The Great Migration
There were many reasons that people began traveling the Oregon Trail. The ones who chose to leave their region where they once lived were called emigrants. The word immigrant has a different meaning. When people are called immigrants it is because they are coming into a country to settle, as opposed to leaving a country or region to settle elsewhere. Many emigrants were in search of new opportunities. In the 1840’s a married couple could claim 640 acres of land for free in the west (Historic Oregon City, 2008). Also, the region west of the Mississippi had a good reputation of being free from disease and having good farmland where the emigrants could settle. Others had a more patriotic reason for emigrating. They did not want the British to make claim to the land. All of these reasons brought the emigrants together in May of 1843 to head west, which came to be known as the Great Migration (Dary, 2004).
There were many reasons that people began traveling the Oregon Trail. The ones who chose to leave their region where they once lived were called emigrants. The word immigrant has a different meaning. When people are called immigrants it is because they are coming into a country to settle, as opposed to leaving a country or region to settle elsewhere. Many emigrants were in search of new opportunities. In the 1840’s a married couple could claim 640 acres of land for free in the west (Historic Oregon City, 2008). Also, the region west of the Mississippi had a good reputation of being free from disease and having good farmland where the emigrants could settle. Others had a more patriotic reason for emigrating. They did not want the British to make claim to the land. All of these reasons brought the emigrants together in May of 1843 to head west, which came to be known as the Great Migration (Dary, 2004).
On May 22, 1843, 875 men, women, and children met at Elm Grove, which was about twelve miles from Independence, Missouri. They had sold their homes, farms, and other belongings to save money for wagons, oxen, and supplies that they would need for the trip. The emigrants asked Dr. Marcus Whitman to accompany them on their journey since he had made the trip prior (Dary, 2004). After gathering supplies and holding meetings to decide who would be in charge during the trip, they set off for Oregon. A journey this long had never been attempted with this many people, wagons, and livestock. At first, travel was slow and muddy as the wagon train traveled through the Kansas River valley. An emigrant named Edward Lenox wrote in his journal about his experience: “The large bands of cattle… could hardly be rounded up in the morning before ten o’ clock, and so delayed us in our morning start. There was just cause for discontent in respect to loose cattle. Some of the emigrants had only their teams, while others had large herds in addition which must share the pastures" (As cited in Dary, 2004, p. 89). The emigrants eventually had to split up into two columns. The first column was called the light column; this column was for those that only had a few cattle. The ones that had more than four or five cattle rode with the cow column. The emigrants continued into Nebraska and rested at Fremont Springs, after the explorer John Fremont; then they came to the Platte River, which is formed by the North and South Platte rivers. The North Platte begins in Colorado and flows southeast through Wyoming and Nebraska, and the South Platte begins in Fairplay, Colorado and flows north towards Denver to Greeley. Then the South meets the North and forms the Platte River (Dary, 2004). Crossing the river could be difficult at times with all of the cattle. It took up to two days to get everyone across the river.
The emigrants would eventually pass Chimney Rock and Scottsbluff, which are two prominent landmarks, and come to Fort Laramie; and cross the South Pass to Fort Bridger to buy supplies. At this point the emigrants had about a thousand more miles to travel before reaching their destination. They would continue along the Green River into Idaho and come to Fort Hall. Some of the emigrants decided to blaze a new trail to California while the others continued to Oregon. Those that continued to Oregon would eventually have to abandon their wagons and make rafts to float down the Columbia River into the Williamette Valley, or Oregon City (Munkres, 2011 ). After traveling 2,000 miles, the emigrants finally made it to their destination in hopes of starting a new life. Because of their success, many more emigrants would travel the trail for many years to come.