Oregon-California Trails Association | Searls, Niles

Searls, Niles – The Diary of a Pioneer, 1849

Cave Springs Collection·

Nine printed and typed pages

Seven printed pages from a book

“The Diary of a Pioneer and Other Papers: Being the Diary Kept by Niles Searls on his journey from Independence, Missouri, to California, between May 9th and October 1st, 1849”

Two typed pages of research notes “Autobiography of Niles Searls”

The collection was begun in 1991 by the late Merrill J. Mattes, a co-founder of the Oregon-California Trails Association. That original nucleus was a result of a generous donation from Merrill and reflected his many years as an award-winning National Park Service historian and also included works of his own authorship. The collection is housed at the national Frontier Trails Museum in Independence, Missouri. Here, you have access to many of the original trail diaries he collected in digital form.