Pioneers: How They Created The Oregon Trail

The idea of moving West started in the mid-nineteenth century. Editor Horace Greely said “Go west, young man” which encouraged many people to move west. The Journey Westward was hard on many families. They were being uprooted and leaving their homes. They sold their farms and homes in the east and packed wagons with enough supplies to travel for about 6 months. In 1869 alone, an estimated 50,000 people migrated to the new territory. Many women felt that their husbands were on “a wild goose chase” and could not understand why they were being moved to this land.

My life as a female pioneer taking the journey down the Oregon Trail was one of hardship and adventure. During the early 1800s settlers began to explore new territory in the New World looking for new opportunities. Through the pioneer journeys of Lewis and Clark a route through America was discovered that would take settlers to new land in the Pacific Northwest portion of the country. To reach the new land pioneers, such as I, had to travel down what became known as the Oregon Trail.

September 7, 1857, the emigrants of the Fancher-Baker train were just awakening and preparing for the day when gunshots were sounded. The emigrants were caught by surprise and immediately fortified themselves with their wagons. For days they were harassed, lacking food and water. Finally a Mormon leader by the name of John D. Lee came to them with a white flag. The Fancher-Baker party was desperate

In the year 1843, the stage was set for the Great Migration. Throughout the 1840s westward expansion started rolling. People living in the crowded east were lured west with

The journey along the Oregon Trail was a very long and rough experience. Stretching out to almost a whopping 2000 miles it usually took the pioneers 4-6 months travelling at 12 to 16 miles per hour. Throughout this journey the pioneers had to battle with cholera, poor

In 1800 Thomas Jefferson was elected president. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Jefferson had the vision of the United States growing from sea to sea. However, it was unknown what was out there. Jefferson planned an exploratory expedition and called upon Meriwether Lewis to lead it. Jefferson was very interested in what was in the west lands. Much was involved in the carrying out of this expedition; the preparations for this trip, what happened during their long journey west, and the return home. This expedition was very important in the development of the United States.

The Oregon tail was the longest overland route in the westward growth in the United States. The Oregon Trail is a 2,200 mile (3,500km) route from Missouri to Oregon and California. The first emigrants to make the journey were Marcus and Narcissa Whitman who made the trip in 1836. Few years later the Whitman Family and eleven other were killed by a party of Cayuse Native American on November 29, 1847. The Oregon Trail helped the United States carry out its cultural goal of Manifest Destiny, that is, to expand the nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Settlers could not leave too early nor too late, if they do decide to leave early there would be no grass for the animals to consume, if they left too late they would have a chance of

The Lewis and Clark expedition was a truth that was to become the crowning accomplishment in the lifetime of the brilliant thinker, inventor, and founding father, Thomas Jefferson . It has become a profounding turning point throughout America’s history. Investigating the recently obtained Louisiana Territory, which nearly doubled the size of the country, arranged Jefferson the opportunity to widen the boundaries of the United States to include both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The threat of the unknown lay ahead for Lewis and Clark’s team. The explorers had no idea what they would e be confronted with on their journey, but still they advanced into the unknown area that could officially be called part of America. Thanks to the addition of Lewis, Clark, their essential guide Sacajawea, and the many men that traveled with them America was able to expose land as well as providing important information about the topography, the biological studies, the ecology, and the studies of the American Indian as they discovered the mysteries of the Louisiana Purchase. Although it was a treacherous and costly journey, the Lewis and Clark expedition was the most important exploration in American history.

You can come by wagon or come by foot. By wagon, oxen and mules, you have to cross deserts, mountains, and valleys. The advantage is that you can carry your clothes, food for long journey, tools for mining and farming, and items for cooking. You You will have a great adventure! Coming by foot is long but if you need fitness then this is your call!

The 19th century was a time where the idea of manifest destiny swept through the American nation. Filling the minds of men and women of the united states, fueling the ideas of moving west for land and prosperity. Americans sought to extend the United States territory from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast, seeing it as their god given right to obtain the land. Nearly seven million Americans embarked on that long and treacherous journey west. On this excursion, the travelers would face rugged terrain, harsh weather conditions, savage Indians, and robbers. Although millions of the travelers made it to their destinations unscathed, not all were so fortunate. One of the most tragic recorded incidences during this western expansion was that of the Donner Party. This group of pioneers, due to false information and bad judgment, became stranded on the Sierra Nevada mountain during the winter of 1846 and were forced to turn to cannibalism to survive.

On May 14, 1804 in the eastern city of Saint Louis, William Clark and Merry-weather Lewis set of on the westward adventure that would change America as we know it today. Their journey began on the Mississippi River, those rapids would propel Lewis and Clark into the "Corps of Discovery". Across the vast land that these men would soon travel lived the many native-american tribes. The Native people hunted freely across their western lands, lived their life as one with the ground they so carefully treaded on. Soon, the great American adventurers and the native people would meet, but one brought with them the foreshadowing of a new era. An era when American life would be greatly improved with new natural resources and plentiful free land, but only at the cost of ruining the native american people of their way of life. The Lewis and Clark Expedition expanded the knowledge and lifestyle of America but began the elimination of the original American natives way of life and culture.

Women didn’t have it very easy on the Oregon Trial. They had many chores/jobs they had to get done. And those jobs were no walk in the park. They were hard, laborious, and dirty jobs. They were also often “handed” these jobs. Women were often taken granted for. In the men’s minds, they were trivial, but that was far from true. If women hadn’t gone on the Oregon Trail, it probably wouldn’t have gotten that far. Women and girls play a big rule in Women and girls had to adjust to very rough conditions.

The Appalachian Trail was also the product of a daydream atop Stratton Mountain, the brainchild of Benton MacKaye. MacKaye was an off-and-on federal employee, educated as a forester and self-trained as a planner, who proposed it as the connecting thread of "a project in regional planning." His proposal, drawing on years of talk of a "master trail" within New England hiking circles, was written at the urging of concerned friends in the months after his suffragette-leader wife killed herself. It appeared in the October 1921 edition of the Journal of the American Institute of Architects, at the time a major organ the regional-planning movement. MacKaye envisioned a trail along the ridge-crests of the Appalachian

There were 2 ways to travel by boat and by land. Travelers that took the boats had to sail all the way around South America. This was hard on them because it took a very long time to get all the way around the tip of South America. Also all the dangers they could have faced. Storms, diseases, and drowning. Another reason the traveling was rough was because some travelers went by land through the trails and rough country. This posed many problems like animals could hurt them, or harsh on the body, and even just like boats weather. There was a lot of diseases traveling by foot and many people died. Lastly it states in the text “The California Gold Rush” it states “Some choose via land, but were slowed by no direct road or waterway.”(Mcgill 1-2) This gave a real problem to travelers because they may be in more danger if not on a direct passageway to there destination. They could have gotten lost forever and have to start over alone and even potentially die after running outta resources. Withstanding these difficulties is impressive so let's find out what it was like in

Pioneers needed numerous key elements to survive in the devastating biomes that they traveled through. The pioneers always traveled in large groups of about 80 to 100 people per group. Their goal was to reach new, far away, lands to settle colonies in. Instead of walking on foot, they used many wagons and cattle to travel quicker and easier. Also, they needed many sets of clothing to keep themselves warm. Their voyages took about six to twelve months depending on how far away they were traveling. They needed vast amounts of food, water, and clothing in order to survive their entire journey to a new place to