An Oregon Trail Story

Little Chloe, dressed in Mary's white baby dress, was laid in the ground under a cottonwood tree beside the camp the next morning. Mr. Evens, one of the carpenters on the journey, had pieced together the donated wood into a strong if not beautiful coffin, and his wife had stiched together the scraps of material to make a lining. Elizabeth had helped Mrs. Breedan dress Chloe in Mary's baby church dress, and walked beside her to the site of the small grave. Mrs. Breedan kissed Chloe on the forehead, laid her in the coffin and then turned and fell sobbing against Elizabeth's shoulder.

Mr. Evans nailed the lid on the small coffin and Elizabeth saw that he'd chiseled "Chloe Breedan" into the lid. Reverend Mitchell said a short burial service and then Mr. Breedan placed the coffin in the grave. As they had with Mary, the men filled the grave with earth and then covered it with rocks. Elizabeth watched the little cross that marked Chloe's final resting place as their wagon passed by.

Death was to become normal as the days and miles went by. The Ferguson's son developed dysentery overnight and was dead by the next night. The James' daughter caught her dress on a wagon wheel when climbing down as the wagon rolled over the prairie. She was pulled under the rear wheel which rolled over her midsection. Elizabeth was thankful that the girl had died quickly and didn't seem to be in pain. Mrs. Erickson was already fifty eight when the trip began. She was found dead by her husband one morning. The doctor said she had died of exhaustion.

Injuries and illness were a day to day occurrence caused by fatigue and by the land over which they traveled. Elizabeth herself was forced to ride on a bed in the wagon after she developed a fever. The fever racked her body for a week before it finally abated, and she was too weak to do much for another week after that.

She thought maybe losing her daughter and then becoming ill herself was the end of their troubles. According to the wagon master, they were just a month from The Dales. After reaching The Dales, they would either take the toll road around Mt. Hood, or raft the wagon down the Columbia River. After all the miles and hardships, the end was in sight. Elizabeth thought God was surely done testing them.

Two days later, the wagon train arrived at the Snake River. The Snake wasn't very deep, only about four feet at their chosen crossing point, but it was too deep to drive the wagons across because the wheels wouldn't touch the riverbed. The men of the wagon train again caulked all the seams on the wagon beds in preparation for floating the wagons across. The next day, the wagon train started over the river with the men walking on each side of the oxen to keep them going in a straight line for the other shore.

Elizabeth sat on the wagon seat as Samuel and Martin started the oxen down the embankment and into the water while Jed stayed on shore to help drive the rest of the cattle of the wagon train across. She felt the wagon lift as the wheels lost the bottom and then begin to swing downstream in the current. Samuel was on the downstream side and spoke to and prodded the oxen to keep them moving. Martin was on the upstream side and urging the oxen forward as well.

Martin was nearly up to his neck in the water but was doing his best to mimic Samuel. Then, he stepped off into a hole in the river bed. His head went under the water as he was swept under the second yoke of oxen, then resurfaced as he was swept downstream by the current. Samuel yelled at Elizabeth to stay with the wagon and then began going downstream after Martin as fast as he could. In less than a minute, both Martin and Samuel were swept around a bend in the river and out of sight. Elizabeth screamed for help. Men who had already crossed the river and had seen what had happened began running downriver to rescue Samuel and Martin. One of the men in the wagon in front let his own wagon pass by and then drove Elizabeth's wagon to the opposite shore.

Elizabeth was frantic by the time the oxen pulled the wagon up the embankment and then into the camping spot for the night. She stood on the wagon seat in hopes of seeing Samuel bringing Martin back with him. That still had not happened when the last of the wagons pulled up into the camping area. Jed and a few men brought the rest of the cattle across the river. While other men drove the cattle to a grazing spot, Jed un-yolked the oxen and drove them to join the rest. When he came back, Samuel and Martin had still not returned. He tried to comfort Elizabeth as best he could.

"I wouldn't worry, Mrs. Crocker. That there river ain't very deep. Soon's they got their footing, they'd have climbed up the bank and started back. That current's pretty strong, though, so they's likely quite a ways away afore they could do that. They'll be along shortly."

Jed didn't comfort her worries much. To have something to do besides think of the worst, Elizabeth asked Jed to build a fire and then started making a stew of venison Samuel had shot the day before.

