Worksheets/Test
A Family Weighs the Pros and Cons
Name_________________________
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Directions:
Read the attached page which has editorials showing the pros and cons for going to the Oregon Country. Discuss these pros and cons. Where do you feel your family would stand on going to the Oregon Country? Would they go? Why or why not? What would your reaction be to their decisions?
I think my family would have/would not have gone to Oregon because:
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My reaction:
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Source: www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/education-teachers-packets.php
Do we go or do we stay?
Editorials saying: “Go to Oregon!”
St. Louis Gazette: “The Rocky Mountains can be crossed by wagons and families.
There is no obstruction the whole route that any person would dare call a mountain. Even delicate missionary women have crossed the mountains with no ill effects.”
Missouri Gazette: “The Indians are hostile, true, but overlanders traveling together in large wagon trains are safe. In all probability they would not meet with an Indian to interrupt their progress. The army has forts and soldiers to protect travelers and more will be provided.”
New Orleans Daily Picayune: “Those bound for Oregon are Pioneers, like those of Israel that followed Moses through the wilderness. Going to Oregon is also patriotic. It is our manifest destiny to settle the west.”
St. Louis Gazette: “In Oregon, there are spacious, fertile valleys where good crops can be grown, and free land is available. Although there is still land to be had back east, prices are rising and economic conditions are poor. No one need starve on the overland journey if they plan carefully. Provisions can be taken to last for months and game is plentiful. In fact, the health of overlanders should improve in the great outdoors.”
Editorials saying: “Do not go to Oregon!”
North American Review: “Why go to Oregon to get land? An Illinois farm of the finest land would be far superior.”
Daily Missouri Republican: “Families with wagons will never be able to cross the mountains. Men should not subject their wives and children to all degrees of suffering.”
New Orleans Weekly Bulletin: “The Indians in the west are hostile. The wagon trains would be in constant jeopardy.”
The New York Aurora: “Most of the overlanders and their animals will die of starvation and exposure in the vast desert areas of the west. It is madness and a folly to attempt a trip to Oregon.”
Liverpool Times: “The country is expanding too fast. Besides, the Oregon Country is claimed by the British. If war comes it would be impossible to defend it.”
Source: www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/education-teachers-packets.php
Life on the Oregon Trail
The pioneer’s day usually started at sunrise and lasted until early evening with a one hour rest at noon. This rest was important because it gave men, woman and animals a much needed break from walking.
Emigrants were always on the lookout for the perfect campsite with water, firewood, and grass for grazing their animals. Good campsites were well known and well used. The evening campfire provided comforting warmth, a place to dry wet clothes, and to cook a hot supper. If they were lucky, the emigrants would have quail or buffalo with their bread. But most often, they ate bacon--day after day.
After a few years of the Oregon Trail being used, there were not many trees left along the route. The emigrants were able to build fires by cutting green willows when available, burning drift wood, twisting dry grass into tight bundles, or when crossing buffalo country, using dry “buffalo chips”, sometimes called prairie coal.
Water was important along the entire length of the trail, and the route followed rivers as much as possible. Some tried to filter out sand and other particles found in river water by straining the water through fabric. Drinking untreated water caused a lot of sickness and death on the trail. Emigrants had to haul water for long stretches between rivers and springs.
By nine p.m. they would go to bed for the night. Some families had tents, but most just slept on the ground. Exhaustion helped them get to sleep, even though it was very uncomfortable. At five a.m. the whole process started again. They traveled about fifteen miles a day for nearly six months.
Sources:
www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/education-teachers-packets.php
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Camping.html
Oregon Trail Test
1. What were two reasons why people went on the Oregon Trail?
2. Where did the Oregon Trail start?
3. What type of animal did most pioneers use to pull their wagon? Why?
4. What did the wagons hold?
5. Name three of the hardships that the pioneers faced while on their journey.
6. Did the pioneers and Native Americans always fight on the Oregon Trail?
7. What were landmarks used for on the Oregon Trail? Name two landmarks on the Oregon Trail.
8. What did the emigrants do when they reached Oregon City?
