ipl-logo

Oregon Trail Research Paper

732 Words3 Pages

From Misfortune to Oregon From around 1811 to 1840, a 2,200-mile trail was made, going from Missouri to Oregon. This trail was made by fur trappers and traders, and would soon be called The Oregon Trail. In 1846, thousands of men, women, and children began traveling to Oregon along this road. They had high hopes of finding fertile land, where they could set up large farms. They walked, rode, and pushed and pulled wagons filled with their belongings. People of all heritages, religions, and cultures made the journey along the Oregon Trail, and many of them faced hardships. They walked for sixth months, and walked around ten miles a day. One in five of the women were pregnant, and most already had children. For most families, they were risking …show more content…

River crossings, accidents, weather, and drowning, starvation, dehydration and Indian attacks caused most deaths. However, the main cause of death, by far, was disease. An estimated amount of six to ten percent of all pioneers became ill in some form. Around thirty thousand of the three hundred fifty thousand people on the trail suffered from a disease. The main illnesses were cholera, dysentery, mountain fever, and measles. Cholera often took the lives of its victims within twelve hours of the first symptom. Because cholera is caused by the consumption of unsanitary food or water, most pioneers suffered from this disease. Some other illnesses included food poisoning, scurvy, smallpox, and pneumonia.
One quote from a diary entry by E.W. Conyers, from May 25th, 1852, stated,
"One wagon just passing...with the motto, 'Root, little hog or die '...on both sides...and on another cover is written, 'Bound for Origen.”
The pioneers were very determined to get to Oregon, and were enthusiastic about what lays ahead. Although the journey to Oregon was long and hard, it came with a great reward. Vast, fertile land, along with the opportunity to start a new life, was exactly what the emigrants wanted. Despite the long, difficult walk, bad weather, disease, and many other risks, the pioneers pushed through, and most made it to Oregon. They all had their minds and hearts set on Willamette Valley, and wouldn’t stop until they got there. No matter what hardships the emigrants faced, they knew it was Manifest Destiny.

Sources

Show More
Related

  • Drew Faust Summary

    1526 Words  | 7 Pages

    In total, over 600,000 soldiers lost their lives in battle and to disease. While many soldiers anticipated the honorable death of dying on the field, there were twice as many soldiers that died from disease in the camp as that that died in battle. During the 19th century, medicine was relatively primative, and the lack of the germ theory or knowledge of antiseptic resulted in rapid disease spreading. Lack of general resources such as adequate clothes, nutrition, clean water, and santitary stations also contributed to the spread of common diseases like measles, typhoid fever, and malaria. Most commonly, soldiers suffered from diarheia and disentary, which combined with lack of clean water resulted in many cruel deaths.

    Read More

  • What Are The Effects Of The Caayuse War

    496 Words  | 2 Pages

    As tensions increased, The whitman’s began to devote more and more time to caring for immigrants and less to the Cayuse. Then, the new settlers brought diseases with them and in 1847 a measles epidemic spread, and within 2 months killed about half of them. When Marcus Whitman was unable to check the epidemic, the Cayuse came to believe that he was poisoning them to make way for settlers. There were many settlers that died in the war such as, Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa Whitman. The settlers that were involved in this war was the Cayuse men and the Whitman Mission.

    Read More

  • Trail Of Tears Research Paper

    135 Words  | 1 Pages

    The trail of tears was a tretrous journey that the native Americans took. Because the Americans would promise land, then take it back. First off it was approximately one thousand miles. The five different tribes were the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and finally the Creek. They traveled from deep in the south to present day Oklahoma.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Jamestown Settlement

    224 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Jamestown settlement was one of the harshest experiences for many of the people on that voyage and it was led by Bartholomew Gosnold. If one family member owned a big section of land the family would often fight over the claim on the land. The settlers lost all of their clean water supply and that caused them to have to drink salt water that carried diseases and illness. Many settlers could not handle the harsh weather. They did not know how to dress for the weather and could not find food.

