by Rinker Buck
Central California & Pikes Peak Express Company, 186
Cheyenne Indians, 182, 233, 244
Child, Andrew, 236
children
and castoffs along Oregon Trail, 235
casualties among, 162–64
Cayuse Indian, 412
grandparents as raising, 133–36
in Marysville, 137–39
in Oregon, 396, 398
Stevenson, 295–98
at Whitman mission, 412
The Childs Route (Wyoming), 235–36, 243, 244, 251, 254, 256
Chimney Rock (Nebraska), 5, 56, 109, 115, 182, 191, 216, 229–31, 230
cholera, 177–81, 183, 212, 214–15, 230, 252, 370
Church of the Latter-day Saints. See Mormons
City of the Saints (Burton), 234
Civil War
homesteading after the, 343–44
and Indian wars, 412
mules in, 34, 35, 42
Overland Mail route during, 185
reenactors of, 243, 245
Rinker’s views about, 413
wagons/carts in, 44, 71, 72
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 168, 344, 345
Clark, John, 19, 40–41, 160, 180, 280
Clemens, Orion, 42
Clemens, Samuel. See Twain, Mark
Clergy and Laity Concerned, 240
Clyde (Oregon cowboy), 381
Cody, William Frederick “Buffalo Bill,” 191, 294–95
Coke, Henry, 41
Cokeville, Wyoming, 355, 367–68
Cole, Thomas, 286
Colorado State University (Fort Collins), Snodderly remains at, 256–57
Columbia River, 383, 410, 411, 412, 413
Conestoga wagons, 66–68, 70, 74
“The Confessions of a Disenchanted American” speech, Buck’s (Tom), 240–42
continental divide, 107, 273, 299, 324–25. See also South Pass
Cooke, Lucy, 19
Coon, Polly, 280–81
cordiality, western, 343–44
corgi attack on Olive Oyl, 319–20
Corps of Topographical Engineers, U.S., 214
Cottonwood Creek (Wyoming), 3, 236–37
County Road 319 (Wyoming), 273
Courthouse Rock (Nebraska), 182, 216, 229
Cowles, Mike, 95
Crazy Horse (Lakota warrior), 244
crazyass passion, 20, 82, 335, 381, 416
Cundall Ranch (Wyoming), 236–37
Curry, George Law, 18–19
cutoff country
map of, 349
Rinker’s views about, 351
See also specific cutoff
D&B Ranch Supply store (Baker City, Oregon), 401
Daily Missouri Republican, 157
Dalles (Oregon), 384
debris: along Oregon Trail, 40, 115–18, 235
Deer Flat, Oregon, 381
Delano, Alonzo, 128
Delaware River: Buck family’s crossing of bridge on, 141–43, 144, 145–46, 194, 202
DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, 89, 175
demographics: changes in U.S., 135
Dempsey Ridge (Wyoming), 326, 340, 352, 354–55, 356, 368, 415, 416
desert
Rinker’s travels in, 338–42, 348–51
and South Pass as separating two deserts, 325–26
See also Little Colorado Desert
Devil’s Gate (Wyoming), 5, 270–72, 273, 280, 281, 293, 311, 354. See also Martin’s Cove
DeVoto, Bernard, 14
Diary of a Pioneer (Searls), 157, 235
Doan Creek (Oregon), 413
doctors
with wagon trains, 111
See also Whitman, Marcus
Donation Land Act (1850), 343
Donner, George, 68
Donner Party, 68, 278
Dorsey’s Road Ranch (Nebraska), 197
Drury, Clifford M., 111
Duffin, Reg, 256
Durst, Duane, 3–7
Elkhorn Mountains, 397, 398, 401
Ellis Ranch (Wyoming), 293, 299–301
Emery, Robert, 172
Emigrant Gap (California), 262, 273
Emigrant Guide (Hastings), 115
Emigrant Springs (Wyoming), 334, 340, 352, 353–54, 356
energy projects, 17, 350
“Energy Trail,” 350
Enterprise, Oregon: Hells Canyon Mule Days in, 404
equipment/supplies
Cindy and Donna’s cleaning of, 376–77
and crash at South Pass, 331, 335–36, 337
and daily life on trail, 127, 151
and end of Rinker’s Oregon Trail trip, 404
for launching Rinker’s Oregon Trail trip, 26, 45–47, 64, 98
Nick’s rejection of Rinker’s, 45–47
equipment/supplies (cont.)
