Pioneers on the Oregon Trail found the crossing of the Blues to be a taxing affair, especially so late in their journey.  Some writers have declared the passage over the Blue Mountains as the last big challenge faced by the Overlanders. 

Now, that does not add up with still weeks to come ahead through the dusts of the Columbia Plateau, river crossings of the John Day and Deschutes Rivers and the final decision to take the River Route or the Barlow Trail over the Cascade Range to the verdant valley of the Willamette to the west.  Those aside, the crossing of the Blues constituted a challenge, however.  They were the second major mountains along the long trail that needed crossing.  In today’s Oregon, the Blues tested the pioneers for a third vertical time. They already overcome the passage over the Burnt River into the Baker Valley and the subsequent climb over Ladd Hill into the Grande Ronde Valley.

EARLY JOURNEYS

Previously, this blog covered Oregon Trail segments around Mt Hood on the Barlow Trail; the section between the John Day River and The Dalles; plus, an overview of the Trail from the Grand Ronde to the John Day.  Today’s focus is on the Blue Mountain crossing.

For much of the crossing, the Trail route repeats with today’s Interstate 84 with the train tracks of the Union Pacific not far away either.  Before the Emigrants began coming west, few passages were known to the few White explorers happening through the mountains.  Those passages followed older Native American routes; paths not suitable in many cases for wagons. 

One example was the Walla Walla Trail.  This route linked the North West fur trading post of Fort Nez Percés – at the confluence of the Walla Walla River with the Columbia – to another North West post at Boise-Snake Rivers confluence.  The first Boise post established in 1818. A second went up on the same site, abandoned after most of the original fort builders died at the hands of local Native Americans.

The Walla Walla Trail was lightly used at best, though men such as Nathaniel Wyeth used the path in both 1832 and 1834.  The Whitman party also followed the route in 1836.

  Passing the little fort on the Snake-Boise confluence – it had only just reactivated two years prior by men of Hudson’s Bay Company after another long period of abandonment due to problems with locals – Narcissa Whitman referred to the post as Snake Fort.

A NEW TRAIL EMERGES

In August 1840, possibly Robert Newell and Joseph Meek became the first to cross the Blue Mountains with wagons. They had three in tow when they reached Fort Walla Walla.  “In a few days, we began to realize the difficult task before us, and found that the continued crashing of sage under our wagons, which was in many places higher than the mules’ backs, was no joke.” So wrote Newell many years later. 

He further described meeting up with Dr. Whitman at their mission home, “On hearing me regret that I had undertaken to bring the wagons, the Doctor said, ‘Oh, you will never regret it; you have broken the ice and when others see that wagons have passed, they too, will pass and in a few years the valley will be full of our people.’”  Their route was further west than the Walla Wall Trail.  This path gained major improvements in 1843 as migration to the Oregon Country really began to take shape.

PIONEER EXPERIENCES

In 1843, hundreds came across the Oregon Trail.  Native Americans had burned areas of the forest to congregate game to hunt.  While meadows were the result, plenty of trees remained to slow the path of the emigrants.  Jesse Applegate – son of emigrant wagon captain Jesse – recalled, “The timber had to be cut and removed to make way for the wagons.  The trees were cut just near enough to the ground to the wagons to pass over the stumps, and the road through the forest was only cleared out wide enough for a wagon to pass …” 

Nineveh Ford wrote of her party’s crossing in 1843, “In some places the timber was very thick, so that you could not ride a horse through without cutting.  After we got on top of the mountain the timber got lighter and more scattered and we got out of the timber when we got pretty nearly down.”

TRAIL ESTABLISHED

The Trail through the Blue Mountains is described in different tones by different emigrants.  Maria Parsons Belshaw said of the path after coming over it in 1853, “I never saw as crooked a road in my life.”  Over the Blues, the trail covers 25 miles gaining 1785 feet in a gradual manner.  The high point is near the hamlet of Meacham.  Out of the Blues, the Trail descends 3,380 feet over 30 miles. The main drop occurs north of Deadman Pass-Cabbage Hill route taken by today’s interstate.  In comparison, the Trail over Burnt River Pass into Baker Valley gains 2,400 feet over a 40-mile distance. The Ladd Hill section before the Grande Ronde Valley drops 1,800 feet.

Between 1843 and 1847, wagons went north after descending the west side of the Blues.  They headed to the Whitman Mission to resupply before continuing the last legs of the journey down the Columbia River.  Following the Whitman killings at the end of 1847, the Trail became re-routed to the west. It followed the Umatilla River down to where the town of Echo is today.  From there, the Trail turned to the west across the Columbia Plateau, six to eight miles south of the river to avoid sands and cliffs found along the river itself.

