Following the deaths at the Whitman Mission in December 1847, emigrants travelling the Oregon Trail elected to bypass the jaunt of the trail to the north following the descent out of the Blue Mountains. Instead, the new path led down the Umatilla River before heading out across the dry Columbia Plateau roughly parallel to the river about 6-8 miles to the south.
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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.
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Early relationships between European newcomers and Native Americans living in the Pacific Northwest certainly went no better than in most other regions of the Americas. European supremacy became much easier through early introduction of disease, an actual prelude in many cases to actual ethnic introductions. Bad as the era directly before the two peoples came together face to face was, disease continued to inflict the Native populations, a factor leading directly to ill will and what became known as the “Cayuse War” in 1847.
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