A perusal of documents reveals the reasons for this omission. Few young people wrote diaries during the overland crossing, and those diaries that were produced reflect the youth and inexperience of their authors. Limited in writing skills, in ability to interpret events, and in understanding the ramifications of the journey, these diarists exhibit little depth or insight in their chronicles. Merrill J. Mattes, in his monumental work, Platte River Road Narratives , rightly assigns these documents only one or two stars on a scale of one to five, reflecting, in his judgement, their value to trail study. Despite their deficiencies, these documents contain important materials for studying youngsters' participation in overland journeys because they were written while events are fresh in the minds of the journalists.
Diaries describe events as they occur and express the thinking of the authors at the time.
They possess immediacy.