Customer Reviews

Across the Great Divide : Robert Stuart and the Discovery of the Oregon Trail

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whereas Philip Ashton Rollins still remains the definitive work on Robert Stuart and the discovery of the Oregon Trail, Laton McCartney's book is less encumbered with footnotes and editing to make this a most enjoyable and fascinating read of this courageous, dauntless man.
Being a descendant of Stuart himself, the reader easily senses the pride and respect in McCartney's writing of his legendary ancestor.
We read of Stuart's grueling voyage to the future trading post of Astoria aboard the soon to be ill-fated ship the Tonquin with a ruthless and scornful Captain Thorn; the establishment of Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River; Stuart's adventures in and around this region; the overlander Astorians' journey from the Missouri River to Astoria and culminating with Stuart's ten month expedition of 1812-1813 with six others from Astoria to St. Louis. These men suffered and persevered through hunger, thirst, fatigue, weather, geographical disorientations and Indian intimidations with the final result of course, being the eventual discovery of the Oregon Trail.
An absorbing read and extremely well done.

An interesting story of Robert Stuart, the white explorer who learned from natives the existence of the South Pass through the Rocky Mountains and used the Pass in 1812 on a West-to-East trip. (South Pass is the only wagon-friendly route through the Rockies.) The purpose of Stuart's trip was basically a management report on a private company's progress. The trip was through largely uncharted territory, and dangers were encountered, but this is not a compelling read. Here's the most frustrating part: John Jacob Astor, Stuart's boss, elected to keep secret the existence of South Pass. So this critical piece of geographical info was not used until the Pass was re-discovered in 1823 by William Ashley, who publicized it, leading eventually to the Oregon Trail. Astor never used his "trade secret." That makes Stuart's trip an interesting historical footnote, not the landmark discovery it could have been if Stuart and Astor had publicized the existence of South Pass.

"Across The Great Divide..." is a fascinating story of adventure and travel, but is not so much specifically about the Oregon Trail as it is about the journey of a lifetime until the end of the book.

Beginning with the proposals for a "far-flung trading venture beyond the Mississippi", made by New York merchant and future millionaire John (actually, Johann) Jacob Astor, Laton McCartney takes us from the east coast to the mouth of the Columbia River, on the border of modern Washington and Oregon states, and then back and forth around and across mountain ranges and other natural barriers and obstacles, not in search of the trail itself, but in search of financial gain through the early American fur trade. At times I found myself a bit confused about exactly what part of the country they were in. However, the occasional confusion did not really detract from the interest of the story. After a while, I found myself surrendering my "locator compass" and just going along for the ride. That ride included personality conflicts and human intrigue that seemed more interesting than anything one's imagination could create. Sometimes fact is, indeed, stranger than fiction, including setting on the sidelines watching an irritable and quarrelsome naval officer and sea captain, Jonathan Thorn, take his ship, the Tonquin, and crew to their destiny.

In the process of what eventually does become the great discovery, McCartney dishes out lots of interesting and seldom seen bits of information, such as tidbits about different Indian tribes, how they relate to each other, how they developed their social interactions, and how they related to white men at that point in American development, and the importance of the horse in Indian history. He includes interesting snapshots of the challenges of survival in cold, mountainous weather, with little food and few supplies, with even a foreshadow of the infamous 1846-47 Donner expedition when one starving man briefly suggests they kill and eat one of their own party. And, he tells about the things some men will do to gain fame and/or riches; and, he includes for good measure, political and social intrigue.

Perhaps I got so caught up in the fascination of the trip that I missed it, but the title character, Robert Stuart, got a little lost in the story. He was there, to be sure, and had a large part in the leadership of the adventure, but for me, the strength of the story had little to do with who he was and what he did.

In all, I found "Across The Great Divide..." to be a very enjoyable and entertaining read. As for information about the Oregon Trail, I found myself having to consult the internet, because, somehow, the book's treatment subject that drew me to the book originally, the Oregon Trail, just left me unsatisfied. On the other hand, I had a great time with Mr. McCartney.

