The Applegate Trail - Southern Route to Oregon - Monroe, OR - Wagon Roads and Trails on Waymarking.com

Marker reads:

The Applegate Trail
-Southern Route to Oregon-

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 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.

Emigrant Trails

The Applegate Trail spit into two routes in the northern Umpqua Valley. The eastern route, established in 1846 by Jesse Applegate, Levi Scott, Moses “Black” Harris and twelve others from Polk County, Passed through Cottage Grove, Creswell, Eugene, and Junction City—It is approximated today by River Road and Highway 99. The western route, an ancient Kalapuya Indian trace and a Hudson’s Bay Company “trapper’s trail” until the 1840s, was the most widely used alternate route. Known also as the “California Trail,” it became a wagon road in the late 1840s. Today, Territorial Road closely follows this historic trail.

A second interpretive display reads:

Journey of a Lifetime

Overland emigrants embarked on the longest camping trip of their lives—and adventure of six months or more. They traveled without the benefit of rainproof clothing, down sleeping bags, flashlights, nylon tents, or portable stoves.

Campsites—like this grove of majestic firs—needed to provide firewood, water, and feed for livestock. When nightfall or mishap kept them from finding the best location, many weary emigrants simply camped where they could.

Long Tom....It had to be ferried, a a ferry was constructed by procuring two small Indian canoes, a little larger than the wagons, with a pine log made fast between. The contents of the wagons had to be taken out and placed on, not in, this frail boat and taking out out of the way for the next, and so on until all were over.

I was but a boy, driving the team of a widow lady.... She was taken sick the night before the crossing, and a baby girl was born to her. After receiving what attention it was in their power to give her, they all had crossed the river and left the sick woman and child in my charge.... Then with the help of the others, returned, and took the bed on which they were lying by the four corners, crossed and placed them in the tent I had prepared for them. A woman and child had died the night before under the same circumstanced. She was another member of the unfortunate Crowley family. But the woman and child I speak of both lived.

Tolbert Carter
Recollection of 1846

Road of Trail Name: Applegate Trail State: Oregon County: Benton County Historical Significance: The Applegate Trail was an alternate southern route of the Oregon Trail and was blazed from west to east, intersecting the California Trail at the Humboldt River. It is historically linked to the Oregon Trail in that it was developed as an alternative route into Oregon that avoided the obstacles of the Burnt River Canyon, the Blue Mountains, and the Columbia River. After its opening, Oregonians used part of the Applegate Trail to travel back and forth to California’s gold fields. As designated by Congress under the National Trails System Act, the Applegate Trail is a branch of the California National Historic Trail. Years in use: 1846-1869 How you discovered it: Saw the interpretive displays next to the museum building and stopped to take photos. Book on Wagon Road or Trial: http://emigranttrailswest.org/trail-guides-for-purchase/applegate-trail-guide/ http://www.amazon.com/The-Applegate-Trail-1846-Documentary/dp/1889082007 http://www.amazon.com/Over-Applegate-Trail-Oregon-1846/dp/0936738812/ref=pd_sim_b_3 Website Explination: http://www.oregonhistorictrailsfund.org/trails/california-applegate-national-historic-trail-1846-1883/ https://www.octa-trails.org/articles/applegate-trail/ https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/applegate_trail/#.W4_1RuhKi71 https://emigranttrailswest.org/virtual-tour/applegate-trail/ Why?: The Applegate Trail was a major source of travel for settlers, men traveling to and from California during the California Gold Rush days and for commerce travel, i.e., men bringing food and supplies from one town/encampment to another. During the Gold Rush years, the Applegate Trail was used also to reach mining towns in northern California by way of the Lassen Trail, Nobles Trail, and Yreka Trail. In Southern Oregon, the Applegate Trail had much use for emigrant travel north during its first years of use (1846-1850s) when pioneers began settling into the Rogue Valley and north into the Willamette Valley, where the Applegate Trail ended. Directions: Markers are located next to the South Benton Community Museum along the Pacific Hwy 99 in downtown Monroe.

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