If there is one thing that is mentioned in most guidebooks and diaries, it is the Vermillion River! It was about a day’s travel from the St. Mary’s Mission or 120 miles from Independence. A major river crossing for the emigrants, it provided excellent camping, was a good source of wood and water, and was known for two things:
- The Vieux Crossing: Louis Vieux, a Potawatomi Indian (and later chief), built a toll bridge across the river, charging $1 per wagon and making up to $300 a day! Exactly when he did this seems to be in some dispute. A few of my sources say 1847 and others say 1857 – which seems a rather large discrepancy to me. I should reach out to the Library of Congress and see what they have to say – unless any of you readers have insight?
- Cholera deaths: Cholera struck hard in this area, particularly in 1849 when 50 emigrants from a single train died. Seeing the gravestones when I passed by was extremely sobering.
William E. Smith, 1850 – “… emigrants forded the Red Vermillion river at this point for many years. After Mr. Vieux had constructed his log cabin, near this ford, he built a toll bridge…. Louis Vieux sometimes sometimes made as much as $300 a day revenue from the toll bridge … charged only $1 for each outfit that crossed… Here some fifty pioneers succumbed to the cholera. They were all buried on the east bank of the Red Vermillion in the shadow of the hill a short distance to the east. It was where Louis Vieux … now lies buried….”
See below for both partial and full map, and note the tiny orange line indicating how far we traveled! You can also zoom in on the full map for more details (if it works the way it is supposed to anyway…).
Resources:
- Fanselow, Julie. Traveling the Oregon Trail. Falcon Guides, 2001.
- “Mileposts along the Oregon Trail – Missouri.” Accessed September 17, 2025. http://www.oregonpioneers.com/Milepost1.htm.
- National Trails System, National Park Service, and U.S. Department of the Interior. “National Historic Trails Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide: Western Missouri through Northeastern Kansas.” National Historic Trails Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide: Western Missouri Through Northeastern Kansas. National Park Service, September 2005. https://www.nps.gov/cali/planyourvisit/upload/MO-KS-ATR-Guide-2010-Revision-Small.pdf.
- Stokes, Keith. “Vieux Crossing – Louisville, Kansas.” Accessed September 17, 2025. http://www.kansastravel.org/vieuxcrossing.htm.
- “The Vieux Crossing Historical Marker,” March 27, 2024. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=119123.
- “Vieux Crossing, Kansas – On the Oregon Trail – Legends of America.” Accessed September 17, 2025. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/vieux-crossing-kansas/.
Forest Idylls 