The Terrible Trail

The Terrible Trail (HM16TM)

Location: Burns, OR 97720 Harney County
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Country: United States of America
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N 43° 36.804', W 118° 49.308'

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Oregon History

Weary Oregon Trail emigrants, eager to ease travel or gain mileage, often attempted cutoffs and shortcuts. While many of these alternate routes proved successful, others did not—they became roads to ruin for some and the end of the trail for others.

In 1853, Elijah Elliott, a Willamette Valley settler, convinced over 1,000 people to attempt a shortcut over the Cascade Range. Following Meek's route to Harney Valley, Elliott's party diverged around the south shores of Harney and Malheur Lakes. Continuing westward, the party became disoriented. As the emigrants became increasingly desperate, scouts searched ahead for water and a route over the mountains. Eventually, scouts located a crude road over the Willamette Pass. One year later, William Macy led 121 wagons along a similar route without serious difficulty.

In 1845, frontiersman Stephen Meek persuaded over 1,000 people to leave the trail at present-day Vale and trek across the desert toward the upper Willamette Valley. Blazing a wagon road up the Malheur River they entered Harney Valley, near this site. Hunger, thirst, illness, and death stalked the wagon train as it wandered west and ultimately north toward the Columbia River. Bitterness against Meek became so intense that he was compelled to travel beyond rifle range. Meek eventually forged ahead to The Dalles, where a rescue party was organized, but relief arrived too late for more than twenty emigrants who were buried in lonely graves along the way.
Details
HM NumberHM16TM
Tags
Placed ByState of Oregon
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, September 20th, 2014 at 4:48am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)11T E 352992 N 4830547
Decimal Degrees43.61340000, -118.82180000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 43° 36.804', W 118° 49.308'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds43° 36' 48.24" N, 118° 49' 18.48" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)541
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 4417 S Harney Rd, Burns OR 97720, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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