End of trail at Baker; Oregon Trail plaque, Baker County. [Phimister Proctor bas-relief on granite slab. Head of Oregon Trail celebration posed beside on horseback, in beaded flower vest.]
End of trail at Baker; Oregon Trail plaque, Baker County. [Phimister Proctor bas-relief on granite slab. Head of Oregon Trail celebration posed beside on horseback, in beaded flower vest.]
The South Pass over the Continential Divide was reached by easy grades. Here the trail separated in crossing Green River Basin. The oldest and most direct route was the Sublette Cut-off, another was the detour to Fort Bridger, and the last the Lander Cut-off in 1859. This scene shows South Pass and the emigrant trains in three lines with cattle and other livestock in between as a means of defense against marauding Indians.
The upper California crossing of the South Fort to the Platte River. At the forks of the Platte the Oregon Trail crossed the South Fork to the North Platte between the Lower and Upper California Crossings; always difficult either from quicksand or high water.