the oregon trail
One of the enduring legacies of the Oregon Trail is the expansion of the United States territory to the West Coast. The Applegate Trail (established 1846), cutting off the California Trail from the Humboldt River in Nevada, crossed part of California before cutting north to the south end of the Willamette Valley. [81] Like oxen, mules could survive on prairie grasses. [104] As a fecal-oral disease, it commonly resulted from consuming food or water contaminated by the bacterium. He chose to lead his people to the Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah. The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) east-west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. They then traveled overland up the Blackfoot River and crossed the Continental Divide at Lewis and Clark Pass and on to the head of the Missouri River. By 1840 the HBC had three forts: Fort Hall (purchased from Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth in 1837), Fort Boise and Fort Nez Perce on the western end of the Oregon Trail route as well as Fort Vancouver near its terminus in the Willamette Valley. About 60 to 80 percent of the travelers were farmers and as such already owned a wagon, livestock team, and many of the necessary supplies. Although also considered part of the Mormon Trail, the grave of Rebecca Winters is one of the few marked ones left. [99] As the trail matured, additional costs for ferries and toll roads were thought to have been about $30 per wagon.[100]. [84] Lansford Hastings recommended that each emigrant take 200 pounds of flour, 150 pounds of "bacon" (a word which, at the time, referred broadly to all forms of salt pork), 20 pounds of sugar, and 10 pounds of salt. For most pioneers, one trip along the Oregon Trail was sufficient. It has improved graphics, sound, and other elements that extend the gameplay of … The wagons could not easily be stopped, and people, particularly children, were often trying to get on and off the wagons while they were moving—not always successfully. In Idaho, it followed the Stump Creek valley northwest until it crossed the Caribou Mountains and proceeded past the south end of Grays Lake. The Sweetwater would have to be crossed up to nine times before the trail crosses over the Continental Divide at South Pass, Wyoming. He explored most of Idaho and the Oregon Trail to the Columbia. Ferries also helped prevent death by drowning at river crossings. Travelers brought books, Bibles, trail guides, and writing quills, ink, and paper for writing letters or journalling (about one in 200 kept a diary).[86]. The trail then proceeded almost due west to meet the main trail at Fort Hall; alternatively, a branch trail headed almost due south to meet the main trail near the present town of Soda Springs.[60][61]. U.S. mail contract to deliver mail to San Francisco, California. When the last survivor was rescued in April 1847, 33 men, women, and children had died at Donner Lake; with some of the 48 survivors confessing to having resorted to cannibalism to survive. The new Canada–United States border was established much further north at the 49th parallel. [80] While no reins, bits, or halters were needed, the trainer had to be forceful. Sometimes an unfolded feather bed mattress was brought for the wagon, if there were pregnant women or very young children along. Between 1847 and 1860, over 43,000 Mormon settlers and tens of thousands of travelers on the California Trail and Oregon Trail followed Young to Utah. With 131,050 minted in 1926, that year's issue remains readily available for collectors. The idea of the game was to teach school children about the trails, challenges, dangers and the life of pioneers in the 19th century. [53] It was the last army outpost till travelers reached the coast. At Salmon Falls there were often a hundred or more Native Americans fishing who would trade for their salmon, a welcome treat. Join us on the trail! However, many settlers branched off or stopped short of this goal and settled at convenient or promising locations along the trail. On May 16, 1842, the second organized wagon train set out from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers. In Wyoming, the Mormon emigrants followed the main Oregon/California/Mormon Trail through Wyoming to Fort Bridger, where they split from the main trail and followed (and improved) the rough path known as Hastings Cutoff, used by the ill-fated Donner Party in 1846. [84] Hunting provided another source of food along the trail; pioneers hunted American bison as well as pronghorn antelope, deer, bighorn sheep, and wildfowl. The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, providing faster, safer, and usually cheaper travel east and west (the journey took seven days and cost as little as $65, or $1189.39 in 2016 dollars). The Donation Land Act provided for married settlers to be granted 320 acres (1.3 km2) and unmarried settlers 160 acres (0.65 km2). "The Oregon Trail" is a song written by Peter DeRose and Billy Hill, recorded by singing cowboy artist Tex Ritter in 1935, and by Australian country musician Tex Morton in 1936. This route was used by some adventurous travelers but was not too popular because of the difficulties of making connections and the often hostile population along the way. [95] According to several sources, 3 to 10 percent of the emigrants are estimated to have perished on the way west.