On to Oregon

The Diaries of Mary Walker and Myra Eells

Edited by Clifford Merrill Drury
Introduction by Mina Carson

382 pages
Illus

Paperback

April 1998

978-0-8032-6613-1

$21.95 Add to Cart

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About the Book

In 1838, two missionary couples, the Walkers and the Eellses, joined the party going west as a reinforcement to the Oregon Mission. Just married when the trip began, Mary Walker and Myra Eells rode on horseback from Missouri to Oregon, keeping diaries throughout the months on the hazardous trail. After spending a winter at the Whitman mission in present-day Washington, the Walkers and Eellses moved north to do missionary work among the Spokane Indians.

Throughout On to Oregon the presence of Myra Fairbanks Eells is deeply felt, but it is Mary Richardson Walker who will be remembered for perhaps the richest diary we have from a woman pioneering in the West.

Author Bio

Clifford Merrill Drury, a clergyman and historian, edited Where Wagons Could Go: Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding, also available as a Bison Book. Mina Carson is an associate professor of history at Oregon State University and the author of Settlement Folk: Social Thought and the American Settlement Movement, 1885–1930.

Praise

"By the skillful merging of the diaries, letters, and biographical data, . . . Drury admirably attains his purpose of presenting an epic story of great Christian devotion on the Pacific Northwest frontier. An exceedingly important contribution to Pacific Northwest history."—American Historical Review

"Magnificent in its conception, scholarly in its presentation, and pleasing in its appearance."—Missouri Valley Historical Review

Also of Interest

Where Wagons Could Go

Introduction and editorial notes by Clifford Merrill Drury
New introduction by Julie Roy Jeffrey

The Mountains We Have Crossed

Edited by Clifford M. Drury
Introduction by Bonnie Sue Lewis