The pot was starting to bubble when there were murmurs from the downstream side of the camp. Elizabeth climbed up on the wagon seat to see, and then clasped her hand to her chest.

The men were back from their search, but instead of seeing Samuel and Martin walking, she saw a dozen of the men carrying two stretchers made from small branches. She climbed down from the wagon seat and ran towards the group of men.

Jed was already there, and caught her arm as she passed him.

"Mrs. Crocker, they found Mr. Crocker and Martin two miles downstream caught under a tree that fell in the river."

Elizabeth looked at Jed, and the sorrow on his face cause tears to stream down her cheeks.

"They're not..."

Jed nodded.

"I'm awful sorry, Mrs. Crocker."

The men brought Samuel and Martin to Elizabeth's wagon and then explained what they thought had happened. The tree had fallen into the water at a narrow spot in the river. The narrowing caused the force of the current to increase and as the current swept Martin into the tree, he'd been caught on the branches and pulled under. Samuel had tried to pull him out, but had also been swept off his feet by the current and pulled under the water. Both had drowned by the time the men found them.

Reverend Mitchell and his wife walked up a few minutes later. His wife put her arms around Elizabeth.

"I don't know why God wanted them both, Elizabeth, but He did. I'll stay with you until they're buried."

The Reverend touched her shoulder.

"Sometimes, Mrs. Crocker, the Lord has different plans than we do, plans we can't understand at the time, but plans that work out for the best. It is up to Him to decide our fate. We can only accept His will and carry on with our lives. I know that's not much comfort right now, but you'll see. The Lord never makes mistakes."

Elizabeth cried for a while, but then was just numb. Her husband and her son, the last of her family, lay there on the stretchers of branches. She didn't believe God would be so cruel as to take everything from her, but he had.

First it was Mary, her dear beautiful daughter, and now, her strong son and her husband. What could be the reason for such heartbreak? Elizabeth toyed with the idea of going back to the river and jumping in. If she waited until dark, no one would know until morning when Jed came for his breakfast. He'd see she was gone, and there would be a search. They'd find her, maybe caught under the same tree that had killed Samuel and Martin. They'd all be buried together beside the trail, and spend eternity together. She wondered how Mary would be able to find them in Heaven.

Her rational side said ending her own life was a stupid thing to do. She was still young and could start again. It would be hard, but she could. Ending things now would be making light of the sacrifices she and her family had endured.

She was still thinking about that when Jed touched her on the hand.

"Mrs. Crocker, they're ready to lay Mr. Crocker and Martin to rest."

Elizabeth stood quietly while Reverend Mitchell preached a longer than usual burial service. He spoke of the determination of Martin to help his family and of the courage of Samuel in trying to save his son. He spoke of how the Crocker family had helped others on the journey. He prayed God would open his loving arms to both.

One of the women then began to sing "Shall We Gather At The River", and the rest of the people of the wagon train joined her. The sound of their voices flowed around Elizabeth and gave her some comfort. Tears still streamed down her cheeks as she watched Samuel and Martin lowered into the graves, but she felt better understanding they were at the end of their troubles in life and beginning a new life with Mary, Chloe, and the others who had passed during the journey.

After the graves were covered and the crosses driven into the ground, the other people began to file away to their own wagons. Soon, only Mr. and Mrs. Breedan were left, and they walked over to where Elizabeth stood with Jed. Mr. Breedan cleared his throat and then spoke in a quiet voice.

"Mrs. Crocker, you helped us when we needed help, and we've been talking. We can never thank you enough for what you did for Chloe, but since you don't have a...since you're alone now, we'd offer to take you the rest of the way to Oregon with us. The other families will pay you what they can for your wagon, oxen and cattle. Once we get to Oregon, you can live with us for as long as you want. We don't expect you to tell us now, but you think about it. We'd be more than happy for you to join us."

Mrs. Breedan hugged Elizabeth, and then she and Mr. Breedan walked away. Elizabeth had forgotten Jed was standing there until he spoke to her.

"Mrs. Crocker, I kept the stew pot from drying out, and you need to eat something. Come sit down by the fire and I'll get it for you."

Jed dipped her a bowl of venison stew, handed it to her with a spoon, and then dipped one for himself. They ate in silence for a while. Jed figured Elizabeth wouldn't want to talk. Elizabeth was thinking. She surprised him when she put down her bowl and spoke to him.

