Maurice Emery

Rinehart's Wagontrain Maurice Emery

The author, the son of parents whose lives were specifically attuned to livestock and ranching,. chose, at an early age, not to be a rancher and left the wide-open -spaces of Oregon...and fend for himself. Working for large corporations from coast to coast, he found his niche in what he considered a life style vastly different from his childhood days. His earlier book, The Lone Pine Ranch, (2003) gives greater amplification of a rancher's life-style. Rinehart's Wagon Train covers events between 1852 and 1941. A long journey in covered wagons, from Omaha, Nebraska to the Oregon Territory was stressful beyond belief. After reaching this vast underdeveloped area, the pioneers established a small town in 1882-1885. Mail was carried by packhorses, one hundred and thirty miles, semi-weekly, to a newly constructed log cabin. The town and country-side nearby had a total of two hundred and twenty-five inhabitants. A Christmas Eve fire in 1894 burned, beyond recognition, forty-three people, men women, and children. forty more were badly burned and injured. The nearest doctor was one hundred miles from this horrible disaster. Reading this book, you will also become familiar with the "out west" actions of grizzly-bear hunters, range wars, moonshiners and firebugs.