What is the significance of the oregon trail to american expansion

Sometimes there was a dessert of dried fruit. The pioneers traveled in groups called trains, but often individual families would strike out on their own. They could travel about 16 miles per day. There were rare attacks by Indians. Up until , fewer than 50 emigrant deaths were blamed on Indian attacks. But as the numbers of travelers increased, so did the attacks. By emigrant deaths probably totaled close to However, the emigrants killed even more Indians.

Illness and accidents were more serious threats than Indian attacks. About 20, people died on the California Trail between and — an average of ten graves for every mile. Disease was the number one killer. Over time, conditions along the Oregon Trail improved. Bridges and ferries were built to make water crossings safer.

Settlements and additional supply posts appeared along the way which gave weary travelers a place to rest and regroup. Trail guides wrote guidebooks, so settlers no longer had to bring an escort with them on their journey. Unfortunately, however, not all the books were accurate and left some settlers lost and in danger of running out of provisions.

With the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in Utah in , westward wagon trains decreased significantly as settlers chose the faster and more reliable mode of transportation. It was also a main thoroughfare for massive cattle drives between and By , the railroads had all but eliminated the need to journey thousands of miles in a covered wagon. Settlers from the east were more than happy to hop a train and arrive in the West in one week instead of six months.

Although modern progress ended the need for the Oregon Trail, its historical significance could not be ignored. The National Park Service named it a National Historic Trail in and continues to educate the public on its importance. First Emigrants on the Michigan Trail. Oregon California Trails Association. Marcus Whitman Narcissa Whitman Oregon Donation Land Act. The Oregon Encyclopedia. Oregon or Bust. Arizona Geographic Alliance. Oregon Trail.

Trail Basics: The Starting Point. National Oregon California Trail Center. Trail Basics: The Wagon. Where did the Oregon Trail Go? National Park Service. Whitman Mission Route, Accidents were the second most frequent cause of death on the trail. Indians killed about emigrants before , but emigrants killed more Indians, and no Indians or emigrants died from violence until Wagon trains organized their members through consensual agreement to rules of order, behavior, property security, and work responsibilities written into constitutions that also identified officers and their specific duties.

Constitutions and bylaws prevailed until , after which most groups preferred to operate using ad hoc agreements. Many wagon trains organized tribunals to mete out punishments for property crimes, assaults, and activities that jeopardized security. The most common punishments were assignment of extra guard duty and expulsion. Whippings were rare, and executions took place only after a legal proceeding and a jury verdict.

African Americans traveled the Oregon Trail, making up perhaps as many as three percent of overlanders before Some traveled as the slave property of white travelers, but many were free people. For many free Blacks, emigration west offered hope for a better life with fewer social obstacles, and in many cases that proved to be true. The trail experience for men and women differed considerably. Their roles and duties followed nineteenth-century norms, with women responsible for children, cooking, laundry, and personal gear.

Women walked, as did men, but they did not stand guard and were not expected to work ox teams or repair wagons. Men held most, if not all, leadership positions. By the time overlanders reached the Oregon Country in present-day southeastern Idaho , they had traveled nearly two-thirds of their journey, but the most difficult sections lay ahead.

Overlanders continued northwest, crossing the Malheur River and leaving the Snake at a place known as Farewell Bend before climbing up the Burnt and Powder river drainages to Ladd Canyon. Just east of present-day Pendleton, a branch of the trail headed north to Waiilatpu, a mission established by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman in , and then west on the Walla Walla River to Fort Walla Walla, a post first established by the North West Fur Company in Travelers got their first view of the Columbia River from the benchlands above present-day Biggs.

They then descended to river level and proceeded west to the mouth of Deschutes River, where the crossing was often perilous. Overlanders struck their first EuroAmerican settlement in Oregon at The Dalles, where they found houses, a schoolhouse, a barn, and cultivated fields, all part of a mission that Methodists had established in Until , travelers had only one choice: to break down their wagons and load them on rafts to float down the turbulent Columbia River.

It was risky, and passage was expensive; many had to borrow to pay for downriver passage. By , however, travelers had another option. Samuel K. Barlow and Joel Palmer pioneered a route around the south flank of Mount Hood to Oregon City in the lower Willamette Valley, and Barlow developed the route into a rough toll road in The Barlow Road initially cost five dollars per wagon and ten cents per head of stock.

The road stretched from The Dalles to Oregon City and operated well into the twentieth century, when it was donated to public use. Portions of present-day U. Other alternative routes developed, often called cutoffs, across Oregon to the Willamette Valley. The same year that Barlow and Palmer traced the road around Mount Hood, a group of emigrants set off on what became known as the Meek Cutoff, which mountain man Stephen Meek promised would shorten the trip by miles.

In late August, 1, overlanders in at least wagons followed Meek on a trail that began directly west of Fort Boise. He soon lost his way and jeopardized the travelers, who split up into separate groups on the Snake River near present-day Ontario and eventually made their way to The Dalles in early October, at about the time Barlow and Palmer headed around Mount Hood.

At least twenty-four people died. In , J esse and Lindsay Applegate laid out a southern route that took overlanders from Fort Hall on the Snake River, southwest along the upper Humboldt River, across present-day Nevada and California to Klamath Lake and northwest to the southern Willamette Valley.

Although the route was never as heavily used as the Barlow Road, the Applegate Trail led thousands of people to Oregon. Simmons chose to head north, because George Bush, an African American, was part of his wagon train and the Oregon Provisional Legislature had outlawed Black resettlement in Oregon. Within a few years of his decision to go north, in , Simmons was part of a political movement that split off Washington Territory from Oregon. There were more meetings between Indians and overlanders west of the Continental Divide; and of the famous incidents of Indian depredation, most occurred west of Fort Hall.

