The Oregon Trail By Juliet L.

Introduction
Imagine that you wanted to travel from Missouri to Oregon. Sounds easy, right? Just take an airplane and in a few hours, you’ll be there. Let’s say you were wanting to do that very same travel in the mid 1800s. Then, you would either go by foot or wagon on the Oregon Trail. On a plane, you have an almost guaranteed chance of survival. Not on the Oregon Trail, though. The number of problems on the trail could be as numerous as the number of milliliters of water in a full bathtub. Today, you can grab a frozen food from your freezer and zap it in the microwave, and there’s your breakfast. On the Oregon Trail, they had to hunt for food. Imagine that! Right now, you probably have a group of people who you hang out with. You might have to leave friends and family as you ride on the wagon train, and meet others you had never fathomed even existed. Discover life from nearly 200 years ago in the turn of a page.

The Time Period
The time period of the Oregon Trail was truly an important time. During the 1800s, there were no airplanes, cars, no taxis to get you from here to there. Back in those days, you would have to travel by covered wagon. A covered wagon was much more than just a storage unit. It could be a shelter, a protective shield for you to stand behind. In fact, if you pulled upon the drawstrings, the thick tarp would protect you from the horrid wind and rain. On the Oregon Trail, you wouldn’t go alone. You would travel with a wagon train. When you had a covered wagon, it was similar to toys you may buy in the store that you don’t have the battery for it included. The wagon would be the toy, and the battery would be either a mule or an oxen. Likewise, at the end of the day, the animals would be very tired. The more animals you would have, the better off you would be. The effect of exhaustion wouldn’t be as much. But what kind of animal would you buy? A mule was speedy, but not as strong as the hefty but slow oxen. The people on the Oregon Trail would move with limited belongings. What would you bring in your wagon. Buckets, candles, skillets of iron, and family heirlooms were among the most popular of items. The Oregon Trail had loads of loaded wagons traveling through present day Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho. Imagine traveling by foot for days across those states, none of the current transportation systems! Clearly, the time period was one of the important elements of the Oregon Trail.

Problems and Viruses
The Donner Party was stranded in the Sierra Mountains in 1846. Many died in their time in the mountains before they were rescued.

There were quite a few problems and tear-jerking incidents that happened on the Oregon Trail. Sometimes, a pioneer may catch a contagious illness that would eventually spread to many of the others on the wagon train, and many people would end up intending to go to Oregon, but never making it all the way there. Some sicknesses that pioneers may have had outbreaks of were cholera or typhoid, both caused mostly by consuming contaminated food or water, sometimes influenza, most commonly caught by pregnant women or obese people. They might also catch smallpox because of a virus called the Variola virus. Sadly, if you got an infected limb, there wasn’t really a good treatment for it, except for, of course, cutting that limb off from your body. That method of getting rid of an infection by saw was called amputation. Another method of “healing” was called bloodletting. Back then, a belief was that if you were sick, you had bad blood flowing through your body. Bloodletting was where a nurse would cut open a vein or artery to let the blood flow out. It was not very effective. Performing bloodletting would result with the patient becoming much more weak. One extreme tragedy in 1846 was called the Donner tragedy, for the man leading the Donner party was a man who went by the last name of Donner. The party was going along the Oregon Trail, but they were moving as slow as a sloth. The people decided that they should just take a little shortcut across to the California Trail. Then, the Donner party came across the Sierra Mountains. It was quite a horrible obstacle in their path. There was no game to hunt there, so some had to sacrifice their mules, oxen, and even pets sometimes for food. By the time the remaining of the party were rescued, 41 people had already died. Clearly, traveling on the Oregon Trail was not always the happiest, best experience.

Food
The food you might get if you were on the Oregon Trail would have to mainly be hunted, if there was any game. Children would collect buffalo dung, or buffalo chips, to fuel the fires. The dry grass would burn too quickly.

