UNITED STATES: The Oregon Trail Revisited

▪ 1994

      “Westward Ho!” went out the cry from the wagon master, and some 120 wagons began their creaking 3,200-km (2,000-mi) journey to the great uncharted “Oregon Country,” a stretch of territory then controlled by Britain. The year was 1843, and it was the largest single wagon train ever assembled, consisting of about 1,000 intrepid pioneers and 5,000 head of livestock. Its westward trek from Independence, Mo., marked what was to become the official opening of the Oregon Trail and the westward movement that created a single nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a fulfillment of what some termed “our Manifest Destiny.”

      In 1993 the United States celebrated the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Oregon Trail. All of the states through which the trail passed—Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon—planned a series of events and exhibits to commemorate the anniversary, including wagon rides of various lengths along the trail. At least one wagon train set out to go the entire length of the trail, ending in the Columbia River region of Oregon. In 1978 the Oregon National Historic Trail had been designated by Congress.

      Adventurous automobile travelers could approximate much of the pioneers' route by road, viewing along the way some 480 km (300 mi) of still discernible ruts and some 125 historic sites. They could “relive” some of the pioneers' experiences, but their trip would take only a tolerable two weeks or less rather than up to six months. Observing some of the bleak landscapes and rugged terrain from a car window, the traveler might well wonder why anyone would knowingly set out by ox-drawn wagon on a 3,200-km journey fraught with danger and hardship.

      The emigrants, as they were called, came from every segment of American society. Many were farmers, but their numbers included tradesmen, businessmen, journalists, adventurers, missionaries, gamblers, and miners. They were motivated by a variety of reasons, but the big surge that began in 1843 was strongly instigated by depressed economic conditions that then gripped the nation. The hard times played out against the siren song of Manifest Destiny. Publications—such as John C. Frémont's Topographical Report—that painted enticing pictures of lush, available western lands put thousands on the trail. Outbreaks of cholera and malaria in the Midwest caused others to flee westward. Some—like the Mormons—were escaping religious persecution. And still others, like the “Forty-niners” off to seek gold in California, went for the sheer adventure.

      For whatever reason emigrants took to the trail, most at some point along the way came to wonder at their decision. A CBS report on Sept. 7, 1993, called the Oregon Trail the longest graveyard in the world, estimating that almost 11 persons per kilometre died along the route. Although emigrants feared Indian attacks, these turned out to be of minor consequence. Rather it was disease—which they had hoped to leave behind—that was the main killer. Cholera alone claimed some 5,000 lives in 1850. Accidents involving firearms and hazardous river crossings took their toll, and a few deaths were attributed to Indian attacks, starvation, and severe weather.

      By late September 1843, that first large wagon train of pioneers had reached Oregon, and farmers were claiming land along the Willamette and Columbia rivers. They were followed by more than 300,000 emigrants, constituting the largest mass migration in history. The route's decline was signaled largely by completion of the railway that connected the two coasts in 1869. However, as late as the early 1900s, occasional wagons could still be seen rumbling along the trail.

      (MARVIN MARTIN)

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