West from Fort Bridger

"History with its boots on," as Will Bagley and Harold Schindler describe it, West from Fort Bridger also may be the classic history of the opening of western trails. In it, the words of the immigrants, compiled from original diaries, journals, maps, and letters, recount a half-decade of historic pioneer treks, including the dramatic ordeals of the 1816 parties (the most remembered of whom were the Donners and Reeds) who crossed the infamous Hastings Cutoff. With these texts woven together by expansive and detailed introductions and annotation, Dale Morgan and Roderic Korns told the story of a critical period in westward migration. In 1951, Morgan, well-established as perhaps the most diligent and successful researcher of the early history of the American Far West, was rapidly becoming also one of its most prolific and expressive authors and editors. Korns himself had been a productive collector of historic sources and an avid trail historian. He died before the work Morgan had long urged him to write was written. Morgan used his own research as well as that of Korns to complete West from Fort Bridger, but gave all the credit, as a memorial, to his friend and colleague. Due to the