The Historic Trail
The Oregon Trail is a 2,170 mile route from Missouri to Oregon this trail enabled migration from eastern US to the western US. This trail started being used in 1836 but did not get very popular until 1843 when approximately 1,000 people immigrated there. The number of people immigrating nearly doubled the next year, this era was called the Oregon fever. This lasted from 1843-1869, during this time about 500,000 people had made the trip.
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Problems Along Way
While the immigrants were traveling to the west side of the US there were many dangers in the way. The wagon is already carrying cargo which is very heavy and the oxen wont pull more weight. So everyone has to walk except for the younger children and the elderly. You could easily get run over by the wagon because it was huge! There was accidental gunshots from people messing around with guns There was also deadly diseases such as cholera. All of these things risked your chance of getting to the new land.
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The End of the Journey
The immigrants knew they were making progress if they reached land marks. There were many different landmarks but most of them were Forts. At the forts they would provide tools to trade and other useful objects. Some would stay where they were on the trail because they liked the area and others would go all the way to Oregon.
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