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.

The California Gold Rush By: Emerson R.

It is a hot humid day in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You’re walking along in a gold mining camp. When you see a happy man with a shiny rock in his hand. That man had just found gold!
The gold rush started with a person named James Marshall finding gold at Sutter’s mill. Though gold is very valuable, there were better ways to make money during the gold rush. By the end of the gold rush, California, which is the state that the gold rush happened, had enough people to become a state.

On January 24, 1848. A very lucky man named James Marshall found gold at Sutter’s mill in California. Marshall was working on building Sutter’s mill when he saw a shiny speck in the stream by the mill. This shiny speck was gold. He told his boss named John Sutter, and they both promised not to tell anyone. But somehow people learned about this and they rushed to California to try to make their fortune. These people came to be called the 49ers or gold seekers. Though after the first couple years you could still find gold most of the miners that became rich, came early. During the year 1849 90,000 people came to California to mine for gold. Many people left their jobs to go mine for gold. During the gold rush the eastern population reduced a lot and half the California soldiers left to mine for gold. The camps that the miners worked in were called boom towns because the population in these towns increased a lot in a short amount of time. The most famous of the boom towns is called San Francisco. There were three ways to get to California one by land, one by sea, and one by both. So how would you get there?





These are some of the mining tools that they used to find gold. Such as a shovel a pan and pickaxes. People sold these items to make money during the gold rush instead of mining.

Even though you could make a ton of money during the gold rush there were better ways to make money. For example, you could make a lot of money from selling tools to the miners. Now you must be thinking how you could make more money selling tools than mining for gold. Well, how you would do this is by buying all the tools from the east and selling them for a lot more in California, millions of miners wanted tools so, yeah you would make a lot of money. Did you know because they couldn’t find gold most of the miners became farmers or ranchers? Or you could give lectures to people in the east for a good profit because they want to know whether it is a good idea to go too California to mine for gold. So how would you make money during the gold rush?

At the end of the gold rush there was about 30,000 native Americans in California whereas before the gold rush there was only 14,000 native Americans in California. See not only the Americans wanted some of that gold. The gold rush lasted a long time. It lasted 12 years, it went from 1848 to 1860. In those 12 years only about 10,000 miners became rich from mining for gold. Yeah, yeah, only 10,000 MINERS! Yes 10,000 is a big number but there were millions of miners that came to California to mine for gold. Here let’s compare them. 1,000,000>10,000 (1%). So not many miners found gold. So, do you think you have the luck to find a lot of gold and become rich?

In conclusion the gold rush was a very important 12 years in California’s history. It is the main reason why California became a state and rerouted the states future. So, who do you think told everyone about the gold finding at Sutter’s mill? Was it Sutter or Marshall?

The Gold Rush By Libby

Around 1848, James Marshall Wilson found gold in California. It was a hot summer day. James was looking at his workers as they were digging a trench. He walked across and saw something shiny in the water. This was the start of the Gold Rush. Finding the gold was easy at first, but it got harder. This meant that only a few got rich from Gold Rush, but California.

Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill. The Sutter’s Mill is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1848 when Jame Marshall first founded gold he tried to keep a secret. Around 1849 the secret got out. Marshal had an idea that if you come to Sutter Mill you have to pay a fee. When people came they refused to pay the fee. Around that time Marshal, was pushed aside. The Sutters Mill was near mining sites like Mormon island, Weber Creek, and Bidwell Bar.

If you were going mining you would need supplies right well if you keep reading then you will find out what you needed back then. You would need a pick, Water canteen, pan, bucket, and you would need a shovel. Now I will tell you why you needed those things. You needed a pick because if you want to go in a cave and try to find gold there then you would need a pick. You would of also needed a water canteen because as you know people get thirsty easily. If you went to go find gold in the river then you would need a pan. If you put the pan in the water then you swirl it around and if you're lucky you might find gold. If you would of found gold it was a little piece and you would like to look for more. Than you would probably have a bucket because as I said, when you find a little piece of gold you would probably what more then you just put it in the bucket. The last thing is a shovel if you want to look for gold in the ground then you would have a shovel. As you know people came to California and did you know that a lot of people quit their jobs. People had to quit their great jobs and went to go west. Did you know that a lot of people had to leave their families?

After the Gold rush in 1853 The city of California was packed. The roads where trashed. There was about 15,000 people in California before the gold rush and after the gold rush there was about 100,000 people. Many people who didn’t find gold were farmers or ranchers. The gold rush helped stores in california get bigger on one of thoughs stores is. Levi Strauss sold imported items for people in the gold rush.



As you now people in the gold rush had a lot of pressure on them. The Gold rush was a very important time in 1848. Now you have learned all about the gold rush. Thank you for reading my essay I hope you learned a lot.

The Oregon Trail By: Donovan

The Oregon Trail was very sad. It has the events of many deaths involved with it. But it also helped most of America prosper. This is the story of the Oregon Trail.

