Covered Wagon Days: From the Private Journals of Albert Jerome Dickson

by Albert Jerome Dickson, Arthur Jerome Dickson, Albert Jerome Dickson

Book Overview

Albert Jerome Dickson was fourteen years old in 1864 when he left LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in a small caravan of covered wagons headed for Montana Territory. Thousands of emigrants had preceded him on the Oregon Trail, but none ever described the journey in sharper detail. Covered Wagon Days recreates the daily progress of Dickson's party, which included his guardians, Joshua and Rebecca Ridgley. The logistics of such a trip, the sights along a trail...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803265824
• ISBN13: 9780803265820
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Unp - Nebraska Paperback
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Lively, spirited journal

Albert Jerome Dickson was a fourteen-year old youth when taking these notes of his 1864 journey westward to Montana. In later years his son Arthur compiled all his father's notes, journals and papers into this narrative. Young Albert was enthusiastic, sharp-eyed and keen in his observations. Not only do we read of day to day travel on the trail, but also Indian uprisings and intimidations of the early 1860's; road agents, thieves and murderers and how vigilante groups confronted this behavior; life in early Montana mining communities; the reality of making ends meet while homesteading; establishment of territorial laws; character analysis of such men as Jim Bridger, J. M. Bozeman, military figures, the notorious Jack Slade and many others. An enjoyable and historical timepiece.