The Oregon Trail is a 2,170 mile (3,490 km) historic East-West, a large wheel drive route and an emigrant trail in the United States that connects the Missouri River to the valleys of Oregon. The eastern Oregon Trail stretches part of the future state of Kansas, and almost all of which is now a state of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the path extends most of the state of Idaho and Oregon in the future.
The Oregon Trail was laid by traders and feather merchants from around 1811 to 1840, and could only be skipped on foot or on horseback. In 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a trail of carts had been emptied into Fort Hall, Idaho. The wagon streets are cleared farther west, and eventually reach all the way to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, at what point then the Oregon Trail is completed, even as nearly the annual improvements are made in the form of bridges, cutoffs, ferries, and roads, faster and safer. From various starting points in Iowa, Missouri, or the Nebraska Region, the route merges along the lower Platte River Valley near Fort Kearny, Nebraska Region and into the fertile farmland to the west of the Rocky Mountains.
From the early to mid 1830s (and especially throughout the years 1846-69), the Oregon Trail and its many branches were used by about 400,000 settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their families. The eastern part of the trail was also used by tourists on the California Trail (from 1843), the Mormon Trail (from 1847), and the Bozeman Trail (from 1863), before resorting to a separate destination. The use of roads declined when the first transcontinental railroads were completed in 1869, making travel to the west much faster, cheaper, and safer. Today, modern highways, such as Interstate 80 and Interstate 84, follow part of the same path westward and pass through the city that was originally established to serve those who use the Oregon Trail.
Video Oregon Trail
History
Lewis and Clark Expedition
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson issued the following instructions to Meriwether Lewis: "The purpose of your mission is to explore the Missouri River, and its main stream, such as, through its channels & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether Columbia, Oregon, Colorado and/or other rivers can offer the most direct and practical water communications across the continent, for trading purposes. "Although Lewis and William Clark found their way to the Pacific Ocean, it was not until 1859 that a direct and practical route, the Mullan Road, linked the Missouri River with the Columbia River.
The first land route crossed what is now the United States mapped by the Lewis and Clark Expedition between 1804 and 1806. Lewis and Clark initially believed they had found a practical overland route to the west coast; However, the two passes they found going through the Rocky Mountains, the Lemhi Pass and Lolo Pass, turned out to be too difficult for a prairie carriage cart to pass through without considerable road work. On their way home in 1806, they traveled from the Columbia River to the Snake River and the Clearwater River past Lolo through again. They then travel across the Blackfoot River and cross the Continental Divide at Lewis and Clark Pass and head for the head of the Missouri River. This is ultimately a shorter and faster route than the route they follow to the west. This route has a disadvantage because it is too rough for the wagon and is controlled by Indian Blackfoot. Although Lewis and Clark only travel narrowly at the top of the Missouri River drainage and part of the Columbia River drainage, it is considered to be two major rivers that drain most of the Rocky Mountains, and expeditions insist that there is no "easy" route through the northern Rocky Mountains which Jefferson expects. Nevertheless, this famous expedition has mapped out the eastern and western river valleys (Platte and Snake Rivers) that recorded the Oregon Trail route (and other emigrant paths) across continental borders - they just did not find the South Pass or some of the interconnecting valleys that were then used in high country. They show the way for the mountain people, who in a decade will find a better way, even if that is not an easy way.
Pacific Fur Company
Founded by John Jacob Astor as a subsidiary of American Fur Company (AFC) in 1810, Pacific Fur Company (PFC) operates in the Pacific Northwest in the ongoing North American fur trade. Two PFC employee moves were planned by Astor, a detachment to be sent to the Columbia River by Tonquin and the others on the ground under an expedition led by Wilson Price Hunt. Hunt and his party searched for supply routes and trapped the area for further feather trading posts. After arriving on the river in March 1811, the crew of Tonquin began building what became Fort Astoria. The ship abandoned supplies and people to continue working at the station and roamed north to coast towards Clayoquot Sound for a trade expedition. While anchored there, Jonathan Thorn insulted an elderly Tla-o-qui-aht previously elected by the natives to negotiate mutually satisfactory prices for animal skins. Soon after, the ship was attacked and controlled by native Clayoquot who killed most of the crew except the Quinault translator, who later told the PFC management at Fort Astoria about the destruction. The next day, the ship was detonated by surviving crew members.
Under Hunt, fearing attacks by Niitsitapi, the ground expedition veered south from the Lewis and Clark route to what is now Wyoming and in the process passes the Union Pass and into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. From there they went across the Teton Range through the Teton Pass and then to the Snake River to modern Idaho. They left their horses on the Snake River, built a dug boat, and tried to use the river for transportation. After a few days of travel they soon discovered that the steep canyons, waterfalls and rapids that pass through made the journey through the river impossible. Too far from their horses to pick it up, they had to keep most of their things and walk the rest of the way to the Columbia River where they built a new boat and traveled to the newly established Fort Astoria. Expeditions show that most of the routes along the plain of the Snake River and across to Columbia can be traversed by railway packages or with minimal repairs, even horse-drawn carriages. This knowledge will be incorporated into the merged segments of the trail because the Oregon Trail takes its original form.
Pacific Fur Company partner Robert Stuart leads a small group of people to the east to report to Astor. The group plans to retrace the road followed by the ground expedition back east following the Columbia and Snake rivers. The fear of an Indian attack near the Union Pass in Wyoming forced the group further south where they found the South Pass, a broad and easy throw over the Continental Divide. The party continued east through the Sweetwater River, North Platte River (where they spent the winter of 1812-13) and the Platte River to the Missouri River, finally arriving at St. Louis in the spring of 1813. The route they use appears to be potentially a practical wagon route, requires minimal repairs, and Stuart's journal provides careful reports on most routes. Due to the War of 1812 and the lack of US feather trading posts in the Northwest Pacific, most of these routes have not been used for more than 10 years.
