Lindsay Applegate
Encyclopedia
Lindsay Applegate was a pioneer known for blazing the Applegate Trail
, an alternative end of Oregon Trail
in the U.S. state
of Oregon
. The trail was blazed with his brothers Charles and Jesse
in 1846.
on September 18, 1808. The family moved to the Osage Valley in Missouri
in 1820 where they farmed. In 1831, Lindsay married Elizabeth Miller, whose sister Melinda was married to Lindsay's older brother Charles, and they had six sons. He fought in the Black Hawk War
against Native Americans in 1832.
At that time, the final hundred or so miles beyond the Wascopam Mission were by boat through dangerous winds, rapids, and eddies on the Columbia River
.
Lindsay's nine year old son Warren perished, as did Jesse's ten year old Edward who did not know how to swim.
Lindsay wrote, "We resolved if we remained in the country, to find a better way for others who might wish to emigrate."
Additional fatalities in the 1844 and 1845 immigration seasons further stirred up settlers and inspired many to search for alternate routes.
Lindsay and fourteen other settlers established the South Emigrant Trail between Fort Hall
in Idaho and the Willamette Valley via northern Nevada
through southern Oregon where Ashland
and Roseburg
now lie.
The intents of this route were to be safer than the Columbia River, encourage settlers to western Oregon, avoid the Hudson's Bay Company controlled area, provide a longer travel season, and steer clear of the disputed English territory north of the Columbia, which most settlers expected would become the US-British Columbia border.
Jesse obtained information from Hudson Bay about the California Trail
which led from Idaho to northern California along the Humboldt River
.
That combined with knowledge of the trapper's trail between the Willamette Valley and California led fifteen men on horseback
to set out in mid June 1846 to look for a link between the two trails, blessed by the Provisional Government of Oregon
.
They traveled due south through the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue valleys.
At the south end of the Rogue Valley—the site of present day Ashland—they turned east and crossed the Cascade Range
approximately along the present route of Green Springs Highway, Oregon Route 66 and emerged near where Keno, Oregon
now lies.
They went around the south end of Klamath Lake and eventually to the future site of Winnemucca, Nevada
. The party split leaving some to rest, while the remainder followed the Humboldt River
northeast and along the California Trail to Fort Hall.
The first emigrants to use the Applegate trail did so in fall 1846 by following the Applegate party on the return trip, a group of perhaps 150 families which were persuaded by Jesse.
Upon their return, the combined party began to blaze a trail for wagons, though they were ill-prepared for such an effort, having few tools, and consisting of mostly weary emigrants. The also faced an early winter—one which set snowfall records and stranded the Donner Party
a few hundred miles to the south.
By the time they arrived in the Rogue Valley, winter had set in. Rain, snow, mud, swollen creeks and rivers hampered passage. Low supplies, scarce game, dense brush and trees, and difficulty lighting warming fires slowed progress considerably, separating the emigrants over many miles. They were spared by relief parties from the Willamette Valley when news of their trouble traveled along the trail.
The Applegates were blamed for the hardships the first wagon train faced. Jesse Quinn Thornton
waged a war of words which nearly led to a duel between him and an Applegate supporter, James Nesmith. Remnants of the hostility survive today among some descendants of those survivors.
Though the Applegate Trail minimized natural dangers, aggressive Indian warriors took the lives of at least 300 emigrants by 1862, even though the trail fell into general disuse by 1847.
Lindsay Applegate and his party were the first white men in what is now the Lava Beds National Monument
.
While traveling eastward they were stopped by rough lava around the south end of Tule Lake
.
The feature known as Stone Bridge at the north end was the route of hundreds of emigrants.
Lindsay made a donation land claim in Yoncalla
(between Eugene and Roseburg) in 1846 and established a grist mill.
As a carpenter, he had built the first river ferry in Polk County in 1844.
He also owned the Applegate Trail toll road through the Siskiyous, which he sold in the 1860s.
Lindsay was appointed special agent for the Modoc
Indians in 1861. In 1862, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives
as a Republican representing Jackson County
.
In 1865, he was appointed Indian subagent, responsible for treaty negotiations and other U.S. government dealings with the Klamath Indians.
