It Happened on the Oregon Trail

by Tricia Martineau Wagner

Book Overview

It Happened on the Oregon Trail includes twenty-nine unusual, remarkable, little known events that happened along the trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon's Willamette Valley. From Rufus K. Porter's brilliant plan to fly people to Oregon in hot air balloons, to the plight of a young girl who climbed Independence Rock to carve her name and was left behind by her wagon party, this book reveals the hidden stories about the trail.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762725796
• ISBN13: 9780762725793
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Two Dot Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Oregon Trail History

The other reviewers already did a great job describing the book. I found the book interesting because it describes what different individuals/families endured in their trip West. As my kids get older I will definitely select a few stories for bed time reading.

It Happened On the Oregon Trail

Really captures the feelings while giving the history! This is a wonderful and easy read that captures the strains, toils and joys that happened on the voyage out west. The author did a very good job of crafting a series of individual stories together into a mosaic. The stories collectively provide insight into the feelings of our brave ancestors, who set out on such a dangerous voyage, all to create a better life for their family. I would highly recommend it, especially so for the school kids!

Review by Beth Olsen

A native resident of southeastern U.S., Tricia Martineau Wagner, while living in California, became captivated by western history, especially the means by which the U.S. became a nation that spanned the continent. Her interest led her to write intriguing stories of those who lived the reality of life on the westward trail while crossing a vast wilderness from Missouri, stretching over 2,000 miles to the bewildering heights of the Rocky Mountains. She depicts a variety of experiences of men, women and children who walked the dusty, long trail midst their worst enemies--time, disease and weather. Tricia's superlative narration swiftly binds the reader to the lives of these historic characters, bringing them vividly to life in the minds-eye. Her twenty-nine factual short stories reveal meticulous research shown in the bibliography. Being a descendant of Rebecca Burdick Winters, the focus of Tricia's last story, I felt again the love and sacrifice of a pioneer mother for family, religion, and friends while reading Tricia's rendition of Rebecca's death by cholera on the plains. Others who felt of Rebecca's love returned that love by burying her body deeply and staying up through the night chiseling her identity into a tire iron to place as her head stone. Rebecca's love did not end with her death, but continued to inspire her family 144 years later when they exhumed her remains for a more proper burial. Rebecca's love still continues, as Tricia later wrote, "Rebecca is working through us all." The entire book opens a little-known frontier of knowledge of an era that each of us can experience vicariously through Tricia's exceptionally well written book.

History teacher who LOVES the book

It Happened on the Oregon Trail is a great resource for history teachers who are looking for a well-written collection of researched accounts of America's true pioneers who traveled the Oregon Trail. It serves as a coloful supplement to the often-dry and sparsely detailed history textbook recollections of trail stories. Written in an almost lyrical style, students and teachers will find the vignettes captivating and very emotional. Tricia Martineau Wagner has captured history the way it should be told!

Kids will appreciate the Oregon Trail's trials

These stories come alive as you travel with the families on the Oregon Trail. Kids will come to know these people were real and did endure incredible hardships. Too many stories do not get told to the kids, these stories help keep the Oregon Trail alive, interesting and exciting.