Ever since I began researching the Oregon Trail route for my novel about travel along the trail, I have wanted to go to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon, run by the Bureau of Land Management. I finally had the opportunity to visit it in late April, […]
Continue readingTag Archives: Oregon Trail
A Progress Report on My First Oregon Trail Novel
January has been Creativity Month, but I haven’t been very creative. With all the family issues I’ve had to deal with surrounding my father’s death, revising my current work in progress—the first novel in my Oregon Trail series—has taken a back seat. The family work I’ve been doing has been necessary […]
Continue readingSculpting My Novel and My Life
My writing goal for the summer was to finish an edit of my second Oregon Trail book. I got it done just after Labor Day. Of course, that was not the end of the project. I know it needs another substantial edit. And probably another edit after that. And I’m […]
Continue readingSeeking Inspiration at the Plains Indians Exhibit (Nelson Atkins Museum of Art)
As soon as I heard about it, I wanted to see the Plains Indians special exhibit at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. After all, I’m writing novels about travel across the plains in the 1840s—my visit to the museum would be research. So my husband and […]
Continue readingNews of California Gold Decimates the Population of Oregon
Word of the Sutter’s Fort gold discovery reached Oregon in the summer of 1848. Oregon learned of the gold finds indirectly, not from travelers arriving straight from California. Ships from California came to Oregon after stopping in Hawaii that summer. They brought the news about the gold. In July 1848, […]
Continue readingA Summer Short: On the Value of Blogging
There are times when I wonder why I keep posting on this blog. Some months I’m pleased with the readership, and I watch the statistics climb day after day. Other months, the numbers plummet, and I wonder if I’m so boring no one will ever read what I write again. […]
Continue readingAuthor’s Blog Chain
I’ve been asked to participate in an Author’s Blog Chain this week, which gives me the opportunity to tell you more about my writing. Juliet Kincaid, a Kansas author and member of the local Sisters in Crime chapter, tagged me on her blog, Juliet Kincaid, Writer. Juliet has recently written a series […]
Continue readingCalifornia Gold Rush: Discovery of Gold at Sutter’s Mill
Most of us who have studied American history are aware of the Forty-Niners—those intrepid souls who in 1849 left their homes to seek their fortunes in the California Gold Rush. But the Gold Rush actually began in early 1848, when gold was found at Sutter’s Mill. Over the last two […]
Continue readingWintering in Oregon: Using Research, Reality, and Imagination
The emigrants who traveled the Oregon Trail arrived in the Willamette Valley in late fall, or even after the first snowfall of winter. What did they do then? They were relieved the long journey was over, I’m sure, but how did they go about building a new life? Beginning with […]
Continue readingFort Vancouver: Establishing Commercial Enterprise on the West Coast
I’ve written about Dr. John McLaughlin in an earlier post. Although British by birth, he was called the “Father of Oregon” because he helped so many American settlers who arrived via the Oregon Trail. He was able to help the Americans because he was chief factor of Fort Vancouver, which […]
Continue reading