The selection of food on the Oregon Trail was not very elaborate. It consisted of coffee, beans, rice, bacon, biscuits, cakes, and sometimes the day’s hunt, usually a wild bird. Sometimes, there wouldn’t be a fresh kill for days. The pioneers would have to survive on coffee, extremely salty jerky, and biscuits. During problematic times, someone’s pet may have had to have been killed for food. Though some facts about food sound quite terrible, it wasn’t always so bad. In fact, the wagon train made a new discovery: butter made the easy way. The pioneers would hang a bucket of milk on the end of a wagon train, and the swishing motion churns the butter, without the hours and hours of doing the laboring work. All in all, the food on the wagon train had not much variety.

People On the Oregon Trail
Native Americans sometimes would help the pioneers, but grew to distrust them. Soon, they didn’t want anything to do with the travelers on the Oregon Trail.


There were many types of people that you might meet if you were traveling upon the Oregon Trail. One of them would be the captain. They were usually a member of one of the families traveling on the wagon train. Occasionally, though, they could just be an outsider who knew the trail and wagons well. The captain would decide when it was the right time to leave, stop for the day, and when they would start and go again. They would also decide that if somebody did something bad, they would be the ones to punish that person or group of people. Another type of person you might meet could have been a Native American. Sometimes, they would supply the travelers with food, supplies, and shelter. They did not do so for long, though. The Native Americans grew to not trust and dislike the pioneers for many reasons, such as them not using all parts of the animals on the Native American land that they killed. They would take only some, and leave the rest to rot. Also, instead of meeting people sometimes, the pioneers would have to leave loved ones. Friends and family would often be left behind, and you wouldn’t be able to contact them for a while. You would also meet many others who you would become close with on the wagon train. Truly, there were many people whom you would encounter, and leave behind, on the Oregon Trail.

Conclusion
On the Oregon Trail, you wouldn’t have cars to travel, only a covered wagon. Many problems had occurred, and many died, trying to reach their dream destination. The food did not have very much variety, but the pioneers made some great discoveries, and the people you would meet were very numerous. If you wanted to go to Oregon right now, go to your computer and book a flight, but just imagine what you would have had to do 200 years ago, in the 19th century.

Pioneer Life by Luc

As thousands animal drawn wagons raced there way west others were just settling down on the prairies, or building shelter in the enormous rocky mountains. No Pioneer lived easy lives, but every pioneer was ready to brave the elements.

Of course there had to be reasons to move west. You would be leaving everything you owned behind and often there were fatalities, and you would be leading a entirely new life. There were many reasons, like the most popular, gold. People would go crazy for gold, they would brave the rocky mountains, or they would go to california to hope to win it big. There were also people who were fleeing to the west for religious freedom. There were even sometimes escaped slaves that fled west knowing that if they went North they would be caught. Some of the earliest people who went west were mountain men and fur traders , they would just live off of the land and not having to worry about all the expenses of being in the crowded city. Lastly, there were cattle ranchers who were looking for big, good, and cheap land to raise their cattle.

The hardest part of being a pioneer was the wagon trip no doubt. The trip would take about four to eight months to complete on a regular basis, many pioneers would give up and go home, but the devoted would stay and make it the whole way to the west. To make sure that you could make it to the west you would have to have a wagon. The standard wagon could hold up to five tons in supplies, that would come in handy if you were going the whole way to the pacific Ocean.





This is the inside of a covered wagon in the 1700- the 1800.

Once you started out on your way west you would start to drain your supplies. Sometimes Indians would tax you for coming into their lands, this often resulted in going to bed hungry because of shortage of supplies. Though, sometimes that wasn’t the case, some Indian tribes would trade with the settlers to make their trip west easer. They would trade food for clothing, and clothes for food. The pioneer children would make friends with the Indian children, and sometimes the pioneer children would fight their parents to stay. Part of this reason was that some young children did not know why they were coming along on west.

