There isn’t too much on Alcove Springs online yet, except where it’s mentioned in just about every account of the ill-fated Donner party. I’m collecting resources, so let me know if you have anything. I’m helping a niece with a research project and started to get interested. It has an undiscovered feel to it, though it was one of the first and most popular stops along the Oregon Trail.
When I was growing up nearby, the spring was private property, and so not many people actually saw it. That helped preserve the site. The associations with cannibalism and doom likewise didn’t appeal to many (not to mention band of agnostic vigilantes rumored to protect the site), but as several pioneers noted in their logs, it might be one of the most romantic spots in the country, and it feels unspoiled.
Don’t know why blogger want’s to rotate the ancient graffiti. Ironic that preserving graffiti is important to maintaining the spot, but the name was carved by one of America’s most famous cannibals.
Been thinking about the bittersweet my niece found on the trail. There was no vine in sight and I looked, and the stuff brings a good price at farmer’s markets… so I’m thinking somebody inappropriately harvested it and dropped a twig on the way out.
I love this place, but don’t want it to get more famous.
