About this deal
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. A significant number of travelers were suffering from scurvy by the end of their trips. Their typical flour and salted pork/bacon diet had very little vitamin C in it. The diet in the mining camps was also typically low in fresh vegetables and fruit, which indirectly led to the early deaths of many of the inhabitants. Some believe that scurvy deaths may have rivaled cholera as a killer, with most deaths occurring after the victim reached California. [103] In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson issued the following instructions to Meriwether Lewis: "The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by its course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado and/or other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for commerce." [2] Although Lewis and William Clark found a path to the Pacific Ocean, it was not until 1859 that a direct and practicable route, the Mullan Road, connected the Missouri River to the Columbia River. [3] Mormon emigration records after 1860 are reasonably accurate, as newspapers and other accounts in Salt Lake City give most of the names of emigrants arriving each year from 1847 to 1868. [93] Gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon caused a considerable increase in people using the trails, often in directions different from the original trail users. From the letter of Betsey Bayley, in Covered Wagon Women, Volume 1, by Kenneth L. Holmes, ebook version, University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln, 1983, p. 35.
The Oregon Trail has many on and off ramps, and thousands of Mormon migrants took to those routes in 1848. They helped to establish the Oregon Trail by putting down roots along the trail with thriving farms, ranches, and towns. Other travelers who came after them benefited from their efforts. By 1860, a large group of them left those settlements to others and followed Brigham Young to Utah to start one of the most well-known Mormon communities in the world. Conclusion Most wagons carried tents for sleeping, though in good weather most would sleep outside. A thin fold-up mattress, blankets, pillows, canvas, or rubber gutta-percha ground covers were used for sleeping. Sometimes an unfolded feather bed mattress was brought for the wagon if there were pregnant women or very young children along. Storage boxes were ideally the same height, so they could be arranged to give a flat surface inside the wagon for a sleeping platform. On May 1, 1839, a group of eighteen men from Peoria, Illinois, set out with the intention of colonizing the Oregon country on behalf of the United States of America and driving out the HBC operating there. The men of the Peoria Party were among the first pioneers to traverse most of the Oregon Trail. They were initially led by Thomas J. Farnham and called themselves the Oregon Dragoons. They carried a large flag emblazoned with their motto " Oregon Or The Grave". Although the group split up near Bent's Fort on the South Platte and Farnham was deposed as leader, nine of their members eventually did reach Oregon. [18]Peavy, Linda S. & Ursula Smith. Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier. University of Oklahoma Press, 1998, p. 40. From 1812 to 1840, the British, through the HBC, had nearly complete control of the Pacific Northwest and the western half of the Oregon Trail. In theory, the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, restored possession of Oregon territory to the United States. "Joint occupation" of the region was formally established by the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. The British, through the HBC, tried to discourage any U.S. trappers, traders, and settlers from work or settlement in the Pacific Northwest. 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
Those emigrants on the eastern side of the Missouri River in Missouri or Iowa used ferries and steamboats (fitted out for ferry duty) to cross into towns in Nebraska. Several towns in Nebraska were used as jumping-off places with Omaha eventually becoming a favorite after about 1855. Fort Kearny (est. 1848) is about 200 miles (320km) from the Missouri River, and the trail and its many offshoots nearly all converged close to Fort Kearny as they followed the Platte River west. The army-maintained Fort was the first chance on the trail to buy emergency supplies, do repairs, get medical aid, or mail a letter. Those on the north side of the Platte could usually wade the shallow river if they needed to visit the fort.For an Oregon-California trail map up to the junction in Idaho NPS Oregon National Historic Trail Map. Retrieved January 28, 2009. The animated film Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary portrays the expedition of a dozen wagons to Oregon, part of which was the young Calamity Jane. 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 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. Kenneth L. Holmes, Covered Wagon Women, Volume 1, Introduction by Anne M. Butler, ebook version, University of Nebraska Press, (1983) pp 1–10.