Hope erodes on the Oregon Trail
After hiding along the Snake River, the party walked about seventy-five miles until they were confident they weren’t being followed. They had almost none of the supplies they needed to survive, having abandoned them during the attack. Weakened by hunger and exhaustion, they camped by the Owyhee River, where they would wait for a rescue. They met some Shoshone, who traded some salmon for the few things the party still had and took their guns.
The guns would have been vital for hunting. But the food gave Alexis and Abigail Van Ornum strength to try to seek rescue while others waited at the camp. This group, which included their five children, a man named Samuel Gleason, and two of the Utter boys, found death instead. The adults and older boys were killed by Indigenous attackers, and four surviving children on the expedition were taken to live with them.
