From Emigrant Pioneers to Innovative Engineers

Since our last entry we have gone from Idaho to Oregon and Washington and then today we entered into Canada.

While in LaGrande, Oregon we went to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. During the 1800s the Oregon Trail served as a natural corridor as the United States moved from the eastern half of the continent toward the west coast. The Oregon Trail ran approximately 2,000 miles west from Missouri toward the Rocky Mountains to the Willamette Valley. Through the years, many remnants of the trail have disappeared.

** We have included a picture of the actual wagon ruts and footpaths of The Oregon Trail, along with a couple "friends" we met at the Center**

It was very humbling to see evidence of the trail and to hear of all the hardships that our early pioneers endured.

The emigration lasted over several decades. Best estimates are that more than 500,000 people attempted this perilous journey. People were born and people died during the typical five month journey. It's estimated that perhaps 20,000 - 30,000 people making the trip died en route.

From Oregon we continued to Washington and visited the Grand Coulee Dam. What an amazing site. Grand Coulee Dam, which is a hydroelectric gravity dam on the Columbia River, is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world measuring more than one mile in length with a spillway as long as 5 1/2 football fields! It is quite an amazing engineering marvel, built in the 1930s, and it was all accomplished with "just a slide rule", long before the advent of computers !!! Can you imagine :))

From Coulee we headed due north and crossed into British Columbia, Canada at Osoyoos. We are spending tonight, Thursday evening, in Oliver, BC. Tomorrow we are heading to Clinton, BC.

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Take care and soon,

P&J