The Topic: Oregon Trail

8/14/2019 The Topic: Oregon Trail

1/16

The Topic:Oregon

Trail

Easier - The Oregon Trail was the best land route for travel to the western UnitedStates. It was the only practical way for settlers in wagons with their tools,livestock, and supplies to cross the mountains. Many believe that without thetrail, most of the American west would today be part of Canada or Mexico.

For twenty-five years, 1841-1866, people 'pulled-up-stakes' and headed west.Estimates range from 250,000 to 650,000 persons made the trip. About 1/3immigrated to Oregon, another 1/3 were bound for California, and 1/3 went to

Utah, Colorado, and Montana.

Harder - The Oregon Trail, the longest of the overland routes used in thewestward expansion of the United States, was first traced by explorers and furtraders. Settlers began following the trail in 1841. The first large group of about900 immigrants used the trail in the "Great Migration" of 1843. In that year, aprovisional government was organized in Oregon. The Oregon Country's northernboundary was set in 1846, and the Territory of Oregon was formed in 1848 asover 12,000 people made the journey in that decade.

Families usually began their journey at Independence, Missouri near the MissouriRiver. The journey in a covered wagon took six months, following a winding 2,000

mile trail (3,200 kilometers) through prairies, deserts, and across mountains tothe Pacific Northwest. The journey was a severe test of strength and endurance.Settlers often had to cross flooded rivers. Indians attacked the wagon trains;however, of the 10,000 deaths that occurred from 1835 to 1855, only 4 percentresulted from Indian attacks. Cholera, smallpox, and firearms accidents were thechief causes of death on the trail. Food, water, and wood were always scarce, andthe travelers often encountered contaminated water holes. During summer, thetrail was crowded with wagon trains, army units, missionaries, hunting parties,traders, and even sightseeing tours. Some travelers complained that theysometimes had to stop early in the day in order to find a good campsite ahead ofthe crowd. Others spoke of the need to wear masks for protection against thedust kicked up by the heavy traffic.

GREETINGS TO THE SETTLERS


2/16

Having made the trip to Oregon on the Platte River trail, permit me to offer you

these Words of Friendly Caution!

1. Keep on the well-worn trails along the River. Don't try new "cut-offs" and

"short cuts."

2. Don't hurry your stock. Take it slowly and you will get through before those

who hurry up.

3. Don't load too heavy at the beginning.

4. Supply yourself with a fair stock of vegetables, dried fruits, acids, pickles, etc.

and use freely on the road. Let each wagon be supplied with some good cathartic,

tonic and heating medicines.

5. Don't carry loaded guns. You won't have time to hunt, and you needn't expect

trouble from the Indians unless you go looking for it.

6. Be careful crossing rivers and streams. Many careless emigrants drown each

season.

7. Drink water from flowing streams. That includes the Platte. The Platte water

may be "too thick to chew and too thin to plow," but it is healthy. The mud can

be settled out and the "wrigglers" removed by straining through a cloth.

Do not drink from trailside wells. The are filled with disease!

8. Don't pass up the chance to camp where there is good feed and water, even

though it is but the middle of the afternoon.

9. Be prepared to travel in a crowd. with dust, noise, confusion, and crowded

campgrounds.

10. Watch the stock faithfully at night; and don't travel on the Sabbath!

In conclusion, we would say to all who go West, especially to the young, YIELD

NOT TO TEMPTATION. Carry your principles with you; leave not yourcharacter at home, nor your Bible. You will need them both and even grace from

above to protect you.

PACKING YOUR WAGON


3/16

So, you want to be a pioneer.

The sooner you start buying your provisions the better.

