In Independence, Missouri and The Oregon Trail is Complete!

Hello Fellow Wayward Travelers!!!

I left Topeka, Kansas this morning and followed the Driving Route for the Oregon Trail. It was great while I was in the country, but then it followed the freeways and let’s just say, I am glad I had my GPS loaded with the museum’s address, because I lost the route somewhere in the maze of freeways!!! But, I did arrive in Independence, Missouri and I found the museum. Of course, it was still closed --- but it would open at 12:30 PM and I got there at 12:15 PM!!! So, I had lunch in my little travel trailer and then went into the museum!!!

Well, as I said yesterday, today will be the last of the Oregon Trail!!! I drove into Independence, Missouri this afternoon and went directly to the National Frontier Trails Museum and took about two hours walking through it to find any new information. This museum was different from all the previous ones in that it had quotes from the diaries of the pioneers and used that to tell the stories of their travels. It also showed all the trails west – not just the Oregon Trail! It talked about The Lewis and Clark Expedition, The Santa Fe Trail, The California Trail, The Mormon Pioneer Trail, and The Oregon Trail. All these Travels/Trails started or came through independence, Missouri.

I didn’t take many photos, because I had see most of the exhibits in previous museums, but here are some of the unusual stuff I found:

A bronze plaque that I have been seeing all along the Oregon Trail, but I never knew why it was being put there until I read the story in this museum. Here is a photo of the bronze plaque ---

 

 
It was developed in 1924 to commemorate a man named Ezra Meeker who came to Oregon as a boy over the Oregon Trail and in the early 1900s drove a wagon back to Washington DC to get the government to make the trail a National Monument. He succeeded and this plaque was made to identify the trail in his memory!! Cool, right???

 One of the exhibits showed some stuff from an old Blacksmith shop in Independence at around 1827. These shops became very busy when the Oregon Trail started to see so many pioneers starting out on it. There is said to have been 250,000 that took that trail seeking a new life in Oregon. Anyway, the blacksmith shops were doing all kinds of extra work from making wagon wheels, shoeing horses, and repairing guns, which weren’t their normal jobs. Here is a photo of a photo showing how busy an actual blacksmith’s shop was in those days!!

 

Did I ever tell you what was considered the “Bare Essentials“? That is what the pioneer should have in his 4 foot by 10 foot wagon, like this one ---

 

Well, here are the lists ---
 

Now, if you overloaded your wagon, you would end up throwing some things out along the way. This was called “Trail Trash” and here is one such item ---

 

 

Now this trail trash came in handy for a gentleman called William H. Newlin. He went looking for gold in California in 1850, leaving his wife Esther home to take care of the place while he made them rich!!! But like most of the prospectors, he found no Gold and came home penniless!!! It is said, he found this rocking chair on the Oregon Trail as he was coming home and chose to carry it on his back to give it to his wife as a gift!!?? Wasn’t that sweet of him??? Here’s the chair ---

Now, tomorrow will be kind of uneventful!!! I need to take the Little Ford Pickup into the Ford Dealer and get its oil changed and all the systems checked over. I have driven it 5,000 miles since I left home almost one month ago!! My, how time flies!!! I expect to put on another 5,000 miles before I get home, so the little truck needs to be taken care of!!!

On Tuesday, I will be hitting the road again to drive to St. Louis, Missouri so that I can go through the St. Louis Arch Museum. If you remember last year, they wouldn’t let me in because I was carrying a pocket knife!!?? This year I will try to get in without the pocket knife!!!! More on this later.

Well, I am getting tired, so, with that, I will go for now, but I will see you all again tomorrow. Again, to quote that great comedian, Red Skelton, "Good Night and May God Bless!"

Happy Trails ---- Jon