| From 1843 to 1850 the greatest migration
in American history moved over the Oregon Trail. The goal of these hardy
settlers was the promised land of fertile valleys and plains in the Oregon
territory, some 2,000 miles (3,200 km.) away. Beginning in camps along
the Missouri River near St. Joseph, Missouri, as many as 800 emigrants
at a time gathered to form caravans of a hundred or more prairie schooners,
each one pulled by three to six pairs of oxen. For four to six months they
followed the trails that stretched westward across the rolling prairie,
through the vital gap in the towering Rocky Mountains, and on towards their
new life.
Each train was divided into four groups,
and each group was led by an elected captain, who struggled constantly
to maintain discipline during the long, hazardous journey. Starting in
May, when the grass for their animals was turning the prairie green, they
traveled I5 to 20 miles (24-32 km.) a day. And as their rolling homes creaked
along the dceply rutted roads, the settlers endured the sun, illness and
fatigue, broken wheels and axles. Often weeks of travel went by before
the travelers could repair their wagons at the next fort and obtain new
provisions. Their boat-shaped wagons carried about a ton and a halt (1,500
kg.) of goods, including plows, tools, seeds, stoves, furniture, and even
small pianos. There was little room left over in a loaded wagon, so the
family cooked, ate, and slept outdoors.
By the time the caravans reached Fort Laramie,
Wyoming, the most trecherous part of the journey still lay ahead. From
there, the tilt of the land climbed steeply toward the Continental Divide
at South Pass, which they had to reach by November before snow blocked
their way. Meanwhile, babies were born. People died, and the trail was
marked by shallow graves, by cast-off possessions, and the bleached bones
of horses and oxen. During frequent attacks on the caravans, men and women
fought and fell side by side, their wagons drawn into a tight circle to
form a kind of fort. They forded, ferried, or built crude bridges across
racing rivers, inched their way through narrow gorges and along perilous
mountain ledges, until finallv they reached the Columbia River.
By 1850 it is estimated that 44,000 people
had made the journey despite its dangers and hardships. The "Great Migration"
was a success, and it enabled the new settlers to organize Oregon as a
territory by 1848.
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