The Mountains We Have Crossed: Diaries and Letters of the Oregon Mission, 1838

Four newlywed couples, along with one single man, were sent to Oregon in 1838 to reinforce the two-year-old mission established by Marcus Whitman and Henry Spalding. These reinforcements were to become legendary in the history of the Pacific Northwest for the incessant bickering and petty jealousies that eventually caused the deaths of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and forced the abandonment of the mission effort.
 
Uncertainty and conflict as well as willpower and endurance mark the stor…