Rough Going Ahead
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Rough Going Ahead
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
The emigrants journey west was not for the faint of heart. Difficulties ranged from the relatively minor, such as boredom or the irritation of the dust kicked up by the feet of hundreds of oxen, to more threatening environmental disasters.
Greater threats included starvation, dehydration, exhaustion, and disease; cholera alone killed thousands of travelers. Out of a total of roughly 350,000 emigrants, about 20,000 people died during their journey.
Wind and stream deposits of sand and mud, wind deposits of volcanic ash, and supersaturated groundwater rich in lime formed the layers of sandstone, siltstone, volcanic ash and limestone that now comprise Scotts Bluff’s steep elevation, ridges, and the broad alluvial fans at its base. The geological deposits then began to gradually erode away, except at certain locations that were protected by a cap rock of hard limestone that was more resistant to erosion. The cap rock covers the tops of the bluffs in the Scott's Bluff National Monument, slowing their rate of erosion, which resulted in the area’s unique geologic features.
In 1841, the first group of emigrants, a wagon train of 80 people known as the Bidwell-Bartleson Party, passed through the Scotts Bluff region on their way to settle in the fertile farmland of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Accompanying the party was well known Catholic missionary, Father Pierre-Jean De Smet. Missionaries had long traveled throughout the western wilderness seeking American Indians converts and were among some of the first travelers along the Oregon Trail. As homesteaders sent positive reports of the Oregon territory back east, interest in the region spread and more settlers embarked on the arduous journey.
In this view made from the top of Scott's Bluff National Monument in Nebraska, the north Platte River is visible near the horizon.
Some digital effects were applied to the original image after the photograph was made. No electrons were harmed during the transition. Your finished photograph will not contain the Fine Art America watermark.
Image copyright 2021 Jon Burch Photography.
Uploaded
May 23rd, 2021
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