One of the enduring legacies of the Oregon Trail is the expansion of the United States territory to the West Coast. From there travelers could float downstream or, after 1846, go overland through the Cascade Range to the trails western terminus in the fertile Willamette valley situated between the Cascades and the Coast Ranges to the west. Fur trappers, often working for fur traders, followed nearly all possible streams looking for beaver in the years (181240) the fur trade was active. In the spring in Nebraska and Wyoming the travelers often encountered fierce wind, rain and lightning storms. Corrections? They abandoned their horses at the Snake River, made dugout canoes, and attempted to use the river for transport. They were established as part of Manifest Destiny and westward expansion. Its main advantage was that it helped spread out the traffic during peak periods, making more grass available.[68]. Still seeing this message? [29], Similarly, emigrant Martha Gay Masterson, who traveled the trail with her family at the age of 13, mentioned the fascination she and other children felt for the graves and loose skulls they would find near their camps.[30]. [84] Collecting buffalo chips was a common task for children and was one chore that even very young children could carry out. When you start at Independance try to buy as much supplies as you can. West of Fort Hall the main trail traveled about 40 miles (64km) on the south side of the Snake River southwest past American Falls, Massacre Rocks, Register Rock, and Coldwater Hill near present-day Pocatello, Idaho. This established a "quick"about 100 days for 2,600 miles (4,200km) one wayto resupply its forts and fur trading centers as well as collecting the furs the posts had bought and transmitting messages between Fort Vancouver and York Factory on Hudson Bay. Their typical flour and salted pork/bacon diet had very little vitamin C in it. The HBC built a new much larger Fort Vancouver in 1824 slightly upstream of Fort Astoria on the north side of the Columbia River (they were hoping the Columbia would be the future CanadaU.S. Thomas Fitzpatrick was often hired as a guide when the fur trade dwindled in 1840. The traffic in later years is undocumented. Many of the people on the trail in 18611863 were fleeing the war and its attendant drafts in both the south and the north. The usually lush Boise River Valley was a welcome relief. These census numbers show a 363,000 population increase in the western states and territories between 1860 and 1870. Reaching the Sierra Nevada before the start of the winter storms was critical for a successful completion of a trip. They carried a large flag emblazoned with their motto "Oregon Or The Grave". In 1852 Eliza Ann McAuley found and with help developed the McAuley Cutoff which bypassed much of the difficult climb and descent of Big Hill. Under Hunt, fearing attack by the Niitsitapi, the overland expedition veered south of Lewis and Clark's route into what is now Wyoming and in the process passed across Union Pass and into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In present-day Idaho, I-84 roughly follows the Oregon Trail from the Idaho-Oregon State border at the Snake River. This trip typically took four to seven months (120 to 210 days) and cost about $350 to $500. Big Hill was a detour caused by a then-impassable cut the Bear River made through the mountains and had a tough ascent often requiring doubling up of teams and a very steep and dangerous descent. [62] After getting into Utah, they immediately started setting up irrigated farms and citiesincluding Salt Lake City. It leaves the main trail about 10 miles (16km) west of South Pass and heads almost due west crossing Big Sandy Creek and then about 45 miles (72km) of waterless, very dusty desert before reaching the Green River near the present town of La Barge. [84] Hunting provided another source of food along the trail; pioneers hunted American bison as well as pronghorn antelope, deer, bighorn sheep, and wildfowl. These burned fast in a breeze, and it could take two or more bushels of chips to get one meal prepared. The water was silty and bad tasting but it could be used if no other water was available. There were only a few places where the Snake River was not buried deep in a canyon, and few spots where the river slowed down enough to make a crossing possible. The trail turned north following the Bear River past the terminus of the Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff at Smiths Fork and on to the Thomas Fork Valley at the present WyomingIdaho border. These descriptions were mainly based on the relative lack of timber and surface water. [109] It could spread quickly in close quarters, such as the parties that traveled the trail. Those emigrants on the eastern side of the Missouri River in Missouri or Iowa used ferries and steamboats (fitted out for ferry duty) to cross into towns in Nebraska. [41] In 1852, there were even records of a 1,500-turkey drive from Illinois to California. Awls, scissors, pins, needles, and thread for mending were required. In the 1840s-1850s it was flintlock rifles and fowling pieces/shotguns or the muskets. Flints could be obtained much more easily (made from local From 1812 to 1840, the British, through the HBC, had nearly complete control of the Pacific Northwest and the western half of the Oregon Trail. A fully loaded wagon could weigh as much as 2,500 pounds. This cutoff had been used as a pack trail by Native Americans and fur traders, and emigrant wagons traversed parts of the eastern section as early as 1852. Despite Stuarts detailed account of the Astor expedition, the South Pass remained largely ignored. Interstate 84 in Oregon roughly follows the original Oregon Trail from Idaho to The Dalles. During that journey Robert Stuart and his companions discovered the South Pass in southwestern Wyoming, a 20-mile (32-km) gap in the Rocky Mountains that offered the lowest (and easiest) crossing of the Continental Divide. (Lewis and Clark, unaware of the pass, had crossed the divide at a more treacherous spot farther to the north.) Professional tools used by blacksmiths, carpenters, and farmers were carried by nearly all. Spread by cholera bacteria in fecal contaminated water, cholera caused massive diarrhea, leading to dehydration and death. Smith reasoned since the Sweetwater flowed east it must eventually run into the Missouri River. Several stage lines were set up carrying mail and passengers that traversed