holidays) as unscriptural.”

   But Thanksgiving was begun as a way to give thanks to God for His provision. It usually began with attending church services in the morning, followed by an elaborate feast in the afternoon. The food for this meal was prepared for weeks in advance.

   Since the individual state governors chose their own date to celebrate the holiday, it was theoretically possible for some family members—if they lived in close proximity—to celebrate multiple Thanksgiving meals with family and friends across state borders. The dates chosen could be anywhere from October to December, according to Dennis Picard, former Director of the Storrowton Village Museum in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

  Chicken was most commonly served, said Picard, as it was readily available in the barnyard. And the oldest woman in the home had the honor of slicing the fowl for dinner. 

   Pies were made well in advance of the holiday and stored and became frozen in dresser drawers in unheated rooms.

   “I like the idea of pulling out a dresser drawer for, say, a clean pair of socks, and finding mince pies,” said Picard, tongue in cheek.

   Indeed.

   I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed!!

Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books that released in 2019: War’s Respite(Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback. They are the first two books in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies including the recent Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, Live Happy. Scarred Vessels, a novel about black soldiers in the American Revolution, will release in 2020. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com

  

Wagon Train, Ho! By Donna Schlachter – with Giveaway

Pioneers crossing the Plains of Nebraska (wikipedia)

Whenever somebody says “wagon train”, various images are conjured in our minds. The iconic television program of the 1950s. The multitude of westerns produced over the years. Bonnets, long skirts, horses, whips, campfires, rugged terrain, mountains, butter churns, running out of water, blazing hot sun, freezing winter storm, stampedes—but most always, the western migration to the Pacific coast is the goal.

So it might surprise you to learn that wagon trains are neither a product of the 1840s and onward, or an American invention. In fact, one of the most famous wagon designs, the Conestoga, is first officially mentioned in 1717. James Hendricks purchased the wagon named after the Conestoga River in Lancaster County, PA. The design was perhaps introduced by German settlers.

Line drawing of a Conestoga wagon with oxen (wikipedia)

Conestoga wagons were initially used during colonial times as a cargo wagon, pulled by up to eight horses or twelve oxen. A special breed of draft horse, the Conestoga, was developed for hauling these heavy freight wagons in the 1700s.

Covered wagons were a variation of the Conestoga wagon, a pared-down version because the heavy Conestoga was too weighty for the thousands of miles of travel required. Often a farmer used an ordinary farm wagon with a series of bent saplings and a canvas cover strung over the top. Oxen were most common, although mules and horses were also used. 

Perhaps the favorite of the covered wagons was the chuckwagon, a type of field wagon used to store and prepare food. The invention of the chuckwagon as we currently know it is attributed to Charles Goodnight, a Texas rancher, in 1866. Following the Civil War, the beef market in Texas expanded, and thousands of cattle drives meant tens of thousands of men on the trail for months at a time. He added a “chuck box” to the back of a wagon with drawers and shelves for storage, along with a hinged lid for a flat cooking surface. With a water barrel and a canvas firewood sling, the rig was complete.

Wagon trains had a hierarchy of sorts. There was a leader or a captain who rode in the first wagon. The rest of the wagons fell into an unspoken position usually based on the fastest team or lightest wagon. If one of the families fell sick, they were moved back in the train since they’d probably have to stop more often, and perhaps because nobody wanted the germs “blowing back” on them. Later arrivals joined the end of the train until they proved themselves worthy of moving forward. The chuck wagon usually came before the sick.

To save wear and tear on their animals, migrants walked a good part of the day. Only the very young, very old, or infirmed would ride in the wagon. With oxen, many times the driver would also walk alongside.

Scout riders rode ahead to check for safe passage, while several rode up and down the wagon train, checking that everybody was keeping up. If a wagon broke down, those behind would halt and help with the repair. Sometimes this was also a good time to light a fire and have something hot to eat.

Any cattle included in the wagon train were watched over by a couple of riders, then when the train stopped for the night, were driven into the inside of the circle of wagons for safekeeping and so they didn’t wander off in the night.

In my book, Christmas Under the Stars, I used oxen to pull the covered wagons because that was a tidbit of history that I thought readers would enjoy. Driving oxen is a skill unto itself, and so I did research into the words used, such as “gee” and “haw” (right or left).