It started on May 22, 1843 in Independence, Missouri. The East was getting crowded so people kept moving West to plant their crops. Western Oregon seemed like a perfect place to find a large amount of land with soil. The reason they did was because they wanted to spread the region from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Most of the people that went on to Oregon found they could make a living by hunting and selling animals. The Oregon Trail was 2000 miles long.

In order to keep going and not slow down they threw useless items away and only took the necessities. The wagons were small and tightly packed. Children or sick people got to ride up on the front of the wagon. Some rode horses and most people walked along the trail. The forts provided a place to rest safely from the dangers of the Oregon Trail. Fur Trappers built 5 forts along the Oregon Trail. The forts were also used for fur trading, stores, and a place for people to rest. The emigrants put citric acid and sugar in water to make lemonade. They put their wagon in a circle at night to protect their camp. They walked 15 to 20 miles a day.

Ox dragged the wagons across the river. The river that they crossed was the Missouri. Sometimes the ox were too tired to swim and they got stuck and drowned. Many people died from Cholera. Cholera is the disease that causes diarrhea and thirst and it spreads mainly inside of the water. Most travelers came down with a disease called Scurvy. It is a disease that is caused by lack of vitamin C. In order to make this better they had to eat fruits, vegetables and/or vinegar. Almost all of the men carried guns because they were afraid of the Indians. But in actuality the Indians were really nice because they helped drowning immigrants and rounded up lost cattle.

Blue Mountains were the last obstacle before reaching Oregon. They had to cross the mountains before the winter or they would be stranded, starve and then die. 20,000 people died from the time they left until they got to Oregon. They first arrived in Oregon in the mid 1800’s. By 1850, 55,000 people crossed the Oregon Trail by wagon each year. Oregon became a US territory in 1848 and was named the 33rd state in 1859.

As you can see there are many facts and bits of information from the Oregon Trail. Such as the places they went through like the mountains. Another interesting fact is that they only took the necessities. This is the end of my story of the Oregon Trail, I hope you enjoyed it.

The Transcontinental Railroad By: Byung-A

You’re building the Transcontinental Railroad. This is only your first day building. You have been struggling for a long time now. Mining, blowing up mountains, attaching new rails every 2-3 minutes, but one thing that is most common you face is pain. You feel so exhausted, weak, and injured that your hands start turning so red it bleeds like you’re holding on a hot metal pole for an hour. Finally, you hear, “LUNCH TIME!” You took a lunch break at 3:00 p.m. But by the time you have decided that you’re done having a lunch break, you have just started a long lasting build. The railroad has only just begun. Now in present days, you don’t need to struggle building a 1,800 mile railroad by hand. You got vehicles to do the work for you. But back then, railroads like the ones we see now were a big difference between the present day railroads. They were built by hand, and was a major struggle for the men to build it from Sacramento, California, to Promontory, Utah.

The railroad all started as a person named Theodore Judah that thought of the idea of building the Transcontinental Railroad. Along with 4 men named Leland Stanford, Collins P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. Soon, Abraham Lincoln, president of the U.S., signed the “Railroad act of 1862.” The railroad was set and approved to be built by men. Since the railroad was going to be more than 1,000 miles long, men were divided into 2 different groups to build the railroad. The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. They were each ordered to build in different locations. However, they would both end up meeting each other eventually. The Central Pacific was ordered to build from Sacramento, California, and the Union Pacific to build from Omaha, Nebraska. There were many types of people building the Transcontinental Railroad. But the most common workers to build the railroad were Chinese men. Otherwise, men from the CIvil war would help build the railroad and also for military protection. In total, it was calculated that around 20,000 men would help build the Transcontinental Railroad. But it wasn’t always easy to build the railroad by hand.

When the railroad first started being built under construction, people had to blow up mountains to make tunnels. Unfortunately, the explosives they used (black powder) could only blow up to 10-12 inches a day and most of the blowing was by the Chinese workers. The largest tunnel they blew was an accurate measurement of 1,659 feet long.

6 years past for the people to build the railroad. Later, on May 10th, 1869, both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific both met in Promontory, Utah. they had finally completed the Transcontinental Railroad. To celebrate the accomplished railroad, they added the “golden spike” which can be seen in Stanford University. Later on, the railroad became a very common source for a lot of people for transportation in the 1800’s. Now in days, we use cars, planes, and different kinds of vehicles to travel across land or water. Furthermore to the railroad, there were additional rails included to the Transcontinental Railroad later on.

Now, the Transcontinental Railroad stands out a transportation vehicle and a major accomplishment to the U.S. after the Civil war. Now, people still ride on the Transcontinental Railroad and it still stands out in many places. The railroad is one of the most well known transporters that is efficiently used for traveling across state to state. Now, it is still an important memory to us and others to remember.

Oregon Trail By: Bron .S

Have ever tried to get somewhere and thought it was so long? Imagine being on the Oregon Trail which took years to finish.

