The Race to Chimney Rock Read online

  Contents

  * * *

  Title Page

  Contents

  Copyright

  Map of the Oregon Trail

  Go West, Young Pioneer

  Independence, Missouri: March 24, 1850

  Page 11

  Page 17

  Page 19

  Page 23

  Page 25

  Page 27

  Page 30

  Page 31

  Page 35

  Page 38

  Page 41

  Page 43

  Page 46

  Page 49

  Page 53

  Page 55

  Page 59

  Page 62

  Page 66

  Page 69

  Page 73

  Page 75

  Page 78

  Page 83

  Page 87

  Page 90

  Page 92

  Page 94

  Page 98

  Page 100

  Page 103

  Page 109

  Page 112

  Page 115

  Page 119

  Page 123

  Page 127

  Page 129

  Page 131

  Page 134

  Page 138

  Page 141

  Page 146

  Chimney Rock: June, 1850

  Guide to the Trail

  Pack Your Wagon

  Join a Wagon Train

  Go West

  Challenges!

  Map of the Journey from Independence to Chimney Rock

  Finding Your Way

  Sample Chapter from DANGER AT THE HAUNTED GATE

  Buy the Book

  Read More from the Oregon Trail Series

  Connect with HMH on Social Media

  Copyright © 2018 by HMH IP Company Unlimited Company. THE OREGON TRAIL and associated logos and design are trademarks of HMH IP Company Unlimited Company.

  All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [email protected] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

  hmhco.com

  Cover art © 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  Cover art by Gustavo Viselner

  The display text was set in Pixel-Western, Press Start 2P, and Slim Thin Pixelettes.

  Illustrations by June Brigman, Yancey Labat, Ron Wagner, Hi-Fi Color Design, and Walden Font Co.

  ISBN 978-1-328-55000-2 paper over board

  ISBN 978-1-328-54996-9 paperback

  eISBN 978-1-328-56093-3

  v1.0818

  GO WEST,

  Young Pioneer

  You are loading up your covered wagon to head out to Oregon Territory, where a square mile of free farmland awaits your family. It’s 1850 and there aren’t any planes or trains yet, so you’ll have to walk while your oxen pull your jam-packed wagon across North America’s Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and the lands of the many First Nations tribes, like the Otoe-Missouria, Osage, Cheyenne, Pawnee, Arapaho, and Shoshone.

  For four to six months, you’ll travel with a group of other families by wagon along a frontier path known as the Oregon Trail. Your first goal is to find your way to Chimney Rock on time. That’s an important landmark, and if you can get to it in six weeks or less, you’ll make it to the rugged mountains before the winter snows start to fall. But between you and Chimney Rock are wild animals, natural disasters, unpredictable weather, fast-flowing rivers, strangers, and sickness!

  * * *

  Only one path will get you safely across the prairie—and through this first book of four. There are twenty-two possible endings full of surprises, danger, and adventure.

  You have to cross a wild river, how will you get across?

  You’re lost, what can you do?

  You come face-to-face with a bear!

  Your decisions along the way might send you somewhere unexpected, or put you at odds with other pioneers, or you might even end up a goner!

  Before you start, be sure to read the Guide to the Trail on page 152. You’ll make smarter decisions on your long journey if you know what to expect.

  Sometimes, along the way, you’ll get advice from guides, people from various Native American tribes like the Osage, Pawnee, and Otoe, or from Ma and Pa, but at other times, you’ll have to trust only yourself to make the right decisions. Choose wrong and you’ll never make it to Chimney Rock on time!

  It’s up to you!

  What will you choose?

  Ready?

  LET’S BLAZE A TRAIL TO

  CHIMNEY ROCK!

  It’s just after dawn, and you’re asleep in the Frontier Inn in Independence, Missouri. You’re dreaming when a noise jolts you awake.

  SLAM! Clang! Clang!

  You leap up and hurry to the window. What could be so loud this early in the morning?

  You smile when you see that an ox has just knocked over a blacksmith’s cart. Tools and horseshoes are spilled all over the dirt road. The blacksmith grumbles as he tosses horseshoes back into the cart.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  Now you’re fully awake, so you stay by the window to watch the town come to life. You’re amazed by all the activity you see. Carpenters are sawing wood. Shopkeepers are arranging barrels. And there as so many animals! Horses, cows, and huge oxen are all over.

  You also see covered wagons, more than you’ve ever seen in your life. The wagons belong to the hundreds of families staying in town.

  You’re here with your family, your dog, your farm wagon, and your oxen. All of you, like the other families, are getting ready to start a five- to six-month journey to Oregon Territory. That’s two thousand miles away on the other side of the continent! You’ll have to walk alongside your wagon for nine hours a day, through prairies, deserts, and mountains. You gulp at the thought.

  You turn and look back inside the room, at your family. Your brother and sister are still asleep, but Ma and Pa are already up and working. Ma is sewing a bonnet for your little sister Hannah, and Pa is making a slingshot for your younger brother, Samuel.

