The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail exuberantly documents Francis Parkman's 1846 expedition into the American wilderness. Observed with a reporter's eye and recorded in brilliant detail, the whole panorama of life on the Great Plains comes forth against teh cruel indifference adn maesty of the vast land itself-the emigrants with their "broad-brimmed hats, thin visages, and staring eyes" whose days were filled iwth hardship and the Indians and buffalo whose demise Parkman foresaw.