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The
Oregon
Trail
Many immigrants had made a very long trip from all over
the world to comeyoutube.com/watch?
to America. It was a long and
difficult journey. Now they were in Missouri. It was a
strange place and they were a very long way from home.
It was the late 1830’s in America and the economy was very bad. The taxes were high, the air
was polluted, and the water was bad. It was crowded and the new immigrants began thinking
about going west to find a new life
It was a crazy decision! It was 3,219 kilometers long. They had to cross
three mountain ranges, cross many wild rivers, and there was horrible dust
and disease. There were also the Indians who lived there, too.
So off they went, with no roads and no trails. They sold everything they
had to pay for the trip. Many were farmers, and sold their farms to pay
for a trip across some of the most wilderness country in the world.

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In 1836, Marcus Whitman led a wagon train to
Oregon, and proved that it could be done. It took
ten months. In 1840, 13 families made the
journey. There were 58 families in 1841, and 125
1842 who made the trip. But in 1843, things changed and
thousands began to make this amazing journey. They were
going to a better place and free land.

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But they didn’t really know what they were going to encounter. Many didn’t know how to drive a
covered wagon, didn’t know how to use a gun, didn’t know how to hunt, and didn’t know anything
about Indians.
The Oregon Trail is called the longest graveyard in the world. There was a grave dug about
every 80 meters. Some wagons decided to turn around and go back. But there was a point on
this trip where you could not go back. We call this the
“point of no return.”
They had to get to Oregon before winter. If they did not,
they would be trapped in the wilderness for the entire
winter, and would most likely die.

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But as sure as many died and many turned back, those who traveled all the way to the Oregon
coast changed America. They helped make America what it is today. They found a new life and
a new dream. They populated the west and America was going to continue to grow and become a
great country. The Indians had no chance. There were too many people moving to their land and
hunting grounds. There were many wars with the Indians, and some great battles, but America
was going to be populated and developed.

These wagon trail
marks can be seen
today.

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