[96]. 25–31; "Emigrant Trails of Southern Idaho"; Bureau of Land Management & Idaho State Historical Society;1993; pp 117–125 ASIN: B000KE2KTU, Soda Springs quotes Idaho State Historical Society, For an Oregon-California trail map up to the junction in Idaho NPS. "Joint occupation" of the region was formally established by the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. For the next 15 years the American rendezvous was an annual event moving to different locations, usually somewhere on the Green River in the future state of Wyoming. These pack trains were then used to haul out the fur bales. Trying to transport their extensive fur collection down the Sweetwater and North Platte River, they found after a near disastrous canoe crash that the rivers were too swift and rough for water passage. The longest trip was the voyage of about 13,600 to 15,000 miles (21,900 to 24,100 km) on an uncomfortable sailing ship rounding the treacherous, cold, and dangerous Cape Horn between Antarctica and South America and then sailing on to California or Oregon. [111] Diseases could spread particularly quickly because settlers had no place to quarantine the sick and because poor sanitation was typical along the route.[112]. Smith reasoned since the Sweetwater flowed east it must eventually run into the Missouri River. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson obtained from France the Louisiana Purchase for $15 million (equivalent to about $230 million today) which included all the land drained by the Missouri River and roughly doubled the size of U.S. territory. More than 2,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen along the Oregon National Historic Trail in six states and serve as reminders of the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs of early American settlers. From the letter of Anna Maria King, in Covered Wagon Women, Volume 1, by Kenneth L. Holmes, ebook version, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1983, Page 41. The prairie grass in many places was several feet high with only the hat of a traveler on horseback showing as they passed through the prairie grass. The party continued east via the Sweetwater River, North Platte River (where they spent the winter of 1812–13) and Platte River to the Missouri River, finally arriving in St. Louis in the spring of 1813. It is believed that the swifter flowing rivers in Wyoming helped prevent the germs from spreading.[52]. Upon return in early August, Simpson reported that he had surveyed the Central Overland Route from Camp Floyd to Genoa, Nevada. This route was used by many gold hungry miners in 1849 and later but suffered from the disadvantage that you had to find a way across the very wide and very dry Sonora Desert. [8] Fort Vancouver was the main re-supply point for nearly all Oregon trail travelers until U.S. towns could be established. The HBC had nearly a complete monopoly on trading (and most governing issues) in the Columbia District, or Oregon Country as it was referred to by the Americans, and also in Rupert's Land. The Platte River and the North Platte River in the future states of Nebraska and Wyoming typically had many channels and islands and were too shallow, crooked, muddy and unpredictable for travel even by canoe. Spare leather was used for repairing shoes, harnesses, and other equipment. [54] From Fort Bridger, the main trail, comprising several variants, veered northwest over the Bear River Divide and descended to the Bear River Valley. Fort Victoria was erected in 1843 and became the headquarters of operations in British Columbia, eventually growing into modern-day Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. Some of this increase is because of a high birth rate in the western states and territories, but most is from emigrants moving from the east to the west and new immigration from Europe. [21][22] They were led initially by John Gantt, a former U.S. Army Captain and fur trader who was contracted to guide the train to Fort Hall for $1 per person. Other routes involved taking a ship to Colón, Panama (then called Aspinwall) and a strenuous, disease ridden, five- to seven-day trip by canoe and mule over the Isthmus of Panama before catching a ship from Panama City, Panama to Oregon or California. Fear of a Native American attack near Union Pass in Wyoming forced the group further south where they discovered South Pass, a wide and easy pass over the Continental Divide. [89] Travelers had pushed along the relatively easy path to Fort Laramie with their luxury items but discarded them before the difficult mountain crossing ahead, and after discovering that many items could be purchased at the forts or located for free along the way. (See: Missouri River settlements (1846–1854))[47] The Mormons established about 50 temporary towns including the town of Kanesville, Iowa (renamed Council Bluffs in 1852) on the east bank of the Missouri River opposite the mouth of the Platte River. Explore all 7 regions of Oregon through a tribute to the classic game, The Oregon Trail ®. Because it was more a network of trails than a single trail, there were numerous variations with other trails eventually established on both sides of the Platte, North Platte, Snake, and Columbia rivers. 