Nonetheless, the great majority of contact between Indians and emigrants was peaceful, and many Indians benefitted the travelers. In the Grand Ronde and Umatilla Valleys, for example, Indian families often sold produce to emigrants.

Gray recognized a good many of them, some of them him. They were all on horses. Bought some potatoes of them, enough for dinner…also some dry peas. As more and more emigrants crossed Indian lands during the s and early s, Native people understandably became more resistant to the invading resettlers.

The arrivals bolstered the provisional government with their support in the revisions of the Organic Law land law that created a House of Representatives with the power to pass statutes.

Continued emigration added sufficient population by to aid U. The enormous influx of overland emigrants and liberal land laws caused the U. Oxen were turned loose with their yokes on, so they might graze and rest. Sometimes the officers of the train got together at noon to consider the case of someone who had violated the rules or had committed a crime.

He was given a fair trial and, if found guilty, was sentenced according to the nature of his offense. All through the afternoon the oxen plodded, and when the wagons arrived at the spot chosen by the guide as a camping place, preparations were made to spend the night. Livestock were driven out to pasture, tents were pitched, fires built, and supper was on its way. Perhaps hunters came in with choice parts of buffalo or antelope, and everyone enjoyed a feast.

After supper, the children played their favorite games, the elders gathered in groups and talked, perhaps making plans for the new homes to be built at the end of the Oregon Trail. Some of the young folk danced to the music of the fiddle or accordion, while those more serious minded sang their favorite songs, some religious, some sentimental.

But youth was not to be denied, the trek was a great adventure, and life stretched far ahead. Many a troth was plighted at the impromptu gatherings along the trail, beside a dim campfire. Various companies took turns at guard duty, one night out of three. Some slept in tents, some in wagons, some on the ground, under the stars. Usually their sleep was undisturbed save perhaps by the sharp yelp of a coyote on a nearby hill, and the challenging bark of the camp dogs.

The prairie schooners crossed the Big Blue, a tributary of the Kansas River, about two weeks out of Independence. The trail then swung up into Nebraska, where it ran along the south bank of the Platte River. The emigrants marveled at the Great Plains. Still, few travelers found reason to complain about the buffalo.

The animals were a source of meat, and buffalo chips were a valuable source of fuel on the treeless plains. Trouble with the Indians was rare, especially in the s, when Indians usually provided information about the trail ahead and were sometimes even hired as guides. Indians on their pinto ponies, some of these dragging laden travois, trailed by, gazing curiously at the ox-drawn wagons. They often stopped to swap buffalo robes and buckskin moccasins, fringed shirts and leggings for tobacco, ironware and worn-out clothing.

Precautions were still taken. At each stop, the wagons were drawn up into a corral. This also served as an enclosure for the livestock. Almost never did an Indian war party descend upon a circle of wagons. Such a strategy would have assured heavy casualties among the Indians. Stragglers or small groups, however, were attacked on occasion by Indians, who were mostly interested in the horses and supplies. It is estimated that prior to the California gold rush, only 34 whites and 25 Indians were killed in fighting on the Oregon Trail.

Relations between white travelers and Indians did sour in the s. In September , the small Utter wagon train was attacked by Bannock Indians and only 14 of 44 travelers made it to Oregon. Indian danger would be such a problem in the summer of that the U.

Army would forbid travel by single wagons in western Kansas. But far more prevalent on the trail than Indian attacks were the everyday trail hazards of accident and disease. Little was known about health and sanitation, and no vaccines were available.

The sick lay on pallets in the hot, debilitating confines of their wagons with only the wagon cover to protect them from the direct rays of the sun.

The emigrants were prone to dose themselves with great quantities of medicine at the first sign of illness—the theory being that the larger the dose, the quicker the recovery. Many died of overdoses, especially of laudanum. One of the first deaths in the Applegate train was that of 6-year-old Joel Hembree. They were now miles west of the Missouri River. Marcus Whitman and his nephew Perrin Whitman proved to be excellent guides as the wagons crossed into more challenging terrain.

If it is only a few miles a day. Keep moving. Death was inevitable for some, but babies were born, bringing new courage to the travelers.

The trail followed the north fork, but first the travelers had to cross the south fork. It was at least a half-mile wide and the water was high. The wagon wheels were taken off, and the wagon bodies, by then long bereft of their caulking, were covered with buffalo skins to waterproof them.

The prairie schooners thus lived up to their nicknames. We wonted thare hides for to make bots to craws the river. The flat Platte River valley had been left behind. After traversing a mile tableland, the emigrants had to lower their wagons down a dangerously steep drop to what seemed an oasis to them—Ash Hollow, a woodsy glen that provided sweet spring water and shade. After leaving Ash Hollow, the wagon train continued on up the sandy banks of the North Platte.

The snow-crested Laramie Mountains rose in the distance. The first of these were the multi-tiered, foot-high mound of volcanic ash and clay that became known as the Courthouse and its smaller rock companion, the Jail House—so dubbed because of their resemblance to municipal buildings in St. Just 14 miles to the west came the more stunning Chimney Rock. Surrounded at its base by mounds of debris, the foot-high slim stone shaft was likened not only to a chimney but also to a minaret, a church steeple and a tunnel turned upside down.

One vigorous fellow took 10, steps to walk around its base. Scotts Bluff, a weathered contortion of towers and parapets that someone called a Nebraska Gibraltar, was another 20 miles down the trail.

If on schedule, a wagon train reached the bluff in late June.