Oregon, Sweet Oregon
Book Three "Petticoat Party" Series
For grades 4-7. Teachers, media specialists, librarians, and homeschoolers are encouraged to download this Guide. Kathleen Karr welcomes your comments, and you may send these by activating Contact Us on our Homepage.
Why (and How) I Wrote This Book
A Journey
by Kathleen Karr
SUMMARY:
Phoebe Brown (13) and her family have arrived in the promised land of Oregon. Amid the late rains of autumn and the early snows of a particularly difficult winter, the family must built a cabin on the land Papa Brown has chosen. Settled at last, Phoebe spends the next two years learning that pioneering life is not for her. It has its compensations for nearly every other member of their original wagon train: Phoebe's big sister Amelia finally lands her printer beau; Papa is content with his rich fields; Mama satisfies herself with her home, neighbors, and the Oregon City Ladies' Literary Society; Miss Simpson starts her own school for young ladies. But Phoebe longs for new adventures. When she meets Robbie Robson, a young man with similar goals, she takes a bold chance to fulfill herself.
PRE-READING
Discuss the major events in the Oregon Territory and bordering California during the period 1846-1848:
* "The Oregon Controversy" and the Hudson's Bay Company: The peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain left undecided the ownership of "the Oregon Country," so it remained jointly controlled by the two countries. The Territory was a huge, vaguely known block of land stretching from Mexican California north to Russian Alaska, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. This land was originally explored by wilderness men who worked for competing fur traders. John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company established Astoria on the Pacific Coast in 1811. In 1825, to keep the British interest in the land alive, the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
As it turned out, Fort Vancouver became the end point of the Oregon Trail, and John McLoughlin, the fort's chief, or factor, found himself dealing more often with new American settlers than with British interests. McLoughlin was cordial to the Americans and eventually became an American himself, settling in Oregon City. In the interim, his fort became the major point of civilization in the Territory. To the dismay of his British employers, McLoughlin sent out a call for more American settlers. With the population increasing in the Americans' favor, the British eventually moved their fur operations to Victoria Island. As the U.S. became more involved in the Mexican War (1846-48), Washington backed down on its claim, and the boundary dispute was resolved in 1846 with the fixing of the Canadian-U.S. boundary at the 49th parallel, even after the war hawks in the east had vowed "54-40 or Fight!" (N.B. that the 54th parallel would have reached the southern tip of Alaska.)
* The Donner Party Disaster: The most infamous wagon train of the 1846 westering season, the Donner Party allowed itself to be conned by California promoters waiting at South Pass. Convinced to take an unproven "cutoff" route through the Utah desert to California, the emigrants were beset by hardships, bad decisions, and bad luck. Instead of making it over the Sierra Nevada Mountains before winter, they were stranded by heavy, early snows. They could have walked out and survived, but were loath to leave their wagons and livestock. They stayed, starved, and eventually resorted to cannibalism. Of the 23 men, 15 women, and 41 children who reached Donner Lake (named in their honor for the spot where they wintered) two-thirds of the men, one third of the children, and one quarter of the women died. Four relief expeditions were sent through the mountains for help before the survivors were finally evacuated to Sutter's Fort with the coming of spring. Twelve-year-old survivor Virginia Reed summed up the situation in a letter sent back East after being saved: "Never take no cutoff and hurry along as fast as you can."
* The Whitman Massacre and the Cayuse Wars: Marcus and Narcissa Whitman traveled West to organize a Methodist mission to the Cayuse Indians in 1836. Narcissa was the first white woman to cross the Rockies, and their baby, Alice, was the first child born of U.S. citizens in the Pacific Northwest. They built their mission in the dry plains between the Blue Mountains and the Cascades (near present Walla Walla) and called it Waiilatpu.
The Whitmans preached to the Cayuse, and Marcus, a doctor, treated their illnesses. After ten years they had few native converts and found themselves ministering more often to the wagon trains following the trail they had pioneered. When little Alice drowned in the mission's pond, the Whitmans adopted the Sager children who were orphaned on the Oregon Trail during the 1844 season. By autumn of 1847 there were 74 people staying at the mission, most of them wintering emigrants. The Cayuse, frustrated by a combination of ever-increasing whites and the results of a disastrous measles epidemic that began decimating them, massacred thirteen of these people on November 29, including the Whitmans and most of the Sager children.