Four stars

John Jacob Astor led the life most people do not even dare to dream about. He was a serial entrepreneur at a time when most of the world was composed of farmers. He was so successful at his businesses that when he died he controlled one-fifteenth of all personal wealth in the United States!

Across the Great Divide is a remarkably detailed account of one of his (failed) investments. Directly competing with the Hudson Bay Company for control of the North American fur trade, he is so successful that he is able to finance the establishment of the first American fort in Oregon and supports this effort with his own ships and men via Cape Horn. Returning east overland, one of his employees, Robert Stuart, discovers South Pass, the route that subsequently becomes the gateway to the Far West and the Oregon Trail!

This is a most singular accomplishment. In February 1808 Thomas Jefferson, sixty-five years old and in the waning months of his second term as President, is approached by Astor seeking Jefferson's support for a far flung trading venture beyond the Mississippi River. The proposal captured Jefferson's attention. After embarking from New York City and rounding Cape Horn, Stuart arrives in Oregon in 1810, only 5 years after the Lewis and Clark expedition! It is stunning to realize that Fort Astoria's erection and provisioning, completed after a long, arduous sea voyage that included stops at the Falkland Islands and Hawaii, and which cemented America's claim to the Pacific Northwest, is finished just a few weeks before the arrival of Astor's primary competition, the Hudson Bay Company, could lay further claim to Oregon for Britain.

In June 1812 Stuart, a junior partner in this venture, is chosen to lead an overland expedition back to St. Louis and New York to report to Astor. Only two American led expeditions had crossed the continent before him, Lewis and Clark's and Wilson Price Hunt's which was part of this Astor venture. However, instead of following the northern route of his predecessors, Stuart heads south along the Rockies and strikes South Pass, the only pass in the 3,000 mile Rocky Mountains passable by wagons. Stuart follows the Sweetwater and Platte Rivers across present day Wyoming and Nebraska. In the process, this obscure messenger-explorer discovers the trail that would become the central route of America's expansion, the emigrant road that opened up the Far West to settlement. Astor's Fort Astoria is captured by the British during the War of 1812 and Stuart never again sees Oregon. Subsequently, he becomes one of Astor's primary field agents, working out of Mackinaw Island in Michigan.

Laton McCartney's Robert Stuart is a most stalwart individual. When we stop to think that he was an entrepreneur, not an explorer, his accomplishment becomes all that much more impressive. He blithely embarks from New York on a three year endeavor that circumnavigates the known extent of the Western Hemisphere. His 10 month overland journey is so successful that all 7 people who start from Oregon reach civilization alive. This is a remarkably good book about American exploration and risk taking in an age and in a business when failure meant death. Well written and concise, it is the story of a long neglected explorer who discovered the Oregon Trail that 300,000 emigrants would cross on their way to the Pacific Coast.

"There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will...."
~Robert Service~

Beautiful words paying tribute to the intrepid souls of the adventurers; the individuals among us who found it impossible to live entirely within the confines of civilization. Some had the means to travel, some traveled without means, but both kinds richly deserve the words written for them; about them - no matter how harsh the reality of their story; for theirs is of achievement extraordinaire.

This is a book like that. I found it interesting, obviously well-researched and containing much information I didn't know about the early explorers of my own state of residence. Mr. McCartney did an important work in presenting history and in paying tribute to his gutsy ancestor within the same accounting.

This expedition followed the Lewis and Clark Corp. of Discovery by only a few years, long before Fremont made his journey into Wyoming. They were conducting the exploring of passageways for trade of all kinds, but for the moment, the fur trade - for John Jacob Astor, one of the most astute businessmen of that century. While Lewis and Clark made mighty discoveries, but didn't hit the jackpot with the intended waterways due to the imposing mountains, it was Stuart who discovered an equally important "northwest passage" in the South Pass route, far to the south which is really where the mountains meet the plains - the gentle ending of the Wind River mountain range - allowing the vast traffic West to begin to pass through. And pass they did, the natives watching astounded as they were pushed aside in the tidal waves of emigrants that followed. I couldn't help it - the naughty thought occurred to me that Fremont, while indeed serving his country in his travels, was primarily the son-in-law of a politician wishing to make a name for himself after the real work was done.