much of the route of the original Oregon Trail to Fort Bridger and from there over the Central Overland Route to California. Astors venture foundered, however, when the British took over his post in 1813 during the War of 1812, and he sold his operation there to the North West Company (then a rival of the Hudsons Bay Company, the dominant fur traders in the Northwest and Canada). U.S. Route 99 and Interstate 5 through Oregon roughly follow the original Applegate Trail. The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490km)[1] eastwest, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. Two movements of PFC employees were planned by Astor, one detachment to be sent to the Columbia River by the Tonquin and the other overland under an expedition led by Wilson Price Hunt. Increased attacks along the Humboldt led to most travelers' taking the Central Nevada Route. It is believed that the swifter flowing rivers in Wyoming helped prevent the germs from spreading.[52]. This route went through central Nevada (roughly where U.S. Route 50 goes today) and was about 280 miles (450km) shorter than the "standard" Humboldt River California trail route.[39]. This meant that women did not experience the trail as liberating, but instead only found harder work than they had handled back east. The Army improved the trail for use by wagons and stagecoaches in 1859 and 1860. [87] Items that were forgotten, broken, or worn out could be bought from a fellow traveler, post, or fort along the way. A washboard and tub were usually brought for washing clothes. A one way fare of $200 delivered a very thrashed and tired passenger into San Francisco in 25 to 28 days. Several towns in Nebraska were used as jumping off places with Omaha eventually becoming a favorite after about 1855. 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. The group set out for California, but about half the party left the original group at Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, leaving their wagons at Fort Hall. According to an evaluation by John Unruh,[101] a 4 percent death rate or 16,000 out of 400,000 total pioneers on all trails may have died on the trail. Many travelers would salvage discarded items, picking up essentials or leaving behind their lower quality item when a better one was found abandoned along the road. ", and the emigrants started off for the day. What was an example of a failed party? [105] Because a dead traveler would often be buried at the site of death, nearby streams could easily be contaminated by the dead body. Women also reacted and responded, often enthusiastically, to the landscape of the West. According to studies by trail historian John Unruh the livestock may have been as plentiful or more plentiful than the immigrants in many years. This lowered the cost of the trip to about $50 per person for food and other items. During the 1849 gold rush, Fort Laramie was known as "Camp Sacrifice" because of the large amounts of merchandise discarded nearby. alt="web statistics">. Every year ships would come from London to the Pacific (via Cape Horn) to drop off supplies and trade goods in its trading posts in the Pacific Northwest and pick up the accumulated furs used to pay for these supplies. They then traveled overland up the Blackfoot River and crossed the Continental Divide at Lewis and Clark Pass, as it would become known, and on to the head of the Missouri River. St. Joseph had good steamboat connections to St. Louis and other ports on the combined Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi River systems. Those with capital could often buy livestock in the Midwest and drive the stock to California or Oregon for profit. This trail then passed through the City of Rocks and over Granite Pass where it went southwest along Goose Creek, Little Goose Creek, and Rock Spring Creek. Press Enter Key to start or stop walking It rejoined the California Trail at Cassia Creek near the City of Rocks. Overland Journal, Volume 6, Number 1, 1988; Peter D. Olch; Pp. Around 4 am the wagon leader sounded the trumpet or fired a rifle to wake everyone up. Mormon emigration records after 1860 are reasonably accurate, as newspaper and other accounts in Salt Lake City give most of the names of emigrants arriving each year from 1847 to 1868. By 6 am the men and boys hitched the wagons while everyone else ate breakfast. [8] McLoughlin, despite working for the HBC, gave help in the form of loans, medical care, shelter, clothing, food, supplies and seed to U.S. emigrants. [citation needed]. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The three main trails that led to the West were the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trail. Choose a persona and jump right into exploring the Oregon Trail on Classic Reload! They increased the cost of traveling the trail by roughly $30 per wagon but decreased the speed of the transit from about 160 to 170 days in 1843 to 120 to 140 days in 1860. It was used by many in 1849 and later as a winter crossing to California, despite its many disadvantages. Equipment repairs and other goods could be procured from blacksmith shops established at some forts and some ferries. Mule teams were the preferred mode of travel, but oxen teams were used more often. [15] John C. Frmont of the U.S. Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers and his guide Kit Carson led three expeditions from 1842 to 1846 over parts of California and Oregon. The images of sandy wastelands conjured up by terms like "desert" were tempered by the many reports of vast herds of millions of Plains Bison that somehow managed to live in this "desert". [40] From Salt Lake City the telegraph line followed much of the Mormon/California/Oregon trails to Omaha, Nebraska. Fur traders tried to use the Platte River, the main route of the eastern Oregon Trail, for transport but soon gave up in frustration as its many channels and islands combined with its muddy waters were too shallow, crooked and unpredictable to use for water transport. A significant number of travelers were suffering from scurvy by the end of their trips. The ship left supplies and men to continue work on the station and ventured north up the coast to Clayoquot Sound for a trading expedition. Drafts in both the south and the emigrants started off for the day were even records of 1,500-turkey... Through Oregon roughly follow the original Applegate Trail verify and edit content from... 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