The North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company
In August 1811, three months after Fort Astor was founded, David Thompson and the British North West Company explorers came flying down to Columbia to Fort Astoria. He has just completed his journey through much of western Canada and most of the Columbia River drainage system. He charted the country for possible feather trading positions. Along the way he camped at a meeting of the Columbia and Snake rivers and posted a land claim notification for England and declared the intention of the Northwest Company to build a fortress on the site (Fort Nez Perces was later established there). Astor, concerned that the British navy would seize their fortifications and supplies in the War of 1812, were sold to the North West Company in 1812, their fortress, inventory and feathers at Columbia and Snake River. Northwest companies began building more fortresses and trading posts themselves.
In 1821, when armed hostilities broke out with Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) rivals, the North West Company was pressured by the British government to join HBC. HBC almost has a complete monopoly on trade (and most governance issues) in the District of Columbia, or the State of Oregon as referred to by the Americans, as well as in Rupert's Land. That year, the British parliament passed a law enacting the Upper Canada law into the district and granted HBC the power to enforce the law.
From 1812 to 1840, Britain, through HBC, almost completely controlled the Pacific Northwest and the western half of the Oregon Trail. In theory, the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, restored Oregon's territory to the United States. The "joint occupation" in the region was formally established by the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. Britain, through HBC, tries to prevent trappers, merchants, and settlers from work or settlements in the Pacific Northwest.
By road trip, American missionaries and early settlers (originally mostly trappants) began to emerge in Oregon around 1824. Although HBC does not officially advocate a settlement because it disrupts feasible profit trade, its Factor Head at Fort Vancouver, John McLoughlin, provide substantial assistance, including jobs, until they can be established. In the early 1840s thousands of American settlers arrived and were soon greatly defeated by British settlers in Oregon. McLoughlin, although working for HBC, provides assistance in loans, medical care, shelter, clothing, food, supplies and seeds for US immigrants. These new emigrants often arrive in tired, worn-out Oregon, with almost no money, with insufficient food or supplies, like the winter that comes. McLoughlin will then be praised as Father of Oregon.
The York Factory Express, building another route to the Oregon region, evolved from the previous express brigade used by the North West Company between Fort Astoria and Fort William, Ontario on Lake Superior. In 1825, HBC started using two brigades, each departing from opposite ends of the express route - one from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River and one from the York Factory at Hudson Bay - in the spring and passing through each other in the middle of the road, middle of the continent. It sets "fast" - about 100 days to 2,600 miles (4,200 km) in one direction - to supply fleet fortresses and trading centers and collect purchased feathers and send messages between Fort Vancouver and York Factories in Hudson Bay.
HBC built a much larger Fort Vancouver in 1824 upstream from Fort Astoria on the north side of the Columbia River (they hope Columbia will become the Canadian-US border.). The castle quickly became the center of activity in the Pacific Northwest. Each year the ship will come from London to the Pacific (via Cape Horn) to lower inventory and trade goods at its trading post in the Pacific Northwest and take the accumulated feathers used to pay for this inventory. It is the nexus for the feather trade on the Pacific Coast; his influence reaches from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands, and from Mexican Alaska to the Mexican-controlled California. At its peak in about 1840, its Fort Vancouver and Factor (managers) oversaw more than 34 outposts, 24 ports, 6 ships, and about 600 employees.
When American emigration on the Oregon Trail began in the early 1840s, for many settlers, the fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail where they could get supplies, help and assistance before starting their homes. Fort Vancouver is a major re-supply point for virtually all Oregon road travelers until US cities can be established. HBC founded Fort Colvile in 1825 on the Columbia River near Kettle Falls as a good place to collect feathers and control the trading of the upper Columbia River fur. Fort Nisqually was built near the city of DuPont now, Washington and is the first HBC fortress in Puget Sound. Fort Victoria was founded in 1843 and became the headquarters of operations in British Columbia, eventually growing into a modern Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.
In 1840 HBC had three forts: Fort Hall (purchased from Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth in 1837), Fort Boise and Fort Nez Perce on the western end of the Oregon Trail route as well as Fort Vancouver near its terminals in the Willamette Valley. With few exceptions, they all provide substantial help and are often indispensable to early Oregon Trail pioneers.
When the feather trade slowed down in 1840 due to the fashion changes in the men's hats, the Pacific Northwest's value to Britain was seriously reduced. Canada has some potential settlers willing to move more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) to the Pacific Northwest, though several hundred former trappers, British and Americans, and their families start settling in Oregon, Washington and California. They use most of the York Express routes through northern Canada. In 1841, James Sinclair, on the orders of Sir George Simpson, guided nearly 200 settlers from the Red River Colony (located at the intersection of the Assiniboine River and the Red River near Winnipeg now, Manitoba, Canada) to the Oregon region. This settlement effort failed when most families joined the settlers in the Willamette Valley, with their promise of free land and the HBC free government.
In 1846, the Oregon Agreement that ended the Oregon border dispute was signed with Britain. England lost ground in the north of the Columbia River they had long controlled. The new Canada-United States border was established much further north in the 49th parallel. The agreement grants HBC navigation rights on the Columbia River to supply their fur post, a clear title for their trading post property that allows them to be sold later if they wish, and leave the UK with a good anchor in Vancouver and Victoria. It gave the United States what it most wanted, a "reasonable" boundary and a good harbor on the West Coast at Puget Sound. Although there were hardly any US settlers in the future state of Washington in 1846, the United States has shown that it can drive thousands of settlers to go to the Oregon Territory, and that will only be a short time before they will be far more than some hundreds of HBC employees and retirees live in Washington.