Some of the most common deaths were diseases. Probably the most common death was cholera, you get this disease when you drink polluted water. So many people died from this disease and other diseases the major pioneer routes had ten graves per mile. Speaking of graves when pioneers died there families or friends would have to bury them on the side of the road without proper burial rites. Pioneers would hide the graves, and put heavy rocks on top of the grave so native americans did not find them and take the clothes, animals would also find the body’s and eat them. To prevent this pioneers would make a bonfire over the grave and then they would run over the site with their wagon multiple times so it looked like the dirt had only seen the underside of the wagons wheels.

At last the journey to the west was over and people could settle down in there log cabins in the mountains, or the sod houses on the prairies. Though when I say they settled down I didn't mean that they would lead easy lives, with the dust bowls, the grasshopper plagues and the freezing cold winters pioneers never had easy lives. Children on the prairies would sometimes have to do chores that mean life or death for the families. They would plow fields, milk cows, tend the livestock, and help around the house. Up in the mountains some kids would help mine for gold, but that was very rare, normally they would chop firewood and they would help around the house and cook meals.

When you went to school in the west you would probably be in a single house school with kids that were five years younger than you. Since many people were poor, they only had a few chalkboards and they normally cleaned them with water or spit. When you wanted a drink in school hours you would have to go outside to a pail that collected rain water.

No matter where you were, where you came from, and no matter how rich you were the pioneers rarely lived easy lives. The pioneers would have to brave the frigid winters, they would have to deal with the numerous grasshopper plagues, and they would have to not breath in the disgusting dust in the dust bowls. Pioneers rarely ever lived easy lives.

The California Gold Rush By Mac

The sun is shining and maybe there is even a breeze. Mmm feels nice. You are panning for gold in California but aren’t having any luck finding any. It is hard work mining for gold and you were hoping for hands full of it that you can spot easily and just pick up. But that is not what it was like during the California gold rush.

THE GOLD RUSH BEGINS!

The gold rush started in 1848. The first hand full of gold was found at sutter's mill on January 24. It all started when the word spread to San Francisco and soon word was all over the world! When the California gold rush first started as you now know it first spread to San Francisco, but you may not know that in San Francisco there was a newspaper about the gold rush. It had all the information you needed like where the California gold rush was, what materials you needed to find gold, and all the information on ways to get there. Soon all the men in San Francisco fled to California for gold.

THEY ALL CAME FOR GOLD

You could come from China or maybe Germany or any ware in between. They could've come from anywhere around the world and they probably came to California. Most of the first people who came to California found lots of gold and eventually got rich, but the rest of them were not so lucky. Most of them came to find gold but were disappointed to find out that there was no more gold, it had all been taken.

Soon the population of San Francisco went up to 25,000 people. The California gold rush whas a big impact on California because it eventually got so many people it could and did become a state. Which impacts us still today.

The Gold Rush By Luke B.

The Gold Rush was a very interesting thing. It was very interesting because of how the gold was found, the huge migration west, what everyone was doing to get the gold in California, and all the conversation about it.

The person that found the gold was Marshall. Marshall was working for Sutter at Sutter’s mill. Marshall was going to check on the mill to see how it was doing and coming along when he saw something shiny in the stream. It was GOLD! He got it and took it to Sutter and they tested it and found it was real. Sutter and Marshall swore to keep it a secret but something that big couldn’t stay hidden too long. So soon everyone new.

Then that made the huge migration west happen. Everyone went west to get California's gold. So many people went and almost went crazy from not being there. Many people call that gold fever. There were many people thinking they would go then get rich and come back quickly, but that wasn’t really going to happen. Men were almost the only people who went because they thought that the women couldn’t do it as well as they could and women would get hurt. So it was almost all men going. Some went in huge wagons through the land and others went on gigantic boats over ocean. Both were hard and painful, but lots wanted gold so much that they got hurt and went through all the pain.

Many did so much for the gold. Lots did the hard journey and some fought for gold. So many found gold just not many got enough to be rich. The largest piece of gold weighed about 195lbs. Lots were all about the gold and getting rich. In most cases though the people selling the equipment to get the gold made more money then the miners themselves. They had so many people that would buy the equipment then not get any gold. In this gold rush though you were either the person sad they got nothing, or the very rich person that became a millionaire.

