Box 2.1.2.F78 Working Notes L California Crossing

Merrill J. Mattes Original Research·

“The Mormon community at Salt Lake was then scarcely two years old when the emigration of 1849 began, and was still in need of many things. As Paxton says in his History of the American Frontier: ‘the Mormons on Great Salt Lake received the forty-niners as a direct interposition of providence for their benefit.” ~ Joseph Hackney, 1849

Mattes’ handwritten and typed notes
Journal entry page 15
Excerpts from Adventures in the Far West, pages 16, 17.
Journal entries from Joseph Hackney, pages 18, 19.
Transcribed and scanned journal, pages 20-26.
26 Pages

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.