Food - multiply by # in party Household goods

Flour-200 lbs. Cloth

Bacon-75 lbs. School Books

Pilot Bread-30 lbs. Candles

Rice-10 lbs. Medicine and Medicine Cabinet

Coffee-5 lbs. Paper

Tea-2 lbs. Quilt-1 per person

Sugar-25 lbs. Linen and muslin

Dried Beans-1/2 bushels Money

Dried Fruit-1 bushel Blankets-2 per person

Salt-10 lbs. Ground cloths-1 per person

Corn Meal-10 lbs. Soap

Ground Corn-12 lbs. Sewing Supplies

Vinegar-small keg Beeswax

Whiskey-5 gallons Buttons and pins

Bran Thimbles

Dried Vegetables Washboard

Citric Acid Bible

Pickles-3 gallons Picture Album

Saleratus (baking soda) Pillow-1 per person

Clothing Cooking Equipment

Two changes Cooking utensils

Flannel underclothing Dutch Oven

Shoes Tin plates & cups

Sunbonnets Baking pans Water keg

Cowhide Boots Coffee Pot

Hats Wooden Bowls & Spoons

Heavy wraps for mountains Water & Milk Buckets

Extra walking shoes Wrought Iron Camp Bailer

Cotton & Wool Socks ChurnCotton & Wool underwear Kettles-2

Weapons Animals

Gun-1 or more Milk cow

Powder-3 lbs. Oxen-4/6

Caps (flints) 1,000 Horses

Lead-12 lbs

Tools & Equipment

Oxbows-3 or 4 Mallet

Screws-3 doz. Tacks-8/10 oz.

Shingle Nails-2 lbs. Saw


4/16

Hammer Axe

Spade Augers

Draw Knife Wrench

Screwdriver Pocket Knives-2

Blacksmith Tools Matches-carried in corked bottleWide Belts (bullet pouches) Bull Whip

Horse Gear Ox & Horse Shoes

Tar Bucket Tent

Wagon Tongue Spokes

Rope Chains-2

SUPPLIES

The Emigrant's Guide to California, published in 1849 in St. Louis, suggested the

following supplies for three people heading west on the Oregon Trail.

ITEM WEIGHT (LBS) $ COST

3 rifles 30 60.003 pair pistols 30 45.00


5/16

5 barrels flour 1080 20.00

bacon 600 30.00

coffee 100 8.00

saleradus 10 1.00

lard 50 2.50tea 5 2.75

sugar 150 7.00

rice 75 3.75

dried fruit 50 3.00

salt & pepper 50 3.00

lead 30 1.20

tent 30 5.00

bedding 45 22.50

cooking utensils 30 4.00matches 1.00

candles & soap 50 5.30

personal baggage 150

TOTALS . . . . 2,505 225.00

Bacon was stored in sacks, each containing 100 pounds. In case of high heat, it

was recommended the sacks be placed in boxes surrounded by bran to

prevent the fat from melting. Flour was placed in double canvas sacks,one hundred pounds per sack.

THE EMIGRANTS

Settlers who traveled the Oregon Trail spent roughly $800 to $1,200 to be

properly outfitted and get by the first year until crops could be

harvested. Many of the pioneers raised their capital by selling their

farms.

WHAT THEY WORE

Three months of clothing and other necessities for one man were listed in The

Prairie Traveler --A Handbook for Overland Travelers published in

1859. 2 red or blue front button flannel overshirts, 2 wool undershirts, 2

pairs of thick cotton drawers, 4 pairs of wool socks, 2 pairs of cotton

socks, 4 colored silk handkerchiefs, 2 pairs of stout shoes for walking, 1

pair of boots and shoes for horsemen, 3 towels, 1 gutta percha poncho, 1

broad brimmed hat of soft felt, 1 comb & brush, 2 toothbrushes, 1

pound of castile soap, 3 pounds of bar soap for laundry, 1 belt knife and

small whetstone, 1 coat and overcoat, Stout linen thread, large needles,

beeswax, a few buttons, a paper of pins and a thimble with all the sewing

products in a small cloth bag.


6/16

Inventory List for a Party of Four

AREA ITEM AMOUNT COST ($) WEIGHT (LBS)

