Oregon-California Trails Association | Bailey, Washington

Bailey, Washington – 1853 to California

Merrill J. Mattes Collection·

Printed pages from a book

Bailey, Washington. A Trip to California in 1853, Recollections of a gold seeking trip by ox train across the plains and mountains by an old Illinois pioneer. LeRoy Journal Printing Company, 1915

The collection was begun in 1991 by the late Merrill J. Mattes, a co-founder of the Oregon-California Trails Association. That original nucleus was a result of a generous donation from Merrill and reflected his many years as an award-winning National Park Service historian and also included works of his own authorship. The collection is housed at the national Frontier Trails Museum in Independence, Missouri. Here, you have access to many of the original trail diaries he collected in digital form.