Hobbies And Interests
Bluffs and Rocks
When settlers started westward from Missouri or Iowa, most had only ever seen wide-open plains and farmland or the landscape of the city. Some of the first landmarks of the newly explored west were massive pillars of rock, long ago shaped by the glaciers and other natural elements.
The first to be seen on the trail were the twins Courthouse Rock and Jail Rock, towering over the open plains of Nebraska. Not long after was Chimney Rock, which was the subject of countless journal entries and sketches made by the nearly 500,000 people who passed the landmark. A tall, 120-foot spire of rock perched on a rounded bluff, Chimney Rock continues to be worn by the elements.
Rivers
Rivers were a vital part of the Oregon Trail landscape that could save lives or take them. Settlers carried what they could, and many would take the opportunity to refill food supplies with fish from the rivers, such as Salmon Falls. Crossing the rivers could be dangerous, however, and many groups lost more than one member to swiftly moving currents. Some shallow, slow-moving rivers could be forded, but more cautious settlers could hire guides to escort them safely across.
The Platte River was one of the first that needed to be crossed; a fort sat on its banks as a refuge for weary travelers and to help cross the wide, shallow plains river with its sticky mud pits and deceiving sandy banks. After crossing several branches of the Platte and Missouri Rivers, those higher up in the mountains were so dangerous that settlers often took the long way around to a safer crossing rather than risk areas like the high granite gully of the Sweetwater River. Also seen along the rivers were waterfalls such as the Shoshone Falls.
Plains
Until the Rocky Mountains, much of the landscape was wide-open plains dotted with fresh, natural springs. Springs were given the names of explorers, often carved on the rocky ground nearby. This first leg of the trip was also home to numerous Pony Express stations, way stations, general stores and stagecoach stops, defining the section of the trail's landscape touched with civilization.
Grassland plains were often broken by mounds of rock and dirt rising from the flat horizon. One of the first was Blue Mound, recorded by many settlers as one of the first signs of the adventure that still lay ahead. Fresh water and grass for the oxen were plentiful through this area, and much of the plains was still patrolled by the United States government.
Mountains and Lava Lands
As the trail neared the Continental Divide high in the Rocky Mountains, the landscape became a far cry from the wide-open plains that the settlers had previously been traversing. Beginning with Sublette's Cutoff, a relatively short stretch of the trail of only about 50 miles and continuing through Soda Springs, settlers were forced to traverse several days through a landscape that more than one pioneer noted was worthy of hell itself. The first stretch was waterless and dusty, so barren that wagons would stagger trips through the parched landscape to avoid the dust they were kicking up.
After that stretch was the lava lands, a stretch barren of vegetation and dotted with foul-smelling and tasting mineral springs. Active geysers sprayed water that tasted like beer or sulfur, while the landscape was dotted with white, gray, red and black rocks.