TRANSPORT wagon 1 90.00

2oxen 4 yoke 200.00

gear 100.00

FOOD flour 600 lbs 12.00 600

biscuit 120 lbs 3.60 120

bacon 400 lbs. 20.00 400

coffee 60 lbs 4.20 60

tea 4 lbs. 2.00 4

sugar 100 lbs. 10.00 100

lard 200 lbs. 12.00 200

beans 200 lbs 16.00 200

dried fruit 120 lbs. 28.80 120

salt 40 lbs. 1.60 40

pepper 8 lbs. .32 8

saleratus 8 lbs .32 8

whiskey 1 keg 5.00 25

GOODS rifle 1 30.00 10

pistols 2 30.00 10

powder 5 lbs. 1.25 5

lead 15 lbs. .60 15

shot 10 lbs. 1.00 10

matches 1.00 1

cooking utensils 20.00 25

candles & soap 65 lbs from home 65

bedding 60 lbs. from home 60

sewing kit 10 lbs. from home 10

essential tools from home 20

clothing from home 100

TOTALS $589.69 2,216


7/16

THE EMIGRANT and CONESTOGA WAGONS


8/16

ELEVATION MAP & TRIBES

ALONG THE TRAIL MAP


9/16

Jumping OffPreparing for the adventure of a lifetime


10/16

Jumping Off CitiesThe Missouri River heads due west from St. Louis; so most emigrants loadedtheir wagons onto steamships for the upstream journey. It was easy traveling,but it didn't last long. Two-hundred miles from St. Louis, the Missouri takes acruel turn to the north. So the pioneers unloaded their wagons at any one ofseveral small towns along the Missouri river which they called "jumping off"

places.

Independencewas the first option. Further upstream was Westport,St.Joseph,Omaha and Council Bluffs. The economies of these frontier townsdepended on emigrants passing through, so many hired agents to go east andbadmouth the competing cities.

Emigrant William Rothwell:"I have never in my life heard as many false statements as were toldus in coming up here. We were frequently told that at least 15 to 20cases of cholera were dying daily in St. Joseph".

In reality, no one died of cholera in St. Joseph that year.

Each spring these small hamlets became raucous boomtowns--as thousands ofemigrants camped for days, or weeks while getting ready to begin the journey.Independence was by far the most popular point of departure in the Trail'searly years.

Emigrant/author Francis Parkman:"A multitude of shops had sprung up to furnish emigrants withnecessaries for the journey. The streets were thronged with men,horses and mules. There was an incessant hammering and bangingfrom a dozen blacksmiths' sheds, where the heavy wagons were beingrepaired, and the horses and oxen shod. While I was in the town, atrain of emigrant wagons from Illinois passed through--a multitude ofhealthy children's faces were peeking out from under the covers of thewagons."

WaitingBy mid April, the prairie outside Independence was packed with emigrantcampers-- often over three square miles worth. It was so crowded, oneemigrant spent four days just trying to find his friends.

This entire mass of humanity was waiting for the grass to grow. Heading westtoo early meant the grass wouldn't be long enough for the animals to grazealong the way--a mistake that could be fatal.

SuppliesEmigrant Lansford Hastings:"In procuring supplies for this journey, the emigrant should providehimself with, at least, 200 pounds of flour, 150 pounds of bacon; tenpounds of coffee; twenty pounds of sugar; and ten pounds of salt."
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Stlouis.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/independence.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/independence.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.westport.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.stjoe.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.stjoe.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.stjoe.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.stjoe.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.council.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.guidebooks.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Stlouis.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/independence.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.westport.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.stjoe.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.stjoe.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.council.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.guidebooks.html


11/16

A family of four would need over a thousand pounds of food to sustain themon the 2000 mile journey to Oregon. The only practical way to haul that muchfood was a wagon.

WagonsHuge conestoga wagons were never used by the pioneers--they were just toounwieldy.

Instead, the emigrants used small farm wagons. Although theyappear simplistic, farm wagons of the 1840s were technologically-advancedvehicles. For example, the complex undercarriage centered around a kingpin,which allowed the front wheels to pivot, so the wagon could turn easily. Andthe front wheels are smaller than the ones in back--which also helped thewagons to round sharp corners.

Even the width of the wheels was carefully calculated. Wide wheels were moreeffective in soft, sandy soil. Narrow wheels worked better on hard surfaces.Thecotton covers were typically drawn shut at both ends to keep out the incessantdust. To keep out the rain, the covers were treated with linseed oil, but mosteventually leaked anyway.

The wagon box measured only four feet by ten feet. Most emigrants loadedthem to the brim with food, farm implements and furniture--often over a tonof cargo.

All this was supported by massive axles. If one broke, the travelers were inserious trouble. Without a spare, they would be forced to abandon their wagonor reconfigure it as a two-wheeled cart.

Most wagons had several handy options: a toolbox on the side, a water barrel,and most importantly, hardwood brakes.

By late April or early May the grass was long enough--and the journey began.