About the wagon on the Oregon Trail on the wagon the was a hoop that stretched over the wagon from one side of the wagon to the other. There were also things called drawstrings and if you pulled them they could stop rain or wind from coming in. The cloth was called canvas they rubbed it with oil to make it waterproof. Today people can still see the marks the wagons made. They were built to keep there luggage in.

These are marks left from the oregon trails wagon https://www.hcn.org/issues/44.2/following-the-oregon-trail-digitally-and-on-foothttps://en.wikipedi

They would send messages to the wagon behind to tell them what they were in for. The wagons would leave at about seven o’clock. After five or six months they traveled about 12 thousand miles. The best place to sleep was under the stars. In 1843 the oregon trail started. 300,000 people on the oregon trail. Oregon Trail was the longest of the great over routes in the Westward Expansion. Went through 5 current states.

a.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail These are the mountains in Oregon Oregon was a state in 1859. They sold muskrat, Beaver skins. When they talked about Oregon they made it sound magical that's why people wanted to go there. Rocky Mountains sliced through the west. Pioneers did not have enough room for a lot of fancy items on the wagons.

They left a lot of stuff behind but the only ones I could find where an accordion, Tobacco, and a watch. They mostly ate biscuits,dried fruits, crackers, beans, eggs,bacon, dried meat, potatoes, cornmeal, rice, flour, coffee. Chores they did skinned animals,milked cows, fetched water,watched the cattle, cook the food, washed dishes.

Thanks for reading and once again if you think a 1 hour or 2 hour car drive is long remember the Oregon Trail which was a couple year long wagon ride.

The Oregon Trail By: Brody

Wow! Looking back pioneers must of had a difficult life living on the Oregon Trail. Zoom! Now these days we have trains and airplanes to travel were we want to go. In the 1800’s you had to walk. Imagine your feet blistering, and walking for miles in the scorching sun. If you want to learn more information about pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail, I suggest reading the rest of the writing.

Pioneers filled there wagons with lots of supplies. For a family of four, it would take around one thousand pounds of food. Oxen and mules usually poled the wagons. Pioneers mostly brought bacon, flour, sugar, and coffee for food. They also brought tents, pillows, clothing, and blankets.

It was a long process traveling to Oregon Country. The trip took about six months. The full trail was two thousand miles long. They walked close to sixteen miles a day. Pioneers started there trip in Independence, Missouri. Over fifty thousand pioneers used the trail between 1841 to 1860. The first large group of pioneers was about five hundred. They called this the “Great Migration of 1843”.

As you can see, the Oregon trail was a hard and difficult time. Many people lost their life trying to better their families. Imagine that you and your family died trying to get to Oregon Country. Would you risk your life trying to travel on the Oregon trail?

Pioneer Life by Aubrey S.

Imagine living in the wilderness and constantly moving, walking, hiking everywhere, waking up at 4 am by a gun shot then completing chores before starting the trail.




Pioneers doing their hard work on the plantation. As you can see they are having the animals pull dirt over the plants.

There was a lot of work to do for the pioneers. They had to build cabins without being able to use even a single nail. They also had to make another building for keeping all the animals safe. They had to make the barn for the animals because of all the wild animals that could put the farm animals in danger. The farmers also had to plant the plants they needed to use. After planting the seeds they had a oxen pull dirt over all the seeds planted. Also some farmers made their houses out of sod.

While researching about the pioneer’s life you get to accept a lot of knowledge about them. Some knowledge you will learn about is how far animals journeyed and who all went on the journey as pioneers. A lot of people were pioneers. Like: mormons or now known as the people of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, black and whites, grandparents, newborns, and Jews all journeyed as pioneers. Every morning a rifle shot at 4 am! It was the pioneers version of a alarm clock. How do you think you would react to the gunshot? I bet I would jump. After waking up they had to do certain chores before they head out for the trail. Girls and boys had separate jobs to do.





This is the pioneers moving west seeking for adventure and moving to live their religion more freely.

I also ended up learning about the native americans while researching. The native americans were very smart. Many years before pioneers came there was the native americans who lived in the west. In the 1830s people called missionaries went to live with the native americans. Missionaries were people who would preach their religion to others to share it with them.Two reasons the pioneers moved west was so one they could live their religion more freely and 2 because some were seeking for adventure. Mountain men sometimes could’ve been mistaken for native americans since they learned how to dress, live, and eat like them.

It was a tough life for the pioneers. Constantly moving around. Would you like to keep moving and sleeping all over instead of staying in one spot or would you not like it? Do you think you would be willing to wake up that early as a pioneer? Would you like to live around people who did not like you at all?

Life of a Pioneer By Annabelle F.

Close your eyes. You are in the middle of nowhere with a wagon and your family. The sun is beating down on you in broiling hot waves. Your feet feel a dull ache also moving in slow waves across the bottom of your foot. Your legs have developed a rhythm that is even more dull than the ache in your foot. They are still burning from the miles you have already walked. Creak, stomp, creak, stomp. The oxen pulling the wagon next to you are just slightly louder than the wagon itself. Many more of these constanogas have the same dilemma in front and behind you. So, where are you? You are in a wagon train searching for new life and new land miles away in the great american desert.