Rinker’s getting rid of, 113–15
in “Trail Pup” cart, 113–14, 223, 331, 335–36, 337, 389, 399
Erie Canal, 70
“Erie Canal Song,” 43
Estelle, James, 326
Exner, Don, 191–94, 195–96
Exner, Sheila, 191, 193, 195
The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842 (Frémont), 324–25
families: as pioneers, 100–101, 102
Farewell Bend, Oregon, 4, 6, 166, 387, 389, 390, 391
farming, 201–2
Farson Cutoff (Wyoming), 55, 348, 352
Farson, Wyoming
Rinker at, 339–42, 343, 347–48, 356
Rinker’s travels to, 333, 337, 338–39
fear, Rinker’s views about, 310
Fetterman City, 293
Fetterman Hog Ranch, 244
Fetterman, William J., 243–44
First Presbyterian Church (Hiawatha, Kansas), 114–15
flatboats, 384–85
Flint Hills (Kansas), 1–2, 4, 6, 53, 89, 92, 125, 151
Fly, Sarepta Gore, 183–84
Fly, William, 183, 184
flying: Rinker’s interest in, 12
Flying J truck stop (Wyoming), 367–68
Fontenelle Dam (Wyoming), 350
Ford, Henry, 168
The Forks (Platte River), 176
Fort Boise (Idaho), 108
Fort Bridger (Wyoming), 116, 268, 313, 338, 353, 355
Fort Caspar Museum (Wyoming), 260
Fort Casper (Wyoming), 276
Fort Fetterman (Wyoming), 243–52, 259, 406
Fort Hall (Idaho), 109, 111
Fort Kearny Cutoff, 171
Fort Kearny (Nebraska), 3, 55, 92, 115, 116, 118
Fort Laramie (Wyoming), 92, 107, 116, 118, 178, 181, 213, 214, 233, 235, 268
Fort Leavenworth (Kansas), 66, 89
Fort Riley (Kansas), 66, 89
Fort Stambaugh Road (Wyoming), 301
Fossil Butte National Monument (Wyoming), 347, 352
Foster, Stephen, 344
Fourth of July: on Oregon Trail, 327
Fox, Jared, 354
Franzwa, Gregory M., 169, 175
Frémont, John, 324–25
Frink, Margaret, 3, 7, 77, 131–32, 181, 229, 230, 326
fucked up condition, 196
Gantt, John, 109
Gantt-Whitman Train (1843), 109–12
“gate jacks,” 219, 219, 277
The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail (Stegner), 263
Geiser Grand Hotel (Baker City, Oregon), 398
Geological Survey, U.S., 186
Gering, Nebraska: Rinker in, 193–95
getting lost, Rinker as, 288–92, 296–97
“ghost farms,” 202
Gill, Larry, 186–88, 189
Glacier National Park, 6, 345
Glendo, Wyoming, 237–38
Glenrock, Wyoming, 378
Gold Hill (Oregon), 395
Gold Rush (1849), California, 2, 19–20, 36, 40, 71, 73, 112, 116, 117–18, 157–60, 158, 177, 214
Goldsborough Bluff, 278
GPS system, 375
<
br /> Grand View, Idaho, 369
grandparents: as raising children, 133–36
Granite Range (Wyoming), 233, 270, 281, 286, 287, 288, 292, 293, 296. See also Split Rock
Grattan, John, 213–14
Grattan Massacre, 213–14
grave-spotter, Littleton as, 180–81
graves: along the Oregon Trail, 5, 180–81, 252–58, 271, 280, 413
Graves and Sites Committee, OCTA, 253
Graves and Sites on the Oregon and California Trails (Brown), 252, 255–56
Gray, John S., 295
Great American Desert, 383
Great Awakening, Second, 253, 255, 264, 265
Great Depression, 239, 344, 345
“Great Grave” of Whitman Massacre victims, 413
Great Migration, 109. See also Gantt-Whitman Train
The Great Platte River Road (Mattes), 14, 116
Great Platte River Road (Wyoming): Mormons on, 268
Greeley, Horace, 103, 313, 340
Green Mountains (Wyoming), 293
Green River, 36, 107
Green River Rendezvous country, 280, 327, 334, 340, 348, 350, 353
Guenther, Todd, 314
Guernsey, Wyoming, 235
guidebooks, 115–16
Hadley, Amelia, 324
Haile, Richard, 183
Haile, Susan, 183
Hale, Emma, 264
Hale, Israel, 213
Hams Fork Cutoff (Wyoming), 55, 340, 355
Hams Fork River (Wyoming), 348, 352, 353
handcart disasters (1856), Mormon, 269–71, 284–85, 300, 301, 312