Great English Great American Desert
Reports from the expedition in 1806 by Lt. Zebulon Pike and in 1819 by Major Stephen Long describes the Great Plains as "unfit for human habitation" and the "Great American Desert". This description is mainly based on the lack of wood and relative surface water. The images of sand sandy soil conjured up by terms such as "desert" is softened by numerous reports about large collection Lowland Bison millions who somehow managed to live in the "desert" is. In the 1840s, the Great Plains does not seem attractive to settlements and illegal to do homiliading until after 1846 - originally set aside by the US government for Indian settlements. Land next available for public housing, Oregon, appear to be free to take and has fertile soil, climate free from disease (yellow fever and malaria are prevalent in many rivers Missouri and the Mississippi River later), forests are not cut and is not claimed, the great river , potential sea ports, and only a few British settlers.
fur traders, trappers, and explorers
Fur tracers, often working for feather traders, follow almost all the streams that may be looking for beavers in the (1812-40) years of active feather trade. Fur traders include Manuel Lisa, Robert Stuart, William Henry Ashley, Jedediah Smith, William Sublette, Andrew Henry, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Peter Skene Ogden, David Thompson, James Douglas, Donald Mackenzie, Alexander Ross, James Sinclair, and other mountain men. In addition to finding and naming the many rivers and mountains in Intermountain West and the Pacific Northwest, they often keep their travel diaries available as guides and consultants when the road is open to public travel. The feather trade business descended to a very low level as did Oregon's trail trails beginning around 1840.
In the fall of 1823, Jedediah Smith and Thomas Fitzpatrick led their trap crew southward from the Yellowstone River to Sweetwater River. They are looking for a safe location to spend the winter. Smith reasoned since Sweetwater flowed eastward, eventually having to flee to the Missouri River. Trying to transport their vast collection of feathers on the Sweetwater and North Platte Rivers, they discovered after a crash near the canoe that the rivers were too swift and rough to pass through the waterway. On July 4, 1824, they stripped their feathers under a stone dome they named Independence Rock and began their long journey on foot to the Missouri River. After arriving back in the designated area, they bought the horses packed (on credit) and took back their feathers. They have rediscovered the route Robert Stuart had taken in 1813 - eleven years earlier. Thomas Fitzpatrick was often hired as a guide when the feather trade waned in 1840. Jedediah Smith was killed by Indians around 1831.
Up to 3,000 mountain men are trawlers and explorers, employed by various British and US feathering companies or working as free trappers, who roamed the Rocky Mountains of North America from around 1810 to the early 1840s. They usually travel in small groups to support and protect each other. Stuck in the fall when feathers become prime. Mountain men mainly trap beavers and sell leather. A good beaver skin can earn $ 4 when a man's wages are often $ 1 a day. Some are more interested in exploring the West. In 1825, the first significant American Rendezvous occurred in Henry's Fork of the Green River. Inventory trades carried by a large party using train packages originating from the Missouri River. These pack trains are then used to transport bale-bal. They usually use the north side of the Platte River - the same route used 20 years later by the Mormon Trail. For the next 15 years, the American meeting is an annual event that moves to a different location, usually somewhere in Green River in the future of Wyoming. Each meeting, taking place during a flagging summer period, allows feather traders to trade and collect feathers from their Indian trappers and allies without the cost of building or maintaining a cold winter castle or winter in the Rockies. In just a few weeks at a meeting place worth one year of trade and celebration will take place when traders take their fur and supplies are left back east for winter and trappers face another autumn and winter with new inventory. Trapper Jim Beckwourth describes the scene as one of "Miracle, song, dancing, screaming, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target shooting, thread, playing games, with all sorts of luxuries that white people or people can make India." In 1830, William Sublette took the first carriage carrying his wares to the Platte, North Platte and Sweetwater Rivers before crossing the South Pass to a feather trade meeting in Green River near the future town of Big Piney, Wyoming. He has a crew digging trenches and river crossings and cleaning up the brush where needed. It establishes that the eastern part of most of the Oregon Trail can be bypassed by trains. In the late 1830s, HBC adopted a policy intended to destroy or weaken American trading companies. The annual gathering of HBC and supplying the Snake River Expedition is transformed into a trading company. Beginning in 1834, he visited American Rendezvous to sell American merchants - losing money but underestimating American fur traders. In 1840, fashion in Europe and England shifted away from the previously popular beavers, feeling the hats and prices for animal feathers dropping rapidly and its traps nearly stopped.
Fur traders try to use the Platte River, the main route of the eastern Oregon Trail, for transportation but soon give up frustration as many channels and islands combined with too shallow, crooked and unexpected muddy water to be used for water transport. The Platte proved unsrivable. The Platte River and the North Platte River Basin, however, became an easy path for the wagon, with the almost flat plain sloping easily rising and heading west.
There are several US government sponsored explorers who are exploring parts of the Oregon Trail and writing extensively about their explorations. Captain Benjamin Bonneville on his expedition from 1832 to 1834 explored many Oregon trails and took the cart to Platte, North Platte, Sweetwater route across the South Pass to the Green River in Wyoming. He explored most of the Idaho and Oregon Trail to Columbia. Notes about his explorations in the west were published by Washington Irving in 1838.). John C. FrÃÆ'  © from the US Topographic Techniques Corps and its guide Kit Carson led three expeditions from 1842 to 1846 over parts of California and Oregon. His exploration was written by him and his wife Jessie Benton Frà © mont and widely published. The first detailed maps of California and Oregon were drawn by FrÃÆ'Ã… © mont and its topography and cartographers in about 1848.