There were many books, newspapers, and conversations about the gold rush. It was everywhere. Everyone wanted to know who got rich or who got nothing. They needed to know everything. It was like they were there. Even if they knew no one in the gold rush they needed to know about it so there were many newspapers made about it. Even the president knew about what was happening. Most had a husband there or a father that was in the Gold Rush, so they all wanted to know if there family would be rich soon. Then that involved reading the newspaper or books about it. If you didn’t read the newspaper then you would ask a friend about what what was happening and many were having conversations with friends about who got this and who did that.

Clearly, the gold rush is a very interesting thing. It is interesting because of how it was found, the huge migration west, and what people were doing for the gold.

The Transcontinental Railroad By Lily

The transcontinental railroad was a great event in our history. The first steam engine was invented in 1698. Thomas Savery invented a steam engine that was later raced against a horse named Lightning. In this race the steam engine proved to a good form of transportation. The bad thing is, they were very uncomfortable. The smoke and sparks were not well contained. Most passengers were burnt by the sparks. Many people got holes in their clothes. Before the transcontinental was built, there were serious renovations to make rides comfy. The train was a big event, but how did it start? Did it have any issues? Where was it? Read to find out.

The railroad was a great idea. This is what most people thought. Transcontinental railroad. America as a whole loved it. “It will help slavery spread to the new territories!” cried the south. “ It can help end slavery!” cried the north. Both did not want to give up. There was also the issue of finding a path that did not run into a stream, river, lake, or canyon. Grenville Dodge found the best route. This route followed the Platte river in Nebraska. The only flaw to the route was that it went through native american land. The builders had to remove natives from their territory. The Sioux, Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Arapaho were tribes in the way. They would not leave the land they had lived on for generation after generation. So, they fought unrelentingly. The workers fought as long as they could but eventually they had to call help. The U.S army had to be sent to move the natives. The government and president Lincoln created the Pacific railroad act. Then when it was official, the government asked the Central and Union Pacific railroad companies to build the tracks. The offer was, the more track laid, the more money the companies made. That is how the famous project began.

Who worked on the rails you ask? Well, The two companies were the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. The Central Pacific employed mostly chinese immigrants.They were paid $1 a day. By the end of the building, there were 12,000 chinese immigrants working on the rails. The Centrals had the hard job. They had to work through the Sierra Nevada mountains. On the other hand, the Union had to work across the open plains, which isn't that bad. They had mostly Irish workers. The Irish were paid $35 but they were paid every month not day. Also, railroad officials stole money and got richer by the day. The supplies they gave the workers were not save or good quality, so most of the rails that ere built were not safe to put a train on. You would think the officials spent money on better rails. They spent it on themselves! How greedy and selfish.

You know who built the transcontinental railroad, but how did they build it? There were four main jobs. Surveyor, graders, hammerers, and track layers. Surveyor is by far the most important. The surveyor maps the route. They make sure that the workers don’t get off the route. They are usually in the front. Then there are grades this is by far the most dangerous job. Graders were mostly in the Central Pacific crew. These are the guys that blasted through the mountains. They placed TNT in little holes to make tunnels through the mountains. The longest tunnel is Summit tunnel at 1,659 feet long! TNT was not the best method though. It was very effective, but many workers died blasting. THey couldn’t get away in time and were blown up with the rock. After the graders clear the way, Track layers, well, lay track where the surveyor tells them to. This seems easy but they also had to carry he rais. One rail weighed 560 pounds! After the track is laid hammerers come through and pound spikes into holes. This holds the rail down. This is how the rails were built.

The end is upon us. The two sides were both very close to the middle or ,in this case, the end. They decided to meet at Promontory Summit, Utah. It was a race to the finish. The Irish laid ten miles of track a day.When both met at the center they sent both companies locomotives up the track. The Centrals Jupiter and Unions number 119 met as well. As a ceremony, Railroad officials drove a gold spike into the ground. The spike is no longer in the ground, but in a museum. The telegraph sent the message, “Done” while the newspapers wrote, “Wedding of the Rails.” The railroad was finished seven years ahead of schedule. The Central team layed 700 miles of track and the Union team lead 1,000.The rails could carry 20,000 people 1,776 miles. A ticket was from $136 to $2,288 dollars. It depended on the class and seller. In the first ten years of being completed, the train shipped 50,000 dollars worth of goods. That is the end.

