Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Oregon Trail

One can almost visualize the Prairie Schooners rolling over this vast land

The 1882 LDS Meeting House, now presiding over a ghost town

Downtown Salt Lake City from outside our door


We were unaware how important Idaho was to the opening of the American West. Not only did Lewis and Clark transit Idaho on their quest for the western ocean; they crossed the Continental Divide in Idaho and headed “downhill” to the Pacific from here. Also, both the Oregon and California Trails passed through Idaho, splitting from each other at Fort Hall (now Pocatello, our Idaho location). Many Conestoga Wagons and Prairie Schooners passed through this very area on their way west. Those people were tough!!

Chesterfield was an early LDS (Later Day Saints – the Mormons) village, established in the area of Fort Hall (Pocatello) in the 1880’s. Today it is a ghost town. What is interesting to the current visitor is that the occupants lived in log cabins and simple wooden homes, with one or two “wealthy” merchants or church officials occupying brick homes. However, all of the church’s buildings, including a tithing office and a tithing grain elevator were grandly constructed of locally produced brick. The contrast in construction is striking!

The drive to Salt Lake City was uneventful. We are back in shorts and T-shirts; the pool is open and, we just might use it. After being in the crisp clean air of the mountains, it was a shock to see smog sitting in inversions in mountain valleys 60 miles outside of Salt Lake City. At one point it looked like we were coming to the end of the world as the scenery just disappeared into a veil of smog. Progress!!

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