Samuel K. Barlow opened the first wagon route over the Cascades in 1846 to complete the Oregon Trail, and the mountain pass bears his name. The route was far from easy. Emigrant Isom Cranfill, a cabinet maker, farmer, and itinerant preacher, made the journey in 1847 and captured its hardship in his journal with the words, "Disparite bad beyond discription." Elanor Allen, an 1852 Barlow Road emigrant, wrote of her misgivings near Barlow Pass, thinking of home and "the dear ones there," while traveling among "the cruel mountains" in a dreary place, dependent on strangers for help, nearly out of provisions, and with famishing stock. Countless other pioneers and emigrants endured similar adversities crossing the Cascades, the final obstacle between their past and future, sustained by faith, strength of character, or the hope of a better life.