I have told you the basics but to be a surveyor you need more information. You are about a spike hammerer. This means you know some, but not that much. There are tons of good sources that will give you more information. I hope you learned something. (If you didn’t, please reread the paper.) Thank you for reading, but my trains a leaving, and I gotta go. Bye.

California Gold Rush By Manuel S

California is a place where Disneyland and other magnificent items are but there is something even more magnificent happened.Long time ago In the year 1848 and 1855 there were james Marshall and John of the Marshall witch is some kind of work company.They were walking along the side of the the river but then there was a beautiful rock or stone that was very rare.

They both bent down and picked up the rock from the cold water. It was yellow and sparkly so they saw a little closer and it was the most rarest thing in the world. GOLD!!!

They were holding gold, actual gold in their hands, they were surprised and decided to keep it a secret but they could not hold it any more as they ran back to the city and they did said it loud and clear that there was gold in the river. Everyone from the world came to there feet grabbed there splice and ran down to the river even from China they would make ten times in a day would be better than a normal job.

Some minders would bring food and other living sulpice such as coffee,bacon, sugar, beans, lanterns, and sleeping bags. People would arrived and start to look for Gold but some others were going to the mountains and smash!!

They would mind to see if there was Gold. But most people were at the river because that is were the gold was usually there. People were looking hard but some did not even find a piece of gold but some people found tons of gold.This was horrible because know there is going to properly fight about it and create violence over it.When that was over then people then went back to there villages but some people decided to to stay in california and that was a lot. So now California was named as a state of the united states.

Conclusion As you can see, people had a hard time during the gold rush. Some were during the Gold Rush. Some were successful and some were not. I Love the Gold Rush era and learning about it.If you loved it as much as me,you should check out World Book or Ducksters.

The Oregon Trail By: Mia

Imagine if you had to go back to the 1800’s, and live the hard life that they did. Just picture having to be in a covered wagon that was 2000 pounds, instead of being in a car with air conditioning. If you see how much a normal person would bring on a trip than just see how much they brought when they went on the Oregon Trail. These people died in ways that you could never imagine, unlike how people would die today. You could see that we would not go 2000 miles on a route just walking when today we could go in a car.

What They Put in the Wagons
They put a lot of things that were making it 2000-2500 pounds. They didn’t bring much with them, but they brought the most important stuff. First, they mostly brought food with them like hardtack, coffee, bacon, rice, beans, and flour. Also, how they made there food was they had coffee pots, some buckets, and iron skillets. Next, they had rifles to kill animals incase they got in the way. Importantly,they brought tents, and also bedding, so that they could go to sleep at night. They also, brought axes, and shovels so they could get firewood, and for shovels they used them to get out of sticky situations or for digging something. Next, they brought seeds and farming tools for the people who came to farm. Another thing is, they had clothes for when it was time to change. They had, lanterns so they could see, during the day and night. Next, they had medicine just in case anybody got sick. They also brought paper and pen just in case they need it to write anything down that was important. Lastly, they have spare wagon parts just in case something broke down.

How They Died Along the Trail
A lot of people died on The Oregon Trail due to different things. One of the things was diseases such as cholera, smallpox, scarlet fever and influenza. Some were killed by bad weather. Some were killed by getting the wagons up the mountain. Others died by drinking unclean water.

The Route
They took a route that was 2000 miles, and it is still up today. First they went on the trail, that went through six states. Those six states were Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. In those six states it started in independence, Missouri and ended in Oregon City, Oregon. It went through two mountains, and those mountains were the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains.

