Traveling the Oregon Trail Backwards: Wyoming Prairie and Devil's Gate

At first I didn’t recognize the creatures that sped away from my car’s approach while retracing the Oregon Trail. My traveling companions were a female relative we'll call Julie, her two sons, and my young daughter.

Catch up on this epic road trip adventure:

• October covered the Whitman Mission and Union, Oregon. Read it.
• November took us to Baker City, the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Three Island Crossing in Idaho, and Saratoga’s Hotel Wolfe. Read it.

This post is brought to you by Janalyn Voigt.

Traveling the Oregon Trail Backwards

Wyoming Prairie and Devil's Gate 

Another deer that was not a deer leaped a fence and sped away from my car’s approach. What on earth were these strange creatures? I’d seen them for miles on end while crossing the prairie. Their tan bodies with cream underbellies would remind me of deer if their horns branched. They also ran faster than any deer I’d ever seen, reminding me of gazelles.

I frowned in puzzlement until a childhood song ran through my mind. Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day.

Image by Thomas Quine [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

"I bet they're antelope!"

Julie had been staring after a heard of the fleeing creatures, jumped at my sudden outburst. "Oh, of course!" She shook her head. "I guess you can tell we're not from around here."

"You think?" I smiled, ridiculously happy to know that the creatures I'd sung about as a child still run wild in America. I'd seen wild bison, known as "buffalo" to pioneers, in Yellowstone National Park and on other road trips, but had somehow missed seeing antelope.

Now that I have you humming "Home on the Range," here's a video that shows amazing glimpses of pioneer families and the homes they lived in.

Devil's Gate

The "Devil's Gate" by Alfred Jacob Miller ca. 1858-60, a watercolor on paper,
commissioned by William T. Walters, 1858-1860; Image courtesy of the Walters Art Museum

Cut by the Sweetwater River on its way through the Rattlesnake Mountains, Devil's gate was visible from the highway for miles. Wanting to spend as long as possible at Independence Rock, we decided to skip hiking for a closer view of Devil's Gate. If you want to know the whole truth, the heat was more than we could tolerate, and the possibility of surprising a rattlesnake clenched the deal. Sometimes you have to pick your battles.

The romanticized painting of Devil's Gate by Alfred Jacob Miller in the image above makes me want to go back and navigate the trail. If I do, it will be in milder weather.

While driving through waving grasslands with the sun beating down, I wondered how travelers on the Oregon Trail survived the heat, sometimes with unreliable sources of water. They had to be hardy souls.

Captain John Charles Fremont (1813-1890), with Kit Carson as his guide, led a company of half-starved men past Devil's Gate in 1844. They were headed westward, searching for the fabled Buenaventura River, believed to flow from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Fremont described Devil's Gate with these words: "The length of the passage is about 300 yards, and the width 35 yards. The walls of rock are verticle [sic], and about 400 feet in height; and the stream in the gate is almost entirely choked up by masses which have fallen from above."

View of Devil's Gate on the Sweetwater by Samuel J. Mills, ca. 1858; Library of Congress

Rockfall made the narrow gorge impassable for wagon trains but Devil's Gate intrigued emigrants and most took the opportunity to investigate it. They camped at its base, watched bighorn sheep scale the Sweetwater Rocks, climbed themselves, and carved their initials in the granite. Emigrant inscriptions are still visible in the stone today. 

Some died here. More than 20 pioneer graves are thought to exist in the area, but only the gave of Frederick Fulkerson has been positively identified. Frederick died after swimming across the Platte River in order to guide frightened livestock across. Chilled and exhausted, he never recovered from the ordeal. Frederick was just eighteen at the time of his death. His is one of the oldest known emigrant graves in the nation.

View of Devil's Gate from Independence Rock; image courtesy of wyomingtalesandtrails.com.

Are you wondering, as I did, how Devil's Gate came by its ominous name? Different stories exist. The Shoshone and Arapaho told the story for centuries of a giant tusked monster that roamed here until Indian warriors killed it by shooting arrows from the passes and ravines. Enraged, the beast carved a hold in the mountain with its tusks and escaped. Could this legend have sprung from the tribal memory of a mastodon that once ranged here, carried forward through time?

Scientists once thought Native Americans weren't around at the time of the mastodons. However, the Manis Mastodon in Washington state changed their thinking when acheologists discovered a spear tip embedded in the rib bones. 

Continuing the Journey

Seven miles to the east rose Independence Rock, a cherished landmark on the Oregon Trail. Exploring it stands as one of the most memorable events on the trip. Read all about connecting with history at Independence Rock.

