oregon trail

[mitchmaine]

a friend of mine living here in maine, nick buck, and his brother rinker, from connecticut, are three weeks out of missouri half way cross nebraska
(kearney?) following the platt with the goal of reaching oregon this fall. they have a covered wagon and a pup trailer pulled by three perch mules. they got no truck or trailer. just the mules and wagon. they are trying it the hard way. my neighbor calls them every day, and so far they haven’t wanted for a bale of hay or a pasture to camp in. and folks have been very helpful. if you see them passing thru, give ’em a shout, a helping hand if they need. we’d appreciate it. thanks, mitch

[Robert MoonShadow]

If you could get them, some pictures would be really cool to see.

[near horse]

I’m not completely sure on this but I think the Oregon Trail goes through Baker City OR in eastern OR – at least that’s where the Oregon Trail Museum is. Mitch, if you or your friends could keep us informed as they draw nearer I would like to head down and meet them – provide them with hay or something or maybe bring them a nice supper – other “locals” invited to join me if timing works out.

[HeeHawHaven]

We could host them for a night near Boise as well! Or maybe meet at baker city!

Dave

[mitchmaine]

thanks everyone, i will try and keep you all updated. seems like an overwhelming project to me, and i wasw reading last night that 350,000 settlers mnade that trek with losses at ten percent. but the originals didn’t have all you folks out there to help so i feel better already. robert, i’ll see if there is a photo to be had. and thanks again for the kind words. their progress is about a town a day, and i go a few days and get an update and they are 30 miles further. it is really driving home how hard it was moving west in ways i didn’t really get, i guess. thanks again, mitch
i beleive the kearney, neb. affiliate of abctv were interviewing them for a something, i think.

[mitchmaine]

best i could figure was to get the photos in the photo gallery.
they were taken on a phone and sent e-mail to us, and getting them over to here took about all the computer savvy me and my 11 year old computer geek neighbor could pull off.

[Robert MoonShadow]

Good flick!
Is he running a 3-abreast?

[mitchmaine]

@Robert MoonShadow 27549 wrote:

Good flick!
Is he running a 3-abreast?

yes robert. two jens and a jack. he tried the off she on a jockey stick and it didn’t work out to good. she got yanked and pulled around and two thousand miles of that wasn’t gonna work so he texted meaders in new hampshire and the sent ahead a set of triple lines (ahh, the computer). apparently the off mule is also a little shy and jumps at new stuff. she’s gonna get her fill of new stuff, i bet. so all is well so far.
wishen them and you good luck, mitch

[mitchmaine]

nick and company are west of ogallala and beyond the south platte heading across the california hills heading for the north platte and scotts bluff.
they are off the roads and in the original ruts of the real trail. kinda exciting. he thinks they may make wyoming come july. cross your fingers.
mitch
maine

[near horse]

It would be interesting if they met Lee the Horselogger heading the in the opposite direction. 😉

[dlskidmore]

I read an interesting memior last year about a fellow that traversed the trail three times. Once to go out and settle, once to go back and bring more family over, and a third time as an old man for publicity and fund raising to add monumnets and markers to the trail. The third time he went all the way to Washington DC to talk to congressmen about getting national monument funds for the trail. He had some interesting run-ins with NYC police, and red tape, ended up trapped in a horse stable while the politicians bickered about getting him a permit to dive cattle through the streets.

If you believe everything in the book, he was tangled up in just about everything that occured at that time period. An interesting read, but not a whole lot about the oxen.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29543

[leehorselogger]

am just outside of burns…will be in boise around july 1

[reb]

Mitch, does Nick live in Newcastle?

[mitchmaine]

@reb 27680 wrote:

Mitch, does Nick live in Newcastle?

yup, richard. he lives on the backside of route 1 over by cowshit corner. good guy. out on a roadtrip. sounds like fun, don’t it?
mitch

[HeeHawHaven]

@leehorselogger 27654 wrote:

am just outside of burns…will be in boise around july 1

Let us know if you need a place to stay. We are in Kuna, just outside of Boise.

Dave

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