Volume 044-4 - October 1990 (8 pages)

the cutoff was occasionally used. Only one more abandoned wagon is reported, lost by the party of John Wood (1850). The next chapter is devoted to a discussion of the Stansbury Expedition, 1849-1850, an expedition, sponsored by the Corps of Topographical Engineers. Generally speaking, they had to survey the country and trails around the Great Salt Lake and to provide a map of this lake. During these investigations he crossed the Salt Desert from Pilot Peak to the lake. His observations in his diary of November 2 and 3, 1849 are quoted in toto. He mentions: passing four wagons and one cart, with innumerable articles of clothing, tools, chests, trunks, books, yokes, chains and some half dozen dead oxen. The next chapter records the history of the abandoned wagons. Although there may have been more expeditions, which are unrecorded, there are 15 of which something is known. Some of the wagons were still standing in 1870, they had collapsed by 1897. Sixty years later little remained of the wagons. All persons visiting the sites removed artifacts, the largest ones first, smaller pieces later. The recovered artifacts were given to various establishments, among which Grantville High School is conspicuous. Several artificats cannot be located any more. It appears that the sites were largely depleted of artifacts by uncoordinated keepsake hunters. The Silver Island Expedition of 1986 was organized because the known Donner sites were in danger of being flooded by excess water, pumped to the salt flats which were to serve as evaporation ponds. General information on this expedition is contained in chapter five, while chapter six discusses the excavation sites in detail, including plots with the location of the artifacts found. These chapters are mainly of interest to professional archaeologists. Most of the 185 artifacts found came from only two of the five sites which were examined. They are minutely described and for the largest part illustrated in chapter seven. All of them are relatively small objects. Artifacts recovered prior to the 1986 expedition are described in chapter eight. They are mainly larger items and are present in the Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee and in the Donner Memorial Museum in Grantsville, Utah. In addition, some larger artifacts were found along the ruts. The last chapter offers an interpretation of what has been found. There is an analysis of the size (gauge) of the ruts and their direction. An interesting sidelight is that on one site, the ruts are much wider apart than at the others, indicating that these may have been made by Reed’s Pioneer Palace! Unlike statements of surviving emigrant records, no goods seem to have been cached (buried). One puzzle relates to the large number of percussion caps, especially exploded ones and musket balls. It seems unlikely that the Donner party carried that much artillery. Another problem is to determine to whom the several artifacts belonged. Comparison with the findings at the Murphy cabin at Donner Lake (1984) and the recent findings at Alder Creek may shed some light on this. Apparently, the Donner excavations at Donner Lake, Alder Creek and the Salt Desert, are 32 the beginning of archaeological investigation of the Oregon Trail. As more sites are examined, the findings will support each other and this way, provide a picture of the great migration besides the written record of which we already have a lot. The excavations will tell things, about which the diaries are silent. The book of Hawkins and Madson cannot fail to interest those who are students of the Donner party. vdP. Tim Woodward, Tiger on the Road, the Life of Vardis Fisher. Caldwell, Idaho; The Caxton Printers, 1989. This is the biography of a writer of the State of Idaho. He apparently was a very prolific writer, yet little known; his books never sold well. One of Fisher’s books is a four volume autobiography: The Vridas Hunter Tetralogy, in which the characters are hardly disguised. This enables Woodward to portray the character of Fisher much better than could have been done by just surmising from various sources. Vardis Fisher was born in 1895 as the oldest son of Joe and Temperance Fisher, a Mormon couple. He had a younger brother Vivian and a sister Irene. At the age of six, Vardis moved with his parents to a remote part of Idaho, some 30 miles away from civilization. His mother taught her children the three R’s and, at a young age, Vardis was already an avid reader. In 1907, the two boys were sent to high school, first at Annis, later at Poplar. For most of these years, the boys camped in an abandoned house, completely taking care of themselves. During these years, the eye of Vardis fell on Leona McMurtrey, whom he admired from a distance for years, hardly ever seeing her, until they were married on September 10, 1917. At that time, Vardis had been attending the University of Utah already for two years. Back in Salt Lake City with Leona, Vardis resumed his habit of voracious reading. He was on the football team for one semester, a strange thing for a boy so scrawny and small. He even was in a game against the team of the University of Southern California. During World War I he served in the armed forces, but not for long; the truce ended his military exploits. In 1919 he earned his bachelors degree and was appointed assistant professor at the University after he had completed a summer of graduate work at the University of Chicago. After a year or so in Salt Lake City he returned to Chicago to take his Master of Art degree which he obtained in 1922 and to work towards his Doctoral Degree. Although Vardis and Leona loved each other very much, their life was stormy. Leona’s level of education was far below that of Vardis’, and Vardis saw this as an obstacle. Also, Vardis had to be away for long periods and Leona could not join him for financial reasons. The only consolation she had was in her two children, Grant and Wayne. In addition to this, Vardis became interested in a girl who was intellectually his equal, Margaret Trusler. All this was too much for Leona; she poisoned herself on September 8, 1924. After Leona’s