First things first, why would people decide to travel this journey that would make anyone nostalgic about the way their life was back home? The Homestead Act. What is the Homestead Act? Good question, I was about to answer that, next time ask your questions at the end please. Okay, way back when America was not all states, the section in the middle of the continent, sometimes referred to as the great american desert, didn’t have enough people to become a state, it didn’t have any people for that matter. Of course, this is a problem, so what did congress do to fix it? In 1862, congress declared the Homestead act. What did the Homestead Act do? It offered anyone 160 acres of free land east of the rocky mountains and west of the Mississippi river if they lived there for at least five years. The house you built had to be at least 12 by 12. It did not specify whether it was 12 feet or 12 inches, so sometimes people would make one house 12 inches by 12 inches, then go on to create their other house. So would we have children that didn’t want to live with their parents running off to live there? No, you would have to be at least 21 years of age. Sometimes, when there was a particularly amazing plot of land, people would run in a crazy race for that plot of land. This was called a land rush. Here’s one connection to modern times. It was totally free to get a plot of land, right? WRONG! There was an 18 dollar fee to file the application to get the plot of land. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed about people. The homestead act is an important part of pioneer lives.

Second step, once they knew they were leaving on a trip, what did they bring? One thing that they would definitely bring is food. What did they bring for food? No, they didn’t bring cake. Or cookies. No pie either. They brought flour, bacon, rice, beans, yeast powders, and coffee. To cook this food, they brought a coffee pot and a skillet. They may have used buckets to transport food, but I don’t think that counts. They brought a lot of food. These constanogas, sometimes prairie schooners, could weigh up to 2,500 pounds, and most of that was food. So what pulled those 2,500 pounds of constanoga or prairie schooner? The people obviously, they took shifts. Just kidding. They had to have oxen to pull it, because they could not pull that thing across the prairie. Of course, they didn’t just bring food and things to cook it with. They also brought candles for lighting, because they didn’t have light bulbs, and once it got dark, they would want something to help them see. They would bring a rifle because they couldn’t bring meat, so they would have to get it along the journey, and you can’t hunt with a blade of grass. Do you have an item that you couldn’t bear to lose? A cherished family heirloom? An expensive set of china? A phone? The pioneers had these special items too. They couldn’t always bring them, and even when they could, they might need to drop something to lighten the load, and they can’t just go throw the rifle out. Pioneers had to spend a long time packing for the trip.

Finally, what happened when they actually got there? There were several problems I think I need to adress. Way out on the plains, very few trees could be found, so they couldn’t make their traditional log cabins. There was a thick layer of sod on the ground in the plains, so they would cut that into blocks and make houses out of that.



Sod houses “soddies,” are the kinds of houses people would make out in the prairies, they were made out of sod, granting them their nickname.


They also had to improvise with the fire. They would use dry dung from the oxen. There were bigger natural problems that many people would call natural disasters. Dust storms, blizzards, tornadoes, locusts, droughts, wildfires. Will the problems ever end? Dust storms may be the most well known problem on the plains, high winds would blow dust across the plains at high speeds, destroying anything that stood in its way. I say, don’t go outside in one of these, but if you want to get whipped and blinded by dust, okay, than sure. What about blizzards? Like a dust storm, but instead of blowing the dust around, it blew the snow around at high speeds. Don’t go outside in one of these either, I mean, if you want to get lost and die of pneumonia, than, that’s what you should do. Tornados! These speeding funnels of wind would rip your house and barn apart, while scattering about the remains of your crops. Don’t go above ground in one of these, you WILL die if you stay in your house. Just don’t go in this one, loss of limb and death are not things most people would suggest you do.Locusts can’t harm you, but they will eat all your crops and when they die, they smell. The only way to get rid of these pests is to burn the infested crops, and even then, they come back.


Locusts could snap a branch with their combined weight, they would cover the ground so thickly that you couldn’t avoid stepping on them.

Droughts will kill your crops by dehydration, and in a very bad case, maybe even you too. Wildfires, you want to know what these killed? EVERYTHING! I hope you can see why the pioneers thought these were pretty big problems.

Your journey has finally come to an end and you can see where your house will be. You’re ready to collapse into bed, but there is still work to do. I did not give you all the information you could get on pioneer life, and more research would probably do you good. The pioneers had several chores, and you may need several sources in your research journey.

Pioneer Life By Ashton

A large wagon, horses, oxen, and possibly, a mule. You’re filled with excitement, and anxiety. You want to go west, oh, all the possibilities. Inside you also feel nagging dread. You’re leaving a home you love. You wonder, what will life be like for me? What will the journey be like? What kind of trails are there? All of these questions swirl around in your head. Can I go the whole way?

