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The 'Applegate Trail' was wilderness trail through today's Nevada, northern California, and Oregon, and was originally intended as a less dangerous route to the Oregon Territory. U.S. Route 99 through Oregon (now Oregon Highway 99) and Interstate 5 both follow the trail's route.

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History

References

History

It was blazed in 1846 as an alternate, and hopefully safer route to Oregon. Three brothers, Lindsay, Jesse, and Charles Applegate and their extended families came to Oregon on the original Oregon Trail during the first major migration in 1843. As the party was rafting through the rapids on the Columbia River, one of their rafts capsized in the current and three family members drowned. This tragedy made the brothers determined to save others similar grief and find a safer route to the Oregon Territory.
By the Spring of 1846, the brothers had settled in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Charles stayed home to care for the family and land. Lindsay and Jesse, along with Levi Scott and ten others formed a scouting party to be known as the South Road Expedition. On 20 June 1846, they left La Creole Creek (now Rickreall) near Dallas, Oregon on their journey south. They traveled down the Willamette Valley through what is now Corvallis, Oregon and Eugene, Oregon. They continued on to just south of Ashland, then turned east, reaching Greensprings Mountain about where Highway 66 crosses today. On they traveled across Oregon and Nevada until they reached the Humboldt River, then they turned north along the river for 200 miles.
Jesse Applegate was chosen to lead the party continuing onto Fort Hall, Idaho to get supplies and inform emigrants about the new trail. The others proceeded up the Humboldt to where Winnemucca is now and set up a rendezvous and rested the stock. The Applegate Trail runs from Humboldt, Nevada to Dallas, Oregon. Near Humboldt it joins the California Trail, running from near Fort Hall, Idaho to the gold country of California.

On 9 August 1846 a group of as many as 100 wagons set out from Fort Hall to cross the new Applegate Trail. In September, the first of the wagons left the Humboldt River and headed across the Black Rock Desert. Next the wagons rolled into Surprise Valley, then onto Goose Lake and Tule Lake. The party crossed the Lost River on a natural stone bridge, the bridge and a marker to record the expedition are near Merrill, Oregon. The wagons then swung southwest around lower Klamath Lake and on towards Greensprings (in the southeast corner of what is now Jackson County).
Using the historic Siskiyou Trail, Levi Scott led the wagon train on from present day Ashland, Oregon towards the Willamette Valley. The rains had started by the time the wagons reached the Rogue Valley and from here on it would be either rain or snow for weather conditions. It then went through Rock Point, Oregon and Sunny Valley, Oregon. The wagon train continued through the southwestern valleys of Oregon until they reached their final destination in the Willamette Valley. The group had survived much hardship and trouble, but they created a new passage to the Oregon Territory that would be used for many years.
In 1853 alone over 3500 men, women, and children took this route. The Applegate was designated a National Historic Trail by the U.S. Congress on August 3, 1992. Known as the southern route of the Oregon Trail, the Applegate Trail provided an alternative for settlers who wanted to avoid the perils of the Columbia River. Not all settlers appreciated the trail some even felt the Applegates had hindered rather than helped them on their way.

References

★ History of the Applegate Trail