Missionaries
In 1834, The Dalles Methodist Mission was founded by Rev. Jason Lee east of Mount Hood on the Columbia River. In 1836, Henry H. Spalding and Marcus Whitman traveled west to establish the Whitman Mission near Walla Walla, a modern Washington. The party included the wives of both men, Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Hart Spalding, who became the first European-American woman to cross the Rocky Mountains. On the way, the party accompanied American feather merchants going to the 1836 meeting at Green River in Wyoming and then joining the Hudson's Bay Company feather merchant who traveled west to Fort Nez Perce (also called Fort Walla Walla). The group was the first to travel on the wagon to Fort Hall, where the carriages were abandoned by the insistence of their guides. They used the animal carrier for the rest of the trip to Fort Walla Walla and then flew by boat to Fort Vancouver to get supplies before returning to start their mission. Other missionaries, mostly husband and wife teams who use wheelbarrows and train trains, set up missions in the Willamette Valley, as well as various locations in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in the future.
Initial emigrants
On May 1, 1839, a group of eighteen people from Peoria, Illinois, set out to colonize the state of Oregon on behalf of the United States and expel HBC operations there. People from the Peoria Party are among the first pioneers to cross most of the Oregon Trail. The men were originally led by Thomas J. Farnham and called themselves the Oregon Dragoons. They carry large flags adorned with their motto " Oregon Or The Grave ". Although the group dispersed near Bent's Fort in South Platte and Farnham was overthrown as leaders, nine of their members eventually reached Oregon.
In September 1840, Robert Newell, Joseph L. Meek, and their family reached Fort Walla Walla with three trains they drove from Fort Hall. Their wagons were the first to reach the Columbia River on the ground, and they opened the last leg of the Oregon Trail to drive traffic.
In 1841, Bartleson-Bidwell Party was the first emigrant group to be credited with using the Oregon Trail to emigrate to the west. The group left for California, but about half the party left the original group in Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to Willamette Valley in Oregon, leaving their carts at Fort Hall.
On May 16, 1842, the second wagon train was held from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers. The party was led by Elijah White. The group dispersed after passing Fort Hall with most of the single men rushing to the front and the families that followed later.
The Great Migration of 1843
In what is dubbed "The Great Migration of 1843" or "Wagon Train of 1843", an estimated 700 to 1,000 emigrants leave for Oregon. They were initially led by John Gantt, former US Army Captain and contracted feather merchant to guide the train to Fort Hall for $ 1 per person. The previous winter, Marcus Whitman has traveled a brutal winter midweek from Oregon to St. Louis. Louis to appeal the decision of his mission supporters to leave some Oregon missions. He joined the wagon train on the Platte River for a return trip. When the pioneers were told at Fort Hall by agents from Hudson's Bay Company that they had to leave their train there and use the remaining carrying animal, Whitman disagreed and volunteered to lead the train to Oregon. He believes the wagon train is big enough so that they can build whatever road repairs they need to travel on their train. The biggest obstacle they face is in the Blue Mountains of Oregon where they have to cut and clear the way through heavy wood. The carts stopped at The Dalles, Oregon, because there was no way around Mt. Hood. The carts had to be dismantled and floated down to the dangerous Columbia River and the animals were herded across the rough Lolo road to pass by Mt. Hood. Almost all settlers in the 1843 wagon train arrived in the Willamette Valley in early October. The impassable wagon trail now runs from the Missouri River to The Dalles. In 1846, Barlow Road finished around Mt. Hood, providing a rugged but fully passable railroad from the Missouri River to the Willamette Valley: about 2,000 miles (3,200 km).
Oregon State
In 1843, Willamette Valley settlers drafted Oregon Organic Law that governs land claims in Oregon State. Married couples are granted free of charge (except the requirement for work and land improvement) of up to 640 acres (sections or square miles), and unmarried settlers can claim 320 hectares ( 1.3 km 2 ). Since the group is an interim government with no authority, these claims do not apply under United States or British law, but they are ultimately honored by the United States in the Donate Land Act of 1850. The Land of Donations Act is provided for settlers married to be awarded 320 hectares (1.3 km 2 ) and unmarried 160 acre settlers (0.65 km 2 ). Following the expiration of the law in 1854, the land was no longer free but cost $ 1.25 per acre ($ 3.09/hectare) with a 320 acre limit (1,3Ã, km 2 ) - just as most other government land is not good.
Female on the Overland Path
The consensus interpretation, as found in John Faragher's book,
Women's diaries kept during their travels or letters they write at home once they arrive at their destination support this conflict. The women wrote sadly and concerned about the many deaths along the path. Anna Maria King wrote to her family in 1845 about her trip to Luckiamute Valley Oregon and some of the deaths experienced by her traveling group:
- "But listen to the death: Sally Chambers, John King and his wife, their little daughter Electa and their baby, a 9 month old son, and Dulancy C. Norton's sister disappeared Mr. A. Fuller lost his wife and daughter , Tabitha. Eight of our two families have gone to their longhouses. "
Similarly, emigré Martha Gay Masterson, who traveled with his family at the age of 13, mentioned the attraction he and other children felt for the graves and skulls they found near their camps.
Anna Maria King, like many other women, also advises family and friends back home about the reality of the trip and provides advice on how to prepare for the trip. Women also react and respond, often enthusiastically, to the Western landscape. Betsey Bayley in a letter to his sister Lucy P. Griffith describes how travelers perceive the new environment they encounter:
"The mountains look like volcanoes and the scenery that one day there has been a roar of volcanoes and a burning world.The valleys are all covered with white crust and look like electric tools Some companies use them to lift their bread."
