Oregon-California Trails Association | Gatton, Benjamin H.

Gatton, Benjamin H. – From the Plains, 1849

Merrill J. Mattes Collection·

Three typed pages

Letter written on the Road to California, 20 miles east of the South Pass, July 1st, 1849

Printed as “From the Plains” in the Illinois Daily Journal, September 28, 1849

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.