The Modoc War
in 1872 was between the Modocs and the U.S. Army, just after Applegate had retired from his post.
In January 1873, along with several other settlers, including Samuel Asahel Clark and R. H. Kincaid, Lindsay successfully proposed a peace commission to stop the war's spread.
He was survived by sons Elisha, Jesse A., Oliver
, Ivan, and Lucien, and daughters Alice and Rachel. He had five other children who died before he did: Warren (the one who drowned in the Columbia River), Theresa, Annie, Frank and Jerome.
His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1882.
He published Notes and Reminiscences of Laying Out and Establishing the Old Emigrant Road into Southern Oregon in the Year 1846.
Applegate Trail
The Applegate Trail was a wilderness trail through today's U.S. states of Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon, and was originally intended as a less dangerous route to the Oregon Territory.-Background:...
, an alternative end of Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. The trail was blazed with his brothers Charles and Jesse
Jesse Applegate
Jesse Applegate was an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. He took part in the early government of Oregon, and helped establish the Applegate Trail as an alternative route to the Oregon Trail.-Early life:Jesse Applegate was born in Henry...
in 1846.
Early life
Lindsay Applegate was born to Daniel and Rachel Applegate in KentuckyKentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
on September 18, 1808. The family moved to the Osage Valley in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
in 1820 where they farmed. In 1831, Lindsay married Elizabeth Miller, whose sister Melinda was married to Lindsay's older brother Charles, and they had six sons. He fought in the Black Hawk War
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict fought in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band" crossed the Mississippi River into the U.S....
against Native Americans in 1832.
Oregon Country
In 1843, Lindsay and Charles traveled along with their younger brother Jesse after they all sold their farms in Missouri, bought several hundred head of cattle and set out for Oregon at the behest of Jesse's good friend Robert Shortess.At that time, the final hundred or so miles beyond the Wascopam Mission were by boat through dangerous winds, rapids, and eddies on the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
.
Lindsay's nine year old son Warren perished, as did Jesse's ten year old Edward who did not know how to swim.
Lindsay wrote, "We resolved if we remained in the country, to find a better way for others who might wish to emigrate."
Additional fatalities in the 1844 and 1845 immigration seasons further stirred up settlers and inspired many to search for alternate routes.
Lindsay and fourteen other settlers established the South Emigrant Trail between Fort Hall
Fort Hall
Fort Hall, sitting athwart the end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States, and is located in southeastern Idaho near Fort Hall, Idaho...
in Idaho and the Willamette Valley via northern Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
through southern Oregon where Ashland
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
and Roseburg
Roseburg, Oregon
Roseburg is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the county seat of Douglas County. The population was 21,181 at the 2010 census.-History:...
now lie.
The intents of this route were to be safer than the Columbia River, encourage settlers to western Oregon, avoid the Hudson's Bay Company controlled area, provide a longer travel season, and steer clear of the disputed English territory north of the Columbia, which most settlers expected would become the US-British Columbia border.
Jesse obtained information from Hudson Bay about the California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
which led from Idaho to northern California along the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
.
That combined with knowledge of the trapper's trail between the Willamette Valley and California led fifteen men on horseback
to set out in mid June 1846 to look for a link between the two trails, blessed by the Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Created at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region, this independent government...
.
They traveled due south through the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue valleys.
At the south end of the Rogue Valley—the site of present day Ashland—they turned east and crossed the Cascade Range
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
approximately along the present route of Green Springs Highway, Oregon Route 66 and emerged near where Keno, Oregon
Keno, Oregon
Keno is an unincorporated community in Klamath County, Oregon, United States, southwest of Klamath Falls on the Klamath River near Oregon Route 66. As of 2000, the population was 1,059. Keno's elevation is 4,108 feet....
now lies.
They went around the south end of Klamath Lake and eventually to the future site of Winnemucca, Nevada
Winnemucca, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 7,174 people, 2,736 households, and 1,824 families residing in the city. The population density was 867.5 people per square mile . There were 3,280 housing units at an average density of 396.6 per square mile...
. The party split leaving some to rest, while the remainder followed the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
northeast and along the California Trail to Fort Hall.
