INTRODUCTION
By Marian Albright Schenk
FOREWORD
By Dean Knudsen
SECTION 1
Primary Themes of Jackson's Art
SECTION 2
Paintings of the Oregon Trail
SECTION 3
Historic Scenes From the West
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| Jackson the painter. At a time in life when most men are thinking of rocking chairs and grandchildren, William Henry Jackson embarked on a new career as an artist. His paintings have been used to illustrate many books on the history of the American West. (SCBL 2701) |
Section 1: Primary Themes of Jackson's Art
THE EARLY FUR TRADE
William Henry Jackson was intrigued by the process by which the Far West became a part of the United States. Jackson saw a logical progression of events that first brought early explorers and fur traders onto the high plains. The knowledge they brought back with them led missionaries and prospectors to try their luck in the West. In time, the trails that they established were used by emigrants in pursuit of new opportunities and a better life, thus simply continuing the well-established American tradition of moving West. At first, the early trails served only as a corridor for people making their way to Oregon and California. There was no particular interest in settling what was then known as the Great American Desert, so the emigrants simply passed through Nebraska and Wyoming, leaving nothing behind but the graves of loved ones who died along the way.
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| Fur Trader Caravan Leaving St. Louis. A notation by the artist on the back of the painting reads, "The Smith, Jackson, and Sublette train leaving St. Louis April 3, 1830. The first train to cross the plains to the Rocky Mtns." This image is a near duplicate of the painting on the opposite page, and is signed and dated 1930. (SCBL 17) |
It wasn't until the railroads were completed that settlers claimed homesteads and tried to farm on the High Plains. These settlers may not have been aware of it, but they owed a great debt to the early fur traders who, in the 1820s and 1830s ventured out into the West to make their fortune. At first only a few bales of furs were all a trader could transport back to the East. But soon the market for fur was so good and the supply so great, that these traders brought the first wheeled vehicles onto the Plains to haul the profitable furs back to St. Louis.
Of course these wagons could only be hauled over relatively even ground, and the most practical routes had to be found. This was done by following the already established Indian trails, which themselves had followed migratory buffalo trails. Over time, the buffalo had learned the easiest route was along the Platte River, and benefiting from nature's wisdom, the Oregon Trail was born. Eventually much of this same route was used by the Union Pacific Railroad, and even modern engineers could not improve upon it and decided to take advantage of the old trade route and built Interstate Highway 80 along it.
To illustrate the important role played by the first fur traders, Jackson decided to depict the first party to take wagons into the Far West. This was done by the American Fur Company, owned by Jedediah Smith, William Sublette, and David Jackson, and they are shown leaving St. Louis, Missouri, on April 10, 1830. They were bound for a fur trader's rendezvous in the Rocky Mountains, and within the year they succeeded in returning with ten wagons full of furs. The fur trade proved to be short-lived and began to decline in the 1840s, but the stage had been set for the great westward migration.1
1. Leroy R. Hafen, The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West (Glendale: The Arthur H. Clarke Company, 1965), 102.
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| Smith, Jackson, and Sublette Expedition. Signed and dated, 1936. 34.1 x 25.3 cm. (SCBL 14) |
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scbl/knudsen/sec1b.htm Last Updated: 14-Apr-2006 |
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