Along the Oregon Trail
“The first experience of the plains, like the first sail with a “cap” full of wind, is apt to be sickening. This once overcome, the nerves stiffen, the senses expand, and man begins to realize the magnificence of being.”-
Richard Irving Dodge, The Plains of the Great West (1877)
“Native Americans tolerated wagon trains passing through their territories. Many pioneers would not have made it if it had not been for trading with the tribes along the trail. There were conflicts between Native Americans and emigrants, yet, death by Indian attacks were very rare. Emigrants on the Oregon Trail suffered tremendous hardships.
Death was an ever-present companion. One in 10 emigrants died on the trail—between 20,000 and 30,000 people. The majority of fatalities on the Oregon Trail were a result of poor sanitation. Cholera and typhoid fever were the biggest killers. Falling off the wagon and getting run over was a common cause of death. Crossing “the great American desert” and the perceived dangers caused many people, who were not hunters or soldiers, to purchase firearms. Mishaps by people inexperienced with firearms caused many injuries and deaths. Other deaths on the trail are recorded in personal dairies, including stampeding livestock, attacks by emigrants on other emigrants, lightning strikes, gunpowder explosion, drowning at river crossings, and suicide.
An estimate of 20,000 fatalities during those years, means an average of ten graves per mile. The Oregon Trail served as a natural corridor for eight decades as the United States grew from the eastern half of the continent toward the west coast. The Oregon Trail ran approximately 2,000 miles west from Missouri toward the Rocky Mountains and ended in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The California Trail branched off in southern Idaho and brought miners to the gold fields of Sierra Nevada. The Mormon Trail paralleled much of the Oregon Trail, connecting Council Bluffs to Salt Lake City.”
Via the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Scottsbluff, NE