death, Vardis felt very despondent and started realizing that he had really loved her and had not treated her very well. But he continued seeing Margaret, lived with her in Washington D.C. and Baltimore and finally went back to the University of Chicago where he obtained his doctorate in 1925. Thereafter, he accepted the position of assistant professor of English at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Here he never really fitted in. He had left the Mormon Church many years before and was critical of all other religions. This, in addition to his unconventional teaching methods and behavior, made ‘his position at the university very difficult and he took advantage of the publication of his novel, Toilers of the Hills, which afforded him some financial freedom, to resign before he was fired. This happened in 1928. The next four years Vardis and Margaret spent at the old homestead. He built a roomy house for his parents, probably to express his gratitude for the deprivations they had suffered to finance his studies, and a smaller one for himself and Margaret. Here he wrote the second of his novels on Idaho pioneer life, Dark Bridwell, and the first three of his autobiographical novels. An interesting interlude in this literary work started when he was asked to supervise the writing of the Guide to Idaho, one of the WPA projects. The story of this book is very amusing, but too involved to summarise here. In the end, the Guide was almost completely written by Vardis himself and appeared as the first in the wellknown series. He followed this book with an Idaho Encyclopaedia. Life in Idaho was not exactly what Margaret had been locking for however, and there were (wn intellectual tensions as well, one of which was (“™") that she, the wife of atheist Vardis, wanted to remain a Christian. After several separations they were divorced in 1939. At that time, Vardis already had become acquainted with Opal Laurel Holmes, a woman who apparently exactly fitted Vardis’ needs. At that time, Vardis was awarded the Harper Prize and published his most successful book, Children of God, a history of the Mormon Church. In April 1940 he married Opal and started on his homestead, Hagerman. This grew to an elaborate, what one might call, estate. Here he wrote several of his novels. At Hagerman, Vardis started his twelve volume Testament of Man, a history of the human race. This book required an unbelievable amount of research and has a complicated publishing story. One wonders whether Vardis, with the prejudices he had, should have written this book. In 1967 the only book he wrote together with Opal was published: Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West. This book is still in print. ' On July 9, 1968 Vardis Fisher was “stricken suddenly and rushed by ambulance to St. Benedicts Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.” He died at Hagerman. No details on his death were ever made public. This brief review cannot possibly do justice o~ to a man so complicated as Fisher was. The book of Woodward however has all appearance ~ of a truthful, and compassionate history. vdP.

the cutoff was occasionally used. Only one more abandoned wagon is reported, lost by the party of John Wood (1850). The next chapter is devoted to a discussion of the Stansbury Expedition, 1849-1850, an expedition, sponsored by the Corps of Topographical Engineers. Generally speaking, they had to survey the country and trails around the Great Salt Lake and to provide a map of this lake. During these investigations he crossed the Salt Desert from Pilot Peak to the lake. His observations in his diary of November 2 and 3, 1849 are quoted in toto. He mentions: passing four wagons and one cart, with innumerable articles of clothing, tools, chests, trunks, books, yokes, chains and some half dozen dead oxen. The next chapter records the history of the abandoned wagons. Although there may have been more expeditions, which are unrecorded, there are 15 of which something is known. Some of the wagons were still standing in 1870, they had collapsed by 1897. Sixty years later little remained of the wagons. All persons visiting the sites removed artifacts, the largest ones first, smaller pieces later. The recovered artifacts were given to various establishments, among which Grantville High School is conspicuous. Several artificats cannot be located any more. It appears that the sites were largely depleted of artifacts by uncoordinated keepsake hunters. The Silver Island Expedition of 1986 was organized because the known Donner sites were in danger of being flooded by excess water, pumped to the salt flats which were to serve as evaporation ponds. General information on this expedition is contained in chapter five, while chapter six discusses the excavation sites in detail, including plots with the location of the artifacts found. These chapters are mainly of interest to professional archaeologists. Most of the 185 artifacts found came from only two of the five sites which were examined. They are minutely described and for the largest part illustrated in chapter seven. All of them are relatively small objects. Artifacts recovered prior to the 1986 expedition are described in chapter eight. They are mainly larger items and are present in the Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee and in the Donner Memorial Museum in Grantsville, Utah. In addition, some larger artifacts were found along the ruts. The last chapter offers an interpretation of what has been found. There is an analysis of the size (gauge) of the ruts and their direction. An interesting sidelight is that on one site, the ruts are much wider apart than at the others, indicating that these may have been made by Reed’s Pioneer Palace! Unlike statements of surviving emigrant records, no goods seem to have been cached (buried). One puzzle relates to the large number of percussion caps, especially exploded ones and musket balls. It seems unlikely that the Donner party carried that much artillery. Another problem is to determine to whom the several artifacts belonged. Comparison with the findings at the Murphy cabin at Donner Lake (1984) and the recent findings at Alder Creek may shed