Trails
Which one? There are so many trails to choose from. Pa knows he better choose a good one. Leaving current day Missouri, the whole life we had built on this amazing state. Pa had only decided that we will leave, not where we’ll go.

The Oregon Trail is the most popular, possibly we’ll take that. Or the Overland Trail, but there is nothing special about that one, or the Santa Fe Trail. Hmm, perhaps the Mormon Trail, after all, we are Mormons. The Oregon and the Mormon Trail would be ideal. The Oregon Trail spanning through current day starting point Missouri through, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, to amazing Oregon. The Mormon Trail spreading through current day Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, to Salt Lake City Utah.

The question comes back to how far should we travel? Perhaps we’ll travel with the Oregon Trail, then split off in Wyoming. That’s what Ma and Pa think we should do.

A question that my friends ask is why we’re leaving. Well they’re right to wonder. After all, we were leaving everything behind, and every one knows those who don’t perish will only have to help themselves later. Unless the government can help every pioneer, then we’ll get a little help. Government did pass laws encouraging us to move out west. Laws including the Homestead Act, a law that states that if we move they’ll help get us settled, as long as we farm the land that comes with the Act. The answer to these questions is simple for Pa. He sees the west as destiny, opportunity. Soon we’ll set out on a transcontinental highway, the trail’s nickname. The Journey we shall embark on.

The Journey
Out west we have had to change our clothing design. Home spun wool, as we need a type of material. Us women and girls have had to slightly shorten our dresses, it would not do to have them getting endless unwashable muck on them. We also have to sew led into our skirts to prevent them from blowing over our heads in violent winds. Pa, my brothers, and of course the other men, had to trade out their old shoes for tall leather boots, a thicker material, to protect them from rattlesnakes, brush, and thorns.

Though the government supports pioneerism, it is very, very, dangerous. There is safety in numbers so most pioneers, like us travel in large groups, sort of similar to bison on the plain outside of our caravan. After walking many, many miles, our usual dawn till dusk, we circle the wagons and handcarts. To keep from having to rearrange all of our supplies, and from unloading them, at night we sleep on the ground inside the circle, with quilts, of course.We have learned to read the sky for an oncoming tornados, now if we see signs of one, we can steer away from the twirling catastrophe.

All the things from home, hold a purpose, and the things we have brought for pleasure are at the minimum. Such things for pleasure do not include my full set of porcelain dolls. My conversation with Ma went something similar to the following; Ma may I bring my nice collection of dolls? Ma strictly answered me with the finality of no.Then I asked if I could bring the oldest doll that came back from hundreds of generations, this she promptly softened up to, she answered yes and smiled. We sold many belongings to get the money for the horses, the oxen, and the large wagon. So, we mostly brought quilts, needles, fabric, thread, canteens of water, and lots of foods that stay good. These simple meals foods include, beans, dried fruit, flour, and all other more original ingredients.

Children's Life and School
Most children like me and my brother, only go to school in the winter, so that we can run the farm. We read the Book of Mormon, and the Bible. When my new friend is at home (she isn’t Mormon), her Ma and Pa teach their family simple prayers, they also read the Bible.

At school, we mostly use black chalk boards, because paper is expensive. We learn basic things, arithmetic, reading, writing, to name a few. When we did use paper, we used the sharp end of a quill dipped in ink. Some kids have a tortured look on their faces. They are probably left handed like me. Mrs. Hawkins forces us to use our “proper” hand, the right one. Is it a crime to eat with the left hand? To play ball? Hawkins makes us feel like it.

Books are expensive, and Hawkins would hate to spend money on that many books. A simple solution to this problem is share a book. Mrs. Hawkins starts, and we read such as a chapter, or more commonly a paragraph. Once we’ve finished our assigned section, we pass it on to the adjacent student.

Well now you know some basic stuff, but not everything. Sing this next part; Oh well, farwell, I hope the trail was swell, but now I got to goooooooooooo. Bye, Bye.

The Oregon Trail By Allyson

Imagine sitting in a dirty wagon with rough clothing. But also walking 10 miles with rough clothing for 6 months. Or would you rather travel on a airplane that probably takes you 2 hours to get there. But the Oregon trail was a very big deal for people wanting to travel to Oregon. They used specific tools to make the trip a success along with being strong people.

Some pioneers got distracted and left the Oregon trail to go to the gold rush. In 1841, 500 people followed the trail. It took 2,000 miles {3,200 kilometers} to get their fully.

The wagons could hold a bit of some stuff. You only could bring stuff that was needed like clothes, shoes, pets, food, and water. {And a few more things}. Sleeping was very hard because since the wagon is small people had to squish together to go to bed. Then in the morning they got up around 7, got dressed, Brushed their hair, Then started to walk another 10 miles. They did not bring a lot of food they also had to kill animals along the way. For the Oregon trail the government made a territory with the states Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and a little part of Montana.

People on the Oregon trail also had to travel down the Columbia River then to Fort Vancouver and through the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the valley of Willamette Oregon.

