OCR Text |
Show A i This West Of Ours At Fort Bridgcr about 1846, there was a parting In the trails westward. west-ward. One route, named the Hastings Hast-ings Cut-off or Salt Lake route, ran directly southwest. The Oregon Trail kept on in a northwest direction. direc-tion. As emigrant trains one after the other reached this spot, it was the ends of many happy hours of the trains as groups. Almost without exception, after a resting and refitting, one faction took fne southwest trail; another the northwest. One reason for the splitting of parties at this point was because Oregon travelers were told .that no vehicles could be taken futhcr. They had to give up wagons and go afoot or on horseback. Many of the less determined travelers decided, de-cided, that after all they preferred California. Paradoxically, and without any apparent reason, some of the California-bound emigrants here changed their minds and set out for Oregon. |