Journal of James Sherrill: It's all About the Riversl

For all that the Oregon Trail is on dry land, even etched many inches deep into the land, our wagon train is actually following a series of rivers. We crossed the great Missouri River at Council Bluffs, and then followed the Platte River as far as the Sweetwater River, which joined our trail before Devil's Gate. We stuck to the Sweetwater - a river whose pure, sweet taste matched its name - until just before we reached South Pass.

After going through the pass, we came to Pacific Springs -- not a river, but an important stop on the Oregon Trail, being the first water after leaving the Sweetwater. The water was alkali, barely drinkable for man or beast. The grounds all around the springs was fouled with manure from the oxen, and muddied from all the tramping in the damp ground. There were bodies of dead oxen laying around the springs, putrefying and making it very unpleasant for a stopping place.

We were relieved to move on, crossing a dry river, a branch of the Sandy. Next we came to the Parting of the Ways, where folks taking the easier trail through Fort Bridger to our south, and folks going farther south to Utah and the Mormon center at Salt Lake, took the left hand fork in the trail. We took the right hand fork in the trail, striking out on the Sublette Cutoff, straight towards Cokesville on the Bear River, where the Oregon Trail came up from Fort Bridger towards Fort Hall. We were cutting off the part of the trail that went along the Big Sandy River,, and then the Green River and then the Bear River.

Green River, Wyoming |Source = Christie's |Date = 1878
Author = Thomas Moran, Permission = Public Domain (see note below)

First we crossed the Big Sandy, and after filling our water barrels and every container to the brim, we set out across the forty-five waterless miles that made the Sublette Cutoff so dangerous. We started in the middle of the night, after giving the oxen and everyone a rest, and we drove on through for the next twenty-four hours, pausing again at night, to rest in the cooler temperatures.

White Rock (left), Squaretop Mountain (right) reflected in Green River Lakes.
Bridger-Teton National Forest. 2012 Photo by Julie Campbell. Credit: US Forest Service.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code

Although we didn't follow the Green River, it meandered so that we had to cross it right where it was swift and deep. This was near the little town of La Barge, and we took advantage of the ferries, a rare opportunity on the Oregon Trail. From La Barge we had to navigate a mountain range that was between us and Cokeville, Wyoming, where we could rejoin the main Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail follows the Bear River from Cokeville all the way to the Soda Springs. We have heard much about those delightful geysers, and are eager to see them.

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