Steven Meek was a mountain man, fur trader, and the older brother of the famous Oregon pioneer Joseph Meek. He knew the eastern Oregon country well. He had explored and trapped the area twice with Bonneville, had worked for Hudson's Bay Company, and had safely piloted a wagon train of 17 families to Oregon in 1842, following what became the standard route.

In 1845 Meek appeared in Missouri country and joined a large contingent of Oregon Trail emigrants that included the groups led by Joel Palmer, Samuel Barlow, and a Captain Stephens. When the companies reorganized at Big Soldier Creek, Meek was hired as a pilot to guide these three companies to Oregon Country. Along the way, he married Elizabeth Schoonover, a Canadian who was traveling from Kansas to Oregon.

When the wagon trains reorganized again at Fort Hall, Meek was no longer employed as a guide. He rode ahead to Fort Boise, approaching the leaders of some of the advance parties with a proposal to guide them on a shorter but untried route. The route through the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon was famously treacherous, and the Whitman Massacre at Walla Walla had occurred only two years earlier. Meek suggested that leaving the established route at Vale, and following the Malheur River on a more southerly route, would make for a shorter trip and would reduce the probability of encountering hostile Indians. Some 200 wagons and over 1000 people decided to follow Meek. Some of the later arrivals at Fort Boise, upon hearing of this new route, also decided to follow it. In the end, as many as 1500 people may have taken the Meek Cutoff.

There is some confusion about whether Meek intended to follow the John Day River, as he apparently told some of the emigrants at Fort Boise, or to develop an entirely new route directly west from Harney Lake to the present-day site of Eugene on the Willamette River. If the former, he was hopelessly lost. If the latter, he might have succeeded, but several of the leaders of the train objected when he attempted to lead them south of Malheur and Harney Lakes.

1845 was a very dry year - tree rings in the area show several years of severe drought from 1839 to 1854. This made the trip miserable for the people and livestock who followed Meek into the Oregon high desert, and it may have contributed to Meek's direction finding challenges. Areas that had water and grass during his earlier explorations of the area were dry and bare in 1845.

At Castle Rock, instead of turning northwest toward the John Day River, Meek went southwest toward Harney Lake, then west to Wagontire Mountain. The route was very rocky, and people and animals suffered greatly. At Wagontire, the emigrants waited several days while Meek and other scouts fanned out in all directions to look for water.

Water was eventually found to the north, at Buck Creek, and from there the emigrants proceeded to the south fork of the Crooked River, intending to continue north to The Dalles. Here the party split, with some proceeding northwest through present day Prineville, while the others went west toward present day Bend. The latter group experienced extreme difficulties, running very low on food. Somewhere along the way, members of the Herren family, collecting water in a blue bucket, picked up several gold nuggets, giving rise to the legend of the lost Blue Bucket Mine. Miners and adventurers have combed the area, but gold has never been found in commercial quantities.

Meek left the party at the Deschutes crossing, the present day site of Sherars Bridge. The numbers are difficult to track accurately, but approximately 30 people died while on the Meek Cutoff. The rest eventually reached their destinations, and many became notable in Oregon history.

The authors rely heavily on pioneer diaries, reports of later emigrants and explorers, and the accounts of many parties who subsequently went in search of the mythical Blue Bucket Mine. The reference section takes up a generous 93 of the 244 pages, and includes a roster of those who took the ill-fated Meek Cutoff. Black and white photos show traces of the cutoff route, as they appeared in the early 1960s.

I learned at least one thing I hadn't thought about. The prairie schooner wagons used at the time were designed to carry enough supplies to carry a family through the trip and to establish them for their new lives in Oregon. The large wheels that allowed these wagons to cross rough terrain also gave them a high center of gravity. They had to travel straight up and down hills to avoid tipping over. Also, the wagons were not very maneuverable, and were often unable to follow Indian or trapper trails along streams. For that reason, they often followed ridges and high terrain. Most of the easy routes were later converted to roads. Where the wagons had to leave the trapper trails, traces of their passing are still visible today.

Another interesting side note - Lansford Hastings was among those who had followed Meek on the successful 1842 crossing. In 1845, the same year as the disaster of the Meek cutoff, Hastings published a book titled The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California, in which he described an alternate route to California. Hastings had never been anywhere near the new route he proposed, and those who followed that route, including the Donner Party, did so at their peril. ( )

Fascinating story. If you've been to central Oregon, you can imagine how difficult it must have been to create new trail and roll wagons over the land.
Also, probably the best chapter on the lost Blue Bucket Mine that I've encountered.