When Gov. George Abernethy, head of the provisional government in Oregon Territory, heard of the massacre, he called out a company of riflemen to punish the Cayuse. Soon 500 volunteers joined the effort. The Cayuse fled to the mountains and the volunteers pursued them, but not very efficiently. Eventually the volunteers wandered back home. After two years of hardships, the Cayuse gave up five of their men in an effort to make peace with the whites. The five were arrested for murder and tried by jury in Oregon City. They were hanged in 1850. This punishment solved nothing (and it wasn't even clear that these particular men had been involved in the massacre.) For the next generation intermittent Indian wars plagued the Pacific Northwest, but the Cayuse were never again a source of real trouble.
ACROSS THE CURRICULA: Random Thoughts
Social Studies:
As noted in the historical background above, there was a lot happening in the Pacific Northwest/Oregon Territory during the first half of the nineteenth century. Interestingly enough, all the strings were being pulled from the East -- either by men like Astor and his fur company or by the politicians in Washington City. American History and Social Studies courses could certainly be enriched by exploring these events in greater detail. The fact that John Jacob Astor made one of the great American fortunes in the fur trade -- through the work of illiterate wilderness men who hunted, trapped, married into the Native American tribes of the West, and did the real trail-blazing of the region -- ought to intrigue kids. Read the stories of some of these men (i.e., Jedediah Smith.) Discuss how these furs were used (primarily to fuel the fashion of "beaver top" hats.) Could such an industry survive in today's politically correct "Fur is Dead" environment?
History/Art/Math: How to Build a Cabin or Raise a Barn:
Using the books suggested below, design on paper a typical pioneer homestead. Estimate the length, width, and number of logs needed to construct a cabin or barn. How many trees would need to be cut down? How long might it take to chop down each tree using hand axes? How long would it take to finish the particular building if only one person were working on it? How would this time element change with more people helping? Add the human factor: you slip and break your leg before the roof is finished. Will you survive the winter? In short, get the kids to think like pioneers.
Bibliography: the following books contain superb drawings and descriptions of period tools and construction methods
- Sloane, Eric. Diary of an Early American Boy. Ballantine, New York. 1965.
- Sloane, Eric. Eric Sloan's America. Promontory Press, New York. 1982.
- Sloane, Eric. A Reverence for Wood. Ballantine, New York. 1973.
- Tunis, Edwin. Frontier Living. World Publishing Company, Cleveland. 1961.
Language Arts
There are currently available hundreds of first-person, period narratives written by immigrants who survived both the Oregon Trail and the homesteading experience. Some are literate, some are filled with spelling and grammar mistakes, just as they were written. All of them are poignant. Gather excerpts from these narratives for your students to read. They'll encounter real people, experience real trials and tribulations. Most importantly, they'll learn how these people triumphed over adversities today's kids could never imagine.
WHY (AND HOW) I WROTE THIS BOOK
There are many stories about journeying West along the Oregon Trail. I noticed a large gap in the literature, however: no one ever wrote about what it was like when these pioneers actually arrived. My mind swirled with questions. What did Oregon City look like in 1846 and how was it different, yet similar to eastern towns? How did the immigrants set up their homesteads? What was their connection to the rest of the world, and how did they learn of events happening outside the Willamette Valley? How did the original occupants -- the Native American tribes -- react to this sudden influx of strangers onto their lands? I began to try to find the answers to these and other questions.
Visiting Oregon City and the Willamette Valley helped. Seeing the area today, I got a feel for the lay of the land -- how trees still towered, rivers still flowed (despite added dams,) cliffs still brooded, and the land itself was still wet and green with rain. I also collected and studied old photographs and maps until I had an image of the town circa 1846-1850 in my head. I began to subtract people and progress from the current land and add my own characters to the earlier environment.
It's easy in theory to learn how to build a log cabin or a barn. There are many books on the subject. I wasn't satisfied with theory. I wanted to know what it felt like to whittle a peg for a joist or actually help raise the walls of a barn. Luckily, I got the opportunity when the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., held a barnraising within the cavernous walls of its building. As a volunteer I was able to do all these things using period tools under the supervision of master carpenters. It was an extraordinary experience. I hope I was able to evoke some of the excitement and sense of accomplishment and camaraderie in Oregon, Sweet Oregon's barnraising scene.
