Oregon+Trail

=THE OREGON TRAIL!!!= toc The Oregon Trail was more than just a pathway to the state of Oregon, it was the ONLY corridor the the ENTIRE western United States. Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, and Utah would probably not be a part of the United States today if the Oregon Trail wasnt ever made. This is because the Trail was the only way for settlers to get across the mountains. The Journey west on the Oregon Trail was exceptionally difficult looking at it today. One in ten died along the way. This was two-thousand miles, and many people walked the entire way barefoot. The first emigrants to go to Oregon in a covered wagon were Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. They made the trip in 1836. In 1843 about a thousand pioneers made the journey. This was about a seven year difference.



Discoverers and Explorers
In 1800 no railroads and no cattle ranches existed. It was very quiet and very untouched. People in the eastern part of U.S. had heard stories about the western mountains and the desert. Although no Euro-American had been there. But within a short time, that would all be different.

Who Really Found the Oregon Trail?
= =

= =

The Astorians
The Astorians were a major westward expedition and wasnt funded by the government. It was also under controll of the worlds richest man. This man was John Jacob Astor. He had read about Lewis and Clark and he saw and opportunity to make money. He had a plan. This was to set up a fur-trading enterprise. He would set this up at the mouth of the Columbia River. There was a problem though. It was that they needed a way to get his men across the uncharted American West. He sent two groups. They both traveled differently. The first went by ship around Cape Horn. The second group went overland. They were the first to try this since Lewis and Clark.

Pike and Long
Pike had an opinion that the west was a vast desert and was confirmed by Major Steven Long. He led an expedition west. This was in 1819. Long and his men went through what we now call Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas. He said that the entire region that he traveled was unfit for humans to life. So, the west remained untouched. Native American Tribes did live in peace though. The white settlers stayed away because you weren't able to live in the west. That is what everyone thought.

Mountain Men
A few Americans did go west in the first few decades of the 19th century even though there was negative publicity. The Mountain Men were a bunch of guys that were adventurous entrepreneurs. These fur-trappers lived thousands of miles for any civilized people. Most of them had no home, no money, and the only possessions they had were the ones that they could carry on their backs. They didnt live on land, and they had a small diet of buffalo, elk, and mountain goat. Many of them roamed covering hundreds, maybe even thousands, of miles each year. These guys were in search of only one thing. That one thing is beaver pelts. A mountain man could trade beaver pelts for just about anything he needed. Well, then again, he really didn't need that much.

Wrapping It Up!
The Native Americans were not foes, but friends. Then they couldn't take it anymore. The emigrants were very distruptive. The emigrants worried about Native American attacks.Though, very few were actually killed by the native tribes, they were still scared. In the Oregon Trail they had to walk barefoot, they had no bathing, and it was a 2,000 mile walk across the old west. The emigrants had to leave home forever, and you couldn't take anything with you. It was a hard life to live, but like i said we wouldn't have states, such as Washington, Oregon, California, Navada, Idaho, and Utah without the Oregon Trail.

RESOURCES!
Garraty, John A. __The Story of America__ Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1994

Oregon Trail []

The Oregon Trail [|http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html]