Where the Trail Ends: American Tapestries (38 page)

There is no lack of books and firsthand accounts from men and women who kept diaries while traveling on the Oregon Trail. This is a huge blessing as a researcher; however, it is also a challenge because some of these accounts are contradictory. For example, some people wrote about an Indian path along the Columbia River that pioneers walked, while others wrote that there was no such path. In later years, emigrants either paid Indians to guide them on rafts from The Dalles, or they took the Barlow Road (“road” being a very loose term) around Mount Hood and down into Oregon City.

By the spring of 1844, Doctor John McLoughlin had spent $31,000 of company money (equivalent to about one million dollars today) along with a large sum of personal funds to help American pioneers who’d lost most of their belongings on the journey. Many of them never paid him back. Doctor McLoughlin was forced into retirement in 1846 and later became a citizen of the United States, building his home in Oregon City near the falls.

While Madame Marguerite McLoughlin’s father was a Swiss partner in a fur-trading company, history differs on the origins of her mother’s Indian family. Her mother was probably from the Cristeneaux (Cree), Ojibway, or Chippewa tribe.

Less than two hundred years ago, the American West was a vast wilderness, home to many nations of Indians. None of the information in this book is intended to be disparaging to any people group. While I hoped to capture the facts of history as accurately as possible, this American Tapestry novel was intended to focus specifically on the determination of American men and women who traveled overland to Oregon as well as the Native Americans and British who aided them in this journey.

My greatest hope is that the story truthfully reflects what many of the pioneers experienced as they lost loved ones and possessions
in their journeys west and then worked diligently to create new, thriving lives in the beautiful country called Oregon.

In the winter of 2007, my husband, two daughters, and I immigrated to Oregon via airplane. We’d heard about the rain in the Pacific Northwest, but when we woke up on our first morning in Portland, we were shocked to not only find ourselves in the midst of a snowstorm, but to see bicyclists traversing the snowy roads. Not even a snowstorm stops a determined Oregonian.

While we were sipping soft drinks on the airplane and then soaking in the hot tub at our hotel, my saintly father drove our moving van filled with furniture and boxes over the icy pass into Oregon. There were no oxen for him to feed or rivers to forge, but when our moving van struggled to make it over the mountains, my dear father probably felt like discarding a few pieces of furniture along the trail. Then the fuel line sprang a leak, and he had to wait for the delivery of a new moving van—from San Francisco—before reloading all our things and reattaching the trailer to my Honda so he could finish the journey.

Did I mention that my father is a saint?

After six years in Oregon, we’ve come to love our home state—enjoying the lush green of the forest next to our house, sledding near Mount Hood in the winter, taking Sunday afternoon drives through the Columbia River Gorge, watching sea lions play off the coast, hiking the beautiful hills and rocky cliffs above the Pacific, and picking mounds of organic fruit each summer. We love the sunny days when our neighborhood emerges en masse to soak up the sunshine together, and we enjoy those rainy days cuddled up with books or playing games around the fireplace.

While crops may not grow in a single day, it is true that almost everything grows well in Oregon. Even my husband Jon and I, who are notorious for killing plants, have enjoyed the bounty from our
little garden of tomatoes, herbs, and lettuce. As for the cantaloupe and red peppers—let’s say that most Oregonians are better gardeners than us.

Oregonians are truly a unique people, forged from a unique past. They are fiercely protective of their land even as they enjoy all that the land offers. It’s been almost two hundred years since the first wagon train floundered through the Blue Mountains. Because of the hard work of its people in taking care to preserve its fertile land, the beautiful state of Oregon continues to flourish.

And the Dobson family is honored to call this state our home.

Thank you to all the people who helped this East Coaster learn about Oregon’s rich history.

Cheri Garver at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center near Baker City, for answering my many questions. Becky Smith and Jim Keetch, the fabulous wagon master, for taking my daughters and me on an unforgettable journey at the National Oregon/California Trail Center in Montpelier, Idaho. If you are interested in learning more about the Oregon Trail, these centers are incredible places for both adults and children to explore.

Randy Howarth and Robin Kirkpatrick, for sharing a bit of their family history with me. Scott Daniels, the reference librarian at the Oregon Historical Society, for helping me with my facts. Any errors are my responsibility.

I’m also grateful for the many people who continue to walk and often run with me along this writing journey. Thank you to:

Rachel Meisel, my amazing editor, friend, and coach, for your consistent encouragement and expertise, and for gifting me with the seeds to grow this story.

Natasha Kern, for your honesty, wisdom, and direction—you are such a blessing to me. Susan Downs and Connie Troyer, for polishing this story and catching the many things I missed.

Pinn Crawford—you continually amaze me with your ability to track down any resource. Thank you for locating so many wonderful old books about Fort Vancouver and the Oregon Trail.

Leslie Gould, Nicole Miller, Dawn Shipman, and Kelly Chang for reading the first chapters of this book over and over and for all your input to help shape this story. Thank you to Nicole and Dawn as well for helping bring Fort Vancouver alive in my mind’s eye.

Michele Heath for offering me both your insight and your friendship. My trouper of a friend, Allison Owen, for braving the cold December night as we explored Fort Vancouver by candlelight. Sheila Herbert, my English friend, who graciously answered my questions about Great Britain’s history and explained customs quite foreign to me.

Kevin, Amanda, Jake, Shannon, Aaron, Grey, Joseph, David, Mari, and Michael, who let me sip peppermint tea until late at night as I wrote in their coffee shop. I appreciate each of you so very much.

Dad and Lyn Beroth, Kristy Colvin, Tosha Williams, and Jodi Stilp for your prayers and for carrying me across the finish line.

My adventurous daughters, Karly and Kiki, for traveling eighteen hundred miles with me to explore the remnants of this trail. It is such a delight for me to watch you grow in the beauty and love of Christ.

My wonderful husband, Jon—I couldn’t have written this book without you! Thank you for loving me and our whole family.

Most of all, I’m grateful to my heavenly Father and His messengers, who direct the steps of every pilgrim on their journey home.

With joy,

~Melanie

About the Author

Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of eleven novels, including seven historical romances for Summerside Press. In 2011, Melanie won ACFW Carol Awards for
Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa
and
The Silent Order
, and in 2010,
Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana
was chosen as the Best Book of Indiana (fiction). Melanie’s next historical romance, an American Tapestries
^™
novel about the Revolutionary War, will be published in October 2013.

Melanie is the former corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family, and she worked in public relations for fifteen years before she began writing fiction full time. Born and raised in the Midwest, she has lived all over America and now resides with her husband and two daughters near Portland, Oregon. Read more at
MelanieDobson.com
.

A
MERICAN
T
APESTRIES
^™

Each novel in the American Tapestries
^™
series sets a heart-stirring love story against the backdrop of an epic moment in American history. Whether they settled her first colonies, fought in her battles, built her cities, or forged paths to new territories, a diverse tapestry of men and women shaped this great nation into a Land of Opportunity. Then, as now, the search for romance was part of the American dream. Summerside Press invites lovers of historical romance stories to fall in love with this line, and with America, all over again.

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OW
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VAILABLE

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OMING
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OON