The Great Platte River Road

Citing from over 700 journals, diaries and letters, Merrill Mattes' "The Great Platte River Road" is a must read for history enthusiasts of the Oregon Trail. From the five main jumping off points along the Missouri River: Independence, Ft. Leavenworth, St. Joe, Nebraska City and Council Bluffs, we see how all emigrant roads lead to Ft. Kearny. From here the lengthy and laborious journey to the west followed the Platte River. Mattes incorporates the overlander's journals with his own effective style of writing to give vivid, down-to-earth, hard-nosed descriptions of past events in such places as Ft. Kearny, Ash Hollow, Court House Rock, Chimney Rock, Scottsbluff and culminating with Ft. Laramie. He not only communicates the difficulties endured by the emigrants themselves such as river crossings, cholera and survival, but also chronicles accounts of the Pony Express, military, Indians, stage lines, etc. and how they all played a part in Manifest Destiny. Not only was this book a pleasure to read, it was extremely insightful and deep-rooted of our Westward expansion.