- The Oregon Trail ran close to rivers where water was available for the emigrants and their …
In the mid-19th century the Oregon Trail in the United States carried settlers from the Midwest into the unorganized territories of the Far West. The trail stretched about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from the towns of Independence, Westport, and St. Joseph in Missouri, out to the Columbia River in the Oregon frontier. In the 1840s and 1850s thousands of emigrants left springtime camps along the Missouri River to begin the four-to-six-month trip into the Oregon wilderness. “The grass is up!” was the rally that pioneers shouted when the trail became safe for travel after the winter snows had receded.
History of the trail
The Oregon Trail was one of two main routes to the Far West in the 19th century. The other was the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico. The Oregon Trail was blazed by explorers, traders, and missionaries, beginning with the groundbreaking voyage of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804. The first people to use the trail left Missouri in 1842. Despite the arrival of railroads in the 1860s the trail was still in use until 1880.
Getting through deep water meant hours of unloading and reloading wagons, so the ideal wagon-train route went along rivers, rather than across them. The Oregon Trail began in Missouri on the big bend of the Missouri River. From there it led westward to where the Blue River meets the Platte in what is now Nebraska. The trail then followed the south bank of the Platte. A branch of the Platte, the Sweetwater, continued the trail to South Pass in Wyoming. The Bear and Boise rivers and the Snake River then led to the mighty Columbia along the border between the present states of Washington and Oregon.
Conditions on the trail
The pioneers traveling westward had to travel light yet carry enough to meet all their needs. Typical equipment included an ax, shovel, saw, rope, and plow molds. Many wagons carried an iron stove fastened to a rear platform. In addition each family carried a water keg, a Dutch oven, and a churn. Boxes built into the wagon bed held boots, clothing, and blankets and often a feather bed and schoolbooks.
The Great Plains offered plenty of animals to kill for food, but families still had to bring supplies. Loaded covered wagons weighed between 3,000 and 7,000 pounds (1,360 and 3,175 kilograms) and required teams of horses, mules, or oxen to pull them.
Wagon trains were organized into a company with a captain, who assigned each wagon its position in line. Each day's march was usually from 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 kilometers). A skilled captain paced the march so that the wagons would reach good pasture and water at noon and before sundown.