Barlow's Mountainous Adventure
A huge part of why I love doing this show is you guys and your equal love for history and learning the local untold stories right in our backyard, this next story was requested a billion times on Facebook by some Clampers and as the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
So here we go. Here is what I learned about a man named Samuel K. Barlow
Mr. Barlow was born back in 1795 in Kentucky and was raised to be a tailor. Barlow was a tough Scottish-American guy with deep roots in good ol' fashioned freedom brought to you by the brave men of the revolution. Grandpa Barlow would often repeat the story of the time he refused to tip his hat to some Brit Squire and when the Squire yelled Hurrah for King George he knocked that guy out.
Daddy Barlow, also freedom-loving loved his freedom to own slaves which irked our Sam Barlow to the point that when he was old enough he left Kentucky for the State of Indiana. Daddy Barlow didn't understand why he was so passionate about that whole Anti-Slavery thing and so he let his son leave thinking he'd be back as soon as he needed some money but Sam never came back.
After about 3 days Barlow and his dad had a short conversation in which Daddy Barlow asked if Sam had given up his stupid beliefs on slavery. Sam replied he never had any stupid beliefs about Slavery, then Daddy Barlow in his way of trying to be kind offered to sell one of his boy slaves for 500 bucks to give Sam as a parting gift. Sam refused and went on his way.
In Indiana, he met a gal, had a bunch of kids and lived a good life as a farmer and one day murdered some guy with an axe. The victim must have deserved it though because the dead guy's brother petitioned for Barlow to be pardoned and so did half the town. and so he was.
Now, you know how some people say things like "If that guy becomes president I'm moving to Canada"? Well, Barlow did that when Henry Clay lost to James Polk in the presidential Election but instead of Canada, he sought the land far West known as Oregon.
So, true to his word. Barlow sold everything right away and headed west toward Oregon.
When they got to The Dalles just East of Mt. Hood in Oregon they found themselves in a little predicament...
The way to Oregon City and the Willamette Valley up until this time from The Dalles was to hitch a ride on the river. But it was ridiculously expensive and the waitlist was pretty long too.
By the way, it was October at this point.
So Barlow looked at Mt. Hood and the whole Cascade mountain range and said loud and proud "See that mountain over there, I'm gonna climb that mountain"
Everyone they met along the way said it couldn't be done. It was suicide. It was impossible.
To that Barlow said "God never made a mountain without making a way for man to go over it"
He then looked to his wagon train and announced that nobody who learned the adaptability of the word Can't is to follow him and those who did not have that word in their vocabulary were more than welcome.
So they set out for a mountain trek.
All went well for the first 40ish miles but then they came to a bunch of canyons and stuff that made things, difficult. At this point the can's and can nots were found out. The cannots wanted to turn back. But the strong ones, the can's decided to leave the wagons behind and trudge along on foot, on cattle and horseback.
The whole way, Barlow kept reminding them how their achievement of this literal mountainous task would benefit those who come after them.
As you can imagine, things were slow. Only going 3 or less miles per day, the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. Winter was upon them, the snow was at least a foot deep. The Kids were starving and crying, the women had blisters poking out of their worn-out shoes. Storm clouds, they could practically touch them. The horses and cattle had nothing to eat but poisonous laurel. which slowly killed them. The brave would eat the poisoned meat and the rest of the party would just watch to see if they lived or died.
They lived.
Dragging the corpses of their animal companions, cutting off a piece here and there to make it another day, a bunch of women met their breaking point, that is until Barlow's oldest daughter, fierce as he. told a lady to stop her crying because as long as Bruno, the dog was still alive, they would live as well. The dog was the last animal they would eat but would if need be, after this they all realized there was hope after all.
At one point Barlow sent his son and another younger man to scout the area and figure out which way to go. So they did. They had their problems like cutting down a big tree to cross a raging river only for it to split and be washed away. Then jumping into that very river almost passing out from the current and freezing temperatures as they fought to the other side.
In the end, they all made it. Even Bruno the dog. Arriving in Oregon City on Christmas Day,
Barlow rested a few days then went to work with a bunch of other men to build an 80-mile road for future emigrants to come across that mountain to Oregon. He set up a toll booth to pay for his investment, letting plenty of people come through free of charge and once he recouped his investment he donated it to the government.
Barlow Road is known historically as the main thing that contributed to the prosperity of Oregon more than anything up until the railroad, that follows the Barlow Road.
When Barlow died an inscription was put into his tombstone...
"O! Do not disturb the repose of the dead. Behold the pure spirit has risen and fled, Nor linger in sadness around the dark tomb, But go where flowers forever will bloom."