    Read More

  • Was America Justified In Western Expansion

    156 Words  | 1 Pages

    hook: Approximately 20,000 people died while traveling on the Oregon Trail, this fact alone is nearly enough to support the idea that American western expansion, due to the manifest destiny, was not justified. However, some other reasons why America was not justified in its expansion were that the settlers treated the natives harshly and inhumanely for no discernible reasoning, also the traveling was too much of a gamble, and finally that modern-day America is against imperialistic expansion. background info: thesis: America was not justified in its western expansion due to the lack of morality behind putting one person’s comfort above the safety of another. claim 1: Modern day America is against the taking of another country’s land

    Read More

  • Trial Of Tears Research Paper

    492 Words  | 2 Pages

    The unbearable experience during the Trial of Tears was significantly atrocious for the Cherokee. A Cherokee woman named Elizabeth Watts described this ordeal as “more than tears” and as “death, sorrow, hunger, exposure, and humiliation” to the Cherokee; even Private John G. Burnett said he “witnessed the execution and the most brutal order in the history of American warfare.” Eliza Whitmire, who was enslaved by the Cherokee, described the difficulty as “filled with horror and suffering.” First off, the trail was dangerously cold and hot during the seasons. It was fatally cold during the Winter; unbearably hot during the Summer.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Journey To The Oregon Trail

    120 Words  | 1 Pages

    After years of waiting and preparing we started on the journey to the west. We made our way to Independence, Missouri to go on the Oregon Trail which was laid by traders and trapers. While there I became familiar with George Wilson who was also a working family man. A lot of families left together making the trail busy and causing jams..

    Read More

  • Why Were The Europeans Able To Conquer The Americas

    654 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is estimated that approximately 95% of pre-Columbus Native Americans were killed by European diseases. Since the outbreak of the diseases spread because of the European colonization, it made conquering the Americas much easier. Health was definitely the most detrimental obstacle that the Native Americans had to face as a result of the European

    Read More

  • Essay On The Middle Passage

    760 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some people tried to starve, but the crew forced them to take food, beating them, tormenting them with hot coal or forcing them to open their mouths with special tools or break their teeth. The mortality caused by various diseases was very high. More than 20 percent have died from various epidemics or committed suicide. Venture Smith, describing his test, wrote: "After the usual passage, except for the great death from pox that erupted on board, we arrived on the island of Barbados, but when we reached it, out of two hundred and sixty that sailed from Africa, not more than two hundred alive.

    Read More

  • Valley Forge Essay

    665 Words  | 3 Pages

    I have a very large of dying from the sicknesses getting passed around. I overheard General George Washington say that around 3,989 soldiers have gotten sick by February (Busch 147). And that 2,500 deaths have come from sickness (Busch 147). Frostbite and Smallpox have played a big part here at Valley Forge. Frostbite has gotten many people’s limb taken off.

    Read More

  • Trail Of Tears Research Paper

    1086 Words  | 5 Pages

    While making this gruesome travel more than 4,000 Indians died from disease, starvation and treacherous conditions. This travel became known as the “trails of tears”. These Native Americans were not how white settlement described them. Many of the tribes adopted Euro-american practices and created their own communities with schools and churches, even developed their own languages and created bilingual newspapers.

    Read More

  • Cause And Effect Of Manifest Destiny

    930 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to an Oregon population graph which showed the population of Native Americans and non-Indians, the Native American population dropped drastically between the years 1805 and 1841, while the non-Indian population increased greatly between the years 1841 and 1870. The vast amount of Americans moving Westward resulted in many Native Americans dying. An extensive part of Native American deaths were a result of the new diseases that Americans brought while traveling through American Indian territory. Due to the fact that many of the Native Americans had never experienced these

    Read More

  • Oregon Trail Diary Of Hattie Campbell By Kristiana Gregory Summary

    649 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1840s, travelers had to eat dead horses and mules that died of exhaustion while pulling wagons. In modern day, people can stop at a restaurant for food along the way. In present time, people also have hotels to sleep in and to bathe in while traveling, but people traveling to Oregon had to sleep outside on the ground and had to bathe in

    Read More

  • Columbian Exchange Dbq Essay

    407 Words  | 2 Pages

    Almost every single person from the New World, whether a slave or not, was seriously impacted by the spread of diseases. Furthermore,

    Read More

  • My Life With Courage

    890 Words  | 4 Pages

    Living With Courage I imagine that the pioneers have inspired many people, I know they have inspired me. Who would leave their homes, all of their possessions, all their friends, just to go seek fortune in the west? Some pioneers didn’t leave for just those reasons, some left for religious freedoms or because they were discriminated against. For whatever reason the pioneers left; most ventured because they thought if they made it to the west, life would be better.

    Read More

More about Oregon Trail Research Paper

Open Document