Oregon City during this period was connected to the world by occasional ships arriving to do business with the Hudson's Bay Company's trading center in Fort Vancouver. More importantly, it was connected by its very own newspaper, The Oregon Intelligencer. I studied period copies of the journal in the Library of Congress, then blithely took over the paper -- lock, stock, and barrel. I kept the name, but gave it my own editor, the struggling young man who gives Amelia the opportunity to continue her literary aspirations. Next I needed to know how a real newspaper office would have looked at that time. I also wanted to know how a press was actually operated. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History had all the answers. I introduced myself to the museum's resident printing expert who not only answered my questions, but also raised the ropes on the exhibit of the pertinent press, invited me inside, and actually taught me how to set type, ink it, and print with the press. After my Oregon Intelligencer scenes were written, this magnificent gentleman also proofed the copy to catch errors. (He was distraught because Johnny Tremain, the most famous of all children's books involving the printing business, contained numerous technical errors.)
As for the local Native American tribes, I soon learned that they were by nature less belligerent than most of the Plains tribes. The coastal Chinooks quietly carried on their trading endeavors. The Cayuse on the other side of the Cascade Mountains did eventually lose their patience. The results were the Whitman Massacre and the succeeding Cayuse Wars. I acquired a Chinook Dictionary to make my dialogue between these Indians and the Kennan twins more authentic. I visited the Whitman Mission National Historic Site near Walla Walla, Washington, to try to understand the competing point of view of these earliest missionaries to the Oregon Territory.
Slowly I learned what it was actually like to have arrived in the Oregon Country in 1846. I began to feel as if I were one of the new immigrants myself. I hope Phoebe's adventures and her state of mind reflect all these elements. More to the point, I hope that she comes alive for readers in her own right -- and that the research I did is conveyed with enough subtlety to make Phoebe and her world real. Historical fiction is meant to bring the past believably alive. It shouldn't use a sledgehammer to give the reader facts.
A JOURNEY
by Kathleen Karr
I was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and grew up on a chicken farm in Dorothy, New Jersey. After escaping to college, I worked in the film industry, and also taught in high school and college. I seriously began writing fiction on a dare from my husband. Then my children asked me to write a book for them (It Ain't Always Easy,) and I discovered I loved writing children's fiction.
I find it a pleasure to be able to invent my own worlds. To watch a character come alive -- become real flesh and blood and take the reins of a story in hand -- is an exhilarating experience. It's also hard work. I love historical settings, and feel quite comfortable in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It's a challenge to try to recreate a specific time and place, with its specific language patterns. Short of inventing a time machine, this is my way of reentering the past. It's my way of showing my readers that while events may change, the nature of human beings is fairly constant. Courage and common decency against difficult odds have always existed.
Where do my ideas come from? I've always loved to read, and to travel. Over the years my family and I have visited nearly every state in our country. We've explored Europe, walked the walls of old Jerusalem, sailed up the Nile, and gone by dugout canoe through the rainforest of Venezuela to Angel Falls. We've traveled by gypsy caravan in Ireland and trekked with burros in the high country of Yosemite. We've camped on the Oregon Trail. Along the way we picked up a taste for archeology. We've dug at Montana gold towns, pioneer sites in upper Wisconsin, and excavated an Anasazi pottery kiln in Utah.
Some of my ideas come from these trips. The Petticoat Party series certainly did. Other ideas come from research at the Library of Congress and the National Archives in Washington. I love to root through old letters, deciphering handwriting from another time. I love to find people who actually existed, and build a life around them from the bits and pieces they show of themselves in these letters. Sometimes the inspiration for an entire novel will pop out at me from just a thrown-away phrase. Soon an intricate adventure is bubbling in my brain, crying to get out and be peopled with real characters.
How does my family put up with all this? My husband Larry is my biggest supporter. As for my children, they've been reading and editing my work since they could read and edit. One positive result is that they have no fear of writing school essays. They've grown up in a house full of books and words and still feel comfortable with them. My daughter Suzanne recently took off for college to spread her own wings. My son Daniel is in high school. They've both grown beyond children's fiction to adult literature, but still faithfully critique my novels-in-progress. What more could a writer want?
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