Image of a covered wagon, like those used in a wagon train, by Baker County Tourism on Flickr.com

Ever since the Europeans landed on the shores of North America they have wanted to go to the west to see what was there. People have traveled west by foot, boat, horse, and wagon – all in search of new adventure and a better life. Today people still do this, but now they have cars, which makes traveling west much easier.  One of the most famous routes that Americans took to get “out west” in the 1800’s is called the Oregon Trail. Somewhere around 400,000 people traveled on this trail over about 40 years, which is one reason the Oregon Trail is so well known and worth knowing a little about.

The Oregon Trail was a 2,200 mile (3,500 km) route that started near the state of Missouri and ended in the current state of Oregon, which is where this trail gets its name; the Oregon Trail. This route west passed through the current states of Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho. None of these states were states at the time of the Oregon Trail, then they were just territories. They later became states when enough people moved out to them to start a state government. Many people who hoped to make the trip all the way to the west coast of the United States on the Oregon Trail didn’t make it all the way. A lot of these people ended up living in one or another of the territories (and later states) that the Oregon Trail passed through.

The Oregon Trail was not the first route from the middle of the United States to the west, but it was one of the most traveled. The first land route across the United States (not completed by Native Americans) was completed by the explorers Lewis and Clark between the years 1804 and 1806. These men helped map a way for others to follow so that more European Americans could move west.

In the beginning, in the early 1800s, the Oregon Trail was only traveled by foot and horseback. Soon, “wagon trains,” or groups of wagons traveling together, began to leave from Missouri and head west to settle new towns. People often traveled together for safety and to help one another out on the difficult parts of the route. Early wagon trains had especially hard work, creating the “roads” that other wagons would follow. Even after the Oregon Trail was well established, through repeated use, it was not an easy journey. There were many mountains to climb over (including the very tall Rocky Mountains), rivers to cross, and rough weather. There were also, of course, Native Americans, who had lived in the western United States for many thousands of years and they were not always happy to see all the new pioneers (pioneer = a person who is among the first to explore or settle an area) moving west.

Although modern Americans can’t really imagine what it was like to travel from Missouri to Oregon by covered wagon, many have gotten an idea of what it was like from a famous computer game called “The Oregon Trail.” This is a very old, but well-known computer game in the United States. It was created in the early 1970s and used in schools through the early 1990s. (I remember playing the game when I was in school!) The purpose of the game was to teach American school children about history and the life of pioneers on the Oregon Trail. In this game, the player is the wagon train leader in charge of guiding his or her group of pioneers from Independence, Missouri to Oregon. One of the reasons so many Americans know so much about the Oregon Trail today is because they loved to paly this game in school – I know I did. Of course it was just a game, and the reality of life on the Oregon Trail was very different I am sure.

What do you think, would you have liked to adventure west in a wagon train on the Oregon Trail?