<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-111433 size-full" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-oregon-trail-history.jpg" alt="the oregon trail history" width="1200" height="690" srcset="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-oregon-trail-history.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-oregon-trail-history-300x173.jpg 300w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-oregon-trail-history-1024x589.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-oregon-trail-history-768x442.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />
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In 1800s America, <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/search/manifest%20destiny/">Manifest Destiny</a> dominated all thoughts of Western expansion. This belief was that Americans had the right to move west, so inevitably, that would happen. Thus, pioneers carved out the Oregon Trail, the first of many but the most important transit routes. Sheer numbers made the Trail important. Between 1840 and 1870, historians estimate 300,000+ emigrants used the Trail, more than other named trails. The mortality rate hovered around 10%, so traveling involved some risk.
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<h2>Trail Origins</h2>
<figure id="attachment_111434" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-111434" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-111434 size-full" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mountain-men-oregon-trail.jpg" alt="Mountain Men by Dan Stovall. Source: McCauhen and Burr Fine Arts" width="1200" height="730" srcset="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mountain-men-oregon-trail.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mountain-men-oregon-trail-300x183.jpg 300w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mountain-men-oregon-trail-1024x623.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mountain-men-oregon-trail-768x467.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-111434" class="wp-caption-text">Mountain Men by Dan Stovall. Source: McCauhen and Burr Fine Arts</figcaption></figure>
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Trappers, traders, missionaries, and settlers became the first to use the Oregon Trail in the early 19th century. Profit, especially for the European fur trade, drew Americans West after the 1803 Lewis and Clark Expedition. These groups traveled by horse, as the Trail did not develop much until travel by wagon train became common in the 1840s. Changing fashions ended the fur trade, but the Trail&#8217;s path had been created. The Oregon Trail&#8217;s kickoff point started in Independence, Missouri, though some migrants began in St. Joseph, Missouri. Wherever the journey started, Oregon, especially the Willamette Valley, was their destination. The settlers saw the land between, like the Great Plains or the Rocky Mountains, as something to be crossed. The idea for farming or mining would come much later.
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<h2>Getting Ready: Wagons and Baggage</h2>
<figure id="attachment_111435" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-111435" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-111435 size-full" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/praire-schooner-wagon.jpg" alt="Prairie Schooner Source: Wikimedia Commons" width="1200" height="536" srcset="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/praire-schooner-wagon.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/praire-schooner-wagon-300x134.jpg 300w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/praire-schooner-wagon-1024x457.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/praire-schooner-wagon-768x343.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-111435" class="wp-caption-text">Prairie Schooner Source: Wikimedia Commons</figcaption></figure>
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What and how much to take became hopeful emigrants&#8217; biggest decision. The journey would take about five months, covering fifteen to twenty miles daily. Travelers needed to pack supplies and equipment for the entire journey – few settlements existed until the 1850s. In preparation, most families sold off everything to finance their journey.
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They bought &#8220;prairie schooners&#8221;- covered wagons with dimensions of six feet wide, twelve feet long, and high sideboards. Teams of eight to twelve oxen pulled these sturdy wagons, packed with hundreds of pounds of food, clothes, possessions, and spare wagon supplies (grease, harnesses, feed, ammunition, and more). The emigrants walked most of the Trail, freeing storage space. A family hoping to travel to Oregon easily spent $2,000, equivalent to $80,000 in 2024. 
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<h2>Jumping Off</h2>
<figure id="attachment_111436" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-111436" style="width: 1121px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-111436" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/old-oregon-trail-map.jpg" alt="Old Oregon Trail map by Irvine Shope. Source: Curtis Wright Maps" width="1121" height="800" srcset="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/old-oregon-trail-map.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/old-oregon-trail-map-300x214.jpg 300w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/old-oregon-trail-map-1024x730.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/old-oregon-trail-map-768x548.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1121px) 100vw, 1121px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-111436" class="wp-caption-text">Old Oregon Trail map by Irvine Shope. Source: Curtis Wright Maps</figcaption></figure>
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This meant getting started. Because of a wagon train&#8217;s leisurely pace, distance, terrain, and weather, emigrants needed to begin at a good time of year. The trek was done in stages, as the wagon train had to clear specific points. Failing to do so meant being trapped in winter snow or having no grass to feed livestock. The terrible fate of the <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/donner-party-doomed-trek/">Donner Party</a> was a well-known outcome of not being wary of the Trail&#8217;s dangers.