To enter a random drawing to win a print (US only) or ebook copy of Christmas Under the Stars, please leave a comment.

About Christmas Under the Stars:

November 1858, Utah Territory

Edie Meredith strives to keep her temper and her tongue under control as she heads west with her brother to California. Raised in an itinerant preacher family, she promises she will never marry a man of the cloth.

Tom Aiken, drover of the wagon train, longs to answer his true calling: to preach, and while he realizes not every woman would choose a preacher for a husband, he hopes to soon find his help-meet.

Suspicious ‘accidents’ plague their journey. Is someone trying to keep them from reaching their destination? Or will misunderstanding and circumstances keep them apart?

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick. As a hybrid author, she writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas and full-length novels. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, Sisters In Crime, and Christian Authors Network; facilitates a critique group; and teaches writing classes online and in person. Donna also ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Donna is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.





www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DonnaSchlachter

Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm

What Can Be Online University: https://what-can-be-online-institute.teachable.com/

Thomas Jefferson said “what?” about Thanksgiving? And a few more fun facts about Thanksgiving Day.

So, let’s get started . . .

1. Abraham Lincoln instituted the very first official Thanksgiving in 1863. This was only after Sarah Hale, the author of the nursery rhyme “Mary had a Little Lamb and editor of the woman’s magazine, Lady Godfrey’s Book, bombarded congress with letters and public outcry to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

2. George Washington wanted a day of thanks, and while some of congress

Thomas Jefferson

supported the idea, Thomas Jefferson said something to effect that an official Thanksgiving Day was one of the stupidest things he’d ever heard of. Hmmm, I wonder what he’d think about it now?

3. On Thanksgiving Day, American’s eat enough to gain an average of 1.3 pounds. And speaking of the holiday feast, did you know that Ben Franklin wanted to make the turkey our national bird? I think we did well in choosing the bald eagle instead, don’t you?

4. The tradition of pardoning a turkey dates back to President Lincoln. When Abe’s son Thad befriended a turkey slated for the Whitehouse dinner table, his father, the most powerful man in the world…saved the critter from a fated demise. Thus, unwittingly pardoning the first turkey. Oh, and for an added layer of information, the turkey’s name was Jack. J

5. Though the tradition of playing football on Thanksgiving has been historically met with controversy from religious folks who want to keep the day dedicated to

giving thanks, football has had a strong hold in the traditions of the day. Thanksgiving Day Football’s popularity exploded when in 1876 Yale and Princeton played their first game in front of a crowd of nearly 40,000 people. Then, in 1934, the Detroit Lions began their Thanksgiving Day traditional game playing the Chicago Bears, followed by the Dallas Cowboys joining in the holiday tradition in 1966. I grew up in Michigan and my aunt, uncle and cousins never missed a Thanksgiving Day Lion’s game . . . regardless of how they played. (My Michigan people understand)

6. In 1924, the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was actually a Christmas Day Parade, and instead of balloons and floats, the event boasted live animals, clowns and cowboys. Created to draw attention to the New York City Macy's store, (AKA) the Macy’s Day Parade paid store employees to dress up in

Felix the Cat

costume and walk with the Central Park Zoo animals six miles from Herald Square to Harlem. The gimmick worked. 250,000 people attended the first parade and the tradition was born. Macy’s kept the same format for three more years. In 1927, Felix the Cat was the first gigantic balloon float . . . and the rest, as they say . . . is history.

7. When and where the actual first Thanksgiving took place is somewhat controversial, but the traditionally celebrated, Pilgrim and Wampanoag attended, Pilgrim Colony located, Thanksgiving feast of 1621, was a three-day feast. Both the Wampanoag and Pilgrims brought food to share. There was a variety of seafood, venison, waterfowl, berries, pumpkins, and wild turkey. Much of the same fair is served on today’s traditional Thanksgiving tables. In fact, it’s estimated that Americans eat 46,000,000 turkeys on Thanksgiving Day alone. Modern Americans have added the cornbread-sausage stuffing (or whatever your geographical area adds to their bread dressing) and gravy but pumpkin and apple pies and corn casserole have a long history of feeding Americans during our Thanksgiving feast.
 