It does have controversy, of course - any great discovery is subject to it in the course of hashing out history. John Colter may have crossed it after he split from the L&C expedition - it has been suggested - I'm not enough of a scholar to question some of it but for certain, this man was of the first white men to see it, and documented his journey.

The list of names, rivers and landmarks bring it vividly to life for me, as they are dear, familiar places that I visit on a regular basis, thinking all the while of these men who came before. The Platte, Bessemer Bend, Independence Rock, the Snake river, Henry's Fork of the Snake, Fort Hall; the people of Stuart, Hoback, McClellan, Hunt, all of these people live on vibrantly in our country here - with the landmarks memorializing them. For them, life was to be lived - or lost - in the trying. I doubt that many of them aspired to the greatness they achieved - it was simply answering the call of the wild and unknown, reminding me of yet another free spirit - Robert Service - who said it all in his poem "The Men Who Don't Fit In."

One scenario I found difficult to believe was the part where the explorers were close to death from starvation. Men with firearms, ammunition, should have had no trouble feeding themselves. The country abounds with game even to this day, and it was abundance of twenty fold then. Even if the big game had become scarce in certain areas due to migrations, there were certainly rabbits, even in the winter. It made mention that they "were reluctant to fire their weapons" for fear of attracting the hostile Crow back to their whereabouts, which had to be the most of it, even though it didn't actually come out with the reason. Our Native people are, at long last, taking their rightful place in history too - this book demonstrates it too - for it was their homes that were being invaded and one can scarcely blame them for being insulted.

A mass paperback tale it is not. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, found it scholarly enough without being dry, well-conceived, well-written, and am glad I found it. I'm also thankful for the reviews given it, which helped me decide to read it. It has a well-deserved place in my personal library.

I thought this book was excellent. I thought it was very similar to undaunted courage, but I felt it moved a bit faster, and spent less time on all the minute details of the Astorians' adventure. Maybe my review is higher than the book deserves due to my interest in the subject matter, but I haven't read a historical book cover to cover for along time, and the author did a good enough job that I breazed throught he 270 pages.

This book had a lot going for it, I thought. The writer lives part of the time in the wonderful wild country he's writing about, he graduated for Yale and is an award-winning journalist with work published in many prestigious magazines. He had access to private letters and diaries from the expedition. The expedition itself was dangerous and exciting. The topic was one of my favourites. This, I thought would be a really good read.

Well, it was O.K. The book seems to be accurate, factual and comprehensive. But it's the dullest book about an exciting adventure I've ever read. It lacks a sense of adventure, any depth of understanding of the country, the circumstances and any empathy with the feelings and interactions of the men. It seemed like just a journalistic exercise in getting all the relevant information and setting it down in a coherent sequence.

Robert Stuart appears to have been a remarkable young man and his expedition was hugely important in the development of the region. Both deserved better than this.

This book had a lot going for it, I thought. The writer lives part of the time in the wonderful wild country he's writing about, he graduated for Yale and is an award-winning journalist with work published in many prestigious magazines. He had access to private letters and diaries from the expedition. The expedition itself was dangerous and exciting. The topic was one of my favourites. This, I thought would be a really good read.

Well, it was O.K. The book seems to be accurate, factual and comprehensive. But it's the dullest book about an exciting adventure I've ever read. It lacks a sense of adventure, any depth of understanding of the country, the circumstances and any empathy with the feelings and interactions of the men. It seemed like just a journalistic exercise in getting all the relevant information and setting it down in a coherent sequence.

Robert Stuart appears to have been a remarkable young man and his expedition was hugely important in the development of the region. Both deserved better than this.