The Oregon Trail
By Patrick Osborne
Overview
The Oregon Trail was a route in the United States that had it's most use during the mid-late 1800s. Pioneers, farmers, settlers, ranchers and more used this to get to the west side of the United States (Mostly Oregon) hoping to find a new life, gold, and/or precious farmland. The trail was about 2200 miles long, and it took them about 6 months to travel all of it. This trail was a deadly trek for a multitude of reasons (Disease, Starvation, Low Sanitation, Dysentery, etc.) They used wagons and horses to get through the paths. The climate on this trail could range from cold, snowy, harsh, to hot, sunny, deadly.
Causes (Farmland)
The biggest reason for the migration on the Oregon Trail was rumors of fertile soil in Oregon. This rumor happened to be true because of the giant floods that flushed the soil into Oregon. Even though the reward was high the risk was even higher most travelers died on the trek there.
People (James Polk)
James Polk the newly elected president took his job very seriously. This was shown in the many small missions and war he helped in. Some examples of these were the Mr. Polk's War and some fights with Indians on the Oregon Trail. In these wars he displayed great skill with fighting and strategizing. He was born on November 2, 1795 and died on June 15, 1849. Although he had a relatively short life he served it well as he was president from 1845 - 1849.
Conflict
The travelers came across many conflicts while traveling the Oregon Trail. The biggest one of these were fights with American Indians for example Clark Massacre. Their motivation for this was to keep the whites from invading more of their territory since they had already taken most of their land. But their attacks didn't work very well because the whites had better weapons and the Indians were outnumbered at certain times.
Effects (Epidemic)
Virus and Disease played a role in the Oregon Trail too. These diseases included cholera, dysentery, smallpox, and more. They would get spread by contact with traders and when resting in close quartered camps. Sometimes these diseases would spread to the Indians and since they had not been exposed to them they would often die. The death rate was very high once the travelers got a virus on the trail. This is because they did not have readily available healthcare and healthy food like we have today.