  “Kentucky already feels very far away, doesn’t it?” Ma says. You nod.

  So far, the trip from your home in Kentucky has been pretty easy. You traveled from one town to the next, with comfortable breaks along the way. Soon, though, you’ll be setting off on the Oregon Trail, where there won’t be any big towns like Independence. You’ll stay in tents instead of inns, and sometimes you’ll sleep under the stars. It’ll just be wide-open prairie for miles and miles, until you reach Chimney Rock. After that, you’ll have to get over the mountains.

  Pa comes to the window and puts his arm around you. His hands are rough from working as a carpenter.

  “I’ve always wanted a farm of our own,” he says. “Now is our chance.”

  “The land’s free to families who head out West to claim it,” Ma adds.

  “Yes,” Pa says, with a smile. “Just think of all the space we’ll have.”

  You think of the cramped house you all shared in Kentucky. More space means plenty of room for all of you. And for your dog, Archie, to run around!

  “Come here, boy,” you call to Archie, then scratch him around the ears. He barks, waking up Samuel and Hannah.

  Everyone washes up, and you head over to Jake’s Tavern. The road is crowded with people and animals. Hannah holds on tight to your hand as you cross the street. You have to hop over oxen poop, and swerve to avoid a horse-drawn cart.

  When you walk into the dining room at Jake’s Tavern, you’re met by a strong scent of bacon, coffee, and fried eggs. The room is packed, and you squeeze around chairs to an empty wooden table in the back.


  A group of men at the next table have a map spread out in front of them. They’re pointing at landmarks with names like Devil’s Gate and the Platte River.

  You overhear stories about the terrible fates of unlucky pioneers that make you shiver. Luckily, Samuel and Hannah aren’t listening. They’re too busy slathering butter and syrup on their flapjacks.

  Pa begins talking to the men with the map. They discuss whether to start down the Trail at the beginning of April next week, or to wait a little longer.

  “If we leave now, we get a head start,” one man says. “We’ll get the best pick of land.”

  “But there isn’t much grass for the oxen to graze on yet,” another says. “We’d have to carry feed for them. It’s better to wait a month.”

  “Waiting means more crowds on the Trail,” the first man argues. “And if we’re delayed, we might hit snow at the mountains after Chimney Rock.”

  Pa leans over and says to you, “There’s a lot to consider. What do you think we should do?”

  Your heart starts racing. This is a big decision, and you don’t want to say the wrong thing.

  “Go on,” Pa says. “You’re getting older now. Your opinion counts.”

  Pa really cares what you think. You feel honored.

  You carefully consider the reasons for leaving next week or for waiting another month.

  If you say you should leave in April, turn to page 49

  If you say you should leave in May, turn to page 62

  Let’s climb just a little higher,” you agree. You pull yourself onto the next ledge and see that your friend Joseph was right. The view from Courthouse Rock is truly spectacular.

  You take a moment to look around, then you pull out the pocketknife and carve your name into the rock. It takes longer than you imagined, because you have to be careful or you might cut yourself. You skip adding the rest of your family’s names because it’s getting too dark out.

  You start to make your way down the rock, as Joseph and Eliza scamper along below you. They both turn out to be pretty good climbers.

  “Wait for me,” you call out, as you hurry after them. But as you’re speaking, you slip on a loose stone. You grab on to the rock and try to hold on. But you lose your grip and fall!

  When you hit the ground, you hear a disturbing crunch. You can’t feel your legs or move them at all.

  Later, you learn that you’ve broken your back. You are lucky you didn’t die. But your family’s dreams have been crushed along with your bones. You will be carried to the next trading post in a sling hung between two oxen. But you won’t go any farther on the Oregon Trail.

   THE END

  Return to page 31

  You decide to get more food with your family’s extra money. You, Samuel, and Ma head back to Wyatt’s General Store.

  “I’ll take a fifty-pound bag of cornmeal,” Ma says. “And some molasses.”

  “How about a few pounds of compressed vegetables?” the shopkeeper asks.

  “Right,” Ma says. “Add that, too.”

  Samuel looks at you and makes a face. You can’t help but agree with him. The dried brown cake looks like something you might feed a horse.

  With the extra food loaded onto the wagon, you’re ready to head out early the next morning. Your wagon train includes ten other families and a captain named Caleb. Everyone is both nervous and excited.

  Caleb gives the signal. “Westward ho!” he yells.

  Pa touches the oxen lightly with his whip. The wagon starts to roll and you all cheer. You walk alongside the wagon, which is too full to ride in. Caleb keeps everyone moving at a steady pace, not too fast. But by midday, your legs are already tired, and you’re ready for a break. You rest for an hour, which Caleb calls “nooning,” but then it’s time to move again.