The people on the Oregon trail disliked walking a lot because they had to walk 10 miles even though they didn't have a choice. The kids that turned 4 had to walk, But if they were under 4 they got to stay in the wagon. Pregnant ladies also got to stay in the wagons to. It took 6 months to get their on time and to start their own state. It was harder with animals because some people had to bring: Cows, horses, Mules,Goats, sheep, dogs, cats, and chickens. When they got in on the mountain parts some wagons fell off the curvy and sturdy cliffs. Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith were very important people when the Oregon trail was happening.

So what I said in the beginning of would you rather. I would rather travel on the wagons so that I could see what happened of all this stuff and the history would be like then. I also really loved reading about the oregon trail in many many books. So that is The oregon country and their traveling history, and their difficulties.

The Transcontinental Railroad By Luke J.

The Transcontinental Railroad was crazy. People dying mountains exploding. But once they were done they could travel across america in 7 DAYS. Do you want to know to know how long it took without the railroad it took near 2 months walking could kill someone from stress. But now we have cars that can get us across from places really fast. Just think about it if you want to learn more about this mayhem read about the facts on The transcontinental Railroad.

Ideas

You might be thinking “well who built the railroad?’’ so people built the railroad but Theodore Judah and Asa whitney both thought of it. They both knew it would make population grow insanely large so. Asa whitney was the one who we should be focusing on because she the only one that could give enough reasons on why they needed the railroad. She was also the only one who could get them to start building. But Theodore Judah did come up with it first so Theodore Judah VS Asa Whitney but I guess Asa whitney wins.

Building the railroad

The railroad was tough work building people were dying from fevers and from stress the cold storms would kill them. And the chinese (which was most of the people making it) got paid very little money about one pound in today's money that is only about one dollar. They also had to blow up the mountain to build more track people would eat but they would go about 10 miles of trak a day that was pretty hard for the workers. People could ride the railroad but tickets were very expensive so not very many people rode the railroad. And the railroad could cary very many people so it was not that full during the time only rich rode the railroad some times .

Celebration

They would have a celebration where they finally met and people were meeting with each other and there was a gold nail that the put into the ground and there was a plaque that said last tie laid. Of course they took out the gold spike thats a lot of cash but why couldn't they pay everyone the same amount of money well because they got that spike from someone so that's why. They would also meat the chinese immigrants some of the workers were dead so they weren't meeting everyone. They also had a celebration when they set the train on the tracks people from all sorts of places were cheering.




They had a big celebration when the two railroads met it is also were they nailed the gold nail into the ground.


Conclusion

so if ever want to actually see the Transcontinental Railroad go to primary point where there is a museum to learn more about it. You can also get more of this information from books all about the Transcontinental Railroad at the museum they even have a golden spike at the museum which must have been pretty hard to get and find it was probably somewhere by the railroad.

This is where the railroad went and started it also shows what they had to go through on the transcontinental railroad.

Pioneer By Adam

Have you ever wondered how and why people moved west if not well still read on if you did do the same and read on. This will give you a few important things the pioneers had to have, their reasons, what they put in there wagons, and after the trail.

Reasons

People moved west for many different reasons. Some moved west to oregon or to find gold. many people had many reasons most whent for the homestead act. It is where you would farm 160 acres for 5 year. That is how the government got people to move west. All they had to is pay a small fee and be off. Former slaves were also allowed to go and farm. People from all over came to gain land. Some went by sea others went by wagon after they got there and set up they would build towns and instead of money they would trade corn or cornmeal. They would also get together to have gathering since the closest neighbor could be miles away.

Packing for the wagon

Before they left they had to have supplies for the trip and for after they got there. They brought around 2,500 pounds of supplies. Men would walk next to there wagons with a shotgun or other type of gun. Since they would go over a lot of different areas. Some of the parts of the wagon would break. So they had to carry extra parts in the wagon. At night they would make a circle of the wagons to keep them safe. They would sleep on the ground, in tents, or in the wagon. Pioneers for food brought flour, baking soda, coffee, dried beef,salt, molasses, rice, cornmeal, yeast powder, lard, and dried beans. Treasures where very important to the pineeres. They sometimes where china, or dolls, or pictures. For tools they had to have they brought a ax, a hoe, a shovel, spade, some heavy rope, chains, a bucket, and auger. For basic supplies they had a lantern, matches, soap, scissors, a few needles, pins, thread, and medicine.

Life after the trail

Unless there were trees nearby they made sod houses. They compacted dirt into blocks and built these into walls. And would lay timber on it to make a fundashon for the roof then they would put dirt on top of it . They stayed cool in summer and hot in winter. Many people went to one room school houses they used slates aka small chalkboards Instead of paper. Schools were closed during planting and harvesting season. The women of this time did so much and here are a few of their tasks. They would make cloth and clothes, gathering cow chips, and sewing. They also made their own fabric using a loom.

This is a type of loom they might have used.