The Covered Wagons
On the Oregon Trail they used covered wagons, but mostly people just walked with the wagon. First, a normal wagon is about ten feet long, and 4 feet wide. Next, they were called Prairie Schooners because they were like boats going over the prairies. Also, the covered wagons were mostly leaded by oxen. Lastly, only the pregnant or the ladies that just had a baby would go into the wagon, but everyone else had to walk along with it.

The Oregon Trail is one of the most important trails in history. The people on the Oregon Trail people had to walk 10-20 miles a day. Imagine you had to walk 10-20 miles a day. They had to walk beside the covered wagon, and they didn’t stop for breaks. A lot of people remember it today because it was a major route that the people took when migrating to the western part of the united states.

Transcontinental Railroad By: Liam N.

Imagine you lived in New York 150 years ago. You want to move from there to California for the gold rush. Would you travel by boat south or take a wagon? People wanted to make a faster way to go across the country. That is why people made the idea for a Transcontinental Railroad and formed two companies for it. It changed how people got from East to West forever.

Idea for a Transcontinental Railroad
To get to California the fastest, people took trains to Chicago and then to Omaha, Nebraska. From there they took wagons across the Rockies, the Great Basin, and the Sierra Nevadas. A man named Theodore Judah thought of the idea for a railroad that would travel from Sacramento to Omaha. He spent a lot of time in the mountains looking for a route through, and was successful after many years. He hired four businessmen who went to California in the Gold Rush. The men went there and became rich in the gold rush by selling supplies to the miners. They were called the Big Four. They wanted to do business with mines in Nevada because the mines had gold, and Judah said the railroad would make that possible. They were Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington, and Charles Crocker, and they sent Judah to ask for the money. He was successful and the government set up two companies to make it a reality.

Union Pacific Railroad Company
One of them was the Union Pacific. They would work there way West from Omaha. The first problem was that they had to wait until the American Civil War was over. They had to cross the plains and Native American territory. It was easy going at first but they had some problems. They had to have supplies brought from far away because the wood for ties on the plains was soft and water was hard to come by. To solve this, they made trains with cars for sleeping, blacksmiths, food, and anything else that might be needed while building the railroad. These were called work trains. Also, they were attacked by Native Americans. One troop of Natives led by chief Pawnee Killer overturned and burned two trains. They also almost overturned another. They were the biggest problem for the workers. They railroad workers went about 4-8 miles every day. The Union Pacific traveled farther but got to Promontory later.

Central Pacific Railroad Company
The other company was the Central Pacific. They worked East from Sacramento. They went fast at the beginning but soon came to the mountains and had troubles. They lost most of their workers in mines. The leader suggested hiring Chinese, but another leader turned him down. Finally they agreed to try a few and they worked so well that soon most workers were Chinese. They had troubles with snow covering tracks for up to 10 ft. and ended up investing in snow sheds.




Snow sheds were used in the mountains. They were a costly investment but made it so the workers could lay track instead of shovel snow.

They had to blast through mountains, and the Chinese were able to make it go a lot faster. They were loaded into baskets and held by the mountainside to but explosives in. Even with that, they only went 1-2 ft. every day. After three years they cut out of the mountains. After that they went up to 10 miles every day. They arrived at Promontory first but went less.

Celebration and Riding the Railroad
They railroads met on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah. Thomas “Doc” Durant, leader of the Union Pacific, drove in a silver spike. Leland Stanford, leader of the Central Pacific, drove in a golden spike. They were made out of silver and gold for the celebration only and were taken out afterward.



Promontory Point, Utah was the

meeting place of the railroads.

Leland Stanford and Doc Durant

drove the spikes in to finish the

railroad and then skooh hands.

Train service began in a week after the celebration. People could travel from coast to coast in a week and spend only $100. It used to take months and cost up to $1,000. The native chiefs could ride in passenger cars and other natives could ride in freight or flat cars. Immigrants could only ride in zulu cars, with wooden benches and maybe one stove. They had to either bring food or get it at restaurants once they stopped the train. First class costs were about $136. They rode in cars called pullmans, and they had beds that could be lifted during the day. Many had instruments like organs and dining rooms with great food and crystal chandeliers. Many african americans worked as the room attendants and baggage carriers. They were called pullman porters.

