The Ox Team or the Old Oregon Trail 1852-1906 by Ezra Meeker.
Pioneers traveled across the 'Oregon Trail', one of the main overland migration routes on the
North American
continent, in wagons in order to settle new parts of the
United States of America during the 19th century. The Oregon Trail helped the United States implement its cultural goal of
Manifest Destiny, that is, to expand the nation from the
Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean. The Oregon Trail spanned over half the continent as the wagon trail proceeded 2,170 miles (3,500 kilometers) west through territories and land later to become six
U.S. states (
Missouri,
Kansas,
Nebraska,
Wyoming,
Idaho, and
Oregon). Between 1841 and 1869, the Oregon Trail was used by settlers migrating to the
Pacific Northwest of what is now the United States. Once the
first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, the use of this trail by long distance travelers diminished as the railroad slowly replaced it.
History
Astorians
The first land route across what is now the United States that was well-mapped was that taken by
Lewis and Clark from 1804 to 1805. They believed they had found a practical route to the west coast. However, the pass through the
Rocky Mountains they took,
Lolo Pass, turned out to be too difficult for wagons to pass. In 1810,
John Jacob Astor outfitted an expedition (known popularly as the
Astor Expedition or ''Astorians'') to find an overland supply route for establishing a
fur trading post at the mouth of the
Columbia River at
Fort Astoria. Most of Astor's partners and all of his staff were former employees of the
Northwest Company, known as Nor'Westers.
Fearing attack by
Blackfeet, the expedition veered south of the Lewis and Clark route in what is now South Dakota and in the process passed through what is now Wyoming and then down the
Snake River to the
Columbia River.
Members of the party, including
Robert Stuart, one of the Nor'wester partners, returned back east after the
American Fur Company staff there sold the fort to
British Northwest Company staff, who took over the outpost in the
War of 1812 via the Snake River. The party stumbled upon
South Pass: a wide, low pass through the Rockies in Wyoming. The party continued via the
Platte River. This turned out to be a practical wagon route, and Stuart's journals were a meticulous account of it.
[1]
Fort Astoria was returned to United States control at the end of the war. However, the British
Hudson's Bay Company came to control the
fur trade in the region, especially after its merger with the
North West Company in 1821.
Great American Desert
Westward expansion did not begin immediately, however. Reports from expeditions in 1806 by Lieutenant
Zebulon Pike and in 1819 by Major
Stephen Long described the
Great Plains as "unfit for human habitation" and "The
Great American Desert". These descriptions were mainly based on the relative lack of timber and surface water. The images of sandy wastelands conjured up by terms like "desert" were tempered by the many reports of vast herds of bison. It was not until later that the
Ogallala Aquifer would be discovered and used for irrigation, and railroads would allow farm products to be transported to distant markets and lumber imported. In the meantime, the Great Plains remained unattractive for general settlement, especially when compared to the fertile lands, big rivers, and seaports of Oregon.
The route of the Oregon Trail began to be scouted out as early as 1823 by
fur traders and explorers. The trail began to be regularly used by fur traders, missionaries, and military expeditions during the 1830s. At the same time, small groups of individuals and the occasional family attempted to follow the trail, and some succeeded in arriving at
Fort Vancouver in
Washington.
Elm Grove Expedition
On
May 16,
1842 the first organized
wagon train on the Oregon Trail set out from
Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers (members of the party later disagreed over the size of the party, one stating 160 adults and children were in the party, while another counted only 105). The party was led by Elijah White, appointed Indian Sub-Agent to Oregon, the first U.S. official in the region (never confirmed by Congress). Despite company policy to discourage U.S. emigration,
John McLoughlin, Factor of the
Hudson's Bay Company at
Fort Vancouver, offered the American settlers food and farming equipment on credit, being unwilling to watch able-bodied people starve.
Free land
The biggest driving force for settlement was the offer of free land.
In 1843 the settlers of the
Willamette Valley by a vote of 52 to 50 drafted a constitution that organized the land claim process in the state. Married couples were allowed to claim up to 640 acres (a "section" which is a square mile, or 260 hectares) at no cost and singles could claim 320 acres (130 ha).