Some things that helped them where the plow and the windmill. The windmill help pull water out of the ground. The plow go plant residue out and smooth out the dirt.

These are just a few parts pioneer life. They had many hardships but they survived.

Gold Rush by Nicholas B

As people rushing in the Mid 1800s boats carriages and wagons came to the new land. Were many fourtens came true and dreams were crushed some people crushed in failure, People struck it rich, and difficulties. THIS WAS THE GOLD RUSH.

As many people came to California there was a person called Sam Branna that got some peoples hopes up as the man who gave up his old life he was panning for Gold. Panning is how people found gold he found a item of yellow very similar to metal people found out it was Gold he was officially the first Millionaire in California some people think that Gold will be easy to find that's not true something amazing that nobody would think that the people that sold tools would get money but they had more than the richest people. This affected the Sierra mountains that were loaded with sellers.

In the time between the years 1848-1855 over 300,000 people came to the new land this sadly meant more people came home with no money. More than half of these people failed and came home in despair need. People came from Mexico,Peru, Chile, Europe, Latin America, and China. San Francisco rapidly kept on growing rapidly in fact people from the Goldrush originally were from the oregon trail group. A verus came and killed people in the desserts in NV and animals.

Some people think a lot of people came home with a lot of money and a success but is it incredible that more than 70 percent come home empty handed in desperate need to go home. People like John Sutter and James Marshall had no chance so whatever. They got half of there stuff lost and even stolen including horses. This meant more people than them got a hard time and the California Gold Rush. The Gold Rush ended in 1860 this was a land of fortens and difficulties.

People in the Gold Rush had tough times and times to take breaks they had luck once in a while. From my book I hope people realize people in those days have much more work and tough time and this was the Gold Rush.

The California Gold Rush By: Phoenix D

Some people find gold, some people don’t find gold. Some find a lot of gold, and some find not as much gold and that is the gold rush.

The California gold rush was a big thing in 1848 at sutter's mill. California was the 31st state at the time of the gold rush.




In 1848 the gold rush was happening and these people went to get the gold in California.



100,000 people lived in California at the time. John Sutter and marshall were the owners of sutter’s mill. Marshall found the gold and than the secret got out and a lot of people came. People went on ships and wagons. Miners used pics, bucket, wheelbarrow, and pans to get the gold.




These are tools that the miners usd in the gold rush in 1848 to 1855. These are pike,shovels,and pans.


Some of the Oregon trail people came to the gold rush and gold rush people went to the Oregon trail.

After the news got out over 380,000 people to get gold. Some got hundreds even got thousands dollars of gold. And some didn’t get an gold. The machines that get the gold destroyed land. After a hard day the miners needed to eat but some miners did not know how to cook so that eat bacon, coffee, and bens. There are boomtowns and ghost towns. Boomtowns are a town that is close to a gold mill. Ghost towns are abandoned towns that is not a place near to a gold mill.

By 1850 the gold want done and hard to find at the end of gold rush. About 45 million dollars was found at the end of the gold rush. Over 380,000 people lived in California in the end of the gold rush. Some people went home happy and some didn’t.

All in all the gold rush was a cool thing to learn about.

Transcontinental Railroad By Lara S.

Imagine walking for hours each day. Sun up to sun down, you trudged along dusty trails, the wind blowing dirt into your eyes. You were trying to walk all the way from coast to coast. You could also be galloping on your horse all day in that uncomfortable saddle. Miles and miles, days and days, month after month, you traveled each day hoping to reach your faraway destination. It was the mid 1800’s and the United states needed an easier way

to travel. This where the Transcontinental Railroad came in. The railroad brought new hope to America, though they had trouble getting started, it was hard work to build, but it was a great victory for the U.S. when it was finally finished.

The first one to think of the Transcontinental Railroad was a man named Theodore Judah. No one believed him that this was a good idea for the U.S., or even possible. People called him “Crazy Judah” for this idea. A few years later, Judah finally got the papers signed by President Lincoln to start construction. A man named Grenville Dodge presented a great route for the train to follow. Finally, all they needed was people to build it. They hired 4 men, Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. These men were called the Big 4. They could not enough find men strong enough for the difficult labor of laying the many tracks. They finally settled on hiring immigrants because they were strong, they worked for cheap, and there were lots of immigrants to hire. Irish immigrants worked on the Union Pacific starting from the east side of the U.S. The chineses immigrants worked for the Central Pacific and started from the west side. Most of the track laid in Utah was done by the Mormons, or now known as the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

These men worked tirelessly each and every day. Some men worked as much as 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. They also face danger. For example, men working through the mountains had to pack a spot on the mountain full of gunpowder, light a fuse, and run away as fast as they could, hoping not to get blown up by the explosion. Mostly these men were Chinese immigrants who worked for the Central Pacific railroad. The longest tunnel built was 1,659 feet long. Many good men died in the process of building the Transcontinental Railroad. There were pros to building the railroad, too, though. Each company got 10 square miles of land for every mile of track they laid, and the railroad was more than 2,000 miles long! The record track laid in a day was 10 miles and 56 feet.