Conclusion
Clearly it took a lot of work to make the Transcontinental Railroad. It was a great idea that required two companies to work very hard. Even with that it was a cheap and fast way to get from coast to coast. Things would likely be different had people not created it. It was the third choice after taking a wagon or a boat in the question I asked before.

Oregon Trail, Yo By: Pedro

It’s a warm summer day, and you are walking alongside a wagon for thousands of miles, going for a farming live in the Oregon territory that the US bought from Britain in the 1800s. You’re on the legendary Oregon Trail! Your feet are killing you with the pain of the long walk, and the sweat of it is making your clothes stick to your body, and the sun is making you overheat. That was how it felt to travel in the mid 1800s! For the start, some people sold everything in their possession to make the long trip to Oregon, and when you think about all that the people actually had to do in the trail, you find it not boring after all! There were also other ways that people made the trip.

If you thought that everybody went to Oregon by wagon train, boy are you wrong. If you count the people that went by ship and train together, you get more than 50,000 people, that’s insane! When people were on both wagons and ships, people threw some of their stuff that they were bringing out and just left it there. On wagons though, the people only crossed five states going northwest while the ships went all the way down to South America and up into the US, to Oregon. One of the advantages of going by ship was that you didn’t have to go through flooded rivers like wagons had to. But still, wagons were not as dirty as the ships were and when you went by wagon, you would get there way before someone that was going by ship. One disadvantage for the wagon trains though, was that people had to walk next to the wagons for miles.

If you were on the Oregon Trail, you would be doing stuff all over the place. Your schedule would be very tight. One of the main reason that people went to Oregon for was because of the rich soil that was there. For some of the people, the trail was more severe than to others, because people drank out of water holes that were contaminated, so they were contaminated and could not walk alongside the wagons. The first people to make the journey went on the year of 1841 and the last in 1869. The most weight that a wagon could carry was only about 2,500 pounds and went very slowly. In the year 1846 a man named Lansford Hastings published the book “The Emigrant’s guide to Oregon and California” wich told people how to get to these areas in an easier way. Some people relaxed on sundays and others didn’t because they wanted to get to Oregon as soon as possible. Some people starved to death when they were in the trail and many others got close to their end when they starved, but the thing that killed most of the people in the trail was the disease called Cholera. At night the people mostly circled the wagons for protection from the wild animals, though another problem was the native american tribes. The natives killed as many as 400 hundred travelers during the journey, but natural disasters also killed many people though they were mostly storms.

Before anything, people had to prepare for the 2,000 mile long journey to the west. What the wagons were mostly pulled by were oxen, even though they were very slow they were really steady. If you were going by wagon to Oregon, it would take you about 5 months to finally get to the beloved territory of Oregon. Most of the people that made the trip began in cities near the Missouri River and most people called these cities “jump-off cities” and those were the cities in which people bought all of the stuff they needed to make the trip… and also sold some of the things that they had to make the money that they needed to buy the supplies that would be useful during the trip. People made the trip first in 1841 but Oregon just became a territory in the year of 1846. If you were alive in the time of the Oregon Trail, you would have known that one of the most common types of transportation of the time was traveling by wagon and it took a long time to get from one place to another.

In 1863, Native Americans attacked and destroyed wagons in the Oregon Trail. Natives killed many people in the trail.

People traveled on the trail from the year 1841 up to the year of 1869. Marks of the Oregon Trail are still visible today through all the places that it crossed and all the wagons that carried things within them. It was a dangerous journey, though it gave people a second chance in their lives.

A wagon crashed into the mountains and the people have to walk until they find another wagon. Wagons mostly crashed going down the mountains.

Pioneer Life By: Bella

Introduction

Life in the 1760s through the 1850s, was very different than life now. The pioneers had to make everything that they used by hand. Today you can buy things from stores, which is a lot easier than making everything. The children had to do way more chores than some children have to do today. The cabins were very small. Now, most houses are a lot bigger, and contain more than one room. When the pioneers were moving or traveling, they did not get to bring much. Today, you can bring more stuff on vacations, and when you are moving.