some light on this. Apparently, the Donner excavations at Donner Lake, Alder Creek and the Salt Desert, are 32 the beginning of archaeological investigation of the Oregon Trail. As more sites are examined, the findings will support each other and this way, provide a picture of the great migration besides the written record of which we already have a lot. The excavations will tell things, about which the diaries are silent. The book of Hawkins and Madson cannot fail to interest those who are students of the Donner party. vdP. Tim Woodward, Tiger on the Road, the Life of Vardis Fisher. Caldwell, Idaho; The Caxton Printers, 1989. This is the biography of a writer of the State of Idaho. He apparently was a very prolific writer, yet little known; his books never sold well. One of Fisher’s books is a four volume autobiography: The Vridas Hunter Tetralogy, in which the characters are hardly disguised. This enables Woodward to portray the character of Fisher much better than could have been done by just surmising from various sources. Vardis Fisher was born in 1895 as the oldest son of Joe and Temperance Fisher, a Mormon couple. He had a younger brother Vivian and a sister Irene. At the age of six, Vardis moved with his parents to a remote part of Idaho, some 30 miles away from civilization. His mother taught her children the three R’s and, at a young age, Vardis was already an avid reader. In 1907, the two boys were sent to high school, first at Annis, later at Poplar. For most of these years, the boys camped in an abandoned house, completely taking care of themselves. During these years, the eye of Vardis fell on Leona McMurtrey, whom he admired from a distance for years, hardly ever seeing her, until they were

married on September 10, 1917. At that time, Vardis had been attending the University of Utah already for two years. Back in Salt Lake City with Leona, Vardis resumed his habit of voracious reading. He was on the football team for one semester, a strange thing for a boy so scrawny and small. He even was in a game against the team of the University of Southern California. During World War I he served in the armed forces, but not for long; the truce ended his military exploits. In 1919 he earned his bachelors degree and was appointed assistant professor at the University after he had completed a summer of graduate work at the University of Chicago. After a year or so in Salt Lake City he returned to Chicago to take his Master of Art degree which he obtained in 1922 and to work towards his Doctoral Degree. Although Vardis and Leona loved each other very much, their life was stormy. Leona’s level of education was far below that of Vardis’, and Vardis saw this as an obstacle. Also, Vardis had to be away for long periods and Leona could not join him for financial reasons. The only consolation she had was in her two children, Grant and Wayne. In addition to this, Vardis became interested in a girl who was intellectually his equal, Margaret Trusler. All this was too much for Leona; she poisoned herself on September 8, 1924. After Leona’s death, Vardis felt very despondent and started realizing that he had really loved her and had not treated her very well. But he continued seeing Margaret, lived with her in Washington D.C. and Baltimore and finally went back to the University of Chicago where he obtained his doctorate in 1925. Thereafter, he accepted the position of assistant professor of English at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Here he never really fitted in. He had left the Mormon Church many years before and was critical of all other religions. This, in addition to his unconventional teaching methods and behavior, made ‘his position at the university very difficult and he took advantage of the publication of his novel, Toilers of the Hills, which afforded him some financial freedom, to resign before he was fired. This happened in 1928. The next four years Vardis and Margaret spent at the old homestead. He built a roomy house for his parents, probably to express his gratitude for the deprivations they had suffered to finance his studies, and a smaller one for himself and Margaret. Here he wrote the second of his novels on Idaho pioneer life, Dark Bridwell, and the first three of his autobiographical novels. An interesting interlude in this literary work started when he was asked to supervise the writing of the Guide to Idaho, one of the WPA projects. The story of this book is very amusing, but too involved to summarise here. In the end, the Guide was almost completely written by Vardis himself and appeared as the first in the wellknown series. He followed this book with an Idaho Encyclopaedia. Life in Idaho was not exactly what Margaret had been locking for however, and there were (wn intellectual tensions as well, one of which was (“™") that she, the wife of atheist Vardis, wanted to remain a Christian. After several separations they were divorced in 1939. At that time, Vardis already had become acquainted with Opal Laurel Holmes, a woman who apparently exactly fitted Vardis’ needs. At that time, Vardis was awarded the Harper Prize and published his most successful book, Children of God, a history of the Mormon Church. In April 1940 he married Opal and started on his homestead, Hagerman. This grew to an elaborate, what one might call, estate. Here he wrote several of his novels. At Hagerman, Vardis started his twelve volume Testament of Man, a history of the human race. This book required an unbelievable amount of research and has a complicated publishing story. One wonders whether Vardis, with the prejudices he had, should have written this book. In 1967 the only book he wrote together with Opal was published: Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West. This book is still in print. ' On July 9, 1968 Vardis Fisher was “stricken suddenly and rushed by ambulance to St. Benedicts Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.” He died at Hagerman. No details on his death were ever made public. This brief review cannot possibly do justice o~ to a man so complicated as Fisher was. The book of Woodward however has all appearance ~ of a truthful, and compassionate history. vdP.