In 1843, part of the Applegate family of Missouri headed west along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. Brothers Charles, Jesse, and Lindsay led their families along the trail and lost two children on the journey down the Columbia River when a raft overturned. This was before the Barlow Road around Mount Hood had been constructed, which meant the only way to get the heavy wagons through the Cascade Mountains was by floating them on rafts down the Columbia through the Columbia Gorge, an extremely risky venture under the best of circumstances.

The death of the children and other hardships along the Oregon Trail influenced the Applegate brothers to find an easier and safer way to the fertile Willamette Valley of western Oregon. In 1846, the Oregon Provisional Legislature allowed the Applegates and others to attempt to find a more southerly route to Oregon. The group began the task on June 25, 1846, with Jesse Applegate, Lindsay Applegate, David Goff, John Owen, B. F. Burch, W. Sportsman, Robert Smith, a Mr. Goodhue, J. Jones, B. Ausbuan, and Levi Scott starting the survey.

Leaving La Creole, the party spent three and a half months surveying a route on a round trip to Fort Hall in present day Idaho. At Fort Hall, the Applegate Trail departed the main branch of the Oregon Trail. On the return trip, the group brought approximately 150 immigrants along this southern route, which is also known as the South Road, South Emigrant Trail or the Scott-Applegate Trail.

A detailed account of the Applegate family journey on the original Oregon Trail is chronicled by Shannon Applegate, a direct descendant of Charles Applegate, in Skookum: An Oregon Pioneer Family’s History and Lore.

For more information about the Applegate Trail, visit the Oregon Historical Trail Fund website