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The challenges and motivations of pioneer families moving west in wagons.
Imagine leaving your school, your friends, and almost everything you own to walk 2,000 miles across wild land—just for the chance at a better life. Would you have the courage to join the wagon train?
In the 1840s, thousands of Americans caught 'Oregon Fever.' This wasn't a real sickness, but a strong desire to move west. Many believed in Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States was destined to stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Families wanted a fresh start, cheap land for farming, or the chance to find gold. They packed their lives into small wagons and joined 'wagon trains' for safety, traveling in groups of 30 to 100 wagons.
Quick Check
What was the term for the belief that the U.S. should expand across the whole continent?
Answer
Manifest Destiny
The wagons used were called prairie schooners because their white canvas covers looked like ship sails from a distance. These wagons were only about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide. Because they had to carry 2,000 pounds of food and supplies, there was no room for people to sit! Most pioneers walked the entire 2,000-mile journey. They packed essentials like flour, bacon, beans, and tools. If a wagon was too heavy, families had to leave precious items, like pianos or heavy furniture, on the side of the trail.
A typical pioneer family needed a lot of food. If one person needed pounds of flour for the trip, and there were people in the family, we can calculate the total weight: 1. Identify the amount per person: lbs 2. Multiply by the number of people: lbs 3. This means half of their -pound limit was just flour!
Quick Check
Why did most pioneers walk instead of riding in the wagons?
Answer
The wagons were too full of heavy supplies and food to hold people too.
Life on the trail was a cycle of hard work. The day began at 4:00 AM. Children had important jobs, such as fetching water or gathering buffalo chips (dried buffalo poop) to use as fuel for cooking fires because there were no trees on the plains. After a long day of walking 15 miles, the wagons formed a large circle at night to keep the livestock safe. Families cooked over open fires and slept under the stars or inside the cramped wagons.
Pioneers measured progress by miles per day. Let's look at the math of the journey: 1. Total distance: miles 2. Average speed: miles per day 3. To find the days needed: days. This means the journey took about to months of constant walking!
The journey was full of risks. The biggest danger wasn't wild animals, but disease, especially cholera. Crossing rivers was also terrifying. If a river was too deep, the pioneers had to turn their wagons into 'boats' by caulking the bottom with tar to make them waterproof. Weather was another enemy; sudden thunderstorms, extreme heat, or early snow in the mountains could be deadly. Despite these fears, the hope of a new home kept them moving forward.
Timing the departure was a life-or-death decision. 1. If you leave too early (April), there is no grass for the oxen to eat. 2. If you leave too late (June), you might get trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. 3. Most families aimed for May. If they traveled miles a day for days, they would cover miles. They would still have miles to go before the winter snows hit!
What was the main reason pioneers used 'buffalo chips'?
About how many miles did a wagon train typically travel in one day?
Disease was a bigger threat to pioneers than wild animal attacks.
Review Tomorrow
In 24 hours, try to recall the three main reasons people moved west and the name of the belief that drove them.
Practice Activity
Try this on your own: Look at a map of the United States and trace a line from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. Which mountains did the pioneers have to cross?