Children:
Pioneer Children probably did not have the best childhood. The children had to walk many miles to get to school, and they were punished very easily. A few of the things that they were punished for were being late for class, getting the wrong answer, or falling asleep during a lesson. The punishment, was that they either had

This is what most pioneer children had to write on, sice most pioneers did not have a lot of money.



to write many sentences, or they had to sit in a corner.

Back then, many people did not have a lot of money. Most of the children had to write on slates with chalk, since paper was very expensive. Only a few of the students got to write with paper and inc. Children were forced to be right handed, even if they preferred to use their left hand.

When the children were not in school, they had to help their parents on their farm. They would also go out with their fishing poles to help their mother prepare dinner. Even if they had to work a lot, they still found time to play. Some of the things that they would do to on their free time, is they would play on their father’s hay wagon.

Every Sunday, the children’s parents would teach them prayers.The pioneers were christians. They would not do much on Sunday, but worship god. They could not do any fun things, or go out with friends on Sunday, because of their religion.

Housing/ Cabins:
Back then, cabins were very small and only contained one room, that were 16 feet wide, and 20 feet long. The pioneers used about 80 trees just to make one cabin. They would cut the trees into long logs. They did not need any medal nails, and spikes to stick them together, it was very easy for them to stick together on their own. There was not much light inside the cabins when it was night time, because lights were not invented, so they had to burn candles to make light, and even with it, it is still dark.

This cabin was used as a house during the 1840s, and are used as barns and sheds today.




Many pioneers did not have a bed. They would roll up in buffalo skin, and sleep on the floor. Some of the Cabins had lofts, that is where the children would sleep.

The advantages of having a stove compared to a fireplace are that if you had a stove the fire would be inside of the stove, so no younger children would get hurt. If you had a fireplace, sometimes the women’s dresses would catch on fire. Also, sometimes the women, or whoever is making the food, would accidently drop the food into the fireplace, and it would burn.

When the pioneers had some free time, them and their neighbors would get together, and build barns. When they would finish, they would celebrate, by having dance parties.

Items they Made/ What they Wore:
The pioneers made almost everything that they used. The Women sewed all of the clothes that they and their family would wear. They did not have to make much clothes, because the pioneers only had two pairs of clothes to wear there whole life. They would wear one while the other one was being washed. When the clothes would get wore out, they would get rid of them, and make new ones.

Other things that the pioneers made, are carved utensils. Some of the utensils that they carved were spoons, ladles, bowls, and platters. Every growing settlement had a blacksmith, a cabinet maker, and other craft workers.

Most gentlemen would wear a shirt and pants that were made out of deerskin, or wool, or any kind of animal skin that they killed. The Ladies wore long dresses, that covered their shoes. On top of the dress was a apron. The ladies also wore hats that match their outfit.

Traveling:
When the pioneers were traveling, they could only take stuff that they needed. If a child wanted to bring there special doll, or toy, they could not. They could only bring what could help them live.The pioneers would pack all of there stuff onto horses, cows, wagons, carts,boats, or whatever vehicle they were traveling on. The pioneers moved west to have better life for themselves, and for their children. Most of the pioneers walked, but some of them got to ride, like a mom and a infant, or an elderly women got to ride.

The teachers lived with her/his students whenever the moved or were traveling.When they were traveling, or at anytime, they had to hunt for food. Other stuff that they ate were, corn and meat. When they got to the place that they were headed for, a general store would open. You could trade stuff, and buy stuff there. If you lived far away from the general store, you would go to a salesman, where you could get news. The more people living there, the more houses, buildings, and stores the pioneers had to build.

Conclusion:
The pioneers probably did not get to have a ot if free time. It was way different back then, and we should be grateful for all of the stuff that we have now. Some of the examples are big houses, children get to do less chores, we do not have to make everything that we use, and when we are traveling, we can bring more of our beloved items. Back then, none of this was the same.