How Did The Oregon Trail Impact America

Why did the Donner Party get stuck in the Sierra Nevada Mountains? In April of 1846 90 emigrants led by Jacob and George Donner left Springfield Illinois in hopes of using a quicker, shorter route to Oregon. The party took the regular trail up to Ft. Bridger, Wyoming. There they were supposed to meet a trail guide, Lansford Hastings, to take them but he was gone, leading another party along the mountains. There was a note for the Donner’s to follow a trail to Weber Canyon, Hasting claimed it was an easier route to Oregon.

Subsequently, after they finished their journey, a surge of settlers embarked on their own journey to find a new life in the West. Without the exploration of this land, this trail might have never have had such an enormous effect on our history. Additionally, it allowed the cultures of the Native Americans and United State settlers to meet and get to know each other's ways and customs. It also led an example for the following wave of new white explorers to discover the many new geographic areas, plants, and animals. Without the expedition to the Pacific Ocean, our country might have never experienced the berserk gold rush which brought many new

Early Americas best explores of the Rocky Mountains were the fur trappers. These trappers would explore Colorado’s interior in search of beaver pelts. They would interact and trade with trappers and people of different nations. Because of the fur traders that ventured into Colorado they would become the guiding force that helped America expand west and be the leading cause to the decrease of beaver, bison and other large ungulates populations. From reading A Colorado History and the excerpt of Rufus Sages Rocky Mountain Life, I will answer the questions:

After law school Parkman proceeded of what he desired. He learned how to sleep and hunt, and could survive alone by himself. Parkman has accomplished the desire that he had, he has wrote many books and has been recognized for such thing. In the document it tells the difficulty of traveling the Oregon Trail and why the Oregon Trail is so important at the time.

— Virginia Reed, daughter of James Reed. A tragic story of the Donner party is a very harrowing adventure through the journey of the big group and how about half of the people lived to tell the tale. On April 16, 1846 nine wagons were reported departing from Springfield Illinois on a journey of what is now called the Oregon Trail. Formerly known as the northern trail there were a lot of advantages and disadvantages to the Oregon trail there was more land and wonderful

Did Andrew Jackson help people of the U.S. or did he not? Some people might say that Andrew Jackson did help american citizens, and some people might say that Andrew Jackson didn´t help American citizens. If everyone had to say what they think Andrew Jackson did, then they should say that he did not help Americans. One reason was that he killed inocent indians while moving them west. Two,He hurt south carolina telling them that they had to follow his law even though they didn 't want to.

“The Oregon Trail,” written by Francis Parkman is a description of the experiences traveling into the unknown depths of the American west in 1846. The story is told from the first person point of view of Parkman, a scholar from Boston who embarks on the great expedition of traveling into the west in hopes of studying the lives of the Native Americans. His journey is also one of the first detailed descriptions of the beauty and the bounty of a largely uninhabited North American territory. But one of the most critical elements of the story was Parkman’s encounters and recruitment of members to his band of travelers who ultimately play a major role in the success of the western journey.

Sometimes droughts in Nebraska made it very difficult to feed their families and still have some left over to sell. Which was difficult because this is how they earned a living. Most pioneers lived in sod houses. These were insulated which was very convenient for Pioneer families during the different seasons. Almost every family member played a role in the pioneer life.

In the 1830’s, the people living in the United States wanted something new and more than they already had. These pioneer people wanted more of everything: land, money, freedom, etc. They wanted chances and the ability to do more. They were somewhat content with their life in the North-Eastern Hemisphere, but they were always striving for something better.

In conclusion, the westward expansion was one of the most important times in American history but one of the hardest for those who made the journey. The settlers had to go through a lot of hardships to get a new life in the west. The Gold Rush helped bring people to the west and populate California so it became a state. People such as Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark helped explore the new terrain and make maps so people could live there. Even though the pioneers got diseases, had conflicts with the Native Americans, and had to travel for long periods of time in a ship or covered wagon, they never gave up hope.

The Transcontinental Railroad was the first line across the continent. The railroad line stretched from Omaha, Nebraska, all the way to Sacramento, California. This railroad allowed the United States the opportunity to expand westward, as both people and resources would be able to be shipped much faster than before. In 1862 The Pacific Railway Act was passed, which allowed the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad to construct the lines for the transcontinental railroad. On May 10, 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was established at Promontory, Utah.

After years of waiting and preparing we started on the journey to the west. We made our way to Independence, Missouri to go on the Oregon Trail which was laid by traders and trapers. While there I became familiar with George Wilson who was also a working family man. A lot of families left together making the trail busy and causing jams..

In the 1800’s many people were traveling on the trail to Oregon, this journey was not all that it seemed to be for many. People faced many hardships that would effect their lives and their journey. To start, since the trail was so long and people would go with lots of people food ran out quickly for most, this caused people to become sick or even starve to death. If this where to happen people would not have any supplies to properly dispose of the body they would just have to bury them in the ground, which may be hard for some. There was also the possibility you would encounter a unfriendly indian that would either kidnap, kill, or molest you.

This allowed for Americans to excel as they started new lives trapping and hunting. This also made the economy prosper in America as they were shipping out furs in mass numbers to Europe. Boone didn’t stop there as he protected hundreds of families from Indian attacks. If Boone was not there, many families would have died trying to reach the west. Finally, Boone obtained many high positions in the military and politics where he pushed many people in the right directions.

Before the 1800s, there were two early roads, Forbes and Wilderness Road. In 1811, the National Road known as Cumberland Road was built to reach Western settlements, because they needed a road to ship farm products that connect East and West. The National Road passed thousand of wagons and coaches. John F. Stover states in American Railroads, “The rich agricultural production of the country, the small but expanding factories of eastern cities, and the largely untapped natural resources of the nation-all of these called for improvements in transport. ”(Stover1)