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Myths And Facts Surrounding The Oregon Trail

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The first group of permanent American settlers left for Oregon in 1841 from the town of Independence, Missouri. This group of about 70 people followed the rivers and trails that had been used by fur traders and missionaries for many years. This route later became known as the Oregon Trail to the pioneers heading to Oregon. The trail didn’t become really popular until 1843 when nearly 1,000 immigrants left their homes to create a new life for themselves in Oregon. This was largely due to the fact that pioneers and missionaries spoke of how fertile the soil was so many farmers in the Midwest who were not satisfied with their crops decided to leave their old farms behind and move to Oregon. These settlers left from Elm Grove, Missouri and headed …show more content…

A major myth was that the pioneers were constantly in danger of an attack by the Native Americans. In reality, attacks from Native Americans were very rare on the Oregon Trail. Originally the Native Americans gave the pioneers a wide area of land to travel over, however , according to Native American culture, the pioneers were supposed to give the Native Americans gifts for allowing them to pass. The pioneers didn’t like this because they saw it as begging. This failure in communication caused the Native Americans to rarely attack.
Another was that the train of wagons that traveled the Oregon Trail traveled in a long line, one behind the other. The wagons would actually travel side by side next to each other in rows. This helped them avoid a majority of the choking dust created by the wagons. The trail they rode on was often a mile wide to help accommodate for all of the wagons.
A third myth was that the trail was taken only by Caucasian Americans. The trail was taken by people from all over the world. People from places like Russia, Germany, and Asia also headed west on the trail looking for a new life. Even slaves went west looking for a new life and a place to start over. The Oregon Trail was used by people from all races and

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Why did the Donner Party get stuck in the Sierra Nevada Mountains? In April of 1846 90 emigrants led by Jacob and George Donner left Springfield Illinois in hopes of using a quicker, shorter route to Oregon. The party took the regular trail up to Ft. Bridger, Wyoming. There they were supposed to meet a trail guide, Lansford Hastings, to take them but he was gone, leading another party along the mountains. There was a note for the Donner’s to follow a trail to Weber Canyon, Hasting claimed it was an easier route to Oregon.

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In the 1840s, travelers had to eat dead horses and mules that died of exhaustion while pulling wagons. In modern day, people can stop at a restaurant for food along the way. In present time, people also have hotels to sleep in and to bathe in while traveling, but people traveling to Oregon had to sleep outside on the ground and had to bathe in

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The families came together to form what was called a wagon train in May 1846. Another reason for the Americans movement westward, was the belief in manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was the belief of the United States expanding towards the California coast. It was also because the views on religious freedom, were nowhere near as strict as they wear on the East

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— Virginia Reed, daughter of James Reed. A tragic story of the Donner party is a very harrowing adventure through the journey of the big group and how about half of the people lived to tell the tale. On April 16, 1846 nine wagons were reported departing from Springfield Illinois on a journey of what is now called the Oregon Trail. Formerly known as the northern trail there were a lot of advantages and disadvantages to the Oregon trail there was more land and wonderful

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hook: Approximately 20,000 people died while traveling on the Oregon Trail, this fact alone is nearly enough to support the idea that American western expansion, due to the manifest destiny, was not justified. However, some other reasons why America was not justified in its expansion were that the settlers treated the natives harshly and inhumanely for no discernible reasoning, also the traveling was too much of a gamble, and finally that modern-day America is against imperialistic expansion. background info: thesis: America was not justified in its western expansion due to the lack of morality behind putting one person’s comfort above the safety of another. claim 1: Modern day America is against the taking of another country’s land

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484 Words | 2 Pages

Even the soldiers escorting them felt bad for them, but they had to follow orders. Native Americans had long lived in settlements stretching from Georgia to Mississippi. However, President Jackson and other political leaders wanted to open this land to settlement by American farmers. Under pressure from Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. Congress then established Indian Territory (land in what is now Oklahoma) and planned to move Native Americans there.

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“The Oregon Trail,” written by Francis Parkman is a description of the experiences traveling into the unknown depths of the American west in 1846. The story is told from the first person point of view of Parkman, a scholar from Boston who embarks on the great expedition of traveling into the west in hopes of studying the lives of the Native Americans. His journey is also one of the first detailed descriptions of the beauty and the bounty of a largely uninhabited North American territory. But one of the most critical elements of the story was Parkman’s encounters and recruitment of members to his band of travelers who ultimately play a major role in the success of the western journey.

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While making this gruesome travel more than 4,000 Indians died from disease, starvation and treacherous conditions. This travel became known as the “trails of tears”. These Native Americans were not how white settlement described them. Many of the tribes adopted Euro-american practices and created their own communities with schools and churches, even developed their own languages and created bilingual newspapers.

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In the 1800’s many people were traveling on the trail to Oregon, this journey was not all that it seemed to be for many. People faced many hardships that would effect their lives and their journey. To start, since the trail was so long and people would go with lots of people food ran out quickly for most, this caused people to become sick or even starve to death. If this where to happen people would not have any supplies to properly dispose of the body they would just have to bury them in the ground, which may be hard for some. There was also the possibility you would encounter a unfriendly indian that would either kidnap, kill, or molest you.

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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.

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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..

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These people were called pioneers. They could have been on the search for gold, or couldn’t maintain themselves where they lived. There were other reasons too. Anyway, these pioneers had to travel in a difficult and dangerous way. It took months to travel to their destination.

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Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.

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In the West during the 1800s, the population was expanding. It was Very Wild, So that is why they called it the "Wild West". Trails were expanding and the territories were being organized. In the southern of the United States lifestyle was more traditional.

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“1491” Questions 1. Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment.

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