Includes documents digitized from the Pacific University Archives related to the history of Pacific University, Tualatin Academy and surrounding communities in the 1800s.
Drawings by Pherne Brown Pringle, the daughter of Tabitha Moffatt Brown, the 'Mother of Oregon.' These sketches feature the scenery around noon on June 4th, a few days before reaching the Sand Hills during her family's journey on the Oregon Trail. Copies of later drawings were accompanied in an album by journal entries of Pherne's husband, Virgil K. Pringle.
Virgil's journal indicates that they enjoyed fair weather the next day, on June 5th:
'The morning cool, but the day pleasant for traveling and the roads of the best order being level bottom and firm; Met 2 Pawnee Indians, returning to the north from a hunt; their horses heavy packed with skins; understand from them that about 30 lodges are a short distance ahead, coming down the river; and that we will find buffalo plenty in two days. Made 16 miles, and camped, with plenty of timber; antelope plenty.'
Portfolio of Pherne Brown Pringle that held her sketches from her family's journey on the Oregon Trail. The label on the portfolio claims that her drawings are the only known sketches from such an early date. Pherne was the daughter of Tabitha Moffatt Brown, the 'Mother of Oregon.'
This sketch was made by Pherne Brown Pringle, who crossed the Oregon Trail by covered wagon in 1846 at the age of 14. She kept a diary and made sketches during the trip.
This sketch of Newport, Oregon, was drawn in 1865 by Pherne Brown Pringle. Pringle emigrated to Oregon by covered wagon in 1846 at the age of 14, creating sketches and a diary along the way. According to the handwritten caption on this drawing, she created this sketch some years later, around the age of 33.
