The End of the Trail

Deschutes River State Park

Following the Oregon Trail as Tim and I have done these past few weeks has been an awe-inspiring journey.  It's given us a deep appreciation for the bravery and hardiness of the pioneers who endured the dangers and hardships of the 2,000 mile trail.  Now we are on the final leg of their journey.  Somehow, they had to travel through the gorge of the Columbia River, a wild, raging torrent before today's eleven dams tamed it.  But before they could begin, they had to ford its tributary, the Deschutes River.

As we've come to realize, river crossings were extremely difficult for Oregon Trail emigrants and the Deschutes was no exception.  John McAllister, an emigrant of 1852, warned "danger attends the crossage here...many large rocks and at the same time a very rapid current."  Casualties were common, but Tim and I had no problem, thanks to the safe passage afforded us by Interstate 84, a route that overlays the Oregon Trail.

Nonetheless, while we camped at Deschutes River State Park, it was easy to picture the pioneers' plight.  Listening to the mournful cry of the railroad locomotives whose nearby tracks, too, ran along the old Oregon Trail, I couldn't help but feel that sound was a lament for those souls who died here.

Barlow Cutoff by William Henry Jackson

Rather than hazard a raft trip down the Columbia River as so many other emigrants had done, the Barlow party in 1845 opened the first overland route through the Cascade Mountains, a route that traversed the south side of Mount Hood.  Others followed their way and arrived safely at Oregon City, the historic end of the Oregon Trail.  Tim and I had planned to visit the interpretive center there, but since we've been to similar museums along the way, we decided to give this one a pass.

From 2004-2010, The Freshwater Trust planted 118,000 trees along the Deschutes River to protect native fish and improve water quality.  We appreciated the shade, especially knowing the emigrants were not so fortunate.

Ninety-four percent of those who traveled the Trail reached their destination, but about 20,000 emigrants died on the way.  The fear of death was something they lived with every day.  One out of every 17 people who started the journey died enroute.

But for those emigrant families who survived the treacherous Columbia River, they would find their grueling ordeal at an end.  Three hundred and sixty acres would be their reward when they arrived at the fertile valley of the Willamette River, a basin that today is home to two-thirds of Oregon's population.

"We all felt that now, our journey was ended.  The cattle had been unyoked for the last time; the wagons had been rolled to the last bivouac; the embers of the last campfire had died out; the last word of gossip had been spoken, and now, we are entering a new field with new present experience, and with a new expectancy for the morrow."  Ezra Meeker, 1852

Our reward will be the Dawntreader's safe arrival in Portland.  We have reservations there for four days at the Columbia River RV Park on the northeast side of the city.  Neither Tim nor I have ever visited the Pacific Northwest so we, too, are entering a new field with new expectancies.  We have high hopes.