NARRATIVE: I wanted to depict a family camping on the Oregon Trail in Wyoming by the Sweetwater River with Independence Rock in the background. This spot was a good place to stop with water access to wash, refresh and replenish before crossing the river to continue west toward Idaho, a trek of long dry miles. Many people carved and painted their names on Independence Rock, some of which can still be seen today.

I decided to focus on the women and children as the center of interest. My inspiration is a 19th century porcelain doll's leg that I found on the same spot in this painting when I was there a few years ago. The doll's leg was sitting on the ground, right next to my foot. It became a symbol and inspiration to me as I depict women and children on the trail. After all, they did make the journey too.

On the bank of the river, a woman is holding her two-year-old twins after giving them a wash. Across the river is a camp of several wagons with livestock grazing. People busy doing what they need to do, here and there. I like to show the sort of work women did, and that children were just children. When they camped, sometimes for a day or more for Sunday rest and worship and to catch up on chores or hunt, women had a lot to do. They cooked, took care of children, kept the wagon organized, washed and mended clothing, etc., sometimes while pregnant.

The following are journal entries written by Keturah Belknap on a trek from Iowa to Oregon. She was pregnant at the time and gave birth on the trail after they entered the Oregon territory. She writes of the way the family wagon was organized to be as comfortable as possible, the difficult departure, and the distress of watching her thee-year-old son suffer from illness.

April 9, 1848
"...Now we will put in the old chest that is packed with our clothes and things we will want to wear and use on the way. The till is the medicine chest; then there will be cleats fastened to the bottom of the wagon bed to keep things from slipping out of place. Now there is a vacant place clear across that will be large enough to set a chair; will set it with the back against the side of the wagon bed; there I will ride. On the other side will be a vacancy where little Jessie can play. He has a few toys and some marbles and some sticks for whip stocks, some blocks for oxen and I tie a string on the stick and he uses my work basket for a covered wagon and plays going to Oregon. He never seems to get tired or cross..."

April 10, 1848
" Our wagon is ready to start; I get in the wagon and in my chair busy with some unfinished work. Jessie is in his place with his whip starting for Oregon. George and the boys have gone out in the field for the cattle. Dr. Walker calls at the wagon to see me and give me some good advice and give me the parting hand for neither of us could speak the word "Farewell." He told me to keep up courage and said "don't fret, whatever happens don't fret and cry; courage will do more for you than anything else". Then he took the little boy in his arms and presented to him a nice bible with his blessing and was off. The cattle have come and the rest of the train are lined up here in the lane and many of the neighbors are here to see us off. The oxen are yoked and chained together."

July 1848
"My little boy is very sick with Mountain Fever and tomorrow we will have to make a long dry drive. We will stay here at this nice water and grass till about 4 o'clock. Will cook up a lot of provisions, then will take what is known as "Green woods cut off" and travel all night. Must fill everything with water. We are on the brink of Snake River but it is such a rocky canyon we could not get to it if one's life depended on it. It's morning. I have been awake all night watching with the little boy. He seems a little better; has dropped off to sleep. The sun is just rising and it shows a lot of the dirtiest humanity every was seen since the Creation. We just stop for an hour and eat a bite and let the teams breathe again. We divide the water with the oxen. George has sat on his seat on the front of the wagon all night and I have held the little boy on my lap on a pillow and tended him as best I could. I thot in the night we would have to leave him here and I thot if we did I would be likely to stay with him but as the daylight , we seemed to get fresh courage."

(Source: "Covered Wagon Women, Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1849." Edited and compiled by Kenneth L. Holmes)