Mormon emigration
Following the persecution and mass action in Missouri, Illinois, and other countries, and the assassination of their prophet Joseph Smith in 1844, the Mormon leader Brigham Young was elected by Latter-day Saint Church leaders (LDS) to lead the LDS settlers to the west. He chose to lead his people to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah today. In 1847, Young led a small group of men and women who moved quickly from the Winter camp near Omaha, Nebraska, and about 50 temporary shelters on the Missouri River in Iowa including Council Bluffs. About 2,200 LDS pioneers went in the first year when they sifted from Mississippi, Colorado, California, and several other states. The early pioneers were assigned to build fields, plant crops, build fences and cattle, and build early settlements to feed and support the thousands of expected emigrants in the coming years. After wading through the Missouri River and building a wagon train near where Omaha, the Mormons follow the northern edge of the Platte River in Nebraska to Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming. They originally started in 1848 with a train of several thousand emigrants, which quickly split into smaller groups to be more easily accommodated in limited springs and acceptable campsites on the path. Arranged as a complete evacuation of their previous homes, farms and towns in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, this group consisted of the entire family with no one left. The presence of women and children is much larger means that this wagon train is not trying to cover the land as much as one day just like the immigrants neighbors of Oregon and California. It usually takes about 100 days to travel 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to Salt Lake City. (The emigrants of Oregon and California typically average about 15 miles (24 km) per day.) In Wyoming, the Mormon emigrants followed the Oregon/California/Mormon main trail via Wyoming to Fort Bridger, where they parted from the main route and followed (and repaired) a rough track known as Hastings Cutoff, used by the ill-fated Donner Party in 1846.
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. After 1848, travelers travel to California or Oregon re-supplied in the Salt Lake Valley, and then return to Salt Lake Cutoff, rejoining the trail near the future Idaho-Utah border in the City of Rocks in Idaho.
Beginning in 1855, many of the poorer traveler Mormons traveled with hand-built handcarts and fewer carriages. Guided by experienced guides, handcart - pulled and propelled by two to four people - as fast as bull carts and allowing them to carry 75 to 100 pounds (34 to 45 kg) of goods plus some food, beds and tents to Utah. The assisted carts bring more food and supplies. Upon arrival in Utah, trailer carts are given or find jobs and accommodation by each Mormon family for the winter until they can become established. About 3,000 of the more than 60,000 Mormon pioneers came with wheelbarrows.
Throughout the Mormon Trail, Mormon pioneers set up ferries and made roadworks to assist travelers later in the day and earn much needed money. One of the more famous ferries is the Mormon Ferry in North Platte near the future site of Fort Caspar in Wyoming operating between 1848 and 1852 and the Green River ferry near Fort Bridger which operated from 1847 to 1856. The ferry was free for Mormon settlers while others were charged costs from $ 3 to $ 8.
California Gold Rush
In January 1848, James Marshall discovered gold in the Sierra Nevada section of the American River, which triggered the California Gold Rush. It is estimated that about two-thirds of the male population in Oregon went to California in 1848 to get a chance. To get there, they helped build the Lassen Branch from the Applegate-Lassen Trail by cutting the carts through the vast forest. Many returned with significant gold that helped boost the Oregon economy. Over the next decade, gold seekers from the Midwestern United States and the East Coast of the United States dramatically increased traffic in Oregon and California Trails. The "forty-niners" often opted for safer speeds and chose to use shortcuts like Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff in Wyoming which reduced travel time by nearly seven days but stretched nearly 45 miles (72 km) of desert without water, grass, or fuel for fire. The year 1849 was the first year of a large-scale cholera epidemic in the United States, and thousands were thought to have died along the road to California - mostly buried in unmarked tombs in Kansas and Nebraska. California's adjusted census in 1850 in California shows that this activity is very prevalent in men with about 112,000 men to 8,000 women (with about 5,500 women over the age of 15). Women were significantly underrepresented in the California Gold Rush, and sex ratios did not reach an essential equation in California (and other western countries) until about 1950. Women's relative scarcity gave them many opportunities to do more things that were not "normal" considered "women's work" in this era. After 1849, Gold Rush California continued for several years as miners continued to find gold worth $ 50,000,000 per year at $ 21 an ounce. After California was established as a prosperous country, thousands more emigrated there every year to get a chance.
Later emigration and trail usage
The trail was still used during the Civil War, but traffic declined after 1855 when the Panama Railroad crossed Isthmus of Panama was completed. Paddle boats and sailboats, often subsidized to carry large letters, provide quick transport to and from the east coast and New Orleans, Louisiana, to and from Panama to ports in California and Oregon.
Over the years many ferries were established to help cross many rivers on the Oregon Trail trail. Several ferries were established on the Missouri River, River Kansas, Little Blue River, Elkhorn River, Loup River, Platte River, South Platte River, North Platte River, Laramie River, Green River, Bear River, River, Columbia River, as well as many other small rivers. During the peak period of immigration, some ferries in certain rivers often compete to pioneer the dollar. This ferry significantly increases the speed and security for Oregon Trail travelers. They increased the cost of road travel by about $ 30 per cart but increased the transit speed from about 160 to 170 days in 1843 to 120 to 140 days in 1860. The ferry also helps prevent death by drowning at river crossings.
In April 1859, a US Topographical Engineering Corps expedition led by Captain James H. Simpson left Camp Floyd, Utah, to build an army supply route across the Great Basin to the eastern slopes of the Sierra. Upon returning in early August, Simpson reported that he had researched the Middle Overland Route from Camp Floyd to Genoa, Nevada. This route passes through central Nevada (roughly where the 50 US Route goes today) and about 280 miles (450 km) shorter than the standard "Humboldt River" California trail route.
The Army improved its footprint for use by trains and horse-drawn carriages in 1859 and 1860. Beginning in 1860, the American Civil War closed a highly subsidized stage at the Butterfield Overland Mail on Southern Route through the deserts of the American Southwest.
