Oregon Trail (1956)

beyond the Rockies W here at the ocean the trail end after spanning more than 2/3 of the americant it was called the Big Met from the early 1840s until 1869 more than 500 people moved some like the 49ers went in search of California others like the Todd family back and some of them died on it it was by explorers and fur trators the it in Pike County Missouri decided to pull up Stakes sell their homes and farms and go west for other reasons now look really you doing that your father will have a p moving things around all over the place you w't know where it's you taking a plow along with you Jim sure I Mr B A lot of work where we're going oh we better check off this list see two sacks of onions two onions right over there and three bags of potatoes they're over here barrel of corn meal barrel of flour Billy cut it out a box of coffee and a barrel of sugar well that's it might as well start loading with this thing yeah let me help you with that Jim oh wait a minute let me help toe be careful Jim don't scratch it let me help huh Billy will you get that weer out of here come on Dan and keep them out of the way while we're loading the wagon you hear come on come on Jim C I wish you wouldn't hard Billy so much you're getting meaner in a snapping no Sarah it's not SC I wouldn't want anything to happen to that take me din a gym me and my family we going to wargon with you a lot of folks are going too many maybe it's Manifest Destiny that's what it is it's what Manifest Destiny a you know he that it was Manifest Destiny That Old Glory was to fly over Oregon it's Manifest Destiny that we was to lick the Mexicans and take California away from them don't know nothing about that I'm going for a piece of land that's part of it all that land out there free for the taken you call a125 C an acre free it's free squat what find a piece of land and squat like I do reckon I'll buy Jim pack this for me real careful please you taking this it was a wedding present from your mother but honey the wagon still loaded now and if this stays behind I stay behind porcelain lamps pump organs gigos knickknacks what nuts and Plum D foolishness what is it Billy why should has it so we can hit him up now Billy what in ton what we want to do that for when I'd leave until tomorrow morning I got him I got that bisky red skin now you and I don't have to worry no more I got him not sorry we're going are you honey no Jim not sorry we talked it over time and again I know Jim there's a valley out there the Willet Valley it's got a ridge of mountains rising up against the Pacific Ocean lots of Timber and soil so rich it it make you feet greasy just to walk over it we're leaving so much our friends our home it's just it Jim yes honey let's not get cross with each other no matter how hard things get sure honey be easy with Billy gentle him a little I'll try [Music] [Music] Sarah let kill yourself folks thank you Mr Bowen we will you out setet Billy no wait a minute po where's dster Billy we not taking him not taking him Jim we can't take him Billy he just gets sick and die on the trail the bones will give him a good home get get get Billy quiet down got enough to do to carry food for ourselves you wanted the truth and that's it you should have told him before Jim you should have told him I tried to I tried to tell him all along but I couldn't up there up up there [Music] [Applause] [Music] I had a [Music] dog and his name was blue I bet you5 he's a good dog to goodbye with their troubles and their hopes packed in their big Koga wagons they went down to the banks of the Missouri River from All Points East here at Independence the great wagon trains were made up here before jumping off into the Wilderness worried questions were asked and answered 5 months and we're lucky most of your teams are ox and they're slow but Dependable we'll do good if we average 12 to 15 mil a day what about f for the ox that's one of the reasons we're leaving now we'll have the spring grass but you better take along extra sacks of stuff too some stretches of the trail or dry iron a preacher's mouth after a Revival meeting the women are worried about Indians from here to the plant canza and swanes are pretty friendly after that pones you can't tell about them around Fort Bernard will'll run into the Sue they're pretty tough customers so you better keep your Potter dry aren't there any soldiers along the trail yes there are at the forts but the trails more than 2,000 Mi long no Army could Patrol that first off the Indians was mostly friendly but as more and more people head West they're getting kind of mean some of them murder and thie and Heathen that's what they are comes to that it seems to me we're the ones who are doing the thi why and Blazers didn't say that it was their country first off wasn't it I remember every buddy no matter what you do stay in line and keep moving we got a long way to go let's roll come on boyy the distance ahead more than 2,000 miles but from now on with a slow pace of The Oxen distance would be measured not in miles but in days and weeks and months now up [Music] there there [Music] Sarah I haven't been able to find enough wood by this darn River to keep a pot of beans going for 5 minutes we'll make out [Music] Jim ain't seen a tree for week seems like where's Billy with me with you no wasn't Jim there was some pawy moving around us today I'm going for George Reed George have you seen Billy no I was just coming for you have you seen Mary no since Patrick rode by a while ago kind of worried Hannah said the Scout spotted a whole slew of pony up ahead we better get the others if anything's happened to them you women stay here you know it's just possible that wait look