‘On a Mission From God’ Was No Joke in 1836

Twenty years ago this summer, with orders to Naval Base San Diego, our then-small family of four packed up, and after tearful goodbyes to family and friends (it would be five long months before we saw them again), left Milwaukee and drove the 2,100 miles to Southern California. Although we had planned the trip well, we were nervous, for we knew no one there, and had no idea where we would live.

Not until one has driven across this great nation, through endless fields of corn and wheat, over the Rockies, and around great cities, does the grandeur and size of our nation hit home. During the course of that five-day trip, we traveled for a very brief distance along what was the Oregon Trail.

And as we drove in our air-conditioned car, I wondered then, as I often still do, if today's Americans could do what those long-ago pioneers did. How insignificant our concerns are compared to the worries of those who first traveled across this country.

What took us five days to complete took them nearly six months.

At night we stayed in comfortable hotels and ate wholesome food in clean restaurants. Were one of our babes to come down with a fever, a hospital could be easily located. How did a young mother deal with the choking horror of watching an infant die for want of adequate medical care? Would grieving parents who had to bury a child in a shallow grave along the Oregon Trail even care had they known of the magnificent country they were helping to carve out?

How would today's tough, liberated woman measure up against the likes of Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding? These two missionaries, both in their 20s, said goodbye to families, knowing well they would not see them again.

They journeyed alone with their husbands, strengthened by the conviction that God had called them to establish a mission in the Willamette Valley -- riding sidesaddle the entire way! On July 4, 1836, did they have any idea they were making history when they became the first pioneer women to cross the South Pass on the Continental Divide? It would be another seven years before more women would emigrate to Oregon, but come they did, walking side-by-side with husbands and hand-in-hand with children.

For 2,000 miles they walked, day after day, hour after hour. Their journeys began in Independence, Mo., during the chill of late March. Through the warmth of spring and the oppressive heat of summer they walked. Ever onward through rain, drought, even sickness and death, they walked.

It was imperative that they cover the 815 miles to Independence Rock, Wyo., by July 4. Any date later would mean they were dangerously behind schedule and would risk being on the trail when winter weather descended in October.

It's estimated that one out of every 17 pioneers died on the journey. But even the high death rate never dissuaded those pioneers. What inspired these men and women to leave behind comfortable homes, family, and safe, settled lives? To sell everything they owned for a covered wagon, a team of oxen, and a few essentials?

Many of those pioneers were the descendants of early settlers, so surely they knew the suffering their ancestors had experienced. But go they did, with determination and drive. They did it for opportunity and a chance to build a better life for themselves and their children.

They settled the land, those early families. With back-breaking labor, sweat and blood, and tears, they tamed the Oregon frontier, built those alabaster cities, and planted those golden waves of grain.

If given the opportunity, could we, today, accomplish what they did? Could we give up our cars, our malls, and our heating and air conditioning for nothing more than several acres of rich soil and the chance to drive our own destiny? Could we survive with no phones, no computers, nothing but our determination and will? Are there any frontiers left?

Former President George W. Bush talked about his dream for space exploration and to build lunar settlements. In December 2006, The Washington Post reported that in 2010, NASA was planning to send a robot lander to the moon in search of appropriate sites for settlements. The plan was to have self-sustaining settlements up and running by 2020. Congress at the time was enthusiastic about Bush's vision for space exploration, although plans on how to actually pay for the program were murky.

Today, if that vision is still alive, are there enough Americans willing to shrug off comfort zones and safety precautions -- and colonize space? Would the same yearnings that sent thousands westward urge any of our young men and women to emigrate to lunar settlements? I'm willing to bet there are any number of Americans who would jump at the chance.

Contact Robin Beres at (804) 649-6305 or .