Oregon Trail National Parks

Traveling Across the Plains

The Oregon Trail Map and Guidebooks

In book or pamphlet form, guidebooks were soon available for emigrants. Some provided good, solid, reliable information. Others contributed to the "Oregon Fever" that swept the country in the 1840s describing the land in almost Biblical terms.

Each part of the journey had its difficulties. For the first third of the way, the emigrants got used to the routine and work of travel. They learned to hitch and unhitch their livestock, to keep the wagons in good running order, and to make sure that their animals got the water and food they needed to survive. They learned to get along with their fellow emigrants, to agree on rules they would all follow on the journey, and to set up and break camp every night and morning. They learned to spread out in several columns so that they raised less dust and fewer of them had to breathe the choking air. They rotated positions in the line in a spirit of fairness. They learned to travel six out of seven days as experienced voices told them that some of the most difficult sections to travel would come at the end, when they would have to cross mountains before the winter snows. Fortunately the landscape was relatively gentle as they traveled through the Platte River Valley heading for the High Plains. Starting in the spring, too, provided them with abundant grass for the livestock. Water was also plentiful, and if they were early enough in the year campsites and waterholes would be overgrazed or fouled. Cholera, whose cause was then unknown (but we not know can be traced to contaminated water), killed more travelers than anything else. How many emigrants died along the trail can never be known. The number of deaths varied from year to year. Most likely the death rate was little different from that for those who resisted the lure of the trail with all its potential disasters.

Loading the Wagon

Wagons usually measured 4 feet wide by 12 feet long. Into these 48 square feet were put supplies for traveling the trail and the wherewithal for beginning a new life. The emphasis was on tools and food, but a few family treasures and heirlooms were also carried. Using the wagon as shelter was almost an afterthought.

Over the Continental Divide

Excitement abounded when the emigrants passed the landmarks of Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff, about one-third of the way on the trail. It meant they were making progress. By this time, too, they would have an idea if their money would hold out. Tolls at ferries and bridges had to be paid. Supplies and food were bought at trading posts along the way or from other emigrants. A week’s journey beyond Scott’s Bluff brought them to Fort Laramie, the great supply depot and resting place. Here they could replenish dwindling stocks of food and other staples – for a price. Wheels could be repaired and wagon boxes tightened before they set out on the steepening ascent to the Continental Divide. Water – and grass for livestock – became more scarce. The drier air caused wooden wheels to shrink and the iron tires that held the wheels together loosened or rolled off. Buffalo herds on which the emigrants had depended for fresh meat to supplement their staples became increasingly hard to find the farther west they went. Cooking fuel, whether wood or buffalo chips, was also harder to find. To lighten their wagons, the emigrants left treasured pieces of furniture and other personal belongings by the wayside. Surviving the trip had become of paramount importance; food and tools were vital, heirlooms were not. From Fort Laramie to Fort Bridger, on the western edge of present-day Wyoming, the Mormon Trail flowed with the Oregon and California trails. At Fort Bridger the emigrants parted ways as those bound for Oregon turned northwest toward the Snake River Valley. Alternate routes included Sublette’s Cutoff and the Lander Cutoff. Beginning just west of South Pass, Sublette’s Cutoff crossed a barren, arid stretch of country where for 50 miles there was no water and little grass. Those who chose the grueling route and survived had saved 85 miles and a week of travel.

Emigrant and Indian

Early emigrants generally found the Indians they encountered to be cordial and helpful. Some never even saw any Indians. As emigrant numbers multiplied, however, the friendly relationships became strained. Hostilities and casualties occurred often enough after 1860 to keep both sides nervous when emigrant wagons crossed Indian lands. Wise members of both groups made an effort to avoid trouble, and they usually succeeded. Rather than fight, Indians often assisted emigrant parties on the way west. Countless instances of assistance in the form of extra wagon teams, food, and medical help were provided by Indians, who served as trail guides and pilots at dangerous crossings. Indian life was affected radically by the emigrants, who brought disease and killed the wild game. And despite popular fiction, emigrants circled their wagons to corral their livestock rather than to ward of Indian attack.

Trail’s End

Footsore, weary, and exhausted, traveler and beast alike faced the final third and the most difficult part of the trail. Yet speed was of the essence, for winter snows could close mountain passes or trap unprepared and tired groups of emigrants as they crossed both the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon and the Cascades to the west. In the early years, before the Barlow Road across the Cascades was opened as a toll road in 1846, emigrants had no choice but to go down the Columbia from The Dalles on a raft or abandon their wagons and build boats. The Columbia was full of rapids and dangerous currents; many emigrants lost their lives, almost within site of their goal. Once the settlers arrived in the Willamette Valley they spread out to establish farms and small towns. Initially, few emigrants settled north of the Columbia, but once the United States and Great Britain agreed on an international boundary and the Hudson’s Bay Company moved its post at Fort Vancouver to Vancouver Island, Americans settled in present-day Washington as well. The 1850 census showed that 12,093 people lived in Oregon. Ten years later, when Oregon had been a state for one year, 52,495 were counted. Small towns were on the verge of becoming cities. Frame houses replaced log cabins. Orchards grew to maturity. The land was acquiring the look of civilization that the emigrants had left behind.

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