Fandango Pass
Southern Route to Oregon
In 1846, Jesse Applegate and fourteen others from near Dallas, Oregon, established a trail south from the Willamette Valley and east to Fort Hall. This route offered emigrants an alternative to the perilous "last leg" over the Oregon Trail down the treacherous Colombia River.
The first emigrants to trek the new "Southern Route" left with the trailblazers from Fort Hall in early August 1846. With Levi Scott acting as guide, while Jesse Applegate traveled ahead to mark the route, the hardy emigrants blazed a wagon trail through nearly 500 miles of wilderness arriving in the upper Willamette Valley in November. Emigrants travel continued along the Applegate Trail in later years and contributed greatly to the settlement of southern Oregon and the Willamette Valley.
Are we there yet?
Beginning in 1846 travelers on the Applegate Trail bound for Oregon crossed the Warner Mountains through this pass. This pass was also trekked by the "forty-niners" during the California gold rush on a route pioneered by Peter Lassen in 1848. Early travelers believed (incorrectly) that this ridge was part of the Sierra Nevada Range and thought that once crossed the trip was almost over. Cresting these mountains was cause for celebration - including a popular 19th century dance called the Fandango.
Cross over a mountain, the ascent about 2 miles and quite steep. Travel 9 miles and camp in a beautiful plain surrounded by stately pine and cedar. Excellent for our stock. - Virgil K. Pringle, September 20, 1846
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