The Oregon Trail a new American journey Buck, Rinker 1950- creator text nyu 2015 monographic eng
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450 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm Spanning 2,000 miles and traversing six states from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean, the Oregon Trail is the route that made America. In the fifteen years before the Civil War, when 400,000 pioneers used it to emigrate West, the trail united the coasts, doubled the size of the country, and laid the groundwork for the railroads. The trail years also solidified the American character: our plucky determination in the face of adversity, our impetuous cycle of financial bubbles and busts, the fractious clash of ethnic populations competing for the same jobs and space. At once an American journey, a work of history, and a personal saga, this book tells the story of Buck's 2,000-mile expedition across the plains. He was accompanied by three cantankerous mules, his boisterous brother, Nick, and an "incurably filthy" Jack Russell terrier named Olive Oyl. Along the way, Buck dodges thunderstorms in Nebraska, chases his runaway mules across miles of Wyoming plains, scouts more than five hundred miles of nearly vanished trail on foot, crosses the Rockies, makes desperate fifty-mile forced marches for water, and repairs so many broken wheels and axels that he nearly reinvents the art of wagon travel itself. Apart from charting his own geographical and emotional adventure, Buck introduces readers to the evangelists, shysters, natives, trailblazers, and everyday dreamers who were among the first of the pioneers to make the journey west. Rinker Buck. Includes index. n-usp-- n-us-or Buck, Rinker 1950- Travel Oregon National Historic Trail Buck, Rinker 1950- Viajes Oregon (Estados Unidos) Frontier and pioneer life West (U.S.) Viajes terrestres al Pacífico Vida de pioneros Oeste (Estados Unidos) Oregon National Historic Trail Oregon (Estados Unidos) Vida social y costumbres Oregon (Estados Unidos) Descripciones y viajes Oeste (Estados Unidos) Historia Hasta 1848 Oeste (Estados Unidos) Descripciones y viajes 002 F 597 B922o 2015 978 9781451659160 (hardcover) 1451659164 9781451659177 (trade pbk.) 1451659172 DLC 150316 20230805181421.0 eng