"Jed, I want to thank you for everything you've done for us."

Jed smiled.

"It weren't nothing, Mrs. Cocker. I just did what I was hired to do, that's all."

"Well, I still owe you thanks, especially for today."

"I didn't do anything much."

"Yes you did. You stood by me and I needed that. I don't know what I'd have done without that."

"Whatch gonna do now, Mrs. Crocker? You gonna go with the Breedans like they said?"

"I've been thinking about that since the funeral. I don't want to do that. It would be like saying I've forgotten what Samuel wanted so much."

Jed scratched his head.

"Well, I don't see how you can go the rest of the way by yourself, you being a woman and all."

"I won't have to if you stay with me. Can you work for a woman?"

"I can drive the cows. Who'll drive the oxen?"

Elizabeth's mouth was a firm line.

"I will."

Jed chuckled.

"I ain't never seen a woman driving horses or oxen. You sure you can do it? They can be mighty stubborn sometimes."

"I watched Samuel and Martin drive them for five months. If Martin could do it, I can too. I might need some help sometimes, but I'll make it. Are you willing to go on with me?"

"Yes, I am. I still owe you my work for the rest of the trip, so I'll go with you. You just holler anytime you need something."

The next morning, Jed helped Elizabeth yoke the oxen and hitch them to the wagon, then went to fetch the other cattle. When he came back, he grinned.

"Just start 'em off slow like. They'll probably follow the rest pretty much."

When the wagon in front of her began to move, Elizabeth tapped the off ox with the same slender pole Samuel had used.

"Giddyup Jake."

She then did the same with Rex, the near ox. Both began the slow walk that had pulled the wagon over sixteen hundred and some miles of prairie and mountain paths.

Jed had grinned as Elizabeth's soft but firm voice started the oxen moving. The woman had grit in her gullet. Along the way, more than one man had given up and settled his family on the plains of Kansas or in a valley in the mountains. Elizabeth had experienced more pain and suffering than any woman should have to endure, and yet she was there, walking beside the oxen and giving them the commands of "gee" and "haw" just like any man would have done. He admired that.

After two more weeks, Elizabeth asked Jed why he wouldn't eat with her when they stopped. Jed just said he thought it wasn't proper since he was just a hired hand. Elizabeth had laughed.

"Jed, you're more than just a hired hand. You're all I have left. You come and eat with me from now on. I could use the company."

Jed was still nervous about getting too close to Elizabeth. If she ever found out about his past, she might let him stay with the wagon, but she'd always be afraid of him. Jed didn't want anyone to be afraid of him ever again. It had been that way back in Missouri because of his height, and he'd enjoyed the feeling of superiority. After accidentally killing a man because of those feelings, he'd come to realize that attitude would cause him nothing but trouble. Being around Mr. Crocker all those months had taught him how a man should act. He'd tried to imitate him, and liked how the other people on the wagon treated him as a result. He couldn't let anything change that.

After two more weeks, the wagon train reached Grande Ronde, the gateway to the Willamette Valley and their ultimate destination. The mornings were cool and sometimes it felt as if snow was on the way. They were fortunate to be early enough there was no snow except the occasional skiff of white early in the morning, but they had to keep moving.

At Grande Ronde, Elizabeth had to decide if they would float down the Columbia River on a raft or take the toll road around Mt. Hood. She discussed the options with Jed. He said the river route would be faster, but after all the water they'd crossed so far, he would rather stay on land. Elizabeth was of the same opinion. She just wanted to hear Jed's preference. Over the past month, she'd seen more of him than during all the rest of the trip and had grown to understand he was a good man with a good head on his shoulders.

She'd seen him rush to help her when she really didn't need his help. She'd relied on his judgement at times, and found him to be right. While he still seemed a little shy around her, she'd finally convinced him to call her Elizabeth instead of Mrs. Crocker. He seemed to like doing that, and had become more friendly. He wasn't trying to get any closer to her, but at least he wasn't trying to get further away.

Elizabeth smiled.

"I don't like the idea of floating down the river and steering around rocks either. We still have enough money to pay the tolls. Let's take the toll road."