  At sundown, you finally stop after walking what must have been fifteen miles. Everyone is ready to make camp. You pitch the tent and Pa starts a fire. Ma mixes up some cornbread, and Hannah slices thick pieces of bacon. As you listen to it sizzle in the pan, your mouth starts to water. Even though everyone says you’ll be sick of bacon soon, it tastes great tonight. Ma makes molasses pudding for dessert. You feel satisfied as you scrape the bottom of your tin plate.

  The next morning, it’s hard to get up at sunrise. You’re drowsy when you sit down for breakfast, and you’re still full from supper.

  “You need to eat,” Pa says. “You won’t get another chance for hours.”

  So you force yourself to have some johnnycakes. You’re glad Ma bought maple syrup.

  You begin the day’s hike, but your legs ache. It’s going to take a while to get used to so much walking. You’re relieved when the wagons arrive at the first trading post.

  A Native man of the Osage tribe approaches and offers to be your guide from here to Fort Kearny, in exchange for some of your goods. He points at the molasses and syrup. Pa says the guide can help you ford rivers and hunt.

  Then a merchant comes to talk to you. He says you can trade him things you don’t really need for more important ones.

  “You always need buckskins to repair shoes,” he says. “And citric acid, which helps prevent sickness on the Trail.” Then he adds, “I can take that molasses and syrup off your hands, too.”

  Both offers sound good. You’ll be sad to see the molasses and syrup go, but a guide would be helpful. And so would the things the merchant is offering.

  But you don’t have enough to trade for both.

  What does your family choose?

  If you hire the Osage guide, turn to page 98

  If you trade with the merchant, turn to page 35

  Return to page 62

  You don’t want Joseph’s help, and you don’t ask for it. You look over in his direction, and he smiles at you. But it doesn’t seem like a friendly or sincere smile. It feels like he is waiting for you to mess up. You grab your little brother’s slingshot and hop onto the wagon, climbing up to a flat spot above the sacks of flour. Bending your knees slightly, you shuffle a little and find your balance as the wagon rolls along.

  A rabbit runs past, but it surprises you, and you aren’t ready for it. So you draw your slingshot back with a rock in it, and wait for another. There! You see another rabbit sitting still, next to a small bush.

  You take aim and then . . .

  BUMP! Your wagon starts to move and hits a dip in the Trail. Whoa! You lose your footing, and then you tumble headfirst off the wagon. The oxen keep moving and don’t slow down.

  CRUNCH! One of the back wagon wheels rolls right over your leg. You cry out in intense pain, and pass out.

  Your family has to travel back to Independence, Missouri, where a doctor sets your leg in a huge cast made of plaster of paris.

  You won’t be walking fifteen miles a day again for a very long time. If you’re lucky, maybe your family can try the Oregon Trail again next year.

   THE END

  Return to page 94

  You decide it’s best to ford the Kansas River by heading straight through it rather than crossing diagonally. Stepping into the rushing current is a little frightening. Brrrr! The water comes up to your waist and it’s freezing!

  Pa needs you to help him steer the oxen. You’re a stronger swimmer than Ma, so she sits in the wagon with Samuel and Hannah, who are too small to be in the water.

  “Look at Archie go!” Pa laughs. Archie is the best swimmer in the whole wagon train. He paddles across the river like a champ, and seems to enjoy the swim.

  Things start off well, but as you walk, the current grows stronger and stronger. It gets harder to fight it and still walk in a straight line. You wonder if this was the right choice, but now there’s no way to change the plan. No one else can hear you over the rush of the river, and you don’t want to get separated from the group.

  You hit a rock and trip. SPLASH! You remember you were supposed to walk slowly, but it’s hard to control your pace at all. You fall to your knees, then quickly try to stand back up, but yo
u can’t. You get pulled underwater by the current, and your shoulder hits the bottom of the river. When you try to stand up, the current pulls you back down. Water rushes down your throat, and you start to gag. No one hears your struggle over the sound of the rushing river.

  By the time Pa turns around, and realizes you have vanished, it’s too late. You drown.

   THE END

  Return to page 41

  Your family decides to stay with the wagon train. Four other families leave with the soldier. With only six wagons in your train now, you move a little faster. But soon it starts to rain, and you slow down.

  The rain pours down nonstop for the next two days. The oxen team is plodding through the mud, and you’re squeezed inside the wagon with Samuel and Hannah. Even though Pa has rubbed extra linseed oil on the wagon’s cover to seal it, water drips in through a few leaks. You feel damp and chilled.

  Then the wagon comes to a halt. The oxen are still straining to pull it, but you’re not moving.

  “What’s happening?” Hannah asks with wide eyes.

  You stick your head out of the wagon and squint into the rain, looking for Pa. He’s at the back of the wagon, shaking his head.

  Ma walks up, rain dripping off her bonnet.

  “We’re stuck in the mud,” she says. “We were slow already, but the wheels just sank in deeper.”

  The wagon ahead of you has the same problem. The oxen are pulling with all their might, but the wheels won’t budge. Caleb walks over, his hair flattened with water.