Del Norte Public Library

Describes life for pioneers making the trek across North America to the West by wagon train.

Offers profiles of a collection of mountain men of the early nineteenth century--a group of adventurers who sought individual freedom and financial reward as beaver trappers in the Rocky Mountains--and discusses their contributions to the opening of the American West.

Thirty years after a night drinking rum with Ethan Allen leaves him with a copper plate screwed into his head, Private True Teague Kinneson -- Vermont schoolmaster, inventor, playwright, and explorer -- sets out with his young nephew Ticonderoga to race Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, True and Ti encounter Daniel Boone and his lusty six-foot-two-inch spinster daughter, fight and trick an army of Spaniards and...

The women who traveled west in covered wagons during the 1840s speak through these letters and diaries. Here are the voices of Tamsen Donner and young Virginia Reed, members of the ill-fated Donner party; Patty Sessions, the Mormon midwife who delivered five babies on the trail between Omaha and Salt Lake City; Rachel Fisher, who buried both her husband and her little girl before reaching Oregon. Still others make themselves heard, starting out from...

Lee Westfall, a young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold, must flee her home to avoid people who would abuse her powers, so when her best friend Jefferson heads out across Gold Rush-era America to stake his claim, she disguises herself as a boy and sets out on her own dangerous journey.

When her family moves from Boston to California in 1847, Araminta and her paintbox become separated, but through a series of new owners, the paintbox finds its way to California

Excerpts from the diary of a fourteen-year-old girl tell of her family's journey along the Oregon-California Trail during 1849-1850. Includes sidebars, activities, and a timeline related to the era.

The Oregon Trail held promise for thousands who moved West in search of land and freedom. Many found their dreams, while many perished or returned home in disappointment.