Oregon TrailBy: Emma Begley, Julie Gillen, Ryan Siwinski

Finish

Start

LocationOregon Country: Area stretched from

Northern California to the Southern Border of Alaska

Yankee merchants from New England ship travel and traded furs to these tribes

Indian trails led through Rockies California and Oregon

Mountains Endless forests Fertile valleys

Geography

Explorers After Lewis and Clark’s journey, fur

traders searched for beaver pelts.

Jedediah Smith & Jim Beckwourth

Explorers (continued) Mountain Men- hardy trappers generally adopted Indian

ways and many married Indian women.

Also used Indian trails led through Rockies California and Oregon.

Treaties and Foreign Affairs Early 1800’s four different nations, US, Great

Britain, Russia, and Spain claimed the Oregon Country.

1818- US and Britain signed a treaty of joint occupation of region

The Convention of 1818 disregarded their wishes of being a joined region.

Treaties and Foreign Affairs Adam Onis Treaty:

Spain gave up claim and Russia followed suit

1845 more than 5,000 Americans arrived at the Oregon Country

Demanded Control

Treaties and Foreign Affairs In the treaty of 1846 the US and Great Britain

agreed to divide the Oregon Country along the 49 parallel

Serious conflict did not start until the 1850’s. Indians traded food in return for clothes Diseases like cholera were more deadly than

Native Americans killing 10,000 pioneers between 1840-1860

Americans and Natives Churches went to the Oregon Country to convert

Native Americans to Christianity Methodist minister Jason Lee arrived in Oregon in 1834 He built a Mission school for IndiansIn Willamette Valley

Americans and Natives One of the first white women

to cross the Rocky Mountains was Narcissa Whitman

Her husband was a doctor and they lived and workes amoung the Cayuse nez Perce

Whitman’s missionaries had no success converting the Native Americans

Oregon Trail Statistics In 1842 organized wagon trains carried

masses of migrates to the west. They were following Indian trails opened by

mountain men. 2,000 mile journey Could take 4-6 months Very expensive: A typical family paid

between $500 and $1000 to make the trip

Oregon Trail Statistics Exhausting because they had to get the heavy

covered wagons across the rivers. The most common reason people headed for

the west was to attain land. Could be settled farmed of bought or sold at

a profit

Reasons for Trail Trade Goods Wanted to gain the Independence of Life No conflict arrived until the 1850’s when Americans

traded with Native Americans and when disease became more deadly

Usually traveled along the Platte river in Nebraska and south pass in Wyoming

After entering Oregon they would follow the snake river and the California trail Sante Fe to the settlements in the north west

Food Cornbread, Potato-Bread, Muffins Bacon Pancakes Dried fruit, corn, and meat Tea Cookies