The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey

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Many settlers continued south of Oregon to seek their fortunes during the California Gold Rush. They followed the same Oregon Trail between 1848 and 1855 to get to mines in California after gold nuggets were found in the Sacramento Valley. Hazards of the Oregon Trail The Walt Disney Anthology series episode Along the Oregon Trail which aired in 1956, covered the famous trail. Applegate, Jesse. “A Day with the Cow Column in 1843.” Oregon Historical Quarterly(December 1900): 371-83.

As the trail developed it became marked by many cutoffs and shortcuts from Missouri to Oregon. The basic route follows river valleys as grass and water were necessary. At dangerous or difficult river crossings, ferries or toll bridges were set up and bad places on the trail were either repaired or bypassed. Several toll roads were constructed. Gradually the trail became easier with the average trip (as recorded in numerous diaries) dropping from about 160 days in 1849 to 140 days 10 years later. [ citation needed] a b c d e f g h i j k l Reginald Horsman, Feast or Famine: Food and Drink in American Westward Expansion (University of Missouri Press, 2008), pp. 128–131.The perfect vermin of the earth for Parkman, however, isn’t human at all. It’s the buffalo. I’m not going to suggest th The western expansion, and the Oregon Trail in particular, inspired numerous creative works about the settlers' experiences. Tonquin". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013 . Retrieved May 11, 2013. Three Island Crossing quotes "Three Island Crossing". Archived from the original on February 6, 2009 . Retrieved February 23, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2009 Lander Road Cutoff Map". Wyoshpo.state.wy.us. Archived from the original on May 17, 2011 . Retrieved May 20, 2012.

In 1869, the Central Pacific established Kelton, Utah as a railhead and the terminus of the western mail was moved from Salt Lake City. The Kelton Road became important as a communication and transportation road to the Boise Basin. [79] Kaiser, Leo, and Priscilla Knuth, eds. “From Ithaca to Clatsop: Miss Ketcham’s Journal of Travel, Pt. 2.” Oregon Historical Quarterly(December 1961): 397. Greeley, Horace. "An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859". www.yosemite.ca.us . Retrieved October 13, 2017. Bowen, William A. The Willamette Valley: Migration and Settlement on the Oregon Frontier. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978.

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The Oregon Trail has attracted such interest because it is the central feature of one of the largest mass migrations of people in American history. Between 1840 and 1860, from 300,000 to 400,000 travelers used the 2,000-mile overland route to reach Willamette Valley, Puget Sound, Utah, and California destinations. The journey took up to six months, with wagons making between ten and twenty miles per day of travel. The trail followed the Missouri and Platte Rivers west through present-day Nebraska to South Pass on the Continental Divide in Wyoming, then west along the Snake River to Fort Hall in eastern Idaho, where travelers typically chose to continue due west to Oregon or to head southwest to Utah and California. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w McLynn, Frank (2002). Wagons West: The Epic Story of America's Overland Trails. Random House. pp.103–104. It’s not always easy. Sometimes the effort is exhausting. When it comes to the exercise of sympathetic imagination in reading, it helps when the prose is pleasant and the story a good one. Because characters can disappoint.