Adventures in the Villa

We hitched up our wagons and the wagon train started west today, following the Oregon Trail… Or at least so it seems…

The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile east-west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kansas and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the current states of Idaho and Oregon.

The Oregon Trail was laid by fur traders and trappers from about 1811 to 1840 and was only passable on foot or by horseback. By 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall, Idaho. Wagon trails were cleared increasingly farther west, and eventually reached all the way to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Annual improvements were made in the form of bridges, cutoffs, ferries, and roads, which made the trip faster and safer. From various starting points in Iowa, Missouri, or Nebraska Territory, the routes converged along the lower Platte River Valley near Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory, and led to rich farmlands west of the Rocky Mountains.

From the early to mid-1830s (and particularly through the years 1846–1869) the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their families. The eastern half of the trail was also used by travelers on the California Trail (from 1843), Mormon Trail (from 1847), and Bozeman Trail (from 1863), before turning off to their separate destinations. Use of the trail declined as the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, making the trip west substantially faster, cheaper, and safer. Today, modern highways, such as Interstate 80 and Interstate 84, follow parts of the same course westward and pass through towns originally established to serve those using the Oregon Trail.

Early emigrants

On May 1, 1839, a group of eighteen men from Peoria, Illinois, set out with the intention of colonizing the Oregon country on behalf of the United States of America. The men of the Peoria Party were among the first pioneers to traverse most of the Oregon Trail. They carried a large flag emblazoned with their motto “Oregon Or The Grave“. Nine of these members eventually did reach Oregon.

In September 1840, Robert Newell, Joseph L. Meek, and their families reached Fort Walla Walla with three wagons that they had driven from Fort Hall. Their wagons were the first to reach the Columbia River over land, and they opened the final leg of Oregon Trail to wagon traffic.

In 1841, the Bartleson-Bidwell Party was the first emigrant group credited with using the Oregon Trail to emigrate west. The group set out for California, but about half the party left the original group at Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, leaving their wagons at Fort Hall.

On May 16, 1842, the second organized wagon train set out from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers. The party was led by Elijah White. The group broke up after passing Fort Hall with most of the single men hurrying ahead and the families following later.

Great Migration of 1843

In what was dubbed “The Great Migration of 1843” or the “Wagon Train of 1843”, an estimated 700 to 1,000 emigrants left for Oregon.  They were led initially by John Gantt, a former U.S. Army Captain and fur trader who was contracted to guide the train to Fort Hall for $1 per person. The winter before, Marcus Whitman had made a brutal mid-winter trip from Oregon to St. Louis to appeal a decision by his mission backers to abandon several of the Oregon missions. He joined the wagon train at the Platte River for the return trip. When the pioneers were told at Fort Hall by agents from the Hudson’s Bay Company that they should abandon their wagons there and use pack animals the rest of the way, Whitman disagreed and volunteered to lead the wagons to Oregon. He believed the wagon trains were large enough that they could build whatever road improvements they needed to make the trip with their wagons. The biggest obstacle they faced was in the Blue Mountains of Oregon where they had to cut and clear a trail through heavy timber. The wagons were stopped at The Dalles, Oregon, by the lack of a road around Mount Hood. The wagons had to be disassembled and floated down the treacherous Columbia River and the animals herded over the rough Lolo trail to get by Mt. Hood. Nearly all of the settlers in the 1843 wagon trains arrived in the Willamette Valley by early October. A passable wagon trail now existed from the Missouri River to The Dalles.

So our wagon train set out for Oregon…

We headed back towards St. Joseph, and crossed over the wide Missouri into Kansas again…

About an hour later we arrived in Hiawatha and found the Brown County Agricultural Museum and Windmill Lane…

It is an interesting place. Many old barns have been moved onto the property, and thousands of ancient home appliances and farm tools and implements, from Tractors and Combines to open end wrenches, are on display.

Very tight…

In fact, it was so tight that we pulled up close to one another. In the photo below you can see the Villa parked next to a telephone pole. But there will be plenty of room to pull around the pole once the other Airstreams left.

There are probably 50 windmills of all shapes and types. Most often windmills operated pumps bring water up from wells. Some of the windmills charged batteries providing power and lights, and some even generated electricity through a wind-powered generator…

The various bards are full of ancient appliances, tractors, plows, cars, and other miscellaneous things…

As some of the first Airstreams started to pull out it was time to leave. I checked out the space around the telephone pole, backed up a bit to get a little more clearance, and I started to pull forward.

There was plenty of room as my tires went by the pole. However, there was a large low spot adjacent to the pole. Thus, as I pulled forward, the Villa tilted towards the pole to the point that it was within 1/16 of an inch of touching the pole. There we stopped.

Much head-scratching later, we (about 20 Airstream experts) decided that the only way to get past the pole was to jack up the Airstream far enough to get long 2×6 boards under the wheels to un-tilt the Airstream. We found boards, blocks, and three small hydraulic jacks. After much huffing, puffing, and groaning we had the wheels off the ground and the boards and blocks fitted beneath the wheels…

I pulled forward and we were clear, to much applause. All that was left to do was to collect the boards, blocks, and jacks and return them to their rightful places…

We turned north and finally reached Nebraska! We had not been in the Villa in Nebraska before. This is state #41!

Nebraska is, of course, full of corn fields…

About the only difference we could see between Kansas and Nebraska is that Nebraska has more irrigated fields…

We stopped at a Rest Area, where we were joined by another Airstream…

We arrived at our parking spot for two nights – this is Fonner Park, the home of the Nebraska State Fair, located in Grand Island… Lots of room, not too warm, and barely humid…