# The Oregon Trail

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(also published as The California & Oregon Trail) was originally serialized in twenty-one installments in Knickerbocker's Magazine (1847–49) and subsequently published as a book in 1849.
The book is a breezy, first-person account of a 2-month summer tour in 1846 of the U.S. states of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas. Parkman was 23 at the time. The heart of the book covers the three weeks Parkman spent hunting buffalo with a band of Oglala Sioux.
[Front matter]
FRANCIS PARKMAN'S WRITINGS.
* The Oregon Trail................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 vol.
* The Conspiracy of Pontiac................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................2 vols.
* France and England in North America.
* Pioneers of France in the New World................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 vol.
* The Jesuits in North America................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 vol.
* La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 vol.
* The Old Régime in Canada under Louis XIV.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 vol.
* Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 vol.
* A Half Century of Conflict................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................2 vols.
* Montcalm and Wolfe................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................2 vols.
THE
OREGON TRAIL
SKETCHES
OF
PRAIRIE AND ROCKY-MOUNTAIN LIFE
BY
FRANCIS PARKMAN
COPYRIGHT AUTHOR'S EDITION.
TORONTO:
GEORGE N. MORANG & COMPANY, LIMITED.
1901
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year nineteen hundred and one, by George N. Morang & Company, Limited, at the Department of Agriculture.
Toronto Brown-Searle Printing Co.
TO
THE COMRADE OF A SUMMER
AND
THE FRIEND OF A LIFETIME,
Quincy Adams Shaw.
​The "Oregon Trail" is the title under which this book first appeared. It was afterwards changed by the publisher, and is now restored to the form in which it originally stood in the Knickerbocker Magazine. As the early editions were printed in my absence, I did not correct the proofs, a process doubly necessary, since the book was written from dictation. The necessary corrections have been made in the present edition.
    As of May 2018, the Wikisource transcription of this book is largely from an earlier edition; efforts to align the text with the Fourth Edition are page-by-page, and are ongoing. (Wikisource contributor note)
CONTENTS.
* CHAPTERPAGE
* Preface to the Fourth Edition................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ix
* I.The Frontier................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1
* II.Breaking the Ice................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
* III.Fort Leavenworth................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................21
* IV."Jumping Off"................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................25
* V.The "Big Blue"................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................37
* VI.The Platte and the Desert................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................51
* VII.The Buffalo................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................65
* VIII.Taking French Leave................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................80
* IX.Scenes at Fort Laramie................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................97
* X.The War Parties................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................113
* XI.Scenes at the Camp................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................137
* XII.Ill-luck................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................157
* XIII.Hunting Indians................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................165
* XIV.The Ogillallah Village................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................189
* XV.The Hunting Camp................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................212
* XVI.The Trappers................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................237
* XVII.The Black Hills................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................247
* XVIII.A Mountain Hunt................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................251
* XIX.Passage of the Mountains................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................264
* XX.The Lonely Journey................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................280
* XXI.The Pueblo and Bent's Fort................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................301
* XXII.Tete Rouge, the Volunteer................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................309
* XXIII.Indian Alarms................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................315
* XXIV.The Chase................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................327
* XXV.The Buffalo Camp................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................337
* XXVI.Down the Arkansas................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................354
* XXVII.The Settlements................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................372
Illustrations
* The Thunder Fighters Would Take Their Bows and Arrows................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Frontispiece
* Fort Laramie and Its Inmates................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................facing page 97
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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