Oregon Trail Essay

The Oregon Trail

In 1843, The Great Migration was transformed into the largest migration event in history when citizens across the south were able to travel west and overcome the physical frontiers discovering the fresh land filled with gold in other necessary resources in the west. ’The Oregon Trail is one of the most iconic pieces of American history and part of the larger history of Oregon. The trail was first written about in 1849 by a historian while in use by migrants and American settlers. The Oregon Trail was the biggest migration trail in the U.S being used by 300,000 to 400,000 travelers in 1840 and 1860. Travelers began the 2,000-mile route to reach destinations like Willamette Valley, Puget Sound, Utah, and California.

The trail was the only reason why travelers made it to the West before the Transcontinental Railroad was finished. As a result, states could have been formed differently. Some of these states included Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho and Utah. If it wasn't for the Oregon Trail most western states would not look like how they do today. As people traveled westward, their culture and religious beliefs followed. If travelers had not been on the Oregon Trail other religions would have dominated the west. Native American culture and religion could have probably been the main customs. Eventually, the British would have ended up maintaining the beliefs of the Oregon Territory. The Oregon Trail could have changed the whole religious beliefs and cultures of the

Continued emigration added sufficient population by 1846 to aid U.S. negotiators in securing the Oregon Treaty with Great Britain, which described Oregon as the land north of the 42nd Parallel, east to the Continental Divide, and north to the 49th Parallel. The enormous influx of overland emigrants and liberal land laws caused the U.S. government to purchase, through treaties, millions of acres of land from Native people. The treaties, negotiated by Isaac Stevens and Joel Palmer in 1854-1855, secured most tribal land in the states of Oregon and Washington. Founded in 1874, the Oregon Pioneer Association held annual meetings, published memoirs of their trail experiences, and sought to document and preserve details of the emigration. Among the early memoirs published by the Oregon Historical Society was Jesse Applegate’s “A Day with the Cow Column in 1843” in 1900, one of the most reprinted Oregon Trail narratives. The enthusiasm for the Oregon Trail as a state icon prompted 1852 trail emigrant Ezra Meeker to retrace his route west in reverse, driving his ox-drawn wagon from Olympia, Washington, to Iowa