[1]
In 1848, the United States formally declared what was left of the
Oregon Country a U.S. territory, after it effectively partitioned it in 1846. The
Donation Land Act of 1850 superseded the earlier laws, but it did recognize the earlier claims. Settlers after 1850 could be granted half a section (320 acres) if married and a quarter section if single. A four-year residence and cultivation was required. In 1854 the land was no longer free (although still cheap—initially $1.25/acre, or $0.51/ha).
Opening of the trail
In what was dubbed "The Great Migration of 1843" or the "Wagon Train of 1843",
[2] [3] an estimated 800 immigrants, led by
Marcus Whitman, arrived in the Willamette Valley. Hundreds of thousands more followed, especially after
gold was discovered in
California in 1848. The trail was still in use during the
Civil War, but traffic declined after 1869 when the
transcontinental railroad was completed. The trail continued to be used into the 1890s, and modern highways eventually paralleled large portions of the trail.
Other migration paths for early settlers prior to the establishment of the transcontinental railroads involved taking passage on a ship rounding the
Cape Horn of
South America or to the
Isthmus (now
Panama) between North and
South America. There, an arduous mule trek through hazardous swamps and rain forests awaited the traveler. A ship was typically then taken to
San Francisco, California.
Routes
The trail is marked by numerous cutoffs and shortcuts from Missouri to Oregon. The basic route follows river valleys. Starting initially in
Independence/
Kansas City, the trail followed the
Santa Fe Trail south of the
Wakarusa River. After crossing
The Hill at
Lawrence, Kansas, it crossed the
Kansas River near
Topeka, Kansas, and angled to
Nebraska paralleling the
Little Blue River until reaching the south side of the
Platte River. It followed the Platte, North Platte, and Sweetwater Rivers to
South Pass in the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming. From South Pass the trail parallels the
Snake River to the
Columbia River before arriving at
Oregon City or taking the
Barlow Road to the Willamette Valley and other destinations in what are now the states of Washington and Oregon.
U.S. Highway 26 follows the Oregon Trail for much of its length.
While the first few parties organized and departed from Elm Grove, the Oregon Trail's generally designated starting point was Independence or
Westport on the
Missouri River. Several towns along the Missouri River had feeder trails and make claims to being the starting point including
Weston, Missouri,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
Atchison, Kansas, and
St. Joseph, Missouri.
The Oregon Trail's designated termination point was Oregon City, at the time the proposed capital of the
Oregon Territory. However, many settlers branched off or stopped short of this goal and settled at convenient or promising locations along the trail. Commerce with pioneers going further west greatly assisted these early settlements in getting established and launched local micro-economies critical to these settlements' prosperity.
At many places along the trail, alternate routes called "cutoffs" were established either to shorten the trail or to get around difficult terrain. The Lander and Sublette cutoffs provided shorter routes through the mountains than the main route, bypassing
Fort Bridger. In later years, the Salt Lake cutoff provided a route to
Salt Lake City.
Numerous other trails followed the Oregon Trail for part of its length. These include the
Mormon Trail from
Illinois to
Utah, and the
California Trail to the gold fields of California.
Remnants of the trail in Idaho, Kansas, Oregon, and Wyoming, have been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Landmarks
Many rock formations became famous landmarks that the Oregon Trail pioneers used to navigate as well as leave messages for pioneers following behind them. The first landmarks that the pioneers encountered were in western Nebraska, such as
Courthouse and Jail Rocks,
Chimney Rock, and
Scotts Bluff. In Wyoming, names of pioneers can be seen carved into a landmark bluff called Register Cliff, and in
Independence Rock. One Wyoming landmark along the trail,
Ayres Natural Bridge, is now a state park of the same name.
Travel equipment
The Oregon Trail was too long and arduous for the standard
Conestoga wagons used in the
Eastern United States at that time for most freight transport. These big wagons had a reputation for killing their oxen teams approximately two thirds along the trail and leaving their unfortunate owners stranded in desolate, isolated territory. The only solution was to abandon all belongings and traipse onward with the supplies and tools that could be carried or dragged. In one case in 1846 on the
California Trail, the
Donner Party, en route to California, was stranded in the
Sierra Nevada in November and three members are suggested to have resorted to
cannibalism to survive.
