The Oregon Trail is “this nation’s longest graveyard” (National Park Service).
The emigrants on the trail looked for a new life in America. Some emigrants went looking for religious freedom, others went for land and power. They were not prepared for the dangers and difficulties that the trail presented. The emigrants on the oregon trail faced the most difficulty trying to survive and thrive in the west because of disease, accidents, and weather.
Due to disease and illness, emigrants on the Oregon trail had a hard time trying to thrive and survive in the west. Disease was everywhere and people couldn’t avoid it. The National Park Service’s (NPS) article on the Oregon Trail states that “Cholera results from a waterborne bacteria that thrives
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Some terrains and environments made the journey hard and possibly deadly.The National Oregon/California Trail Center says that “Crossing rivers were probably the most dangerous thing pioneers did. Swollen rivers could tip over and drown both people and oxen.”There were many rivers to cross during the long ride, and crossing them was the only way to get around the rivers. These accidents were almost unavoidable. Dry weather made the goings tough and not pleasant. “The intense heat of the prairie caused wood to shrink, and wagon wheels had to be soaked in rivers at night to keep their iron rims from rolling off during the day...Emigrant’s lips blistered and split in the dry air, and their only remedy was to rub axle grease on them.” The dry and hot air had the time to go west even greater than it should had because of little annoyances.
The emigrants on the Oregon trail faced the most hassle trying to survive and endure in the west because of pestilence, misfortune, and climate. The Chinese emigrant working on the transcontinental railroad had a hard time as well on the trail. They faced bad pay, racism, and hard work. However, the emigrants on the trail went into the unknown. They had no idea what lay ahead for them and spent most to all their money to participate. The longest graveyard in America may have been difficult and hard, but it help shape this nation into what it is
The Chinese faced many challenges during Westward Expansion because of harsh conditions while building the Transcontinental Railroad. Harsh conditions during this time dictated the way the Chinese built the railroad and the way they lived their lives. Unlike the Irish, the Chinese were not provided with living space or food so they built underground tunnels to live in ("Chinese-American Contribution"). Some tunnels collapsed on top of the people living in them ("The Builders"). These conditions delayed the Chinese’s journey, therefore it took longer for
So they packed up their stuff in 20 wagons and began on there way on May 1846. Little did they know things wouldn't turn out the way they wanted it too. They wanted to get to California. Once they went onto their journey to California they decided they wanted to take a shortcut through Utah to Nevada. The group then decided to try Hasting Cutoff, an alternate route to get to the gold rush faster.
Have you ever been interested in what the travelers on the Oregon trail endured? Continue reading to see a few things they endured. There were many hardships settlers faced on the Oregon Trail. After reading the article titled “Another Fine Cow Died This Afternoon”, these are some of the hardships I noticed that happened during the Oregon Trail. In this essay I will be going over and discussing what happened to these travelers, the main things being discussed are crossing rivers, the weather conditions and seasons and finally having health issues being on the trail.
Staying on topic of number ten, the railroad towns were filthy and even more dangerous. One wrong move can get you shot or gunned down. Say you're the one shooting. Murder was tried by death and trials back then were extremely hard to fight against unless you had money. This was basically the old west scene where cowboys had guns and shoot outs and duels where everyday riots.
Lewis and Clark Expedition Imagine going from the nice spring weather to strong winds and freezing cold winters for two years. This is what Meriwether Lewis and William Clark went tough on their two year expedition searching for the Northwest passage. Now, while you might think they had it easy, Lewis, Clark and their expedition crew went through many challenges while exploring the new land. From finding food to eat, to making alliances with different Indian tribes, this journey was anything but easy.
A group of emigrants trying to travel to california but instead went through trail’s that took them right into a chain of mistakes with a tragic story. In the year 1846, 90 emigrants moved west for the expansion to move westward, leaving springfield illinois. Leaders Jacob and George Donner guided the group to a “shorter route” to california. 2,500 mile expedition the founder of this expedition was a man named james James Frazier Reed a business man wishing to move westward to make a wealth in the richland of california. Reed before had read a book called The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California, by Lansford W. Hastings, the book were full of shorter tracks crossing the Great Basin without the route being tested out first they just went for it.
What are some of the hardships Americans in the early 1800s faced when traveling? One hardship they faced was having their entire food supply exhausted. Most of the families had to kill their oxen for food and leave their wagons, which resulted in the travelers walking on foot. Unfortunately, a lot of the people ended up dying of starvation anyway. Another hardship they faced was not being able to bury those that had died in coffins.
In conclusion, the westward expansion was one of the most important times in American history but one of the hardest for those who made the journey. The settlers had to go through a lot of hardships to get a new life in the west. The Gold Rush helped bring people to the west and populate California so it became a state. People such as Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark helped explore the new terrain and make maps so people could live there. Even though the pioneers got diseases, had conflicts with the Native Americans, and had to travel for long periods of time in a ship or covered wagon, they never gave up hope.
People like foreigners and women were presented with challenges on their journey. In fact, in 1882 the campaign to restrict immigration created the federal Chinese Exclusion Act, which stopped the Chinese from migrating for 10 years. This prevented the Chinese from achieving the American Dream for that time period. Also, the government placed a tax on immigrant mining, charging them $500 a month, in this time (Maranzani). Women also had a difficult time during the Gold Rush.
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..
Some hardships the 49ers faced were diseases that were sometimes produced by the lack of food and water. Others were caused by difficulty in crossing lands and seas. Some of the miners would even commit acts of violence, or commit suicide because of the struggle and stress of not finding gold. When the miners arrived to California they were subjects of diseases like Cholera,Dysentery and Pneumonia.
The Trail of Tears was an effort by president Andrew Jackson to relocate Native Americans to regions in and around present-day Oklahoma. Jackson claimed this mass migration was beneficial to the american people and helped them to advance civilization; however, many historians today say that this was a cruel injustice. Almost everyone involved in the Trail of Tears felt poorly about the mistreatment, especially the Cherokee people that were being harmed and killed. The conditions were not fit for any human being and the soldiers removing them did serious psychological damage to the men, women, and children they took.
The company had trouble finding reliable labor, many men would use them for a free ride into the mountains and then would quit the project in hopes to find gold in the mountains. “Sometimes construction was sabotaged by Native Americans who were angry with the United Sates Government. The Native Americans lived on the land the railroad companies were now building through-land
Obstacles that would complicate movement would have been swollen rivers and creeks from the winter snow melt along with washouts and unstable hillsides near water locations. This would make fording rivers difficult at times and require the Indians and Army columns to occasionally extend their direction of travel to find suitable crossing locations. Lastly,
They tried to survive with lack of food and caused them poor health condition. It is claimed by Watters (2002, p. 331), “The S.S. Ocean was unnecessarily placed in quarantine ... the 450 Chinese immigrants on hoard suffered severe deprivations.” Therefore, Chinese people faced difficulties when coming to