On my first trip through Oregon I took the scenic byway at State Route 234 into the Blue Mountains. I wish I had a more sizable camper shell because I could have spent much more time there. It was spellbinding. As it was, I camped at Whitman National Forest. I was reading William Least Heat Moon's book at the time. Years later, I read Francis Parkman's The Oregon Trail , charting a trip he took in 1846, which followed a well-traveled route to the West Coast, originally set by Lewis and Clark along the Missouri River. Much of the route was still in British hands at the time Parkman traveled it, but two years later the Oregon Territory would belong to the United States. The vast territory included all of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming. It was primarily occupied by the Nez Perce, but many other indigenous people lived in the area, particularly along the Pacific Coast. Russia had laid claim to the coastline y...