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<h2>Death, Disease, and the Native Tribes</h2>
<figure id="attachment_111437" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-111437" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-111437 size-full" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/indian-hunting-buffalo-edwin-willard-deming.jpg" alt="Indian Hunting Buffalo, by Edwin Willard Deming. Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum" width="1200" height="726" srcset="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/indian-hunting-buffalo-edwin-willard-deming.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/indian-hunting-buffalo-edwin-willard-deming-300x182.jpg 300w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/indian-hunting-buffalo-edwin-willard-deming-1024x620.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/indian-hunting-buffalo-edwin-willard-deming-768x465.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-111437" class="wp-caption-text">Indian Hunting Buffalo, by Edwin Willard Deming. Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum</figcaption></figure>
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Pioneers on the Trail feared Native attacks, weather, accidents, and even snake bites. Accounts by travelers describe accidental gunshots, being run over by wagons, drownings, and death by scurvy. The biggest killer along the Trail was disease, particularly <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/louis-pasteur-pasteurization/">cholera</a>. Such diseases spread quickly because of bad sanitary conditions and close interactions. Such death was painful and short. Survivors buried the victims quickly in poor or unmarked graves due to time pressures. With a ten percent mortality rate, thousands died en route, meaning an average would be ten to fifteen deaths per mile.
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The pioneers may encounter formidable <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/midwest-native-american-history/">Native tribes</a> like the Sioux, Arapahoe, and others, but this rarely led to conflict. Most wanted to trade food for supplies, but both sides stayed wary. Later, the Native tribes became angry with the pioneers who often wasted resources, like needlessly shooting buffalo or dirtying rivers. By the 1850s, conflicts were more common.
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<h2>Terrain Obstacles</h2>
<figure id="attachment_111438" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-111438" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-111438 size-full" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-trail-wagon-replica.jpg" alt="Replica wagon in Oregon. Source: Travel Oregon" width="1200" height="656" srcset="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-trail-wagon-replica.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-trail-wagon-replica-300x164.jpg 300w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-trail-wagon-replica-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-trail-wagon-replica-768x420.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-111438" class="wp-caption-text">Replica wagon in Oregon. Source: Travel Oregon</figcaption></figure>
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In the 2000-plus miles of the Oregon Trail, travelers crossed prairies, deserts, rivers, and mountains. The wagon train may need to find a crossable river ford or pull wagons up a pass. Settler diaries write of dumping precious items to lighten the load. Pioneers coming later found thousands of discarded items flung by desperate families hoping to keep moving.
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<h2>The Transcontinental Blow</h2>
<figure id="attachment_111439" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-111439" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-111439 size-full" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-wagon-trail-ruts.jpg" alt="Wagon trail ruts in Oregon. Source: Normans Running Wild" width="1200" height="723" srcset="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-wagon-trail-ruts.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-wagon-trail-ruts-300x181.jpg 300w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-wagon-trail-ruts-1024x617.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/oregon-wagon-trail-ruts-768x463.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-111439" class="wp-caption-text">Wagon trail ruts in Oregon. Source: Normans Running Wild</figcaption></figure>
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The Oregon Trail&#8217;s heyday went from the 1840s until after the <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/economic-impact-of-the-american-civil-war/">Civil War</a>. The golden spike that joined the two final rails of the 1869&#8217;s first transcontinental railroad spelled the end. Now, traveling west only took days but was more expensive. The Trail was mainly used for cattle drives and occasional wagon trains. No historian would deny the Oregon Trail&#8217;s pivotal role in America&#8217;s Old West saga. Thousands traveled looking for something better, risking their lives to do so. By 1860, California&#8217;s American population stood at 380,000.

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