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, I hope you take a moment to reflect on what fills your heart with thanks. As for me, I can’t help but remember my best friend who passed away a few months ago. On the same day she lost her battle with cancer, I won mine. Life is . . . funny. She made me a better person, and I’m so grateful for her part in my life. I’m also filled with gratitude for a new friend I’ve recently made, and I’m excited to see where our future might lead.

Thanks for joining me today here at Heroes, Heroines and History and I wish you all a very blessed and joyous Thanksgiving Day. 

________________________________________________

Multi award-winning author, Michele K. Morris’s love for historical fiction began when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. She grew up riding horses and spending her free time in the woods of mid-Michigan. Married to her high school sweetheart, they are living happily-ever-after with their six children, three in-loves, and ten grandchildren in Florida, the sunshine state. Michele loves to hear from readers on Facebook, Twitter, and here through the group blog, Heroes, Heroines, and History at HHHistory.com. 

Michele is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

France’s Historic Châteaux: Roquetaillade

By J. M. Hochstetler

Roquetaillade, front view

This is the second installment of a series I’m doing on historic French chateaux. Since many of Europe’s medieval wars were fought in France, the country has a seemingly endless supply of these richly historic structures. And what could possibly be more picturesque and romantic than a castle? These imposing, sometimes extravagant fortifications are the stuff of legends—and romance novels. In fact, Book 6 of my American Patriot Series, Refiner’s Fire, is partially set in 18th century France, where my heroine lives for a time in a chateau, so naturally I ended up digging more deeply into the subject.

Charlemagne by Albrecht Durer,
1511-1513

The French word château has a wider meaning than the English word castle. Forts, palaces, mansions, and even vineyards can be included in this category. For the purposes of my story, however, I focused on actual castles and palaces. Today we’re taking a look at the famous Château de Roquetaillade.

Roquetaillade means carved out of rock and refers to the troglodyte caves beneath the castle. The château is the most visited castle in France’s Bordeaux region. Its enclosure surrounds two impressive stone castles, the oldest built by Charlemagne as a timber motte and bailey castle in the 10th century while his army was on the march to the Pyrenees. Over time this old castle was rebuilt in stone, but today only the imposing ruins remain of what was a bleak fortress with walls pierced mainly by arrow loops, with few windows.

In 1306, with the permission of the English King Edward I, Cardinal de la Mothe, the nephew of Pope Clement V built a second fortress, le Château Neuf, which was square in design with six towers and a central keep. The same family has resided there ever since, though the occupants have had five changes in surnames because the property was often passed down to daughters.

Side view

The fortress underwent a major renovation in the 17th century. The first story arrow loops were replaced with Renaissance windows, the battlements were more elegantly reconstructed while remaining functional, and the interior was redesigned for greater beauty. The family survived the terrors of the French Revolution, and in 1864 owner Louis le Blanc commissioned the famed architect Eugene Viollet le Duc to redecorate the castle again and make it more liveable. He created the chateau’s extraordinary interior decorations including a magnificent staircase and elegant bedrooms. According to one travel site, the stone masons who worked on the castle placed a secret message under one of the columns in the front hall: a carved monkey, eating a piece of fruit. Supposedly that was a sign to other workers that they would be treated fairly and paid well by the owners. If the monkey had been portrayed scratching his back, it would have offered a warning that this was not a good place to work!

The château’s park includes remains of the medieval curtain wall with the barbican, the Pesquey stream and its banks, the 19th century chalet, and the Crampet pigeon loft. The current owner, the Vicomte Sébastien de Baritault du Carpia, his wife Rosalind, and their family, actively maintain and promote the castle, which has been open to the public since 1956. The chateau produces a famous white wine, Chateaufort de Roquetaillade, and Bazadais cattle, shown at right, are bred there. The castle has also been used as a location in several films and in 1976 was named a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Do you have a favorite novel—or nonfiction book—that involves castles? One of mine is Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Please share your favorite and what appealed to you most about the story.

Also be sure to check out the brief video below featuring the property’s current owner and lovely shots of the  castle’s interior!

