The Oregon Trail Author:Francis Parkman This book was written in 1848 by a historian who travelled west in 1846. Francis Parkman traveled the Oregon Trail west to Fort Laramie, then rode south with a Sioux band seeking a war of retaliation with the Shoshones, went back to Fort Laramie, went due south to the Arkansas River, then east to the Santa Fe Trail, and then back to his starting... more » point, Westpoint. According to the back of the book, the book "..is a record that brings the reader the sight, sound, and smell of the Great Plains of the mid-nineteenth century, a dry, treless land of wil grasses and sagebrush, where wolves skulked, antelope raced, and buffalo lumbered. The book contains fascinating accounts of the traders, mountain men, French Canadians, half-breeds, and full-blooded Indians who peopled the American west of that time - in particular the Sioux..."« less