CongestionWhen it was finally time to go, everyone wanted to get started at the sametime--and the result was often a huge traffic jam.

Even worse were greenhorns from cities back east, who had never beforeyoked an oxen or driven a mule team. They tipped their wagons, bumped intotrees and couldn't even get their animals to go in the right direction.

OverpackingOnly a few miles outside of Independence, nearly all the emigrants realizedthey had grossly overloaded their wagons. Their only choice--start throwingthings out.

The trail was so littered with this debris, that scavengers from the jumping offtowns would collect full wagon loads of flour, bacon--even cast iron stoves.

Hardships


12/16

Walking 2,000 miles barefoot--and that was the easypart

River CrossingsRiver crossings were a constant source of distress for the pioneers. Hundredsdrowned trying to cross the Kansas, North Platte and Columbia Rivers--amongothers. In 1850 alone, 37 people drowned trying to cross one particularlydifficult river--the Green.

Emigrant John B. Hill:"The ferryman allowed too many passengers to get in the boat, andthe water came within two inches of the gunwale. He ordered everyman to stand steady as the boat was liable to swamp. When we werenearly across the edge of the boat dipped; I thought the boat would beswamped instantly and drowned the last one of us."

Those who didn't drown were usually fleeced. The charge ranged up to 16dollars; almost the price of an oxen. One ferry earned $65,000 in just onesummer. The emigrants complained bitterly.

WalkingBecause most emigrants grosslyoverloaded their wagons, few could ride inside.Instead most walked--many made the entire

2,000 mile journey on foot.

AccidentsThe emigrant wagons didn't have any safety features. If someone fell underthe massive wagon wheels, death was instant. Many lost their lives this way.Most often, the victims were children.

Edward Lenox:"A little boy fell over the front end of the wagon during our journey. Inhis case, the great wheels rolled over the child's head----crushing it topieces."

WeatherGreat thunderstorms took their toll. A half-dozen emigrants were killed bylightning strikes; many others were injured by hail the size of apples.Pounding rains were especially difficult for the emigrants because there was noshelter on the open plains and the covered wagons eventually leaked.

CholeraPerhaps the biggest problem on the Trail was a mysterious and deadlydisease--called cholera for which there was no cure. Often, an emigrant wouldgo from healthy to dead in just a few hours. Sometimes they received a properburial, but often, the sick would be abandoned, in their beds, on the side of

the trail. They would die alone. Making matters worse were animals thatregularly dug up the dead and scattered the trail with human bones and body


13/16

parts.

Emigrant Agnes Stewart:"We camped at a place where a woman had been buried and thewolves dug her up.Her hair was there with a comb still in it. She hadbeen buried too shallow. It seems a dreadful fate, but what is thedifference? One cannot feel after the spirit is flown."

Cholera killed more emigrants than anything else. In a bad year, some wagontrains lost two-thirds of their people.

Emigrant John Clark:"One woman and two men lay dead on the grass and some more readyto die. Women and children crying, some hunting medicine and noneto be found. With heartfelt sorrow, we looked around for some timeuntil I felt unwell myself. Got up and moved forward one mile, so as tobe out of hearing of crying and suffering."

CampingDay after day after.....

After a few days on the trail, theemigrants would settle into awell-defined daily routine.Awake before sunup; yoke theoxen, cook the breakfast; andhit the trail.

There was an hour break forlunch and at about six p.m.,they set up camp. Theemigrants did circle theirwagons, but it wasn't forprotection against theNative

Americantribes. Instead, the circle provided a convenient corral for looselivestock.

Almost immediately the campfires started burning and dinner was begun.Cooking bread over a campfire was something of a challenge--the resultwas usually burned on the outside and doughy on the inside. Even worse,
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Power.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Native.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Native.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Native.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Native.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Power.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Native.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Native.html


14/16

keeping bugs and dirt out of the mix was nearly impossible.

When the Trail got crowded--in 1849and later--camping became more

difficult. The biggest problem was finding fuel for the campfires. Soontrees were scarce and there was only one alternative--buffalo dung. No

one liked collecting it, but it did burn--and gave off a consistent odorlessflame.

Emigrant Goldsborough Bruff:"It is the duty of the cooks on arriving at a camping place tocollect chips for cooking. It would amuse friends back home to seethem make a grand rush for the largest and driest chips. The chipsburn well when dry, but if damp or wet are smokey and almostfireproof."

