Friday, June 6, 2014

Book Review: Life on the Oregon Trail

Life on the Oregon Trail: The Way People Live, by: Gary L. Blackwood, Lucent Books, San Diego, CA, 1999.
 
This is a brief review of encounters along the Oregon Trail.  The chapters include Why they went west, what they took, how they got there, how they coped, how they interacted with Indians, how they came to grief and what they found to enjoy.  The chapters dealing with grief point out that the biggest cause of death was disease, particularly cholera.  However there were losses due to accident, drowning, Indian attack and murder.  IN the section on what they enjoyed, it gives information on the forts along the trail, which were resting places, dancing and music, and some special places, like soda springs and ice slough. 
This book is more an introduction than an in depth study.

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