Oregon Trail
- They 1st traveled on it in 1846.
- The main reason they travel on the Oregon Trail was because of land for farming.
- The cost of traveling over the Oregon Trail and its prices varied from nothing to a few hundred dollars per person.
- Women seldom went alone.
- The wagons were manufactured in quantity by companies like Studebaker, with new wagons costing between $85 and $170. The cotton canvas covers of the wagons were doubled and treated with linseed oil to help keep out the rain, dust and wind, though the covers tended to leak rain and dust eventually.
- The normal meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner along the trail was bacon, beans, and coffee, with biscuits or bread.
- Extra animals were often recommended because animals could become injured, stray or die on the trip.
- Each person brought at least two changes of clothes and multiple pairs of boots (two to three pairs often wore out on the trip). About 25 pounds of soap was recommended for a party of four for bathing and washing clothes. A washboard and tub was usually brought for washing clothes. Wash days typically occurred once or twice a month or less, depending on availability of good grass, water and fuel.
- Tobacco was popular, both for personal use and for trading with Indians and other pioneers.
- Travelers brought books, Bibles, trail guides, and writing quills, ink and paper for letters (about one in 200 kept a diary).
- Non-essential items were often abandoned to lighten the load, or in case of emergency. Many people picked up essentials or leaving behind their lower quality item when a better one was found abandoned along the road.
- It is estimated that 350,000 people made the trail between 1841 and 1866.
- If you were to look at the Oregon Trail you would see clumps of white because, people traveled together and at night they had a wagon circle. In the center of the circle was a little area for kids to play at before dinner was done.
- On average the trip took 4 to 5 months.
- More than 2,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen along the Oregon National Historic Trail in six states-reminders of the sacrifices and struggles of early American settlers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail
http://www.nps.gov/oreg/index.htm
Oregon Trail reenactment - NARA - 286054.jpg
http://www.genealogymagazine.com/migration.html
http://www.octa-trails.org/learn/trail_facts.php#howmanyemigrants
http://www.nps.gov/oreg/index.htm
Oregon Trail reenactment - NARA - 286054.jpg
http://www.genealogymagazine.com/migration.html
http://www.octa-trails.org/learn/trail_facts.php#howmanyemigrants