Independence
is the city, where the Oregon Trail started from (along with the Santa Fe and
California trails). Lewis and Clark also came through here on their expedition.
There is a museum in town, that tells about all of these trails (plus the
Mormon pioneer trail, which used part of the Oregon trail). It’s called The
National Frontier Trails Museum. We visited it on June 22.
The Oregon
Trail had our main interest. We saw the end of it in Oregon City, and now we
have seen the beginning – 2000 miles to the east.
During our
travels, we have thought a lot about how difficult it must have been for the
pioneers. The trip on the Oregon trail took about 5 months. They traveled over
wide spread prairies, in the summer heat and winds. They traveled through very
dry lands, where there was little or no water for days at a time. Maybe worst –
they traveled over very tall and rugged mountains
Many people
died of thirst, hunger, disease, exhaustion, Indian attacks, animal attacks
(rattlesnakes, bears…). As they traveled, they had to leave more and more of
their possessions behind. By the time they got to Oregon, many of them had
nothing left but their life.
These people
had courage. These people had strength. These people had the drive to make the
trip. How many people today, would be able to make a trip like that? Between
1840 and 1869, about 500 thousand made this trip!
We found out
a couple of other things about Independence – it is the hometown of Harry S.
Truman (his presidential library and home are in town) and it is a center for
the LDS church (Mormons)
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| But he didn't. Truman was elected the 33rd president |
The town is
the site that Joseph Smith originally chose for the temple of Zion in 1831. The
Mormons were thrown out of town, before the temple was built, and they
reorganized in Nauvoo, Illinois. Later they moved to Utah, using part of the
Oregon Trail on their way.
The
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, just opened a new exhibit –
Unexpected Encounters – where they have taken lots of things out of storage,
that they usually have trouble exhibiting, because they don’t fit well with
other things. We thought that sounded interesting, so we stopped by. Here is a
sample of the variety of art we saw…
And this one
was in the sculpture garden outside.
Written by Mary
The LDS
church moved back to Independence at some point, because they have a temple,
several churches, big auditorium, visitor’s center, and many other buildings in
the city.
On Saturday –
June 23 – we went into Kansas City. There are 200 fountains in the city, and we
wanted to see some of them. Unfortunately, they are wide spread, and we didn’t
have a very good map. We did find some but decided that it wasn’t worth driving
around all day to find the rest.
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| Before we gave up, we did find this one, that is a tribute to the firemen, who have lost their lives on the job. |
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| China, around 3000-2500 BC (clay) |
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| India, 1911 (silver and silk) |
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| USA, 1962 (acrylic polymer and wood) |
Written by Mary
What an amazing journey you are having! So happy for you . We’re learning so much! Lots of love
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