Oregon Trail summary: The 2,200-mile east-west trail served as a critical transportation route for emigrants traveling from Missouri to Oregon and other points west during the mid-1800s.
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What was the main reason for the Oregon Trail?
There were many reasons for the westward movement to Oregon and California. Economic problems upset farmers and businessmen. Free land in Oregon and the possibility of finding gold in California lured them westward.
What was the Oregon Trail and why was it important?
The Oregon Trail, which stretched for about 2,000 miles (3,200 km), flourished as the main means for hundreds of thousands of emigrants to reach the Northwest from the early 1840s through the 1860s. It crossed varied and often difficult terrain that included large territories occupied by Native Americans.
What was the purpose of the Oregon Trail quizlet?
The Oregon Trail was a major route that people took when migrating to the western part of the United States. Between 1841 and 1869, hundreds of thousands of people traveled westward on the trail. Many of them traveled in large wagon trains using covered wagons to carry their belongings.
What was the main starting point of the Oregon Trail?
Independence, Missouri
While the first few parties organized and departed from Elm Grove, the Oregon Trail’s primary starting point was Independence, Missouri, or Kansas City (Missouri), on the Missouri River.
What were two purposes for the forts on the Oregon Trail?
During the 1800’s, the U.S. Government and other companies built forts along the Oregon, Califor- nia and Mormon Trails to protect the emigrants traveling west and to also provide supplies for these wagon trains.
How was the Oregon Trail created?
The Oregon Trail was laid by fur traders and trappers from about 1811 to 1840, and was only passable on foot or by horseback.By 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall, Idaho.
What was the effect of the Oregon Trail?
The Oregon Trail helped to change how the United States grew. It helped to move the population westward from the overpopulated East. If it was not for the Oregon Trail, many of the western states would not be or even look like they do today. The trail also helped spread culture and religious beliefs.
What did pioneers do at the end of the Oregon Trail?
Not too far past the end of the Barlow Road, the wagon trains camped a final time on the broad creekside meadow near the Willamette River. This spot, Oregon City’s Abernethy Green, marked the traditional End of the Oregon Trail.
How did the Oregon Trail impact the natives?
Smallpox, cholera, measles and other illnesses for which the Indians had no immunity wiped out up to 90 percent of some tribes during the 20 years of the Oregon Trail. “The doom of extinction is over this wretched nation,” wrote a Methodist historian, Gustavus Hines, of the Oregon Territory Indians in 1850.
During what century was the Oregon Trail most traveled quizlet?
From the 1840s through the 1880s, thousands trekked westward, carrying only a few belonging and supplies for the journey, and settling on the western frontier, forever changing the American West.
What was life like on the Oregon Trail quizlet?
Had to deal with rivers, and ferrymen were expensive, thunderstorms and other wealth issues, diseases like cholera and dysentery, bad year 2/3 people died.
Which was most challenging to travelers on the Oregon Trail in the 1850s quizlet?
Which was most challenging to travelers on the Oregon Trail in the 1850s? protect white settlers from attacks by American Indians. How did the Indian Removal Act of 1830 affect the Seminole people?
What was the ending point of the Oregon Trail?
Oregon City was the end of the trail for many because it was where land claims were granted for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.
What did pioneers bring on the Oregon Trail?
The pioneers would take with them as many supplies as possible. They took cornmeal, bacon, eggs, potatoes, rice, beans, yeast, dried fruit, crackers, dried meat, and a large barrel of water that was tied to the side of the wagon.
Does the Oregon Trail still exist?
Although the original Oregon Trail led weary travelers from Independence, Missouri, to where Oregon City is located today, now, the Oregon Trail starts in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and doesn’t end until Cannon Beach, Oregon, turning it into a full cross-country trip.
What was the most important fort along the Oregon Trail?
Fort Laramie
One of the most important forts in the settlement of the American West, Fort Laramie served many functions throughout its history. It was located along the Oregon Trail to protect and supply emigrant wagon trains.
Why was Independence Rock important to the Oregon Trail?
Independence Rock was the most-noted landmark of the wagon trails west of Fort Laramie.They carved their names and messages into the granite, using Independence Rock as a bulletin board for Oregon Trail travelers. In 1961, it was designated a national historic landmark managed by the State of Wyoming.
Why was Fort Hall important to the Oregon Trail?
In the 1860s, Fort Hall was the key post for the overland stage, mail and freight lines to the towns and camps of the mining frontier in the Pacific Northwest.It protected stagecoach, mail and travelers to the Northwest. Fort Hall is considered the most important trading post in the Snake River Valley.
What was life on the Oregon Trail like?
Life on the trail was not easy. Many faced family deaths to sicknesses such as cholera, measles, and smallpox. Starvation, harsh weather conditions, and travel accidents were common and took their toll, no matter which trail pioneers chose to travel or how carefully they prepared.
What protected the Oregon Trail?
It wasn’t until Congress designated the trails under the 1968 National Trails System Act that preserving their remains became a formal federal priority. The Oregon and Mormon Pioneer trails were listed in 1978, and the California and Pony Express trails in 1992.