~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is a professional editor, a publisher, and the author of award-winning historical fiction whose books have been endorsed by bestselling authors such as Lori Benton, Laura Frantz, Jocelyn Green, Michelle Moran, and MaryLu Tyndal. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. She is also the author of One Holy Night, which won the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and co-authored the award-winning Northkill Amish Series with Bob Hostetler. Her latest release is Refiner’s Fire, Book 6 of the American Patriot Series.

Landmarks of the Oregon Trail

On November 1, my very first published novella collection—The Oregon Trail Romance Collection—got a second print run. So I’m revisiting my research on the Oregon Trail for a bit, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the major landmarks on this 2,170-mile trail.

Independence, Missouri—The Starting Point

Known as the “Queen City of the Trails,” Independence was the official starting point for the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California Trails. Within Independence, there were many blacksmiths, wheelwrights, livestock traders, and mercantiles where would-be travelers could buy all that was needed for the long journey west. According to some resources, these businesses operated around the clock since the demand was so great for travelers to lay in the stores they’d need for the arduous journey. Can you imagine the clang of hammer, the sound of saws, the belligerent arguing of livestock traders as these would-be emigrants bought, sold, and traded at all hours of the day and night? During the height of the Oregon Trail’s popularity, it must have been a rollicking place!

Courthouse & Jail Rocks

Location: near modern-day Bridgeport, Nebraska

Able to be seen for a good 50 miles before reaching them, these two large rock formations appear as one from a distance. As such, travelers sometimes called them “The Lonely Tower.” However, as they drew closer, emigrants on the trail realized they were two separate formations. Because one looked like an important government building, people called it “The Courthouse”—and the other became known as “The Jail.” Eventually, those names evolved into “Courthouse Rock” and “Jail Rock.” Sitting more than 4000 feet above sea level, they are the first sizeable rock formations travelers would come to on the trail.

Chimney Rock

Location: Four miles south of Bayard, Nebraska

This iconic rock formation has a large cone-shaped base with a 325-foot-tall spire at its top. Of the many landmarks along the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails, this one is the most mentioned in a study of over 300 diaries and journals written by emigrants. It was known by several names: Chimley Rock, Elk Peak, or Chimney Tower, but “Chimney Rock” was the one that stuck.

Fort Laramie

Location: Approximately 100 miles north of Cheyenne, Wyoming

This fort began in the 1830s as a fur trading outpost. As time went on and the beaver population thinned, the traders at the post began trading with the Sioux and other tribes for buffalo robes. In 1849, the Army offered to buy this privately-owned post in order to keep a military presence along the westward trails. With this change, it expanded from a 80’x100’ space into a major military garrison, which included stables, powder magazine, bakery, barracks for both officers and enlisted, a guardhouse, and more. Over the years, it served also served as a stage stop, a Pony Express stop, and a telegraph station.

Several military campaigns were launched from Fort Laramie during the Indian Wars. One significant Indian conflict, which I wrote about in my story, Sioux Summer (part of the Oregon Trail Romance Collection) was the Grattan Massacre. The garrison also hosted different treaty negotiations with the Indians, as well.

Travelers along the westward trails looked forward to arriving at Fort Laramie for the opportunity to restock their dwindling supplies, as well as feel a touch of civilization after some six weeks of hard travel across the lonely wilderness. 

Independence Rock

Location: Evansville, Wyoming

At 1,900 feet long, 700 feet wide, and 130 feet tall, this massive rock formation was described by emigrant J. Goldsborough Bruff like this in 1849: “reached Independence Rock . . . at a distance looks like a huge whale. It is being painted & marked every way, all over, with names, dates, initials, &c - so that it was with difficulty I could find a place to inscribe it.” 

As stated by Bruff, emigrants traveling west looked forward to reaching

Independence Rock in order to inscribe their names and messages for those coming after them—or to look for messages inscribed by family and friends who’d gone before.

Fort Bridger

Location: Fort Bridger, Wyoming

This fort was another that originally began as a fur trading post in the early 1840s. Later, it was taken over briefly by the Mormons. There was much conflict over who owned it until the government settled the argument and made it an Army garrison by 1858.

This was the location where the Oregon and California trails split from the Mormon trail. Those wanting to go to Oregon and/or California would turn northwest. Those wanting to reach the Great Salt Lake and surrounding areas continued due west.

