Lake Scene, Oregon

Miller labeled a number of his mountain landscapes as being in Oregon. None of them were in present-day Oregon, of course, but he had traveled to the west along the trail that would later become the best known route to that territory, so the name was on his mind.

These mountain lakes are the setting for Stewart’s two romantic novels, Altowan (1846) and Edward Warren (1854), according to historian Bernard DeVoto: “His exiled heroes and the dusky, mysterious girls, who appear to be Indians but are [revealed to be] European beauties of high rank, wind endlessly in and out among these lakes, pursuing and being pursued, suffering capture, and risking incest.” (DeVoto, 1947, p. 270)

This lake might have been New Fork Lake, which is located north of Fremont Lake, but Miller did not specifically identify it.

Ron Tyler