This led to the rapid development of the
prairie schooners. The wagon was approximately half the size of the big Conestogas but was also manufactured in quantity. It was designed for the Oregon Trail's conditions and was a marvel of engineering in its time. The covers of the wagons were treated with linseed oil to keep out the rain. However, the covers eventually leaked anyway.
The recommended amount of food to take for an adult was 150 pounds (70 kg) of
flour, 20 pounds (9 kg) of
corn meal, 50 pounds (25 kg) of
bacon, 40 pounds (20 kg) of
sugar, 10 pounds (5 kg) of
coffee, 15 pounds (7 kg) of
dried fruit, 5 pounds (2 kg) of
salt, half a pound (0.25 kg) of saleratus (
baking soda), 2 pounds (1 kg) of
tea, 5 pounds (2 kg) of
rice, and 15 pounds (7 kg) of
beans.
Statistics
Immigration to Oregon Territory increased vastly between 1840 and 1852, the year of greatest migration. According to ''Oregon Trail Statistics'' by William E. Hill, the figures rocketed from 13 in 1840 to 1,475 four years later, nearly doubled the following year, and hit 4,000 in 1847. Emigration declined considerably prior to 1850, when 6,000 people trekked to Oregon. In 1851 the number dropped again (3,600) but sustained a huge comeback with 10,000 in 1852. (That same year some 60,000 people emigrated to Utah and California, a stand-alone record.)
Another 13,500 people moved to Oregon in 1853-54, with 5,000 more making the trip as of 1859, the year of statehood.
In the 20 years from 1840-1859 some 52,000 emigrants moved to Oregon, but nearly five times that number opted for California or Utah.
Though the numbers appear significant—and they were, especially in context of the times—vastly more people chose to remain at home in the 31 states. Part of the explanation is attributed to scout
Kit Carson who reputedly said, "The cowards never started and the weak died on the way." According to some sources, one tenth of the emigrants perished on the way west.
[2]
Legacy
The western expansion and the Oregon Trail in particular inspired many songs that told of the settlers' experiences. "Uncle Sam's Farm," encouraged east-coast dwellers to "Come right away. Our lands they are broad enough, so don't be alarmed. Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm." In "Western Country," the singer exhorts that "if I had no horse at all, I'd still be a hauling, far across those Rocky Mountains, goin' away to Oregon."
When purchasing a new vehicle from 1995-1998, Oregonians could purchase special commemorative Oregon Trail license plates for their cars for an added fee.
[4]
The story of the Oregon Trail inspired a popular educational computer game of the same name, ''
The Oregon Trail''.
See also
★
Kansas Territory (1854-1861)
★
Nebraska Territory (1854-1867)
★ (1847) by
Francis Parkman
★
Landmarks of the Nebraska Territory
References
1. Philip Ashton Rollins, ''ed.'', ''The Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart's Narratives of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812-13'', University of Nebraska, 1995, ISBN 0-803-29234-1
2. Lloyd W. Coffman, 1993, ''Blazing A Wagon Trail To Oregon''
Further reading
★
Journal of Medorem Crawford: an account of his trip across the plains with the Oregon pioneers of 1842, Crawford, Medorem, , , Star Job Office, 1897,
★
Across the plains in '62, Smedley, William, , , , 1916,
★
Across the plains in 1853, Ward, D. B., , , Ward, 1911,
External links
★
Oregon or the Grave
★
Historic Sites on the Oregon Trail
★
Oregon Trail History Library
★
Oregon Trail: The Trail West
★
Oregon National Historic Trail Home Page
★
Oregon Trail Map 1843
★
Mitchell Map of 1846
★
Music of the Oregon Trail
★
Photos and History of the Oregon Trail in Central Wyoming
★
Oregon Trail history from Oregon Department of Transportation (with maps)
★
The Oregon Trail Game Online
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