In 1860-61 the Pony Express, employs riders who travel by horseback day and night with relay stations every 10 miles (16 km) to supply fresh horses, established from St. John's. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. Pony Express builds many of their east stations along the Oregon/California/Mormon/Bozeman route and their many western stations along the rare Central Route across Utah and Nevada. The Pony Express sends summer and winter letters about 10 days from the midwest to California.
In 1861, John Butterfield, who since 1858 had used Butterfield Overland Mail, also switched to Central Route to avoid traveling through hostile areas during the American Civil War. George Chorpenning soon realized the value of this more direct route, and shifted the mail and its existing passengers along with their station from the "Northern Trail" (California Trail) along the Humboldt River. In 1861, the First Transcontinental Telegraph also laid out its lines along the Middle Overland Route. Several stage lanes were erected carrying letters and passengers crossing many of the original Oregon Trail routes to Fort Bridger and from there via the Central Overland Route to California. By traveling day and night with many stations and team changes (and extensive mail subsidies), this stage can get passengers and mail from the midwest to California in about 25 to 28 days. The combined and Pony Express stations along the Oregon Trail and Central Route in Utah and Nevada join the Transcontinental Telegraph and First telegraph stations, which follow the same route in 1861 from Carson City, Nevada to Salt Lake City. The Pony Express was folded in 1861 for failing to accept the expected letter contract from the US government and the telegraph meeting the need for rapid east-west communications. This rod/stagecoach/pony express/telegraph combination route is labeled Pony Express National Historic Trail on the National Trail Map. From Salt Lake City, the telegraph line follows many Mormon/California/Oregon traces to Omaha, Nebraska.
After the First Continent Railway was completed in 1869, the telegraph line usually followed the railroad tracks because the relay stations and telegraph lines needed were much easier to maintain along the railroad tracks. Telegraph lines to uninhabited areas are largely abandoned.
As the years passed, the Oregon Trail became a widely used corridor from the Missouri River to the Columbia River. Offshoots of trails continue to grow as the discovery of gold and silver, agriculture, sluggish, livestock, and business opportunities generate more traffic to many areas. Traffic becomes two-way when cities are built along the path. In 1870 the population in the state served by the Oregon Trail and its branches increased by about 350,000 more than their 1860 census levels. With the exception of most of the 180,000 population increase in California, most of the people who live away from the coast travel over parts of the Oregon Trail and many extensions and cutoffs to get to their new homes.
Even before the famous Texas livestock rode after the Civil War, the trail was used to drive thousands of cattle, horses, sheep and goats from the midwest to towns and cities along the path. According to research by track historians John Unruh, the farm animals may be more or more than immigrants for many years. In 1852, there was even a note of a 1,500-turkey drive from Illinois to California. The main reason for this livestock traffic is the huge cost difference between cattle in the midwest and down the road in California, Oregon, or Montana. They can often be bought in the midwest about 1/3 to 1/10 what they will take down the road. Big losses can happen and drovers will still generate significant profits. When immigrant travel on the road declines in later years and once livestock farming is established in many places along the way, many farm animals are often pushed along the way to get to and from the market.
Reduced impressions
The first continental transcontinental train was completed in 1869, providing faster, safer, and usually cheaper trips to the east and west (the trip takes seven days and costs as little as $ 65 or $ 1189.39 in 2016 dollars). Some emigrants continued to use traces well into the 1890s, and modern highways and railways eventually aligned most of the lanes, including US Highway 26, Interstate 84 in Oregon and Idaho and Interstate 80 in Nebraska. Contemporary interest overland has encouraged states and the federal government to preserve landmarks on roads including wagon carts, buildings, and "registers" where emigrants carve their names. During the 20th and 21st centuries, there were a number of travel shows with participants dressed in period clothes and traveling by train.
Maps Oregon Trail
Route
As the trail develops it is characterized by many shortcuts and shortcuts from Missouri to Oregon. Basic routes follow river valleys such as grass and water are absolutely necessary.
While some of the first parties are organized and depart from Elm Grove, Oregon Trail's main starting point is Independence, Missouri, or Westport, (which is annexed to modern Kansas City), on the Missouri River. Later, several feeder lines crossed Kansas, and several towns became the starting point, including Weston, Fort Leavenworth, Atchison, St. Joseph, and Omaha.
The Oregon Trail nominal termination point is Oregon City, at the time of the proposed capital of the Oregon Territory. However, many settlers branched off or stopped from this destination and settled in a convenient or promising location along the way. Trade with western pioneers helped build these early settlements and launched an important local economy for their prosperity.
At dangerous or difficult river crossings, ferries or toll bridges are erected and bad places on the road are repaired or skipped. Some toll roads are built. Gradually traces become easier with average travel (as recorded in many diaries) declining from about 160 days in 1849 to 140 days 10 years later.
Many other lines follow the Oregon Trail for most of its length, including the Mormon Path from Illinois to Utah; California Trail to the California goldfield; and Bozeman Trail to Montana. Because it is more of a road network than a single trail, there are many variations with other paths that eventually form on both sides of the Platte, North Platte, Snake, and Columbia rivers. With thousands of people and thousands of livestock traveling in a fairly small amount of time, travelers should spread to search for clean water, wood, good campsites, and grass. The dust kicked by many travelers is a persistent complaint, and where the terrain will allow it to be between 20 and 50 parallel walking carts.
Traces of traces in Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the entire trail is the designated National Historic Trail.
