The Applegate Trail: Southern Route to Oregon
N 42° 00.641 W 121° 33.673
10T E 619137 N 4651963
An alternative to the Oregon Trail, The Applegate Trail crossed the river here.
Waymark Code: WMHM8B
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 07/22/2013
Views: 7
A In 1846, Jesse Applegate and fourteen others from near Dallas, Oregon, established a trail south from the Willamette Valley and east to Fort Hall. This route offered emigrants an alternative to the perilous “last leg” of the Oregon Trail down the treacherous Columbia River. The trail also offered a potential escape route, free from Hudson’s Bay Company control, should Britain and the United States begin warring over control of Oregon.
The first emigrants to trek the new “South Road” left with the trailblazers from Fort Hall in early August 1846. With Levi Scott acting as guide, while Jesse Applegate traveled ahead to mark the route, the hardy emigrants blazed a wagon trail through nearly 500 miles of wilderness arriving in the upper Willamette Valley in November. Emigrant travel continued along the Applegate Trail in later years and contributed greatly to the settlement of southern Oregon and the Willamette Valley.
Nature Provides a Bridge
”The river was here about eighty feet wide and very deep, but it was spanned by two natural bridges of conglomerate sandstone from 10 to fifteen feet in width, parallel to each other and not more that two rods (33 feet) apart. The water flowed over both of them. There are probably hollows under boy arches, through with the river flows. Emigrants cross here with their loaded wagons. Ther is no ford for a considerable distance above and none below.” Lt. Henry L. Abbot, August 13, 1855.
Road of Trail Name: Applegate Trail
State: Oregon
County: Klamath
Historical Significance:
Part of the Oregon Trail System
How you discovered it:
waymarking
Why?:
It was a trail. West. Everything that fit in a wagon.
Directions:
Follow your GPS to the dam.
Years in use: Not listed
Book on Wagon Road or Trial: Not listed
Website Explination: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
To post a log for this Waymark the poster must have a picture of either themselves, GPSr, or mascot. People in the picture with information about the waymark are preferred. If the waymarker can not be in the picture a picture of their GPSr or mascot will qualify. There are no exceptions to this rule.