Wagons West: Nebraska by Dana Fuller Ross

Wagons West

by

Dana Fuller Ross

The second book in the Wagons West series is Nebraska and I finished listening to it on audio this afternoon.  As I noted on my review of the first book, Independence, the series is not historically accurate but it is an enjoyable read.  I would label the series good fluff reading.  For example,  in Nebraska there is a lot of confrontations with Native Americans but if one reads the diaries of actual Oregon Trail Pioneers there was very little contact with Native Americans and what there was did not involve any conflict.  That is not to say that no wagon train was ever attacked by Indians because there were incidents.  But they were few and far between while in the book there were several occurrences.  Also Fort Madison is in Eastern Iowa and not eastern Nebraska.  In the book the wagon train winters over in Eastern Nebraska at Fort Madison.  The wagon train in the story also starts out from Independence Missouri in the fall and by the end of the book they are preparing for their second winter on the trail.  In reality the pioneers started out from Independence early in the spring and made it their goal to be at Independence Rock Wyoming by fourth of July and in Oregon by fall.  It is a 2000 mile five month trek.  While I can see the first wagon train taking longer to take and entire season to cross the plains seems like taking a liberal view of history.  There are many such instances where the author digresses from the reality of the Oregon Trail experience.  Never the less,  the book has adventure, suspense and romance.  I am enjoying the series and recommend it as entertainment with a cautionary note about the lack of historical accuracy.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  There is also one link to follow in the text.  In both the real world experience and in the book as the pioneers came to end of the great plains they came across rock formations suddenly jutting out of the plains.  It was an experience to have spent all those miles of no scenery and then suddenly see these major rock formations.  Earlier in the summer when I was in Western Nebraska I took some photos of a couple of these rock formations.  Enjoy the slide show I made that follows of photos of both Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff National Monuments in Nebraska.