Missouri
Initially, the main "jumping point" was the general head of the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon-Independence, and Kansas City trail. Starters in Independence must cross the Missouri River. After following Santa Fe's trail to nearby Topeka, they sailed across the Kansas River to begin their journey across Kansas and head west. Another busy "jumping point" is St Joseph's - founded in 1843. In its early days, St. Joseph was a bustling city and suburb, which served as one of the last inventory points before crossing the Missouri River to the border. St. Joseph has a good steam connection to St. Louis and other ports in a combined system of Ohio, Missouri, and the Mississippi River. During the busy season there are several ferries and steamers available to transport travelers to the Kansas coast where they begin their journey westward. Before the Union Pacific Railroad began in 1865, St. Joseph is the westernmost point in the United States accessible by train. Other cities used as a supply point in Missouri include Old Franklin, Arrow Rock, and Fort Osage.
Iowa
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson acquired from France the Louisiana Purchase of $ 15 million (equivalent to about $ 230 million today) covering all the land drained by the Missouri River and roughly doubled the size of the US territory. The future state of Iowa and Missouri, located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Missouri River, is part of this purchase. Lewis and Clark's expedition stopped several times in the future state of Iowa in 1805-1806 expedition to the west coast. The disputed 1804 agreement between Quashquame and William Henry Harrison (the ninth US President of the future) who surrendered most of the future of the state of Illinois to the US angered many Sauk Indians and caused the Black Hawk War of 1832. As punishment for rebellion, and as part of a larger settlement strategy, the treaty was then designed to get rid of all Indians from the Iowa Region. Some settlers began to drift into Iowa in 1833. President Martin Van Buren on July 4, 1838, signed the US Congress laws that formed the Iowa Region. Iowa is located across the intersection of the Platte and Missouri rivers and is used by some feather trap traders as a starting point for their supply expedition. In 1846, the Mormons, who were expelled from Nauvoo, Illinois, crossed Iowa (part of the Mormon Trail) and settled a significant amount of time on the Missouri River in Iowa and future Nebraska state at Winter Quarters near the future city of Omaha , Nebraska. (See: Missouri River settlement (1846-1854)) Mormons established about 50 temporary towns including Kanesville, Iowa (by Council Bluffs in 1852) on the eastern edge of the Missouri River across the mouth of the Platte River. For travelers to Oregon, California, and Utah bringing their teams to the Platte River crossing, Kanesville and other towns become "places" and the main supply point. In 1847 Mormon erected three ferries across the Missouri River and the others set up more ferries to start spring on the path. In the 1850 census there were about 8,000 Mormons tabulated in the large Pottawattamie County, District Iowa 21. (The original Pottawattamie area was then made into five districts and some other parts.) In 1854 most of the towns, farms and Mormon villages were mostly taken over by non-Mormons because they abandoned them or sold them for not much and continued their migration to Utah. After 1846, the cities of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Omaha (est. 1852) and other Missouri River towns became a major supply point and "jumping out of places" for travelers in Mormon, California, Oregon, and other lanes in west.
Kansas
Starting initially in Independence, Missouri, or Kansas City in Missouri, the initial trail follows the Santa Fe Trail to the southern Kansas Wakarusa River. After crossing Mount Oread at Lawrence, the path crosses the Kansas River by ferry or boat near Topeka and across the Wakarusa river and black Vermillion by ferry. After the Black Vermillion River, its corners head northwest to Nebraska align the Little Blue River to the south side of the Platte River. Traveling by cart through rugged Kansas countryside is usually undisturbed unless the rivers have cut the steep cliffs. There is a section that can be made with lots of shovel work to cut banks or travelers can find established intersections.
Nebraska
The emigrants on the eastern side of the Missouri River in Missouri or Iowa use ferries and steamers (installed for ferry duty) to cross into cities in Nebraska. Several towns in Nebraska were used as a jump from places with Omaha eventually becoming favorites after about 1855. Fort Kearny (est. 1848) is about 200 miles (320 km) from the Missouri River, and its trails and many almost all of them met close to Fort Kearny as they followed the Platte River to the west. Soldiers defend the fort is the first chance on the road to buy emergency supplies, make repairs, get medical help, or send letters. Those on the north side of Platte can usually wade through shallow rivers if they need to visit the castle.
The Platte and North Platte Rivers in the future state of Nebraska and Wyoming typically have many canals and islands and are too shallow, crooked, muddy and unpredictable to travel even with canoes. The platte that pursues its braid path to the Missouri River "is too thin to be plowed and too thick to drink". Although it can not be used for transportation, the Platte River valley and the North Platte River valley provide an easily accessible western carriage corridor with access to water, grass, buffalo and buffalo for fuel. The path gradually became louder as he climbed North Platte. There are trails on both sides of the muddy river. The platte is about 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and 2 to 60 inches (5.1 to 152.4 cm) deep. The water is muddy and feels bad but can be used if no other water is available. Letting him sit in a bucket for an hour or so or stirring in 1/4 cup of cornmeal allows most of the mud to settle.
In the spring in Nebraska and Wyoming, travelers often face strong winds, rain, and lightning storms. Until about 1870 travelers encountered hundreds of thousands of bison migrating through Nebraska on both sides of the Platte River, and most travelers killed several people for fresh meat and to build up their dry beef jerky for the rest of the trip. Grassland meadows in many places a few feet tall with only a rover's horseback horseback as they pass past the grass of the meadow. For years the Indians fired most of the dry grass in the meadows every autumn so that the only trees or bushes available for firewood existed on the islands of the Platte River. The travelers collect and light dry cow dung to cook their meals. It quickly burns easily, and can take two or more bushel chips to prepare one meal. Those traveling south of Platte cross the South Platte fork on one of about three ferries (in those dry years it can be forded without a ferry) before proceeding to the North Platte River Valley to Wyoming now headed for Fort Laramie. Before 1852 people on the north side of Platte crossed the North Platte to the south side at Fort Laramie. After 1852 they used Cutoff Son to stay on the north side to the vicinity of today's city of Casper, Wyoming, where they crossed to the south side.
Well-known landmarks in Nebraska include Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff and Ash Hollow with steep declines at Windlass Hill in South Platte.
