No comments about Adventure at Astoria, 1810-1814 (The American exploration and travel series).

No comments about Let's Go 1999: Alaska & The Pacific Northwest.

No comments about To the Rockies and Oregon, 1839-1842;: With diaries and accounts by Sidney Smith, Amos Cook, Joseph Holman, E. Willard Smith, Francis Fletcher, Joseph ... the Rockies historical series, 1820-1875).

No comments about PROMOTING OREGON ON TOURISM GREEN.(Travel): An article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR).

No comments about On The Old Oregon Trail: A Personal Journey.

No comments about Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest (Metropolitan Portraits).

No comments about 50 Hikes in Hells Canyon & Oregon's Wallowas.

No comments about My Travels In Oregon Coloring Book.

5 comments about Across The Great Divide: Robert Stuart and The Discovery Of The Oregon Trail.

1. 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.




2. 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.




3. 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.



4. 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.



5. I found this book 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.

No comments about Pioneer Roads In Central Oregon.