handcarts, Mormon, 283, 284–85, 286, 296, 300
Hanlon, Dan, 224–25, 226, 228, 229
Hanna, Esther Bell, 371
Happy Canyon Night (Pendleton, Oregon), 405
Hard Road West (Meldahl), 371
Harney, William S., 213
Harris, Moses “Black,” 159
Hartford Courant newspaper, 13
Hastings, Lansford, 115
Haystack Butte (Wyoming), 341
Hecox, Jim, 189, 190
Hells Canyon Mule Days (Enterprise, Oregon), 404
help, asking for, 160–61
Henry, O., 183
Herriot, James, 92
Hiawatha, Kansas, 83, 93, 97–98, 113–15, 118
Highland, Kansas, 93
Highway 25, 236, 238, 257
Highway 26, 56, 211
Highway 30, 56, 174, 186, 204, 356, 367, 397
Highway 36, 51. See also St. Joseph Road
Highway 47, 190
Highway 80, 17, 172, 184, 186, 195, 197
Highway 84, 17, 386, 396
Highway 86, 17
Highway 89, 367
Highway 92, 229
Highway 220, 276
Highway Patrol, Wyoming, 339
highway system
and history of Oregon Trail, 16–17, 55, 56, 89, 90, 167
and obstacles on Oregon Trail, 29
in Oregon, 386, 391–92, 396
and western development, 345
See also specific highway
Historic Inscriptions on Western Emigrant Trails (Brown), 278
historical preservation, 215–16. See also Oregon Trail: preservation of
“hitch runaways,” 84–86, 85, 87
hogs incident, 154–55
Hollenberg, Gerat, 2, 3
Hollenberg Ranch, 2–7, 8, 13
Holmes, John Clellon, 18
Holtz, Sue, 391, 398–99, 401–3, 409, 414–15
Holtz, Vince, 386–87, 389, 390–91, 397, 399, 401–3, 404, 409, 414–15
Homedale, Idaho, 380
Homestead Act (1862, 1909, 1916), 186, 343
homesteading: after the Civil War, 343–44
horses
and Big Blue River crossing, 140
crossing bridges with, 141–43, 144, 145–46
mules compared with, 4, 32, 35–36, 43
and Nick as horseman, 24, 28
reading hoof prints of, 290, 291–92
women and, 104, 107, 112, 181–82
Horton, Missouri. See Werner Wagon Works
Hudson’s Bay Company, 108, 110
Hudspeth Cutoff (Idaho), 371–72
hunting and fishing industry, 346
Huntington, Oregon, 391–92
hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), 274, 277, 287, 291, 306, 329, 332
Idaho
geology of, 369–72, 370
Mormons in, 372
as park-rich state, 346–47
Rinker in, 369–81, 400, 414–15
and Rinker’s dreams of Oregon Trail trip, 7
Rinker’s plans for traveling through, 228
Rinker’s visit with Holtz’s in, 404, 414–15
water in, 372
“I’m gonna wash that man right outa my hair” (song), 388–89
Independence, Missouri
as beginning of Oregon Trail, 16
and Gantt-Whitman Train, 109
as jumping off town for Oregon Trail, 51, 75
tent cities near, 115
Independence Rock (Wyoming), 107, 166, 168, 251, 271, 273, 274, 275–81, 275, 287, 291, 354
Indian wars, 92, 172, 214, 244, 293, 313, 412. See also specific tribe or battle
Indians
conversion to Christianity of, 100, 213, 411–12
first meeting between white women and, 105
and First Whitman Crossing, 105–6
white culture clash with, 213
See also Indian wars; specific person or tribe
initials
at Aspen Grove, 354
at Register Cliff, 116
Interior Department, U.S., 169
interstate highways. See highway system; specific highway
Iraq War, 135, 413
irrigation technology, 172–73
Jackson, William Henry, 52, 52, 229
Jail House Rock (Nebraska), 182, 216, 229
Jake (mule)
appearance of, 48–49
and Beck as runaway at Midway Station, 189
and Big Blue River crossing, 146–50
in Black Hills, 237
at California Hill, 205, 206–9, 211–12
calling of, 93, 94, 237
and crossing bridges, 146–50, 151
at Holtz ranch in Idaho, 414, 415
Mattie’s (Stevenson) driving of, 298
Nick’s special caring for, 400–401