1848) is about 200 miles (320 km) from the Missouri River, and the trail and its many offshoots nearly all converged close to Fort Kearny as they followed the Platte River west. After following the Santa Fe trail to near present-day Topeka, they ferried across the Kansas River to start the trek across Kansas and points west. Organized as a complete evacuation from their previous homes, farms, and cities in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, this group consisted of entire families with no one left behind. From 1821–1846, the Hudson's Bay Company twice annually used the York Factory Express overland trade route from Fort Vancouver to Hudson Bay then on to London. [92] Gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon caused a considerable increase in people using the trails, often in directions different from the original trail users. Over the years many ferries were established to help get across the many rivers on the path of the Oregon Trail. [43] Some emigrants continued to use the trail well into the 1890s, and modern highways and railroads eventually paralleled large portions of the trail, including U.S. Highway 26, Interstate 84 in Oregon and Idaho and Interstate 80 in Nebraska. Rather than canned vegetables, Marcy suggested that travelers take dried vegetables, which had been used in the Crimean War and by the U.S. [70] The trails on the north side joined the trail from Three Island Crossing about 17 miles (27 km) west of Glenns Ferry on the north side of the Snake River. [84][85] Marcy's guide correctly suggested that the consumption of wild grapes, greens, and onions could help prevent the disease and that if vegetables were not available, citric acid could be drunk with sugar and water. After crossing Mount Oread at Lawrence, the trail crosses the Kansas River by ferry or boats near Topeka and crossed the Wakarusa and Black Vermillion rivers by ferries. Welcome to Travel Oregon: The Game! Besides discovering and naming many of the rivers and mountains in the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest, they often kept diaries of their travels and were available as guides and consultants when the trail started to become open for general travel. The first detailed map of California and Oregon were drawn by Frémont and his topographers and cartographers in about 1848.[16]. [85] Many emigrant families also carried a small amount of tea and maple sugar. It was the nexus for the fur trade on the Pacific Coast; its influence reached from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands, and from Russian Alaska into Mexican-controlled California. Army. In fall of 1823, Jedediah Smith and Thomas Fitzpatrick led their trapping crew south from the Yellowstone River to the Sweetwater River. It was used by many in 1849 and later as a winter crossing to California, despite its many disadvantages. [85], Canning technology had just begun to be developed, and it gained in popularity through the period of westward expansion. Some lost their wagons and teams over the falls. Nearly all of the settlers in the 1843 wagon trains arrived in the Willamette Valley by early October. The Oregon Trail was the trunk trail for several other branch trails. By 1840 the fashion in Europe and Britain shifted away from the formerly very popular beaver felt hats and prices for furs rapidly declined and the trapping almost ceased. Much of the increase in California and Oregon is from emigration by ship, as there was fast and reasonably low cost transportation via east and west coast steamships and the Panama Railroad after 1855. Other trails were developed that traveled further along the South Platte to avoid local Native American hot spots. Gradually the trail became easier with the average trip (as recorded in numerous diaries) dropping from about 160 days in 1849 to 140 days 10 years later. Travelers often completed their journey in Idaho, Washington or places other than Oregon City. [33] It is estimated that about two-thirds of the male population in Oregon went to California in 1848 to cash in on the opportunity. During peak immigration periods several ferries on any given river often competed for pioneer dollars. The army maintained fort was the first chance on the trail to buy emergency supplies, do repairs, get medical aid, or mail a letter. These ferries significantly increased speed and safety for Oregon Trail travelers. In partnership with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Minecraft Education brings you The Oregon Trail Experience. The valleys were all covered with a white crust and looked like salaratus.
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