“1883” is a gritty Western drama series that serves as a prequel to “Yellowstone.” While fans of the latter show are familiar with the Dutton family dynasty that is the Yellowstone Ranch, its origin story is sketched in the prequel. In 1883, first-generation Dutton rancher, James Dillard Dutton, and his family of wife, Margaret, and children, Elsa and John, crossed the Great Plains in search of land of their own. The Duttons’ road north is fraught with danger and difficulty. If you’re wondering which road the Duttons took and how it led to their ultimate destination, the place that would later become the Yellowstone Ranch, here’s everything you need to know!
Route des Duttons, mapped
In the first episode of “1883”, James Dillard Dutton arrives in Fort Worth, Texas. His family later joins him in the city, where they have a harrowing experience that will be the first of many in the days to come. James wants to get his family away from the poor, outlaw streets of Texas. Therefore, he joins Shea Brennan, a Pinkerton agent and former Civil War veteran leading a group of immigrants across the Great Plains along the Oregon Trail. We later learn that the Duttons are from Tennessee.
The Duttons set out from Fort Worth and set up their first camp with Shea’s caravan on the banks of the Trinity River in Texas. Over the next few episodes, the group slowly moves north along the river basin through Texas. They later cross the river in the fourth episode, and the caravan suffers many casualties in the process. The Duttons continue their journey from East Texas until they arrive at Doan’s Crossing in the sixth episode. Doan’s Crossing is a small settlement on the Texas-Oklahoma border located on the banks of the Red River.
The Duttons and their companions cross the Red River and the Texas border. In the seventh episode, they cross an Amerindian territory belonging to the Comanches. This piece of land lies between Colorado and Texas and is now part of Oklahoma. The group survives a storm and an encounter with bandits as they cross Colorado, with Shea suggesting the immigrants settle in Denver, Colorado. However, James decides to lead the group to Oregon. In the ninth episode, the caravan and the Duttons are about to cross Colorado and reach Wyoming.
They face the Lakota people, a Native American tribe historically present in the state. The group heads to Fort Caspar, a military outpost in Wyoming which further reiterates that the group has reached (or is near) Wyoming and is in the final stages of its journey. Montana lies north of Wyoming, but the group’s final destination remains Oregon. However, with Elsa’s recent injury, it looks like the Duttons’ plan will change. Elsa is approaching certain death and James decides to find some land where the family can bury Elsa. He further promises to make the land the family’s new home. Thus, all signs point to Elsa’s death leading the Duttons to settle in Montana. Although the Duttons set out to follow the Oregon Trail, they eventually take a few detours that lead them down a single route.
Read more: Will Josef and Risa die in 1883? Theories