About Janalyn Voigt

My father instilled a love of literature in me at an early age by reading chapters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Robinson Crusoe and other classics. When I grew older, and he stopped reading bedtime stories, I put myself to sleep with tales I 'wrote' in my head. My sixth-grade teacher noticed my interest in storytelling and influenced me to become a writer.

I'm what is known as a multi-genre author, but I like to think of myself as a storyteller. 

The same elements appear in all my novels in proportions dictated by their genre: romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy.

Epic Fantasy: DawnSinger and Wayfarer are the first two novels in the epic fantasy series, Tales of Faeraven. The final books in the series, Sojourner and DawnKing, are under contract with my publisher.

Historical Fiction: Hills of Nevermore, first installment in Montana Gold, set during Montana's gold rush in the days of vigilante justice, will release in 2017.

Romantic Suspense/Mystery: Deceptive Tide (Islands of Intrigue-San Juans) will release in 2017. This title is romantic suspense, but I am also moving into writing mystery novels written in the classic style of Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt.

Sign up at http://janalynvoigt.com to be notified when these titles release and for book extras and reader bonuses.

Devil's Gate

Devil’s Gate is still open--with a giveaway for you

by Susan Page Davis

A landmark for travelers on the Oregon Trail, Devil’s gate is a narrow cleft where the Sweetwater River flows between the granite rocks. It is close to Independence Rock, which was sometimes considered the halfway point.

Devil's Gate at low water, 2013, by Wehwal, Creative Commons licenses

Wagon train leaders liked to camp at Independence Rock by July 4, knowing they should make it through to their destination before winter. Sometimes trains would pause a day or two at Independence Rock, and the travelers would do laundry, bake, and make an outing of going to view Devil’s Gate.

Circled Wagon Trains at Independence Rock, with Devil's Gate in the distance, drawing by William Henry Jackson, circa 1870

At its base, the “gate” is too narrow for wagons to pass beside the river, so the trail bypassed it, but emigrants often hiked to see it. Many waded through the gap in the river or climbed the cleft ridge, known as the Sweetwater Rocks, and carved their names or initials. Bighorn sheep were seen climbing the rocks nearby in the mid-1800s.

The chasm is only 30 feet wide in the bottom, at its narrowest point. The cleft is about 1,500 feet long and 370 feet deep. At the top, the rocks are about 300 feet apart. It can be seen from about 15 miles away if you are coming from the east. From a distance, it appears as a slot in the ridge.

Looking West from the rocks above Devil's Gate, showing the plains of the Sweetwater and the Oregon Trail; 1870 by William Henry Jackson

An Indian legend says a large beast with huge tusks tore the passage through the rock when pursued by hunters. Scientists, however, say the river carved it over time through the sedimentary rock. But it seems odd that the river ate through the rocks instead of flowing around them. The wagon road takes the flatter, easier route not far away.

Trading posts sprang up at Devil’s Gate and Independence Rock in the early 1850s, to cater to the emigrant trains. Travelers could find a few basic supplies there, and if they were lucky, trade worn-out animals for fresh stock. The earliest known photograph of this landmark was taken in 1858 by Samuel C. Mills.

Mill's 1858 photo, public domain

As the wagon trains grew fewer, the cabins of the Devil’s Gate post were abandoned by 1856. The following winter, desperate members of the Mormon handcart parties found them during a severe blizzard and took shelter.

photo by Ryan Reeder, 2004, Creative Commons Licenses

By 1872, a hunting camp was established near Devil’s Gate by a French Canadian, Tom Sun. Within ten years, Sun’s family had a thriving ranch with thousands of head of cattle. The Sun Family Ranch operated for more than 100 years. In the 1990s, they sold part of it to the Mormon church, which now operates a visitor center there to tell the story of the handcart pioneers. It includes a reconstruction of the 1850s trading post.

Devil's Gate, by MPlark, Creative Commons Licenses

In one of my books, The Oregon Escort, the main characters visit Devil’s Gate. To enter the giveaway for the 3-novel series anthology, Wyoming Brides, leave a comment and include your contact information below. E-book readers may choose an e-book of The Oregon Escort instead.

Susan Page Davis is the author of more than sixty published novels. She’s always interested in the unusual happenings of the past. Her newest books The Seafaring Women of the Vera B. and The Cowboy’s Bride Collection, which was recently named to the Publisher’s Weekly Bestselling Religious Fiction List. She’s a two-time winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol Award and the Will Rogers Medallion, and a finalist in the WILLA Awards and the More Than Magic Contest. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com .