The first emigrants to use the Applegate trail did so in fall 1846 by following the Applegate party on the return trip, a group of perhaps 150 families which were persuaded by Jesse.
Upon their return, the combined party began to blaze a trail for wagons, though they were ill-prepared for such an effort, having few tools, and consisting of mostly weary emigrants. The also faced an early winter—one which set snowfall records and stranded the Donner Party
Donner Party
The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada...
a few hundred miles to the south.
By the time they arrived in the Rogue Valley, winter had set in. Rain, snow, mud, swollen creeks and rivers hampered passage. Low supplies, scarce game, dense brush and trees, and difficulty lighting warming fires slowed progress considerably, separating the emigrants over many miles. They were spared by relief parties from the Willamette Valley when news of their trouble traveled along the trail.
The Applegates were blamed for the hardships the first wagon train faced. Jesse Quinn Thornton
Jesse Quinn Thornton
Jessy Quinn Thornton was an American settler of Oregon, active in political, legal, and educational circles. He served as the 5th Supreme Judge of the Provisional Government of Oregon, presented Oregon's petition for official territorial status to Congress, served in the Oregon Legislature, and...
waged a war of words which nearly led to a duel between him and an Applegate supporter, James Nesmith. Remnants of the hostility survive today among some descendants of those survivors.
Though the Applegate Trail minimized natural dangers, aggressive Indian warriors took the lives of at least 300 emigrants by 1862, even though the trail fell into general disuse by 1847.
Lindsay Applegate and his party were the first white men in what is now the Lava Beds National Monument
Lava Beds National Monument
Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc Counties. The Monument lies on the northeastern flank of the Medicine Lake Volcano, with the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range....
.
While traveling eastward they were stopped by rough lava around the south end of Tule Lake
Tule Lake
Tule Lake is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon.-Geography:Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River...
.
The feature known as Stone Bridge at the north end was the route of hundreds of emigrants.
Lindsay made a donation land claim in Yoncalla
Yoncalla, Oregon
Yoncalla is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,052 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and 1.61% is water.-Demographics:...
(between Eugene and Roseburg) in 1846 and established a grist mill.
As a carpenter, he had built the first river ferry in Polk County in 1844.
He also owned the Applegate Trail toll road through the Siskiyous, which he sold in the 1860s.
Lindsay was appointed special agent for the Modoc
Modoc
The Modoc are a Native American people who originally lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. They are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma. The latter are a federally recognized tribe, the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma...
Indians in 1861. In 1862, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
as a Republican representing Jackson County
Jackson County, Oregon
-National protected areas:* Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument* Crater Lake National Park * Klamath National Forest * Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest * Umpqua National Forest -Demographics:...
.
In 1865, he was appointed Indian subagent, responsible for treaty negotiations and other U.S. government dealings with the Klamath Indians.
The Modoc War
Modoc War
The Modoc War, or Modoc Campaign , was an armed conflict between the Native American Modoc tribe and the United States Army in southern Oregon and northern California from 1872–1873. The Modoc War was the last of the Indian Wars to occur in California or Oregon...
in 1872 was between the Modocs and the U.S. Army, just after Applegate had retired from his post.
In January 1873, along with several other settlers, including Samuel Asahel Clark and R. H. Kincaid, Lindsay successfully proposed a peace commission to stop the war's spread.
Later years
Lindsay retired to Ashland in 1869. He died on November 28, 1892, in either Klamath Falls or Ashland,He was survived by sons Elisha, Jesse A., Oliver
Oliver Cromwell Applegate
Captain Oliver Cromwell Applegate was an American politician and Indian agent in the state of Oregon. A member of the Applegate family that helped open the Applegate Trail, he was raised in Southern Oregon where he later was in charge of the Klamath Indian Reservation...
, Ivan, and Lucien, and daughters Alice and Rachel. He had five other children who died before he did: Warren (the one who drowned in the Columbia River), Theresa, Annie, Frank and Jerome.
His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1882.
He published Notes and Reminiscences of Laying Out and Establishing the Old Emigrant Road into Southern Oregon in the Year 1846.