Every day the men worked from sun up to sun down building track. They usually made about 5 miles of track each day.


The railroad was finally completed at Promontory Point, Utah. It was May 10, 1869, a few years after the civil war ended. After 6 years, over 1,800 miles from Omaha,Nebraska to Sacramento, California the Transcontinental Railroad was finished. For the ceremony, Leland Stanford and the rest of the big 4 drove golden, silver, and iron spikes into the ground to finish the railroad. Thousands of Americans watched as they swung the hammer. 1,2,3… It should have been 1,2,3,4 because he had missed!! Filled with embarrassment, Leland Stanford handed the hammer to the next member of the big four. After all the lives that it cost, all the money, the railroad made life easier in America. They called it “The Work of a Giant”.The railroad also opened up a lot of jobs including conductors, and many jobs at the railroad towns.

May 10, 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was finished. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad met at Promontory Point, Utah.


6 years of work, 2,000 miles, the Transcontinental Railroad truly brought new hope to America. Now it took 7 days to get from California to Nebraska, rather than 4 months. You could ship goods across the continent in a week, rather than having to take them by foot or horse. After all the sweat, lives and money the railroad cost, it truly brought the United States together as one.

Transcontinental Railroad By: Natalie

Introduction
Imagine, blasting through mountains with Nitroglycerin all day. Laying track with your buddies, and creating caves. Sounds fun right? Well, now imagine that your a Chinese immigrant working for nearly 24 hours a day, all week. While blasting mountains to lay track, you accidently blow your friend up too. Still sound fun? Well, that is what working on the Transcontinental railroad was like for many men. Although the Transcontinental Railroad was very helpful for people all over the United States, the process of building cost money, and lives. The Transcontinental Railroad required lots of planning, courageous men, and a massive celebration.

The Idea and the Problem
In the 1800s, cars and shuttles weren’t there to transport people and goods quickly. People traveling long distances often had to travel by ship. This often took several took months, and cost a great deal. People begin to talk of a Transcontinental Railroad. Theodore Judah had the idea to put a steam engine on a wagon, creating a train. People everywhere agreed with this idea. Congress had two routes to choose from: The Southern Route, which went through Texas and New Mexico, and The Central Route, which went from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. Eventually, congress decided on the Central Route, which also ran through the Oregon Trail. The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific were two companies set up to build the railroads. The Central Pacific would start in Sacramento, and the Union would start in Omaha. Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862. This granted both companies land and resources to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Now, construction could begin.




Men worked in all weather conditions. Although thousands of Americans appreciated the Transcontinental Railroad, many workers died of exhaustion, weather, and Native American attacks.

Construction
After Theodore Judah hired the Big Four (Collins Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, and Leland Stanford) to fund the two railroad companies, the building began. Charles Crocker was in Sacramento to supervise the first tracks being laid on January 8, 1863. The Central Pacific consisted of mostly Chinese immigrants, and the Union Pacific was mostly Irish immigrants. The Chinese were paid $35 a month, while the Irish were paid up to $4 a day! The Central Pacific had to blast through the Sierra Nevada Mountains with Nitroglycerin, leaving them with only a few feet of track a day. The Union Pacific on the other hand, laid track through miles of flat land. Leaving them with miles laid a day.

Cons of Building
As you may guess, there were many downs in construction. During winters, men had to shovel up snow just so they could lay track. Not to mention, many men froze to death anyway. This left both companies with only feet of track a day. After this major setback, the government decided to make a race between the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. This race was called the Great Race. This sped up the process on both ends of the railroad. The Central Pacific even laid 10 miles of track one day! The Central Pacific won the Great Race on April 30. While the Union Pacific was building, they were sometimes attacked by Native Americans that lived where they laid track. Hopefully all of the cons in building would soon be worth it.

A Celebration

Union Pacific and Central Pacific meet in Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869. The railroad finished seven years before people anticipated.


On May 10, 1869, the two railroad companies met in Promontory Summit. The total length of the railroad was 1,776 miles long! Leland Stanford drove the last spike into the ground. The railroad, was complete. People everywhere celebrated and danced through their streets. 12 year old Myah was so happy to know that she could finally see her dad in Omaha. Hundreds of girls like Myah celebrated the change. The last spike that was drove was made of gold. This spike was removed from the ground for security reasons, but you can still see this golden spike today at Stanford University in California. When the golden spike was driven into the ground, one hundred guns fired off in New York. Finally, the American Transcontinental railroad was complete. Crossing over five modern states.

Conclusion
Clearly, the American Transcontinental Railroad required hard work, problem solving, and a celebration! People all around the United States could now travel and transport goods quickly and efficiently. Before, the only way of transportation was on foot, wagon, or boat. These ways cost a lot, and took months. Although the railroad satisfied so many people, lots of men died while building it. I wonder, was it worth it?