Story of America Cards

The Oregon Trail

Ok we are gonna hit the trail.....well not really ... .although not 8-Bit either but there is a classic game on this topic that's popular in its own right and gets referenced a lot...although it sucks when your group dies in game you can just restart like all games....however if it were in Reality it was not all like a Restart button; Death was well, Death and you sure ain't getting anyone to come back to life which is what the game Oregon Trail is about, But here we talk about the real Oregon Trail from the Westward Expansion in Story of America cards.

(What is the Oregon Trail?)

The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kansas and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the current states of Idaho and Oregon. (Where the trail gets its name from).

Families from the East of America used this trail and many others by traveling on wagons to start life in the west, but it wasn't easy as Illness, the sun, and other disasters got in the way for some, and some people died on the way. (But you gotta do what you gotta do to start a new life without the transportation we have now).

(2,000 Miles of Dust and Danger)

From 1843 to 1850 the greatest migration in American history moved over the Oregon Trail. The goal of these hard settlers was the promised land of fertile valleys and plains in the Oregon territory, some 2,000 miles (3,200 km.) away.

Beginning in camps along the Missouri River near St. Joseph, Missouri, as many as 800 emigrants at a time gathered to form caravans of a hundred or more prairie schooners, each one pulled by three or six pairs of oxen.

For four to six months they followed the Indian trails that stretched westward across the rolling prairie, through the vital gap in the towering Rocky Mountains, and towards their new life.

Each train was divided into four groups, and each group was led by an elected captain, who struggled constantly to maintain discipline during the long, hazardous journey. Starting in May, when the grass for animals was turning the prairie green, they traveled 15 to 20 miles (24-32 Km.) a day.

And as their rolling homes cracked along the deeply rutted roads, setters endured the merciless sun, illness and fatigue, broken wheels and axle.

Often weeks of travel went by before the travelers could repair their wagons at the next fort and obtain new provisions. The Boat-shaped wagons carried about a ton and a half (1,350 kg.) for goods, including plows, tools, seeds, stoves, furniture, and even small pianos. There was little room left over in a loaded wagon, so the family cooked, ate and slept outdoors.

By the time the caravans reached Fort Laramie, Wyoming, the most treacherous part of the journey still lay ahead. From there, the tilt of the land climbed steeply toward the Continental Divide at South Pass, which they had to reach by November before snow blocked their way.

Meanwhile, babies were born, Old People and Children died, and the trail was marked by shallow graves, by cast-possessions, and bleached bones of horses and oxen. During the frequent Indian attacks men and women fought side by side, their wagons drawn into a tight circle to form a kind of fort.

They forded, ferried, or built crude bridges across racing rivers, inched their way through narrow gorges and along perilous mountain ledges until they finally reached the Columbia River.

By 1850 it is estimated that 44,000 people had made the journey despite its dangers and hardships. The "Great Migration" was a success, and it enabled new settlers to organize Oregon as a territory by 1848.

(The Legacy of The Oregon Trail)

One of the enduring legacies of the Oregon Trail is the expansion of the United States territory to the West Coast. Without the many thousands of United States settlers in Oregon and California, and thousands more on their way each year, it is highly unlikely that this would have occurred and properly the U.S would not have expanded west the way it did.

The Oregon Trail inspired a lot to do the same in traveling the west, and that comes with stories inspired into many works about the experiences, here are some of the Arts, entertainment, and media inspired by the Oregon Trail;

He definitely need to start with what I mentioned in the intro, the Video game series named "The Oregon Trail" with the 1985 game being the most known when it comes to classics, it was educational video game series where you basically had a simulated experience of the Oregon Trail including all the hardships, even the game inspired a play in 2014.

There's a Western TV Series from the 1970s called The Oregon Trail, which ran for 13 episodes, Teen Titans GO! Also had an episode dedicated to the Oregon Trail including the Video Game called Oregon Trail as a Parody episode (Which is also one of the funniest episodes).

And There's an animated film called Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary Which portrays the expedition of a dozen wagons to Oregon and is part of which tells the story of a young Calamity Jane, a famous American frontierswoman.

(Ending)

And that's the Oregon Trail. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something, and I'll see you next time in my other videos. Bye!