at O’Fallon’s Bluff, 198
in Oregon, 392–95, 398, 399–403
personality of, 82, 198, 399
problems with, 119
and Rinker’s emergency backup plan, 59–62
Rinker’s goodbye to, 415
Rinker’s relationship with, 49–50, 98, 120, 189, 415
and Rinker’s solo drive into Oregon, 381
at Rock Creek Ridge, 363, 365, 367
at Rocky Ridge, 306
as runaway at Fort Fetterman, 246–51
saddle for, 59–62
sale of, 396–97, 399–404
selection of, 48–50, 49
shoes for, 380
and train at Lookout Mountain, 392–95
See also mules, Rinker’s
Jamesport, Missouri, 48, 53, 57, 58, 84, 91, 114. See also Ropp’s Mule Farm
Jeffrey City, Wyoming, 288, 291, 296, 297, 298
Jeffrey, Dianne, 184
Jeffrey, Joe, 184
John Deere wagons, 71, 72, 75, 75
Jonah gas fields, 350
Journal of the Adventures of a Party of California Gold Seekers (Frink), 131, 326
Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains to the Mouth of the Columbia River (Palmer), 115–16
jumping-off towns/camps, 51, 75, 77, 115, 180. See also specific town or camp
Kansas
Blue River country of, 125–27, 128–39, 140, 146–50
“junction country” of, 4
and launching of Rinker’s Oregon Trail trip, 82–84, 86–88
Rinker’s travels in, 82–94, 113–15, 118–25, 126–27, 128–39, 140, 146–50
Rinker’s travels through, 112
RVs in, 122–25
weather in, 90, 125–27, 128–30, 131
See also specific town or site
Kansas Historical Quarterly: Gray’s article in, 295
Kansas State Historical Society, 2, 3–4
Keeney Pass (Oregon), 382, 385
Kemmerer, Wyoming, 340
Kempf, Don, 156, 161
Kempf, Shirley, 156, 161
Kennedy, John F., 240
Kern, Ben, 341
Kerouac, Jack, 18, 20
Kesey, Ken, 77
King, John Nevin, 41, 178
“kooster” half-cart
Kern’s loan of, 341
return of, 386
Lajeunesse, Charles “Seminoe,” 311–12
Lakota Indians, 244
Lambertville, New Jersey: Buck family crossing of bridge in, 141–43, 144, 145–46
Lander, Frederick W., 313–14
Lander Cutoff (Wyoming), 55, 300, 313–14, 326
Lander Road (Wyoming), 313
Langworthy, Franklin, 116–17, 229, 326–27
Laramie Peak (Wyoming), 182, 232
Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, 369, 373
Life magazine, 95, 358
Lime, Oregon, 392
Lincoln, Abraham, 68
Lincoln Highway (Nebraska), 16, 186
Lisco, Nebraska, 220–21, 222
Little Blue River, 6, 40, 164, 173
Little Colorado Desert (Wyoming), 339–40, 343, 348–51
Little Sandy Creek country (Wyoming), 151
Little Sandy River, 333, 339, 340
Little Thunder (Sioux chief), 213
Littleton, Micajah, 180–81
Lizard Butte (Idaho), 115, 404, 415
Lockhart, Esther, 163–64
Lodge Trail Ridge (Wyoming), 244
Look magazine, 12, 95, 358
The Look of the West 1860 (Burton), 234
Lookout Mountain tunnel (Oregon), 392–95
Lord, Israel S.P., 371–72
Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters (Casper, Wyoming), 260
Love Reservoir (Oregon), 386, 390
Lower 96 Ranch (Nebraska), 185–89
lumber, 384–85
Maine
Nick in, 22–24, 121
Nick’s plans to return to, 28–29, 156–57, 160–62, 165, 336
Malheur River, 386
Mammoth jack mules, 33–34, 35, 38
Manifest Destiny, 103, 176, 347
Marcy, Randolph B., 43, 115
Marshall’s Ferry (Kansas), 140
Marsing, Idaho, 404
Martin, Edward, 270
Martin Handcart Company, 270, 271
Martin, Ivan, 9
Martin’s Cove (Wyoming), 270–71, 272, 281–86. See also Devil’s Gate
Marysville, Kansas, 118, 136–39, 140
Mattes, Merrill J., 14, 19, 40–41, 116, 176, 211, 252, 269
Maxwell, William Audley, 78
McCammon (Idaho) rodeo corrals, 374–79
McLean Meadows (Wyoming), 310
mcMansions: and preservation of Oregon Trail, 173