America's National Historic Trails

AMERICA'S NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS

BY KATHLEEN ANN CORDES UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS 1999, 369 PAGES, $19.95

For the traveler who has run out of places to go and sites to see, this book offers an entirely new challenge. It presents a detailed guide to 13 of the 20 national trails--four in the East, eight in the West, and one in Alaska. The author and her photographer helper, Jane Lammers, have traveled each one and have produced an outstanding new kind of travelogue.

All of the trails are important to American history, from the El Camino Real overland route to San Francisco, known as the Juan Bautiste de Anza Trail, which was a way to the California missions, to the Selma to Montgomery Trail, commemorating the famous 1965 civil rights march. Sandwiched in between are the Lewis and Clark, Oregon, Mormon, Santa Fe, and Pony Express trails, among others. The Alaska Iditarod Trail, which originally went from Seward to Nome, is probably the loneliest. Today, dog races on part of that trail commemorate the delivery of diphtheria vaccine during a 1925 epidemic in Nome. Aerial photography of part of this remote area is outstanding.

The history and purpose of each trail is given, as are descriptions of the flora and fauna where appropriate. The political setting in which the trail emerged also is discussed in depth. Mileage is listed, and one has to wonder at the temerity of the early people who established and used these trails. The Lewis and Clark trek, for example, is about 3,700 miles and took the Corps of Discovery over two years to complete the round trip. (An aerial photo of the Three Forks of the Missouri River, which begin that mighty muddy current, gives readers an idea of the difficulty the intrepid explorers had in carrying out their mission.)

The Santa Fe Trail, which began in 1821 on the occasion of Mexico winning its freedom from Spain, was principally a trading one. Its lumbering Conestoga wagons were drawn by yoked oxen some 800 miles. A history of Bent's Fort is featured. The trading post's importance was the equivalent of Ft. Laramie's on the Oregon Trail. Both are restored and should be visited.

The Trail of Tears follows the route the Cherokees took in 1838-39 when they were forced by the government to migrate from the Southeast to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. The trail was about 2,200 miles and untold hardships were endured on it. Ironically, removal from their native territory proved to be a boon to the Cherokees when oil was discovered on their new lands.

One cannot praise this gem of a book highly enough.

Reviewed by

GERALD F. KREYCHE American Thought Editor

COPYRIGHT 2000 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group