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Who
Wants to Be a Pioneer? |
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Who
Wants to Be a Pioneer? |
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Have you ever walked five miles in a day? Ten miles? Fifteen? In the mid-1800s, over 100,000 Americans walked fifteen miles a day for nearly 2000 miles. They were moving west, and to get there they took the Oregon Trail, which stretched from Missouri to the Pacific Coast.
The main reason these people headed west was for the land. Beginning in the 1840s, emigrants could claim 640 acres of land in the Oregon Country (today's states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) for free-and this land was good for farming and had thick forests which they could use for building.
What was the journey like? The migrants usually left in May (they had to wait for the prairie grass to grow long enough to feed their animals) and arrived in Oregon in November-a five to six month long trip. A family of four would need over 1000 pounds of food for the trek, and they carried this and their supplied on small covered wagons pulled by oxen or mules. Since these wagons were loaded with about a ton of cargo, there was no room for riders-so everyone who was able had to walk!
The migrants traveled together in "wagon trains" from sunrise until about 6:00 p.m. They ate bread, beans, and bacon nearly every day, and if they were lucky they would have some fresh buffalo or other wild game. At night they set up their wagons in a big circle. This wasn't done for protection against the Native Americans, but to keep all of their livestock inside.
The Native Americans were more helpful than dangerous to the travelers. They served as guides, they helped in crossing streams and herding livestock, and they traded horses, clothing, and fresh food to the migrants, and only very rarely were isolated migrants attacked by Native Americans. The real dangers of the journey were accidents, bad weather, disease, and river crossings. About one out of every ten people died along the trail, mostly from accidents.
By 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed. The trip which had taken up to six months and was filled with danger and hardship now took only a few days by train, and travel on the Oregon Trail soon came to a halt.
Sources
(from the "Mountain Men
and the Fur Trade" Virtual Research Center):
Historical
Sites on the Trail
Information
about historical sites on the Oregon Trail, with emigrant
comments.
The
Diary of James Madison Coon and Nancy Iness (Miller) Coon
Short phrases, with
details such as beginning and end and weather throughout. Summer
travel.
Historical
Gazette: Oregon Trail
Titles of newspaper
article links, where the articles contain short statements from
pioneers
Great
Grandmother Samantha Jane Emmons Dillard's Story
story posted by Great
Grandson John Christopher Stone, with excerpts from her diary.
The
Overland Trail Journal of An American Emigrant and His Family
"Following is an
account, copied word for word from notes made in pencil in his
notebook, by my grandfather, George R. Hamerick, of travel by wagon
train from Missouri to California in 1863. George M. Taylor"
THE
EMIGRANTS' GUIDE TO OREGON AND CALIFORNIA
by LANSFORD W.
HASTINGS
Echoes
of Oregon History, 1837-1859
With the assistance of an advisory committee of classroom teachers,
the twenty-four documents in Echoes were selected from the records of
Oregon's Provisional and Territorial Governments, which are in the
custody of the Oregon State Archives. This record group contains over
14,000 separate documents, and it provides an unusually detailed and
immediate view of life in Oregon from 1837 to 1859.
Diaries,
Memoirs, Letters and Reports Along The Trails
West
A
Tour to the Oregon Country
At the earnest request
of my friends, I have consented to publish an account of my journey,
from my residence in the state of Indiana, to the Oregon Territory.
The information contained in my Narrative may be of great interest to
those who may contemplate emigrating to that region, or such as may
wish to explore the vast west to the Pacific Ocean.
Oregon
Trail Illustrations
Guiding
Questions: Oregon Trail
General
Look for
Specific
Historical Sites on the Trail
Diary of James and Nancy Coon
Historical Gazette
Emigrant Wagons Roll Westward, 1843
Samantha Jane Emmon Dillard's Story
The Emigrant's Guide
Chapters 1 and 15 are particularly useful
Echoes of Oregon History
Account Book, 1840
Animal Bounty Bill, 1849
Diaries, Memoirs, Letters and Reports
David Campbell's Account, 1846
Philura Vanderburgh Clinkinbeard: Across the Plains in '64
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Alvin Coffey: A Black Pioneer
Teacher| Student | Wagon Trains
Last updated on May 03, 2000 by Paula White
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