Miriam Thompson Tuller's Story

Born in Illinois, Miriam married Arthur Thompson at the age of 15 and joined the migration to the west with her husband the following spring.  In Miriam's own words:  "My husband is fired with patriotism and myself am possessed with a spirit of adventure and a desire to see what is new and strange."

With no children, strong and eager, the Thompsons brought youth and optimism to the westward journey.  The couple set out on May 11, 1845, as part of an 840 wagon train.

"We were unable to make much headway with so large a train of wagons.  The company divided and then divided again until we had 20 wagons sometimes and sometimes only 4 or 5 wagons.  We were indifferent to fear.  The buffalo were solid masses as far as the eye could reach and we had fresh meat galore."

At Fort Hall, Miriam's group met a  man who told them that Indians would kill them before they reached the West.  The group was of stout heart and weren't afraid and as Miriam said,

"The Indians proved better than represented.  They were there during a sandstorm with their canoes and were more than willing to take us over for some calico shirts.  The wagons were unloaded and taken apart and after many loads, we were safely out."

Missionaries along the road sold beef and potatoes and the travelers felt confident of their travels.
Soon the mountains became treacherous and the men decided to send the women and children ahead on horseback and mules.

"I was mounted on an Indian pony...left husband and camp - everything but a few clothes and a little provision to try to reacch some place before the rains set in."

The little party of women and guides climbed Mount Hood: "The coming down was worse than the going up.  The zigzag trail a foot or more deep with sand.  It rained hard all night.  We had no tent or shelter.  The 4th night we met 3 men from Oregon City who came with provisions to rescue."

The final entry in Miriam's diary is quite different from the optimistic way she began her journal.  "In
the fall of 1848 when gold was discovered my husband went, but never returned.  He was murdered by Indians.  There were 4 in the camp and none were left to tell the tale.  July 1850, was   married to Jeremiah G. Tuller."
(pic at right is the actual campsite of Thompson...minus the car.)

And that was the end of Miriam's journal keeping.  With a husband, children and a labor intensive life in the new west, she probably had little time for recording her "mundane" life of a pioneer. 

Next time...Reflections of a Pioneer Woman in Later Life

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Today in Pioneer History:  On August 18, 1853,  Cyrus Skinner, who would later be hanged by the Montana vigilantes, ends his first stay in the  at San Quentin.Skinner was typical of the thieves and killers who terrorized the gold fields of Montana in the early 1860s.