THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER, OREGON CITY
Written: Dec 08 '08 (Updated Dec 08 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about the Oregon Trail!!
Cons: Those benches in the first presentation room!!
The Bottom Line: This is a great place to learn about pioneer life in Oregon and crossing the Oregon Trail!
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| trthomp's Full Review: The End Of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, O... |
This review is being written as part of coldsteel7 Rediscover Your Hometown Write-Off. Thanks to Chris, cr01 for adding this to the list for me!!
We first arrived in Oregon in February of 2006. Our journey to this state was luxurious compared to the one settlers of The Oregon Territory endured! We are all taught this in school, but until I moved to Oregon I never gave it much thought.
All over Oregon there are signs of the pioneers, and museums that are highly informative as to what life was like here 150 years or so ago. We first saw THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER while searching for a house. It was immediately someplace I wanted to explore!
THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER can be seen from Interstate 205, and it looks like 3 enormous Conestoga wagons. Well, more like it is supposed to look that way. The center removed the canvas covers a few years ago has yet to replace them. They cite expense as the factor. None the less, the metal ribs that support the canvas cover are still there, and they give you the impression of the wagons.
Now, that was sometime around July 2006. When we moved to Oregon City in September of 2008, I decided we REALLY should go to THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER! I just needed to figure out time and go! While searching online for information on their hours and such, I saw that on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they were having more hands on crafty type displays. I knew I wanted to be there THAT day!
Online I also saw that Oregon City had arranged for a deal for people who wanted to see more of the historical sites in the town. For only $7.00 each person, we went to THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER and purchased our passes, knowing it would aide us in actually getting there! The pass also includes entry into the Stevens-Crawford House and the Museum of the Oregon Territory. The Museum of theOregon Territory is a cool place with an archive of documents. We went with the idea of touring the museum, and instead spent many hours in their library!
Back to THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER, our trip their was accidentally well timed! THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER has a video presentation that plays every 1 to 3 hours depending on the movie. We arrived just after the first showing began, and there was no one else in the actual museum area. We had all the guides and their knowledge to ourselves. To have such timing, I would advise calling ahead to find out what that day's showing times actually are.
There are many static displays in the museum area, and 1 large display that rotates every few months. The main display was another reason we went the day after Thanksgiving! I am a quilter, and THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER was having a quilt show of sorts of quilts made by the pioneers! This display fascinated and excited me. I wasn't allowed to touch any of the quilts, and that just broke my heart. They weren't really pretty quilts, but they all looked so snugly and warm!
The day we went they had all of their crafts out for folks to enjoy. Usually every Friday they have one craft for you to make and take home. We started at the front door with a quick candle making session. We dipped a long wick into hot wax and then iced water over and over until our candles were as thick as our finger. Our next craft was a "leather" bound journal! It is only because the pioneers kept such vivid journals, that we today know so much about what their lives were like! The journals we made only had about 8 pages, but it was just enough to document our visit to THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER.
Rag doll making was next. Girls traveling on The Oregon Trail were limited in what they could bring to play with, and rag dolls abounded. My rag doll lacked a lot of things, but over time she has grown on me. I named my doll Narcissa, after Narcissa Whitman. Narcissa Whitman was a pioneer woman who lacked beauty, but had remarkable strength. ALL the women who crossed the Trail you will learn were strong women, both mentally and physically!
We made a few other projects, then we toured the rest of the museum. There was a display about the Whitman Massacre, involving Narcissa Whitman and her husband and the Indians. You can google that to find out more, or better yet come visit THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER! There is an "outhouse", complete with a stack of pages from a catalog. The sign on the display explains how the catalog pages were used...I brought my page home to read, and thanked my lucky stars for Charmin!
There are a lot more displays that are fun and informative, and also interactive. The Conestoga wagons on the property are nice to look at, unfortunately visitors are not allowed IN them. There was one wagon base that you could load with Trail supplies, and see if you could have packed for the 6 month long journey! It looked like fun, but it wasn't something I tried! I didn't want to learn I don't belong in Oregon!
Just about the time we finished the museum, the second showing of the movie was beginning. We went into the first room, where we sat on long benches. The presentation here was only a few minutes long, but those benches made it seem like hours! I can only guess we, as visitors, were supposed to get a "taste" of life in the wagons! It is in this room that we learned how much stuff the pioneers had to bring, and how little space there was. I learned that the average Conestoga wagon was the size of a hall closet, and that the entire family had to have enough food and supplies for the 6 month journey, AND to begin life here in Oregon!! YEAH, how'd they do that!? It wasn't easy, and a lot of stuff got left behind due to lack of space!
In the first room, we also learned that Oregon City was the end of the Oregon Trail because it had the only Federal Land Building. All legal land claims for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming were to be filed in Oregon City! Yeah, LEGAL ones. People settling in Utah and Wyoming likely as not didn't bother with the trek to Oregon City, and just rolled the dice with their claims!
After the initial presentation, we were moved to a theater room, with MUCH more comfortable seats! It was here that we saw the movie being shown at that time. The movies are always related to life in Oregon, or life on the Trail itself. The running time of the movie varies with each movie shown, so again that is something to find out the day of your visit.
There is so much to say about Oregon and the Trail, but I think I have pretty much summed up the museum. I will stop with this, since I could talk about the Trail for hours! THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER and all of Oregon is definitely a place to visit, even if you don't want to move here! Remember, your journey to the THE END OF THE OREGON TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER will be a piece of cake compared to the journey of the pioneers!
Useless trivial facts:
It took pioneers an average of 6 to 9 months to arrive in Oregon, yet the passage to America on the Mayflower took a mere 9 weeks!!
John McGloughlin is known as the "father of Oregon City". He was an employee of the British shipping company called Hudson Bay. The British were trying to settle the Oregon Territory and they forbade McGloughlin to help the American pioneers. His kind heart led him to later be fired by Hudson Bay. He then moved to Oregon City where he lived until he died at least 3 times! Yes, there are a lot of people out here in Oregon who had 3 or more death dates, any of which may or may not be the actual death date! John McGloughlin looks a lot scarier in his pictures than he could have been in person.
George Abernethy owned the general store in Oregon City, and he supplied the pioneers with a "camp site" the first year they arrived!
If adjusted for inflation, the cost per wagon to cross the Oregon Trail would be right around $100,000.00!!
A single man received a land grant for 320 free acres of land, while married men received 640 acres. There were MANY loveless and paper only marriages in the Oregon Territory!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
trthomp
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Member: Terri
Location: Portland Area, Oregon
Reviews written: 189
Trusted by: 75 members
About Me:
God's idea of natural exfoliation is kitty kisses!!
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