If they were lucky, the emigrants would have quail orbuffalo with theirbread. But most often, they ate bacon--day after day.

Emigrant Rev. Samuel Parker:"Dry bread and bacon consisted our breakfast, dinner and supper.The bacon we cooked when we could obtain wood for fire; butwhen nothing but green grass could be seen, we ate our baconwithout cooking."

By nine p.m. they would bed down for the night. Some families had tents,but most just slept right on the ground. Pure exhaustion helped them getto sleep--but it wasn't comfortable:

Emigrant Niles Searls:"We rose this morning from our bed upon the ground withsensations similar to that I imagine must pervade the frame of theinebriate----after a week's spree."

At five a.m. the whole process started again; fifteen miles a day for nearly

six months.

Native Americanson the Oregon Trail

RelationshipsThe first section of the Oregon Trailbisected two major Native Americantribes--the Cheyenne to the northand the Pawnee to the south. Theemigrants worried about both. Butthe expected attacks did not come.In fact, there were many instances ofNative American kindness--helpingpull out stuck wagons; rescuingdrowning emigrants; even roundingup lost cattle

Most of the encounters with Native Americans were simple businesstransactions. The emigrants offered clothes, tobacco or rifles, in exchange for

Native American horses or food.

Within a few years, the emigrants had overgrazed the prairie grasses, burned
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Buffallo.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Buffallo.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Buffallo.html


15/16

all the available firewood, and depleted the buffalo. Soon many tribes alongthe Platte were impoverished.

The emigrants worried a great deal about possible Native American attacks,but very few were ever actually killed by the native tribes.

Grattan MassacrePerhaps the most important confrontation with the native tribes occurred nearFt. Laramie in 1854, and became known as the Grattan Massacre. It beganinnocently enough--a single cow wandered away from an emigrant wagontrain. When the cow showed up at a nearby Sioux village, the tribe promptlyate it. An aggressive Lt. Grattan and 28 men then left Fort Laramie with asingle objective--punish the Sioux. The Sioux recognized their error andoffered a horse in return for the cow, but Grattan wasn't interested. Heordered his men to fire on the tribe.

The Sioux chief told his warriors to withhold retaliation. Grattan fired againand killed the chief. Strikes and counterstrikes escalated into all-out war--thebattles continued for decades.

Massacre Rocks IncidentFor years, the Hudson's Bay Company had been a stabilizing force on theNative Americans who lived near the Snake River--but when the British fur-trading company pulled out in the early 1850s, attacks on emigrants increasedsubstantially.

The best-known incident happened near Massacre Rocks in what is nowSouthern Idaho. On August 9th, 1862 the attack came without warning. Within

minutes, five emigrants were dead. The next morning the survivors regroupedand fought back.

Emigrant John Hilman:"Thirty men went in pursuit of the Indians and found them sevenmiles distant. At first fire from the Indians, two thirds of the menturned and ran."

In the resulting battle, four more emigrants were killed.

After hearing about this battle (and several others) many wagon trains took analternate route--the Goodale Cutoff--which steered clear of any "agitated"Native Americans along the Snake River. The cutoff skirted the edges of astrange set of geologic formations now known as Craters of the Moon. Yeteven at the height of the Native American troubles, the majority of the

emigrant wagons stayed on the main route along the south side of the SnakeRiver.

Bear River MassacreBy the early 1860s, many felt a need to punish the tribes along the Trail. Col.Patrick Conner, stationed in Salt Lake City, was among those who wanted toteach the Native Americans a lesson. In January of 1863 Conner and hisCalifornia Volunteers marched north to the Bear River. There, Conner's menbrutally killed 400 Shoshoni men, women and children. More Native Americansdied at Bear River than any other battle in western history.

This grotesque attempt at genocide did have its intended effect. The Trail wassafe for the emigrants--for a while. But word of the Bear Rive Massacre, and a

similar event in Sand Creek Colorado, soon spread to tribes across the west.Natve Americans had had enough--and they were about to begin fightingback.
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Buffallo.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/FtLaramie.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.craters.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Buffallo.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/FtLaramie.htmlhttp://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.craters.html


16/16

Documents

The Topic: Oregon Trail