Author: Thomas James Martin
Published on: February 23, 2002

Of the many thousands of pioneers who traveled along the famous Oregon Trail in the 1830s and 1840s, perhaps no one person stands out more as an intrepid adventurer and outstanding contributor to the movement westward across the United States than Moses "Black" Harris, a trail guide of African descent.

In the early days the Oregon Trail ran some 2000 miles along rivers and natural landmarks from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. Even over the years as the well-worn paths of the Trail became easier to follow, there was still the need for guides, as it was only too easy to get lost along the way through the wilderness. The wagon trail guides also knew where sources of water and wild foods were located, where to ford rivers, and often could converse with Native Americans.

By most accounts, Moses Harris was one of the foremost of the early western explorers and wagon train guides, a true free spirit who deserves more recognition for the part he played in the settling the West. Like so many elements of Moses Harris's life his birth, is in dispute, though he is thought to have been born around 1800 in Union County, South Carolina (though some historians say Kentucky).

In the era preceding the pioneers, Harris made his living as trapper, hunting fur in the Rocky Mountains in the late 1820s and early 1830's, and he is thought to have first ventured west as a freed slave in 1823. Like most trail guides, he spoke several Native American dialects and is said to have been fluent in the Snake Indian language among others.

Though details of the life of Moses Harris are sketchy, he became famous in the American West for his knowledge of the ways of the wilderness and also for his rescues of settlers who lost their way on the Trail. His expertise in winter travel was legendary, and he is also celebrated for his exceptional stamina and endurance and was looked upon as a person of "great leg" by his peers.

He was painted in the 1830's by Baltimore painter, Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874, one of the most important artists of the West and one of the first artists to venture into the Rocky Mountains. Miller observed that Harris "was wiry of frame, made up of bone and muscle with a face composed of tan leather and whipcord finished up with a peculiar blue black tint, as if gun powder had been burnt into his face."

In 1845, Harris happened to be in The Dalles (an Oregon city on the Columbia River) when another guide rode into town reporting that his wagon train had become lost trying to cross the high desert in eastern Oregon. (I suppose that he had rode ahead to find help.) Harris was the only person willing to help, and after obtaining supplies from local Indians, found the surviving members of the party and led them safely to The Dalles.

Harris later helped rescue a group stranded on the Applegate Trail in southern Oregon, and he participated in efforts to explore the Cascade Mountains in search of better wagon routes (especially southern routes) for the pioneers and other travelers, such as missionaries.

Moses, also known as the Black Squire, is credited with helping to build Fort Laramie. In 1844, he guided one of the largest wagon trains of some 500 people over the Oregon Trail to Fort Vancouver, a train which included several African-American pioneer families looking for a better way of life in the Oregon Territory.

He was also a great storyteller, and doubtless part of his renown is due to the humorous tall tales that he told as homesick families socialized in the evening around campfires after journeying long, slow miles along the Trail by day. Apparently he is now credited with a story that the author remembers hearing as a child about the petrifed forest. Harris--well known for his embellishments--claimed that in that petrified forest, petrified birds also flew and sang as they flitted about the stony branches!

According to records, he built a cabin on the Lukiamute River in what is now Polk County, Oregon where he lived until 1847. He continued to guide wagon trains until dying of cholera in 1849. In 1844, James Clyman wrote a mock epitaph for his friend:

Here lies the bones of old Black Harris who often traveled beyond the far west and for the freedom of Equal rights he crossed the snowy mountain heights. He was a free and easy kind of soul especially with a Belly full.

Editor's Note: After extensive searching, I have been unable to locate the portrait of Moses Harris by the renowed painter of the American West, Alfred Jacob Miller. Any information on the location of this painting is greatly appreciated.

Also, I wish to acknowledge use of the excellent online research materials at the Oregon Trail Center.

Copyright 2002-2006, Thomas James Martin, all rights reserved.