Jed had smiled when she said "we". It made him feel good that she thought of them as "we" instead of employer and hired hand. It seemed as if she was thinking more and more like that. Jed wasn't sure that was a proper thing since if she got too close, he'd have to tell her about Missouri, but it made him happy.

After a week of some of the hardest going the wagon train had experienced, the wagon master halted the wagon train at the head of a huge valley. Elizabeth could see a few fields, but mostly it was just open plain. She smiled to herself. If only Samuel could see this. Then she realized he probably had from Heaven.

There was talk around the campfires that night. Tomorrow, they'd go into the Willamette Valley and after another day would be able to register for claims to the farmland. Elizabeth was excited until she overheard Mr. Breedan telling his wife he didn't know what Elizabeth would do now because a woman wouldn't qualify for an allotment by herself.

As she and Jed ate their supper, she asked him if that was true. Jed put down his spoon and frowned.

"Yes, Ma'am, that's what I heard too. A man with a family will get six hundred and forty acres. They don't give land to women because they're not strong enough to work it."

Elizabeth frowned.

"I didn't come all this way and lose so much to get nothing."

Jed thought for a few minutes without saying anything. Then, he looked up at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, you won't have to worry. I heard from the doctor that they changed the law a couple months ago. Instead of a hundred and sixty acres, I'll get three hundred and twenty. When I get mine, I'll build you a separate cabin to live in. You can sell your steers and still have your cows and your chickens, and you can plant a garden so you'll have plenty of food. You'll be able to find a husband then and you'll get your land."

"You'd do that for me? Why?"

"Well, you've been so good to me all these months even though I was just a man your husband hired to help him out. I owe you something in return."

Elizabeth looked at Jed. He was looking at the bowl of stew and not at her. Still shy, she thought, but he's still a good man. He had worked hard when Samuel was alive, and he'd worked even harder since. She'd learned Jed knew a lot more than just how to drive livestock. She'd led their conversation one night into farming and found out Jed was raised on a farm.

Who would she find in Oregon? She didn't know anyone there at all, much less know any man enough to trust what he said. It would be years before she knew enough about a man to agree to marry him. That might be too late for her.

Elizabeth had had thoughts of more babies to replace Mary and Martin. She was still young enough. Her mother had been almost forty when she had the last of her children. It had been hard on her, but she coped and raised Elizabeth's brother into a strong, pious man. She could do the same if she started soon enough.

She knew it wasn't the right thing for a woman to do, but neither had been driving oxen for a month or making all the decisions she'd had to make. Men, not women, always did those things, but she had done them and Jed said she had done them well. She stood up and walked to where Jed sat leaning against one wheel of the wagon.

"Jed, I don't think I need to look for a husband."

He looked up at her and saw her smiling at him.

"You already found one?"

"I think so, if you think it would be all right."

Jed scratched his head.

"I don't know why you'd need me to say it's all right. That's a decision you should make."

"I already made it. He's you, Jed."

Jed sat his bowl on the ground beside his leg and then looked up at Elizabeth. He had to tell her so she wouldn't be making a mistake she'd regret.

"It can't be me, Elizabeth. You don't know what I was back in Missouri."

"No, I don't, but I know who you are now. What could be so bad about how you were back there?"

Jed took a deep breath.

"I...I killed a man. I didn't mean to, but I did."

"How", Elizabeth asked.

"We were fighting and I hit him a good hard punch. He fell back against a wagon wheel and cracked his head open."

"That sounds like it was an accident."

"Well, it was, but the law thinks I killed him. There was a reward out for me in Missouri. That's why I wanted to come to Oregon."

"I haven't seen you fight anybody here."

"No, Ma'am. I learnt my lesson back there. I ain't gonna fight anybody ever again lessen it's to defend me and mine, but it don't change anything."

Elizabeth smiled.

"The bible says we should forgive. I can't think of a man who deserves forgiving more than you, Jed. I forgive you."

Jed's mouth fell open for a second.

"You'd still have me after what I just told you?"

"If you'll have me, I will."

Reverend Mitchell married them the next day when they stopped for the noon meal. There were a few whispers among some of the women that it was too soon after losing her husband, and that she shouldn't be wearing white, but Elizabeth didn't listen. She stood proudly in the wedding dress from her hope chest while Reverend Mitchell asked if she promised to honor and obey. She looked at Jed, smiled, and said "I do".