Introduction
"Then it may be asked, why did such men peril everything---burning their ships behind them, exposing their helpless families to the possibilities of massacre and starvation, braving death---and for what purpose? I am not quite certain that any rational answer will ever be given to that question."
---Diary of James Nesmith, emigrant of 1843 (as cited by the Oregon Department of Transportation and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, 2007)
"Then it may be asked, why did such men peril everything---burning their ships behind them, exposing their helpless families to the possibilities of massacre and starvation, braving death---and for what purpose? I am not quite certain that any rational answer will ever be given to that question."
---Diary of James Nesmith, emigrant of 1843 (as cited by the Oregon Department of Transportation and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, 2007)
The Oregon Trail was a journey of more than 2,000 miles to the west that many traveled looking for freedom and opportunity. Those who traveled were not only mountain men and fur trappers that roamed the mountains, but most of them were regular men, women, and children looking for a better life. The emigrants began in Missouri and traveled through Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon. Sometimes the emigrants made the route to California in search of gold, or to Colorado and Montana in search of new opportunities. The Oregon Trail could be treacherous and cost many emigrants their lives; however, it was a risk they were willing to take for their families and their future. From 1843 until the early 1850's, it is speculated that at least a quarter of a million people traveled the trail, and many others after that; until the railroad made travel easier in 1869. (Dary, 2004).
Today a person can still see the ruts that the wagons made many years ago, and many pioneers have left behind journals and diaries that shed some insight on what traveling the trail was like. My purpose in choosing The Oregon Trail for my project is to bring to life once again some of those writings and show what the trail was like then versus what it is like today.
Today a person can still see the ruts that the wagons made many years ago, and many pioneers have left behind journals and diaries that shed some insight on what traveling the trail was like. My purpose in choosing The Oregon Trail for my project is to bring to life once again some of those writings and show what the trail was like then versus what it is like today.