Francis Parkman, the author of The Oregon Trail, encountered many different tribes of Indians and terrains as he travelled west across the United States and his views on both of these matters seemed to change as he got further and further westward. In the beginning Parkman seemed apprehensive when speaking about the Indians, either thinking of them as poor or of violent in nature no matter the situation they were in. He and his party were always on guard when around any of these people. Parkman eventually saw the Indians as a people struggling for their survival in a land where it is not so easy to do. While he wanted there to be westward expansion he realized that this was not just a "trail  but it was home to many different peoples along the way. Parkman view on the American west changed much the way his opinions on the Indians did. At first he believed that the road to get to the west was hard and at times it was very unfulfilling. As he and his team of men travelled he realized what beauty that this land held and the reward that he might face at the end of the journey. Yes it was tough in the beginning for all of them but in the end it made the trip worthwhile. Throughout The Oregon Trail there is an underlying feeling the Parkman was looking down upon the Indians that his party would encounter along their journey. This was even noticeable when they were just beginning to travel through St. Louis. Parkman made it clear that he thought little of the Indians and that they were a very poor people by the way that he described them. He says that they are, "tall men in half-civilized dress  (Parkman II). Parkman is showing that his normal stereotype for Indians is that they dress in uncivilized garments that are a step below that of the attire that a white person would wear. Parkman says many little things in the early parts of the trip that shows that he has a distaste for the Indians. When he saw the group of Shawanoes meeting at the Methodist Mission he stated, "Indeed the Shawanoes have made greater progress in agriculture than any other tribe on the Missouri frontier; and both in appearance and in character form a marked contrast to our late acquaintance, the Kanzas  (Parkman II). Parkman is saying that the other Indian tribes in his mind are significantly lower ranking to white men and that the Shawanoe are the only tribe in this region that