Dear Diary,                                                   March 18, 1858

My husband John and his parents are going with us on the Oregon Trail. For money we started out with $2,200.

Dear Diary,                                                      March 19,1858

My family just earned $100 for extra work. The money will help us pay for the stuff we are getting on our trip to Oregon.

Dear Diary,                                                          May 1, 1858

I am feeling a twinge of regret. Should I go through with this? Yes I should go through with it even though I miss my home already. We are going to get 3 more oxen for $25. We just found out that the water we got is contaminated so we have to dump it out, but we should leave some in so we can boil it and that will clean the cask.

Dear Diary,                                                     May 18, 1858

I got invited to go up to the top of the mountain and carve my name in a rock with some other kids, but I don’t think I’m goin' to go because you never know what could happen to ya, you could fall off the mountain or Indians could attack us.

Dear Diary,                                                  May 21, 1858

This week I learned that Wild Bill Hickock was a killer. Wild Bill Hickock died from a shot in the back while playin' poker.

Dear Diary,                                                July 13, 1858

We are at Douglas, Wyoming. We have to make a decision if we are goin' to cross a bridge or stay on the trail. We decided to stay on the trail.

Dear Diary,                                                      July 17,1858

We are at Reshaw’s Bridge. It costs $5 per wagon to cross and $1 per animal to cross. We have 9 animals and 1 wagon we have to pay $14 to cross the bridge.

Dear Dairy,                                                    July 23,1858

We got to Fort Laramie. We stocked up on food for the trail. I had a bath and it was very refreshing. Daniel sent a letter to his friend, which costs $1. We bought 3 oxen because 4 died of alkali poisoning. Our plan to keep the animals away from the water with alkali in it was to circle up the wagon train and put the animals inside the circle. Louise Knapp Clappe Smith had a baby girl. She is seven pounds and ten ounces. Her name is Madison America Smith. Madison was born on July 18, 1858.

Dear Diary,                                                      July 23, 1858

Even though I have had a lot of adventure, I am still very scared about what could happen to me. I could get snake bites or something could happen to someone I care about a lot.

Dear Diary,                                                       July 28, 1858

We are at Devil's Gate. There was a stampede of buffalo heading right toward the wagon train. It was very surprising. George Whitman hurt his leg trying to save his daughters from the stampede of buffalo.

Dear Diary,                                                      July 30, 1858

Captain Daniel makd a decision that Daniel, Robert McMillen and Daniel Honeyman are going to dig for ice in a pond and the rest of the women and men are going to go 1 or 2 miles away.

Dear Diary,                                                   July 30, 1858

Captain Daniel made the right decision because they found ice in the pond.

Dear Diary,                                                      July 31, 1858

We’re at South Pass. The mountain looks very steep. It was hard going up, but is going to be even harder going down. I’m scared going down because there is water going down the hill very fast. The McMillen's wagon hit a sharp rock and their wheel cracked and they lost supplies. We alL helped them pick up their goods.

Dear Diary,                                               August 8, 1858

We’ve made it to Fort Bridger. Two blankets are missing from our wagon.

Dear Diary,                                                  August 15, 1858

We are at South Pass. The mountain looks very steep. It was easy going up the mountain, but looks very hard going down. I am very scared going down the mountain because there is water going down very fast. The McMillen’s wagon hit a sharp rock and their wheel cracked and they lost some supplies.

Dear Diary,                                            August 22, 1858

We got two heads of cattle and one yoke of oxen for entertainment.

Dear Diary,                                              August 31,1858

We have made it to Fort Bridger. We just found out that two of our blankets are missing from the wagon.

Dear Diary,                                           September 9, 1858

I got burnt by hot springs and so did some other people on the wagon train.

Dear Diary,                                         September 30, 1858

I have had good times and bad times on this trail. It was very scary and hard going across the windy cold Snake River. It felt great to lie down on the beautiful field of grass on the other side of Snake River and rest.

Dear Diary,                                              October 5, 1858

We are at Ladd Canyon Hill.  The Robbins' and the McMillen's wagons fell down the hill. They both had to kill one of their oxen. We helped the Robbins' and McMillens' clean up most of their goods. We made it down the mountain safely by chaining our wheels and the good part is no one got hurt. We are very lucky it wasn’t as hard as it was for other travelers.

Dear Diary,                                               October 5, 1858

We are at Deadman’s Pass. We have to go through one of the steepest and narrowest parts of the trail. We also have to go single file. Children have been lost and pets have been lost here. Hostile Indians have attacked here which I am scared of the most. I can see broken wagons, scattered ox sculls and bones. It got its name from the three deadly paths. People have been killed from snow cave-ins, murder and the only other thing I know is I am very scared of going through Deadman’s Pass.

Dear Diary,                                                     October 5, 1858

The real way Deadman’s pass got its name was when 4 men got killed in a war.

Dear Diary,                                                   October 12, 1858

We are at Whitman Mission in Walla Walla County, Washington. We are at the 1,709^th mile, and almost to Oregon! But our supplies are very low. We have three options to get to Willamette Valley.  We can go over the mountains, canoe, or stay at Whitman Mission for the winter. We have decided to go canoeing. We rented 2 canoes and 2 Indians to guide us down the river. It costs $45 per canoe and $40 for an Indian guide. It costs $170 for everything. We sold our wagon for $50 to a very nice family in need of a wagon because their wagon had broken.

Dear Diary,                                                October 12, 1858

My husband John and Samuel McMillen are going to be scouts. First Daniel Honeyman and Samuel were going but they’re the two doctors. If someone got sick no one would be there to help us.

Dear Diary,                                               October 17, 1858

My very nice husband John and his great friend Samuel McMillen died today while being scouts. They risked their lives for our wagon train.

Dear Diary,                                                October 28, 1858

I am happy to be in Oregon. I am not living with the Honeyman’s anymore. I changed my name back to Margaret Crista James. I haven’t married yet, and I don’t think I am ever going to get married again because of my husband’s death. Some of the people from the wagon train are helping me build my house. I am still very sad about John Honeyman and Samuel McMillen’s deaths.