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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1982)
Th*»#«.. W p i », IW 2 (Sec I ) SANDY ( O r e ) POST— 7 On Oregon Trail Dedication ceremony held 30,000 may have died by MICHAEL P. JONES P m t Corree|»on4ra( It i* believe by some historiane that 30,000 or more emigrants who a t tempted to reach a lush paradise known as the W illam ette Valley are buried along the Oregon T rail, mostly in unm ark ed graves. F or over 20 years, beginning in 1841, the tide of em igration brought hundreds of thousands from Missouri to the fe r tile wilderness valley known as the Willamette With visions of creating a naw life for themselves and their families deep in the heart of the Oregon Territory, they abandon ed or sold homes and worldly possessions, and s tr u c k o ut fo r th e unknown. T he 2,000-m ile tre k from Independence, Mo., took up to a year and was dangerous and always un predictable. Depending on the condi tion of the trail and the weather, at a breakneck speed they could average anywhere from six to 10 miles per day. When this was the case, the journey would only take between four to six months At tim es the slow- moving emigrant wagon tra in s c re p t through hostile Indian Territory, the Indians resenting the metal plows the pioneers carried with them The wild land they once knew was destined to be chang ed Its soil was tamed to nurture the strange new seeds of the settlers. Most of the dangers along the trail were caus ed by the elements, or were brought on by the hardships of the Journey D is e a s e s , such as measles and small pox, were brought into the ter ritory by the early fur traders, and rendered the tribes of Western Oregon helpless against the inva sion of the comining pioneers Most of the tribes had been reduced to mere handfuls In some cases entire tribes fell to extinc tion as a result of white men's diseases As the pioneers pushed through the hazardous d e s e rt an d in to treacherous mountainous regions, death took its toll along the way, striking both young and old alike Thousa nds per ished One historian estimates that from 1M1 to 1839. 30,000 or more died en route to the new land of plenty If this is true, s tr e tc h in g fro m the Missouri River to the W illamette River, on the average, there would be one grave every 100 yards of the Trail. Daughters of the American R e v o lu tio n o f f ic ia lly dedicated the grave In a ceremony alongside the old emigrant trail they placed a bronze plaque, mounted on a small rock by the grave, so passers-by could pay their respects T h e u nkno w n io n ee r woman had become a sym bol of the forgotten and co u rag eo u s, who co n tributed with their lives the settling of the west A few years later so meone stole the marker fro m th e is o la te d gravesite On the afternoon of Aug 23, 46 years after the first dedication, the DAR and a host of supporters came together with a large crowd of descendants from the Barlow Trail pioneers, and replaced the stolen marker with another This one was fastened to a large and s e e m in g ly boulder u n ra o v a b le C la r e B e ls h e r of Portland, the chairperson of the DAR's historical marker committee and the organizer of the rededica tion ceremony, brought together a large crowd of s u p p o rte rs and w e ll- wishers P a r t ic ip a n t s in th e f e s t iv itie s in c lu d e d representatives from the Forest Service, the Sandy Pioneer Association, the National Parks Service, the W asco C o u n ty H is to r ic a l S o c ie ty , Multnomah District No. 14 Garden Club, the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs, the Barlow Trail Long Rifles, the Sons and Daughters of the Oregon Pioneers, Sons of the American Revolution, the Wasco County Pioneer Association, local Boy Scout Troops numbers 173 (of Sandy) and 662 (of Hoodland). the Clackamas County Historical Society and the Jackknife-Zion- Horseheaven H isto rica l Society who was born on March 17, 1831 in Ripley County, In diana. Newell House Museum " in Champoeg It was made by Irene Goodrich Zumwalt. Western Alley Trading Post Bing Beckman, the fire management officer of the Zig Zag Ranger District, opened the ceremonies He is a member of the Barlow T rail Long Rifles N ew & Used Buy • Sell • Trade Clutching a musket and d res se d in c lo th in g re p r e s e n ta tiv e of the pioneer period, Beckman walked a short distance of the old trail to the grave, where respects for the unknown w om an w ere paid. VAHJABU (PUPO N Coupon Valid During Sept, 1982 % OFF Covering the m arker, prior to the dedication, was a fea th e r-s tic h e d wool quilt, which was carried during the long trek over the Barlow T ra il in 1843 EVERYTHING! (1 Coupon per family) Western Alley Trading Foil The quilt was on loan from the DAR's “ Robert 3 9 2 6 1 P r o c to r , S o n d y 6 6 8 - 9 8 0 0 19181 Bhd in Sand, 464-7411 produce, grocery, non-food! Mie is eerecTive sen ew thru la*. EXTRA VALUE NICE 'N SOFT, ASST'D. 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