Crossing the Siskiyous

Crossing the Siskiyous. . Applegate Trail emigrants required up to four days to travel from the Klamath River over the Cascades and Siskiyous to the Rouge River valley. The journey may have challenged those with healthy oxen, but it was a devastating trail for those whose livestock died - some discarded their possessions to make a final dash for the Willamette Vally on foot or horseback. , As Jesse Quinn Thronton and his wife trekked west in 1846, several of their oxen died in the Siskiyous forcing the Thorntons to hire other emigrants to carry some of their possessions. Thornton regretted traveling the Applegate Trail and publicly criticized the route in his book Oregon and California (1848). He blamed his misfortunes on the trailblazers whom he called "a class of outlaws and banditti." , Many of the cattle appeared to be too tired to feed, and were lying about upon the little hill-sides, ruminating in the sun. Some of the emigrants were busied in making arrangements for diminishing in some manner the weight of the load in their wagons. Others were silent, and appeared to be stupefied with their distresses. Children were crying for bread. Over all this scene, the sun shone as bright and clear as ever. - Jesse Quinn Thornton, Recollections of October 13, 1846