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N0KFQ > TODAY 23.05.12 00:06l 73 Lines 3444 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 22722_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - May 22
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<ON4HU<CX2SA<VE9MPF<PI8SNK<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120522/2240Z 22722@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.50
May 22, 1843:
A thousand pioneers head West on the Oregon Trail
The first major wagon train to the northwest departs from Elm
Grove, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail.
Although U.S. sovereignty over the Oregon Territory was not
clearly established until 1846, American fur trappers and
missionary groups had been living in the region for decades.
Dozens of books and lectures proclaimed Oregon's agricultural
potential, tweaking the interest of American farmers. The first
overland immigrants to Oregon, intending primarily to farm, came
in 1841 when a small band of 70 pioneers left Independence,
Missouri. They followed a route blazed by fur traders, which took
them west along the Platte River through the Rocky Mountains via
the easy South Pass in Wyoming and then northwest to the Columbia
River. In the years to come, pioneers came to call the route the
Oregon Trail.
In 1842, a slightly larger group of 100 pioneers made the
2,000-mile journey to Oregon. The next year, however, the number
of emigrants skyrocketed to 1,000. The sudden increase was a
product of a severe depression in the Midwest combined with a
flood of propaganda from fur traders, missionaries, and
government officials extolling the virtues of the land. Farmers
dissatisfied with their prospects in Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky,
and Tennessee, hoped to find better lives in the supposed
paradise of Oregon.
On this day in 1843, some 1,000 men, women, and children climbed
aboard their wagons and steered their horses west out of the
small town of Elm Grove, Missouri. The train comprised more than
100 wagons with a herd of 5,000 oxen and cattle trailing behind.
Dr. Elijah White, a Presbyterian missionary who had made the trip
the year before, served as guide.
The first section of the Oregon Trail ran through the relatively
flat country of the Great Plains. Obstacles were few, though the
river crossings could be dangerous for wagons. The danger of
Indian attacks was a small but genuine risk. To be on the safe
side, the pioneers drew their wagons into a circle at night to
create a makeshift stockade. If they feared Indians might raid
their livestock_the Plains tribes valued the horses, though
generally ignored the oxen_they would drive the animals into the
enclosure.
Although many neophyte pioneers believed Indians were their
greatest threat, they quickly learned that they were more likely
to be injured or killed by a host of more mundane causes.
Obstacles included accidental discharge of firearms, falling off
mules or horses, drowning in river crossings, and disease. After
entering the mountains, the trail also became much more
difficult, with steep ascents and descents over rocky terrain.
The pioneers risked injury from overturned and runaway wagons.
Yet, as with the 1,000-person party that made the journey in
1843, the vast majority of pioneers on the trail survived to
reach their destination in the fertile, well-watered land of
western Oregon. The migration of 1844 was smaller than that of
the previous season, but in 1845 it jumped to nearly 3,000.
Thereafter, migration on the Oregon Trail was an annual event,
although the practice of traveling in giant convoys of wagons
gave way to many smaller bands of one or two-dozen wagons. The
trail was heavily traveled until 1884, when the Union Pacific
constructed a railway along the route.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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