The Oregon Trail Author:Francis Parkman, Jr. This book is not, strictly speaking, about the Oregon Trail. When it was first published in 1849, its title was The California and Oregon Trail. But it covers the way west only on this side of the Rocky Mountains, about a third of its length, and then only because it provided a convenient route to the author's intended destination, the home gr... more »ound of the Ogillallah [Sioux] Indians at the foot of the mountain. Nevertheless this book is interesting because it vividly describes the conditions that surveyors encountered. It also portrays the Indians, the trappers, and the emigrants and how well or ill suited they were for life in the wilderness.« less