01Biography
Jesse Applegate, a Missouri farmer and surveyor, went west in 1843 with his brothers Charles and Lindsay and their families. When the great emigration split up, he was chosen captain of the slower 'cow column,' the families driving the loose cattle. On the Columbia River near The Dalles one of their boats overturned, and Jesse and Lindsay each lost a son. In 1846 Jesse led a party that laid out a southern wagon route into Oregon, later called the Applegate Trail.
02Why they matter
Captained the 'cow column' of 1843, wrote its best-known account, and laid out a southern wagon road into Oregon in 1846.
03How they died
In 1874 he lost his land and house after guaranteeing the bond of a state official who had embezzled public money, and he spent years working off the debt. After his wife died in 1881 his health and temper failed. He died on April 22, 1888, aged 76, at his son's home in Yoncalla, Oregon.
04Legacy
His essay 'A Day with the Cow Column in 1843,' first published in 1868, has been reprinted many times and is still read as a classic of trail writing. The first season on the Applegate Trail was a disaster, with at least a dozen deaths, but the route later carried thousands of people into Oregon.