TODAY – UP FROM THE GRANDE RONDE

The Trail over the Blues from the east begins by moving up the Grande Ronde River about three miles to the confluence of Five Points Creek into the Grande.   This canyon became used to ascend the mountains by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company in 1884.  The Trail ascends the ridge between Five Points Creek and today’s freeway paralleled to some extent to the north – you can follow the ruts on Google Maps-Earth.

After crossing Dry Creek, wagon ruts remain visible at the Blue Mountain Interpretive Park maintained by the US Forest Service.  The ruts from a former stagecoach line also run parallel to the Trail.  Today’s Interstate 84 drives straight across the Blues today while the Trail undulated a bit, first to the north of the freeway and the to the south, but never far off from today’s motorists.

One of the main watering spots for the pioneers crossing is memorialized in today’s Emigrant Springs State Park.  There is an Oregon Trail exhibit shelter with a wagon on display found here.  Wagon trains often rested here for a couple days taking on water for the next long pull out of the mountains.  The park became dedicated by President Warren Harding on his final trip on 3 July 1923.

TODAY – HIGHPOINT

The hamlet of Meacham lies four miles further along.  Established by Colonel A. B. Meacham in 1863 – the Blue Mountain Tavern – the townsite when platted had the name of Jerusalem with a central plaza known as Solomon Square.  New Jerusalem did not last long, and the name of Meacham is back.

Meacham is also the point heading west where the rail line created in the early 1880’s and the Oregon Trail part ways. From La Grande to the east, the railroad followed the Trail to Five Points Creek. Instead of heading up onto the ridges of the Blue Mountains, the rails stay down in canyons making a more gradual ascent slightly north of the Trail. The paths intersect again just before the freeway exit for the Blue Mountain Interpretive Park. At Meacham, the Trail stays high while the railroad veers off to follow Meacham Canyon down to the Umatilla River at Gibbon.

deadman’s pass

Just past Meacham, off the Old Highway 30 is a viewpoint about two miles along the road.  The canyon below previously called Squaw Creek recently reverted to its Native American name Isq’ulpte.  Looking down the canyon, the gorge of the Umatilla River is visible.  Another mile and a half bring gains the Deadman Pass Rest Area along Interstate 84.  Passing under the freeway to the south – eastbound – rest area, there are wagon ruts to be discovered in the trees on the east side hidden by a fence.

The freeway continues west over the Pass – Deadman Pass got its name after a wagon driver found dead during the Bannock Wars of 1864.  There are far-reaching views from viewpoints on either side of the freeway.  Early in the day, with clear weather, the peaks of the Cascades come into view across the vast expanse of the Columbia Plateau.  The town of Pendleton and the Umatilla River pop up to the right from the viewpoint.  This section of I-84 is considered one of the more difficult and dangerous interstate in the country with wintertime crashes and closures quite common.

TODAY – DESCENT

But the Oregon Trail extended to the north by northwest from the rest area, into the trees.  The first gravel road to the left on the former route of US 30 – Old Emigrant Hill Road – is Kanine Road.  Travel on this road is parallel to the Trail – found branching off a few little side canyons to the west dropping down to the Umatilla River.  Before 1847, most emigrants went north from where the Trail came down from the mountains.  Here they turned north to travel to the Whitman Mission.  Elizabeth Dixon Smith recalled on 12 October 1847, “… here our company separated some went to Whitmans Mision to winter and they we masacreed in the jeneral massacre of which I suppose you have already heard …”

After the Whitman killings, the Trail turned parallel to the Umatilla crossing at the Upper Umatilla crossing on the west side of Pendleton.  Some sources refer to the hill where the Trail descended as Cabbage Hill, but this is wrong.  The name Cabbage Hill did not come into being until around 1900.  Julie English, a widow with children to raise, grew cabbages for sale in nearby Pendleton.  That hill is where the freeway descends to the west of the Pass. Another name seen possible for the Trail’s descent is Poker Jim Hill named for an Umatilla Native American who served as a guide and was clever with cards.

TRAIL DEVIATIONS

The ever-increasing numbers of emigrants coming west in the mid-1840’s led to tensions in the relationships between the local Native Americans, the passing Overlanders, and the Whitmans.  Those tensions erupted into the events leading to the Cayuse War.  This in turn, led to the turning of the trail to the west at the bottom of the Blues saving many miles for emigrating families, as well as minimizing time spent in the Umatilla-Cayuse-Walla Walla country.

Nineveh Ford remembered her party’s 1843 descent, “We travelled under the guidance of an Indian pilot that Dr. Whitman had sent back.  Wherever he directed us to go there we went, without searching for any other route since they have changed the road in many places.  He found us a pretty fair route for getting through.  The Indian did not look about much, he was familiar with the ground.  He proved to be a faithful Indian.”