Pandemic Diaries - Year 3, Month 3 - The Trek North, The Highlights - The Oregon Trail

4 July 2022

 

Happy Fourth of July!  Yes, we've been back in Washington state for six weeks - it has been busy with our usual summer sorts of events.

 

But blog-wise, we just left snowy Nevada, and were heading northwestward.  So, that's where I'll pick up, as we drove along the Oregon Trail.  

 

We did drive through Idaho, but that was just a drive-through.  We stopped for lunch somewhere, and probably one or two rest areas, but that was about it.   We just cut through the southwest corner of the state, and spent one night in Ontario, Oregon, just past the Idaho state line.

We spent two nights in La Grande, and as I said previously, it was a nice little college town.  Pretty location, some nice older buildings, and interesting places to eat.  We didn't do much exploring, because by then we were ready to get to Washington.

We did, however, stop at two interesting rest areas.  Partly because we like to break up the drives each day.  And partly because the places had such odd names, especially since they really were along the old Oregon trail, part of that westward expansion after the Civil War.

The first was Rattlesnake Springs.  Really, doesn't that just make you want to stop there and fill up on water?  I really would prefer my water without the rattlesnake, thank you.  (This is not to be confused with Rattlesnake Springs, New Mexico.)  

I can't find much information about Rattlesnake Springs, Oregon.  But the Oregon Trail went through Rattlesnake Pass in modern-day Wyoming, and there was a Rattlesnake Station for the stage coach service in Idaho.  Also a Rattlesnake Creek in Oregon, along this route.  So our best guess is that someone found natural springs here in the high desert of the Oregon Territory, and named them Rattlesnake Springs.

 

We also found evidence of the snowstorm that held us up in Jackpot, NV.  The highest hills and distant Blue Mountain range were all covered with snow, even in mid May.  We guessed the storm blew through here, and on down into northern Nevada.

 

So, just in case stopping at Rattlesnake Springs hadn't been enough of a thrill, we somehow ended up at a rest area called Deadman's Pass.  No, the man didn't die of a rattlesnake bite, though that would be a reasonable guess.  No, between the US Cavalry riding through and forcing the Native Americans into specified areas, the drivers hauling freight to the west, and the various groups of settlers moving in or just passing through, there were a number of fights and skirmishes along this pass, as well as wagon accidents.  With each death of an individual, the name Deadman's Pass was reinforced as a moniker that this was a dangerous and hazardous route.

Of course, we just drove through.  Roads were clear, no one was fighting, and we descendants of the settlers have made peace with the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla nations of this region.  Or at least we've learned to live as neighbors.

We followed Lewis and Clark's route and headed north into Washington the next day, crossing the mighty Columbia River and heading to Yakima, and then north to Bellingham.   Nothing major along that route, so our next blog will begin our adventures in Bellingham and Ferndale!