THE
Oregon Historical Quarterly
ROUTE OF MEEK CUT-OFF, 1845
By Lawrence A. McNary
After the early 1840s the course of the Oregon trail from the Missouri River to the Columbia was generally established and known. Beyond the Grande Ronde Valley and the Blue Mountains in Oregon the trail varied, and while most of the immigrants crossed the John Day River near what is now McDonald Ferry, and the Deschutes River near the Columbia, others later went more southerly and met the Deschutes at Sherars, and still further up stream. Some pioneer parties reached the Willamette Valley by way of Klamath and Tule basins, and Rogue and Umpqua valleys; others through the Cascade Range to the upper Willamette. But the most frequent objective was the Columbia at The Dalles, and thence to Oregon City by water, or, after 1845, to the south of Mount Hood by what is known as the Barlow trail. The pioneer hazards and vicissitudes of the following years were common to all, varied by individual trains' experiences en route, with stream and mountain crossings, Indian depredations and life taking, and the dreaded fevers.
Some 250 wagons of the migration of 1845 were met on the Snake River by Stephen Meek, who sought to guide them by what he claimed was a shorter and quicker route to the Willamette, south of the Blue Mountains, instead of the accustomed trail to the northwest. About 200 wagons were prevailed upon by Meek, and the trials experienced before reaching The Dalles included high mountain passes, burning sands without water, pursuing stream beds with water reaching high on the wagons, finding placer gold, crossing swift waters in wagon boxes, much sickness, and final arrival by aid of a rescue party. The experiences of the Meek “cut-off” people have attracted much inter-
