Tag Archives: Oregon Trail

Women’s Voices from the Oregon Trail by Susan Butruille

Leave a reply

Women’s Voices from the Oregon Trail by Susan Butruille is one of the more niche books I’ve ever read, but what can I say? I was pretty engrossed all the way through. The writer drives the Oregon Trail from Missouri and shares diary excerpts and insights of what the trail was like, especially for the women. Butruille stops at historical sites and shares photographs and more insights inspired by those visits.

As a daughter of pioneers, I imagined my own relatives making a similar trek, imagined their lives and relationships and hardships. I think this book is even more relevant to those of us with that personal connection. A broader audience might be interested in the history. I think the rigid role of wife as domestic servant will be especially striking to some readers as well.

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory

Leave a reply

Recently, I’ve found a renewed interest in the history of the Oregon trail. My ancestors actually came across on the Oregon trail about a 170 years ago, and it is because of them that I still live in this region today! Someone recommended Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell by Kristiana Gregory, and so I got it from the library and read it with the boys.

The book is a fictional account of a young girl’s journal with her family from Missouri to Oregon City. The book is a real treasure trove of historically accurate details! It was also fascinating to read as the characters traveled over familiar land where I live and travel now (mostly by freeway) all the time.

This book came from the library’s “juvenile” collection. It was interesting for me to read, but also fairly engaging for my little ones as well. They were interested to learn about their ancestors and interested as the travelers in the book crossed territory that my kids are familiar with.

Some accounts were too brutal, and I glossed over them as best I could for my very young readers. Some estimates say that traveling the Oregon trail had a 10% fatality rate, and it seemed this book held to that number pretty closely. This is probably a great book for independent readers, who are a little older than my little ones.