The Applegate Trail - Tub Springs State Wayside
N 42° 06.951 W 122° 26.540
10T E 546100 N 4662789
This historical placard is one of two that exist within Tub Springs State Wayside Park just off Hwy 66 in Jackson County, OR.
Waymark Code: WMKAZJ
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 03/12/2014
Views: 5
Located within Tub Springs State Park are two historical placards that are located a short distance on a loop trail. The first placard reads:
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 (Jesse Applegate lost a son and nephew to this river).
The first emigrants to trek the new "Southern 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.
The Applegate Trail passed less than 100 yards uphill from this site through land described by Virgil K. Pringle in 1846 as "good but very rough and broken." Ellen Burt made the journey in 1853 and "walked all day in the mud." Then as now, with streams located in deep ravines, Tub Springs was a welcome source of easily accessible water.
There are numerous websites devoted to the history of the Applegate Trail. My favorite is the Trails West, Inc. organization run by a group of volunteers and contains a photo tour as well as offering books on numerous emigrant trails of the West Coast. There is a photo tour of the Applegate Trail that contains photos of many historical 'T' markers made of railroad ties that are sporadically placed along the trail route and can be visited here.
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