The Oregon Trail (Hard) | RIF.org (2024)

The Oregon Trail was a pathway across the United States thatled from east to west. The untamed west offered the promiseof new opportunities, the American Dream. People living inthe east wanted the chance to start big farms and find theirfortunes. Whole families emigrated, or moved, from east towest following the Oregon Trail. They piled all their belongingsinto a wagon and started their 2,000-mile journey. They wereknown as pioneers.

Pioneers are the first people to move into and settle a region.Most of the pioneers walked the entire way across theOregon Trail, often barefoot. Their wagons were too heavyfor horses to pull so they used strong oxen or cattle. The goingwas slow and rough.

Sometimes, groups of wagons traveled together. These werecalled wagon trains. The wagons followed each other alongthe Oregon Trail. Some wagon trains were reported to be 5miles long. They could include hundreds of people.

Traveling the Oregon Trail was verydangerous. Nothing was moredangerous to the pioneers thancholera (KAWL-er-uh). Not baseball-sizedhail or freezing in bad weather.Not getting crushed by the wheels ofa wagon. Not even by drowning onoverloaded ferries at river crossings.

Cholera killed more emigrants than anything else along theOregon Trail. During bad outbreaks, cholera killed two-thirdsof entire wagon trains.

Pioneers got cholera from consuming contaminated water orfood. On the Oregon Trail, they didn’t have running water ortoilets. They drank water from nearby streams and rivers. Theydug holes in the ground for toilets. Many emigrants probablydidn’t wash their hands afterward. Rain washed the contentsof the holes into the streams or rivers. This contaminatedthe water. Handling food without washing their handscontaminated the food.

Cholera is a bad way to go. Once infected, the bacteriaget into your gut. Cholera can cause vomiting and musclecramps. But it almost always causes horrible, watery diarrhea.This can severely dehydrate you very quickly. When yourbody dries out, it begins to shut down. A pioneer could gofrom healthy to dead in just a few hours.