On the Barlow Road

This morning we changed the operation of the train, breaking the students into three family groups. One group is traveling now with Mr. and Mrs. Dave Vixie. Another is a family of Bill Vixie, Ranger Jane and several “children” while the last is the “family” of Mr. Merchant and Mrs. Wragge. Jakob said he had been homesick, but becoming a part of a family on the wagon train has helped him. Today we traveled down the Barlow Road, finding it extremely difficult to negotiate. There were downed trees and even though much of the gear was left behind at gravel camp, the wagons were still too heavy, making it difficult for the teams to pull them. Bill’s horses were missing this morning, so we had to leave one wagon behind and only had three left. In one area Mr. Dave Vixie’s family found it necessary to leave even more thing behind, including their sleeping bags, and personal possessions. Mr. Bill Vixie didn’t have much better luck. When going down one steep hill, the students were holding onto ropes to help hold the wagon back. But the hill was too much for them and the wagon picked up speed, crashing at the bottom of the hill. Fortunately Livee had taken the team down separately, and the students and Bill let go of the ropes as the wagon picked up speed, so nobody was hurt.

The other wagons had to negotiate around the broken parts left littering the trail. Later Bill and Mr. Monte Nystrom took the mules and used some pack saddles to retrieve some of the goods, so the “family” had food, blankets, sleeping bags, and other items in camp tonight.

Everybody was really beat by the time we got in to camp (crew and students alike). The families cooked their own dinner and then shared some music in Mr. Merchant’s camp.

John and Jennie, some settlers from Oregon City, come to camp. They told us about the road ahead, warning us that some of the more difficult stretches lay ahead of us with steep hills, and a river to cross. But they also told us about fertile farmland in the Willamette Valley. John really got the attention of the girls in camp when he told them they could claim land of their own, but only if they were married. The scheming began immediately as the girls began discussing the potential husband material in camp. Methinks the girls want the land more than they want the husband, but if it takes a husband to get the land, they’ll try to find one.

Today Lydia, Angela, and Mike were not on the trail as they are all still feeling unwell and remained behind with our support crew.

We did not locate Mr. Bill Vixie’s horses today. Andrew was the most upset about the missing animals, telling me he could run fast and go into the forest and just find them. Lincoln and I were both concerned he might just try to do that, so we set Ranger Jane on sentry duty to be sure Andrew did not disappear. He seemed somewhat relieved when Mr. Bill assured him the horses would eventually return home.

--Candy Moulton