Billy Where Have You Been we were out gathering firewood ma where he come from we couldn't find any wood he asked us look for it he was nice could he stay for supper [Music] well we haven't got much but what we've got he's welcome to the days turn to weeks weeks to the second month above the trail there's only the Big Sky and the glaring sun come up there come come on who who FKS a CR here we can make it what is it Jim why have we stopped nothing just another River to Cross there were many rivers to cross but finally 316 Mi and more than a month from Independence the river plat twisting and turning but always pointing West the only way to go and the hard way [Applause] easy boy God don't stop now hey Tom get after those cows [Applause] [Music] there up up sir weapon Sarah wh them get up there get up up there get up there woo sah come back here what is it what's the matter I've been trying to tell you the wagon's so heavy I'm sorry s that hill almost killed The Oxen it almost killed him you hear it almost killed me I know where I'm going and I know who's gone with me I know who I love and I [Music] wonder feather beds are soft and painted rooms are Bonnie I would trade them all to see my handsome wi John [Music] I know where I'm going and I know who's gone with [Music] me I know who I love and God knows who is asleep tuck it out I guess like the rest of it Sarah I I'm sorry about back there don't want to talk about it J hey Billy Billy what is it look what is it Courthouse Rock HX from St Louis named it said it reminded them of their Courthouse back in St Louis don't look like no Courthouse to me there were other landmarks ageless reminders that the continent was not all unbroken Prairie but mostly the Prairie for Endless miles and then thrusting out of the planes Scott's Pluff and after that 667 mil and more than 2 months from the jumping off place a welcome sight Fort lony a place to rest The Oxen replenish supplies make repairs to the wagons talk things over any chance of snow in the mountains not this time of year we're in good shape after the Rockies we still got the Cascades unless we keep moving we could be caught by snow there is that true for a fact it sure is I've seen people start to eat in their own teams when that happens you're done for there's no telling what people will eat when they get good and hungry you heard about the Doner party the women and kids are listening I'm just trying to impress on you the hardest part of the trip is still ahead of us my wagon's sort of heavy that's another thing you better get rid of everything you don't need some of your women won't like it maybe but it's got to be done you better lighten your wagons all you can [Music] sounds like that's two war party the soldiers here at the Fort told us about think they'll attack the fort I don't know they're drunk you can tell that fool trade them as the Solen whiskey sounds like they don't want us around can't blame them I guess better take a look [Music] you awake Billy yes sir have they attacked yet no son I'll let you know if they do but I don't think they really will you better get them sleep though we'll be starting again in a couple of hours all right everybody let's move on they move out from Fort laramy out and up into the foothills of the Rockies into a nightmare of turning Wheels shimmering heat swirling dust a mirage of movement that is not movement getting somewhere that is nowhere of going slowly up into Limitless mountains Jim what is it what's the matter what kind of a husband am I what kind of a father am I bringing you and Billy out and on his godforsaken Trail and for nothing for a peaceful land I had land back in Missouri it was good land Jim you're a fine husband and a fine father and it wasn't just the land not just that it was something more you had to make the cross you had to come West it was in you and it's in us too it's inil and me too but will we make it Sarah we'll make it Jim at Smith's Fork on the bare River was another resting place for the immigrants read Queeny had six of them he's the best of the litter sassy little fell isn't he yes sir Billy I made a bad mistake about D Wester I'm sorry I know it's been hard on the trail Billy yeah yes sir it'll be better when we settle down again when we have a place of our own yes p i it used to be what are you going to call him gosh I don't know P what do you think why not name him after the President James Z [Music] paull out from their Camp beside the Bear River towards Fort Hall in The Parting of ways H here the California bound turn off for the California Trail the Oregon bound continue north and west I know where I'm going and I know who's going with [Music] me but at last July days turned towards August a promise of the land to come the beginning of the Oregon Country a promise and a promise kept not for the Todd family alone but for the nameless thousands who were part of the Great Crossing okay Billy but the coming of the railroad in 1869 marked forever the passing of this era the era of the Prairie Schooner carrying the Pioneer and his family family Westward to settle a Wilderness can you see Billy there now what does it look like look like home huh you mean our old home in Missouri no sir like our new home in [Music] Oregon did you ever hear tell of sweet fessie from Pike who crossed the wide prairies with her lover Ike to Yol of cattle a large yellow dog a tall Shanghai rooster and One spotted hog saying goodbye Pike County farewell for a while we'll come back again when I've panned out my pile they swam the wide rivers and crossed the tall Peaks camped on the Prairie for weeks upon weeks starvation and Cera hard work and sorrow but they reached origon and buil for tomorrow