The Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was about 2,000 miles long. It started in Missouri and traveled through Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and ended around Oregon. It touched in some parts of Iowa and Washington. It took roughly about 4 to 6 months to complete. They traveled by wagon and went around 15 miles per day.
Traveling by wagon was not very easy. You went very slowly and it was very rough. Sometimes the animals that were pulling the wagons would get sick, die, or just be stubborn and not listen. That is why the pioneers preferred Oxen more than they did Horses and Mules. Oxen would live longer, did not need to drink or eat as much as the other animals, a lot stronger, and was not as stubborn.
During the Oregon Trail, many people died. An estimated 20,000 men, women, and children died in total on the trial. Most of these deaths were caused by rattlesnakes, giving birth, starvation, and dehydration. The biggest one was disease. Disease was bad back then because they did not have proper treatments, and did not know what to do. Causing many people to die.
Families wanted to go west because it was free land, had fertile farmland, large forests, and believed to be free of disease. Other families went for religious reasons. And some for opportunity. They wanted to get a fresh start and leave their past behind them.
The Oregon Trail was used from around 1843 to around the 1870s. In 1869, the Union Pacific created the railroad and from then most people just used that instead. They would travel to San Francisco to Oregon. It was a lot safer for everyone, and it was a lot faster as well.