After the experience of Fort Laramie, many expected Fort Bridger to be similar. However, Fort Bridger was a much smaller and less well-stocked outpost. Some complained that it was little more than a few barely habitable log cabins and a miserable supply of trade goods.

Hooper Springs, one of many hot springs in this area.

Soda Springs

Location: Soda Springs, Idaho

On their way west, travelers ran into a picturesque area that contained any number of natural hot springs. Of course, water was always at a premium, so they were thankful for the sight. And having hot water already prepared for washing laundry was a plus. 

Emigrant Sarah White Smith wrote of the area in mid-1838: “Traveled . . . along the bank of the bear river & are encamped at Soda Springs. This is indeed a curiosity. The water tastes like soda water, especially artificially prepared. The water is bubbling and foaming like boiling water. I drank of it. . . . We find it excellent for baking bread, no preparation of water is necessary. Take it from the fountain & the bread is as light as any prepared with yeast.”

As time went on, a whole town grew up in the area, aptly named “Soda Springs.”

Fort Hall

Location: Bannock County, Idaho

This trading post came about when Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth took a shipment of supplies west to sell to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company upon an agreement he’d made with that company the year before. However, when he arrived with the agreed-upon supplies in 1834, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was in financial difficulties and refused to take the shipment. So, Wyeth traveled some miles beyond and set up this trading post in order to sell the supplies. Wyeth was eventually driven out of business when the Hudson Bay Company set up a competitive trading post only a short distance away: Fort Boise. It remained in British hands until a treaty was signed between the United States and Britain for the Oregon Country south of the 49^th parallel.

Fort Boise

Location: Parma, Idaho

As stated above, Fort Boise was created by Hudson Bay Company in 1834 to compete with Wyeth’s Fort Hall. Because of its huge size and deep pockets, the Hudson Bay Company was able to undercut the prices quoted by Wyeth’s Fort Hall, thus driving him to sell out. Boise operated in its original location from 1834-1854, but finally shut down after severe flooding and an increase in fighting with the Native American tribes. Only a short portion of those ten years were under British rule, since the treaty transferred both Fort Hall and Fort Boise into American hands.

Whitman Mission

Location: Walla Walla, Washington

In 1836, Methodist missionaries went west to preach the Gospel to the Native American tribes. Among this group was Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, who set up the Whitman Mission. Tensions between the Whitmans and the Cayuse tribe were tense at first, but eased when Marcus proved he was interested in learning the Cayuse language. He made it clear that he wanted the Indians to learn white man’s ways as well. The ease in tensions lasted only until larger and larger numbers of white travelers made their way across the Oregon Trail from 1843-1847. Then, suspicions grew in the Cayuse hearts again, fearing the white man was coming to take over their land. When measles broke out in 1847, half the Cayuse tribe died from the unfamiliar disease. Since the whites had been more exposed to measles, fewer of them died of the disease, alarming the Cayuse. The surviving Cayuse Indians rode in, killed the Whitmans and eleven others of their party, as well as took forty-seven mission residents hostage. 

The Dalles

Location: Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Here, the wagon train emigrants would depart the land for rafts large enough to float their wagon, team, and families on. The river was calm in places, and in other spots, it reached different degrees of rapids. As you might imagine, this was a risky proposition. So, over time, an alternate route, the Barlow Toll Road, was created. This toll road circled around Mount Hood, adding some distance to the trip but saving the more faint of heart from having to navigate the river on rafts.

Oregon City—The End of The Oregon Trail

The travelers made it! Oregon City was a town originally set up by Hudson Bay Company in 1829, and this became the mecca for Oregon Trail travelers to file land claims.

It’s Your Turn: Have you visited any of these locations? Are there any you want to see? What do you think it would have been like to be a traveler on the Oregon Trail as you reached one of these major landmarks on the journey west?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list several times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children

The Oregon Trail Romance Collection

Nine romantic adventures take readers along for a ride on the Oregon Trail where daily challenges force travelers to evaluate the things that are most precious to them—including love. Enjoy the trip through a fascinating part of history through the eyes of remarkably strong characters who stop at famous landmarks along the way. Watch as their faith is strengthened and as love is born despite unique circumstances. Discover where the journey ends for each of nine couples.