GO WEST!!

In 1843, more than 120 wagons gathered around Independence, Missouri. Most of these wagons were brightly painted in colors of red, green, and blue. Their canvas tops were clean and white. These people were preparing to cross the country, over plains, mountains and rivers, to Oregon. This trip would be known as the Great Migration -- the first year a large number of emigrants travelled to the Oregon Country, and the first year they travelled the entire way by wagons. The word emigrant means one who leaves his or her country to move to another.

Why did these people want to do this - leave their home and journey almost 2,000 miles over rough terrain on foot to go to a place they had never seen? Some had heard of the rich soil found in Oregon while others just wanted some free land. Others wanted to live where there were fewer people so they could have more elbow room. But whatever their reasons were for leaving, no one could have foreseen the hardships they were about to encountered they traveled the Oregon Trail.

The Oregon Trail was almost 2,000 miles long and the trip would take about six months to complete. Leaving in May, the pioneers would get to Oregon some time in October. During that time they would have to withstand cold and wet storms as well as the heat of the desert. Rivers would be a welcome sight, for a river meant fresh water. But rivers were also problems; pioneers would have to turn their wagons into rafts and float across. If they chose not to float the river they would attempt to ford the river by slowly crossing in a shallow section, hoping that their animals would not drown. Wagon wheels would get stuck in the mud, axles would break, wheels would come off, oxen would die from the heat and some pioneers would end up cutting their wagons in half and turning them into carts. Pioneers would freeze as they crossed the high snowcapped mountains. Cholera and influenza would take many pioneers' lives before reaching the Oregon Country. But when they did make it to their destination, the pioneers would never forget the beauty of the country they crossed.

1. What is an emigrant?
   
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2. Why do you think going to the Oregon Country was called the Great Migration?
   
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3. Imagine you are on the Oregon Trail. On the back of this paper, write a journal entry describing what you do from sunup to sundown.

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Last modified on: February 1, 2004