Chapter 11 Section 1

Trails to the West

Trails to the West

• Americans move West– Americans start to go beyond the U.S. Territory– One of the reasons was for beaver pelts – John Jacob Astor

• Created the American Fur Company• Bought pelts from Mountain Men (trappers and fur traders)

who explored and lived in the lands west of the Rocky Mountains

• These men adopted Native American clothing and customs• Because of the Cost to bring the furs out, William Ashley

organized the Rendezvous which was a large meeting where trading, story telling, and culture was exchanged.

Trails to the West

• 1811- John Jacob Astor founded Astoria, a trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River

• Oregon Country– Full of Natural resources– Quite a few countries laid claim to the land.– The U.S. made treaties with Spain and Russia to gain

control, and Great Britain shared control

• By 1840 the fur business was winding down and settlers started to work their way out to Oregon

Trails to the West• Oregon Trail– 2000 miles long went from Independence, MO or Council

Bluffs, IA to Oregon– Followed the Platte River, crossed the Rocky Mountains

then forked, one went to Oregon the other went to the California

– Travel lasted about 6 months– Cost about $600 for a family of four– Younger families were most of the travelers– Wagons pulled by Oxen, mules or horses– Faced running out of water, disease, natural barriers to

cross, weather, – By 1845 over 5,000 families reached the Willamette Valley

Trails to the West

Trails to the West

• Santa Fe Trail– Led from Independence to Santa Fe, NM– More of a trading trail– Dangerous due to having to travel across the

desert, but very very profitable for those who made the journey

– U.S. government sent protection along – Had to go through Native American lands that

weren’t very friendly

Trails to the West

Trails to the West• Mormons Travel West– Traveled west for religious freedom– Led by Joseph Smith– First Settled in Ohio, then Missouri, Illinois, then out

to present day Utah– Smith was said to find golden tablets and wrote them

down in the Book of Mormon– Some practices caused problems, such as polygamy

(Outlawed by the church in 1890)– Smith was killed in 1844 and Brigham Young became

the leader and too the people out to Utah near the Great Salt Lake

Trails to the West