Today many Oregon Trails follow about the Interstate 80 from Wyoming to Grand Island, Nebraska. From there, the US Highway 30 that follows the Platte River is a better forecast for those who travel to the north side of Platte. The National Park Service (NPS) provides travel advice for those who want to follow other branches of the trail.
Cholera on the Platte River
Due to Bratte's brackish water, the preferred campsites are along one of the many fresh water streams that flow into the Platte or occasional springs found along the way. This favored camping spot became a source of cholera in epidemic years (1849-1855) because thousands of people used the same camping ground with essentially no adequate sewerage or sewerage facilities. One side effect of cholera is acute diarrhea that helps contaminate more water unless it is isolated and/or treated. The cause of cholera, swallowing bacteria Vibrio cholerae from contaminated water, and the best treatment for cholera infection is unknown in this era. Thousands of travelers on the combined paths of California, Oregon, and Mormon succumbed to cholera between 1849 and 1855. Most were buried in unmarked graves in Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Although also considered part of the Mormon Trail, Rebecca Winters's tomb is one of the few marked remaining. There are many cases cited involving people who are alive and seem to be healthy in the morning and die by night.
Colorado
A branch of the Oregon trail crossed the northeast corner of Colorado if they followed the South Platte River to one of its last crossings. This trail passes today Julesburg before entering Wyoming. Then settlers followed the Platte and South Platte Rivers to their settlements there (mostly into the state of Colorado).
Wyoming
After crossing the South Platte River, the Oregon Trail follows the North Platte River from Nebraska to Wyoming. Fort Laramie, at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte rivers, is the main stopping point. Fort Laramie is a former trading merchant originally named Fort John that was purchased in 1848 by the US Army to protect tourists on the path. It was the last outpost of the last army until the travelers reached the beach.
Fort Laramie was the end of most cholera outbreaks that killed thousands of people along the lower Platte and North Platte from 1849 to 1855. Spread by cholera bacteria in faecal contaminated water, cholera causes large diarrhea, leading to dehydration and death. In those days the cause and treatment were unknown, and it was often fatal - up to 30% of infected people died. It is believed that the rushing river in Wyoming helps to prevent the spread of germs.
After crossing the South Platte, the path continues along the North Platte River, across many tributaries that rush. As the North Platte veers south, it passes North Platte to Sweetwater River Valley, which leads west. Independence Rock is at Sweetwater River. The Sweetwater should be crossed up to nine times before crossing the Continental Divide trail in South Pass, Wyoming. From the South Pass the trail continues across the southwest of Big Sandy Creek - about 10 feet (3.0 m) wide and 1 foot (0.30 m) away - before hitting the Green River. Three to five ferries are used in Green during peak travel periods. The deep, vast, swift, and dangerous Green River that ends up in the Colorado River is usually in high water in July and August, and that is a dangerous intersection. After crossing the Green, the main line continues around the southwest to the Blacks Fork of Green River and Fort Bridger. From Fort Bridger, Mormon Trails continue to the southwest following the enhanced Hastings Cutoff through the Wasatch Mountains. From Fort Bridger, the main road, which consists of several variants, veers northwest across the Bear River Divide and descend into the Bear River Valley. The line turns north following the Bear River past the end of Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff at Smiths Fork and to the Thomas Fork Valley on the current Wyoming-Idaho border.
Over time, two large used cutoffs were established in Wyoming. The Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff was founded in 1844 and cut about 70 miles (110 km) from the main route. It leaves its main trail about 10 miles (16 km) west of the South Pass and heads almost due to the west intersection of Big Sandy Creek and then about 45 miles (72 km) of a nonaque and dusty desert before reaching the Green River near the present city. La Barge. The ferry here sends them across the Green River. From there the trail of Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff had to cross the mountains to connect with the main road near Cokeville in the Bear River Valley.
The Lander Road, formally Fort Kearney, South Pass, and Honey Lake Wagon Road, was established and built by US government contractors in 1858-59. It's about 80 miles (130 km) shorter than the main road through Fort Bridger with nice grass, water, firewood and fishing but it's a steeper and more rugged route, crossing three mountains. In 1859, 13,000 of the 19,000 emigrants who traveled to California and Oregon used Lander Road. Traffic in subsequent years is undocumented.
Lander Road leaves a major trail at Burnt Ranch near the South Pass, traverses the Continental Divide north of the South Pass and reaches the Green River near the current town of Big Piney, Wyoming. From there the trail follows Big Piney Creek west before passing the 8,800 foot (2,700 m) Thompson Pass in the Wyoming Range. Then cross the Smith Fork of the Bear River before boarding and crossing another 8,200 feet (2,500 m) through the mountain's Salt River Mountains and then descending to the Star Valley. It's out of the mountains near the Smith Fork road currently about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Smoot town. The road continues almost north along today's Wyoming-Idaho western border through Star Valley. To avoid crossing the Salt River (which flows into the Snake River) that flows in the Star Valley, Lander Road crosses the river when it is small and remains west of the Salt River. After traveling along the Salt River Valley (Star Valley) about 20 miles (32 km) north of the road turns almost west near the present city of Auburn, and into the current state of Idaho along Stump Creek. In Idaho, the town follows the valley of Stump Creek in the northwest to cross the Caribou Mountains and continues through the southern end of Gray Lake. The trail then runs almost to the west to meet the main trail at Fort Hall; alternatively, a branch trail leading south toward the main trail near the present city of Soda Springs.
Many landmarks are located along the paths in Wyoming including Independence Rock, Ayres Natural Bridge, and the Cliff Register.
Utah
In 1847, the pioneers of Brigham Young and Mormon departed from the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger in Wyoming and followed (and improved many) of Je
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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