The Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion

Ms. Duncan

1 February 2011

• Trail that led from mid-United States into the Oregon territory
• Left from “jumping-off points”
• Independence, Missouri = prominent “jumping-off point”
• Led from MO, across N Kansas and into Nebraska; from NE to Wyoming; across Rocky Mountains into Idaho; NW into Oregon

• First Americans were soldiers in 1832
• Nathaniel J. Wyeth led first settler party; interested in fishing
• Wyeth built Fort Hall in 1834
• Missionaries were prominent in wagon trains (Manifest Destiny)
• Strong and able-bodied: Emigrants did not ride in the wagons; they walked all 2,000 miles

• The journey took six months across 2,000 miles
• Started in the Spring in order to arrive in early fall
• The journey could be delayed due to bad weather conditions; the wagon trains had to maintain a schedule and would only give one day for birthing, sickness, death and fixing broken wagons

• The trail started in the Great Plains
• Tall prairie grasses; grasses grew as tall as a man
• Grasses made it difficult for wagons to pass; scouts had a difficult time seeing over the tall grasses; children could be lost if they wandered too far
• This was for 200 miles

• Platte River or “Big Muddy”
• Water very sandy; not the best for drinking, washing
• Followed for 450 miles into what is now WY

• Landscape became drier and more open-”a barren trackless waste”
• Emigrants saw prairie dogs and buffalo herds as far as the eye could see
• Buffalo were dangerous but useful-provided meat and “buffalo chips” for fires

• Emigrants begin to see large rock outcroppings
• Chimney Rock becomes an important landmark along the trail

• Crossed Rocky Mtns at South Pass in WY
• Followed the Snake River NW into Idaho
• River was fast-moving and dangerous; trail was steep and treacherous

• Crossed the Blue Mtns into NE corner of Oregon
• Though not as tall as the Rockies or Sierra Nevadas, they were extremely rugged
• So steep in places the emigrants had to unload their wagons and carry their goods to the top by hand-the oxen could not carry the load
• The men had to lower the wagons with ropes on the other side

• Wagons MOST important piece
• Most wagons were 10 ft. long and 4 ft. wide with canvas around bands for the “cover”
• Wagons could carry a load of 2500 pounds
• Emigrants had to carry spare wheels, buckets of axle grease and barrels of tar (to waterproof the wagons)

• Most wagons were pulled by oxen, not horses
• Oxen can pull more weight and are better equipped to pull a wagon over tough terrain
• Wagon needed 8-10 oxen; whenever possible more were brought to replace those that died on the trip
• Many also brought horses, cattle, chickens, pigs and dogs for when they arrived in the new territory

• They would need at least:
• 200 pounds of flour
• 150 pounds of bacon
• 20 pounds of sugar
• 10 pounds of salt
• 10 pounds of coffee

• Other items:
• Seeds and a plow
• Tools to fell trees
• Spinning wheels and looms
• Blankets
• Shoes
• Lanterns
• Needles and thread
• Mirrors
• Matches
• Writing paper and ink
• Medicines

A family of 8 with 2 wagons took for the trip and the new homestead:

• 1,000 pounds of flour
• A large box of cornmeal
• 7 bags of beans
• Several hundred pounds each of bacon and sugar
• 1 bag each of dried apples and peaches
• A keg of honey
• Clothing, bedding, a tent, cooking utensils, the iron parts of a plow, several types of seeds, spinning wheel and 4 rifles

• Many emigrants started the trip with furniture and family heirlooms, but as the trip progressed, many of those were thrown out of the wagons to lighten the load for the oxen
• The prairie was dotted with old dressers; rocking chairs; trunks of books, dishes and other non-essential household goods

• The first trans-continental railroad was completed in 1869; this marked the beginning of the end for wagon trains west
• By the 1880’s, nearly all Westward Expansion tapered off: the country was settled from “sea to shining sea”