On May 1 , 1839 , 17 men leave the courthouse square in Peoria , Illinois . Their end was totravel beyond the Rocky Mountainsand settle the Oregon Country , a dispute soil that encompassed present - day Oregon , Idaho , Washington state and British Columbia . precede by an attorney named Thomas J. Farnham , this little party carried a flag that read"Oregon or the grave . "
dying was a clear-cut possibility . During the eighteenth one C , American trailblazer flock to the Pacific Northwest . Untold one thousand of lives were lost along the path .
Most of these migrator took the same general course of action : A 2,170 - mile ( 3,490 - kilometer ) route that extend from western Missouri to the Willamette Valley in what ’s now Oregon country . This highway for mule , covered beach waggon and ambitious someone became know as the Oregon Trail .
And a break in the Rocky Mountains made its existence possible .
A Continent, Divided
The Rocky Mountains start out in New Mexico and go along north into the upper recession of British Columbia . But themountain rangedoesn’t go uninterrupted . One renowned break occurs in southern Wyoming , where the Rockies are punctuated by a flat , grass - covered prairie that ’s aptly called theSouth Pass .
For thousand of years , its universe was known only to indigenous mass . Then in 1812 , the fur traderRobert Stuartcaught air current of the pass and embark through it with six familiar and the aid of a Native American scout .
David Wolf is the executive director of theLegacy of the Plains Museumin Gering , Nebraska . He says the 1812 " discovery " of the South Pass would go on to inform the trajectory of the Oregon Trail .
" The Rocky Mountains are very difficult to traverse on horseback , " Wolf say via email . " Once the South Pass was discovered in Wyoming , it made the trek a lot easygoing . The South Pass is a very flat , very wide cut through the spate . "
This , he explains , is why Oregon - stick to pioneers overwhelmingly favor to locomote through southern Wyoming by way of the Nebraska panhandle ( where Gering now resides ) .
Treaties, Trappers and Missionaries
A few twelvemonth after Stuart cross the South Pass , representatives from Great Britain and the United States play to discuss the fortune of the Pacific Northwest .
Much of the current U.S.-Canadian border was found with the signing of the historicTreaty of 1818 . The document declare that all the nation from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains that fell below the forty-ninth parallel belonged toUncle Sam . Meanwhile , the aforementioned Oregon Country would be collectively check by Brits and Americans for a menses of 10 years . In 1827 , the shared occupation policy was extended , but some swelled changes were on the visible horizon .
It was against this backdrop that the Oregon Trail as we now know it first became popular .
Early on , the cross - country route was preponderantly used byfur - trappersseeking northwesternbeaver pelts . But they were n’t the only demographic to take advantage of the lead . During the 1830s , the Oregon Trail became a attractive feature for Christian missionaries like Jason Lee who were looking to proselytize toNative Americanswhile they also spread out their faith in the Pacific Northwest . Other emigrants simply want to procure a just life for themselves — and snag some open plowland .
Free Land … For Some
The accurate number of travelers who took the Oregon Trail has been lose to the sands of time . However , according to Wolf , it ’s been judge that " around 400,000 people " made the misstep .
By the early 1840s , there were enough American settlers in Oregon to establish a probationary governing . On July 5 , 1843 , the Oregon provisional governmentpassed an actthat allowed single white man to claim 320 acres ( 129.4 hectare ) of land in the region . By extension , married couples were eligible to lay claim up to 640 demesne ( 259 hectares ) .
regrettably , the same body also enacted measures specifically designed tokeep African - American out of Oregon . To this Clarence Day , the state make do with the aftermath of those racist insurance policy .
As intend , the provisional government activity ’s action triggered a westward exodus of white menage into the Oregon Country . uncommitted tilth , after all , was hard to follow by in eastern Department of State . TheU.S. Bureau of Land Management reportsthat in 1843 alone , " almost 900 people " trekked across the Oregon Trail , with plenty of cattle in towage .
Settling Matters
Three old age later , Great Britain and the United States reached an agreement about the Pacific Northwest ’s political futurity . Under theOregon Treatyof 1846 , near all of the disputed lands below the forty-ninth analogue were handed over to the U.S. ( Notably , British Canada retained all of Vancouver Island . )
An act ofCongress in 1850 recognizedmost of the country call that were made under Oregon ’s provisional political science . The policy of doling out free land to northwesterly migrator extend until 1854 , when afee of $ 1.25 per acrewas inflict — and a cap of 320 total acres ( i.e. : 129.4 hectares ) per new title was enforced .
Those terms were attractive enough to keep the hopeful colonist stream in . Their preferable mode of exile was acovered wagon . rip by mules , horses or oxen , these consisted of orthogonal , box - shaped " beds " with removable canvas covers . A typical wagon in those day could extend loads of 1,600 to 2,000 pounds ( 725 to 907 kilo ) .
" citizenry packed various things , but what they arrived with was a dissimilar affair , " Wolf says . Litteringwas rampant along the Oregon Trail : traveler left everything from old piece of furniture to dinnerware dispel across the American countryside .
" With limited space on the wagons , they had to have some intellectual nourishment , repair tools , spare parts and mayhap some home heirlooms , " Wolf explain . " With very [ few ] settlements / forts along the fashion , they had ensure they had enough supply . "
Most syndicate traveled in station waggon trains , organized train that sometimes contained more than 1,000 individual colonist . Mind you , these did n’t always follow the exact same course . On their path through Missouri , Nebraska , Wyoming and other DoS , wagon train pathways covered vast expanses of ground . " The trail got very wide , " mark Wolf .
And it was full of grave . Conservatively , about4 to 6 percentof all the outgoer who exact the Oregon Trail died along the way . Many a wagon train was devastated by cholera , dysentery and other diseases . " You also had death from fording unsafe river , Snake River bites [ and ] accidents … like getting feed over , " Wolf says .
