Oregon Trail Landmarks

1. Oregon Trail Landmarks

3. Chimney Rock • 90 meters high • Carved names in rock - Rises near Bayard,Nebraska • Nearly half a million emigrants saw Chimney Rock

4. Independence Rock • Many emigrants arrived here on the fourth of July. • Named in 1830 by William Sublette • 700 feet wide, 1900 feet long, maximum of 128 feet above the Sweetwater Valley floor

5. Snake River • Hundreds of feet deep at some points of the river • Can only be crossed by using three islands as stepping stones • Swallows up many things in its path • Joins at many waterfalls

6. Devil’s Gate • 5 miles southwest of Independence Rock • Has a 400 feet deep chasm. • Located on private land • Is 370 feet deep and 1500 feet long • Located in Natrona County, Wyoming

8. Oregon Trail Famous People

9. John C. Fremont • John C. Fremont lived the years 1813 through1890. • Fremont0 was happily married to Jesse Benton. • His job was to make the West seem attractive and worth settling. • The U.S. Navy appointed Fremont civil governor of California.

10. U.S. Presidents of 1840-1850 • William Henry Harrison won the presidential election of 1840 because of his catchy slogan “Tippecanoe & Tyler too”. • In 1841 Harrison caught a cold which turned into a pneumonia and died. • He was the first president to die in office. • When James Polk was in office he told congress there was gold in California.

11. Kit Carson • On Christmas Eve of 1806 Kit Carson was born. • His whole name is Christopher Houston Carson. • In 1843 he married Maria Josefa Jaramillo. • Kit was blessed with eight children. • Carson died on May 23,1868.

12. Dr. Marcus Whitman • Marcus was born in 1802. • He was born in Rushville, New York. • He practiced his medical training for four years. • Dr.Whitman helped guide the first wagon train of emigrants to the Columbia River.

13. Oregon Trail Daily Life on the Trail

14. Morning Routine • First, they start the fire. • Secondly, the women make breakfast. • Then they pack up all supplies. • Lastly, they head on for the trail.

15. Meal Preparation • If lucky, they would have quail or buffalo. • They usually ate bacon. • Pioneers cooked their meals over an open fire.

16. Jobs Along the Way • Women washed clothes. • Men hunted, traded, and dealt with the livestock. • Women were the family doctors. • Men built the cabins.

17. Animals Horses were rejected to go on the trail. Oxen were the most common. Mules were the second common. Horses could not live off prairie grass.

18. Distance Traveled • People traveled about 12-15 miles in one day. • They traveled 2,000 miles in total. • The people traveled 6 months in total from their starting point to their destination. • Oxen traveled 2 miles an hour.

19. Evening Routine • Build another fire to keep them warm. • Prepare the evening meal. • Eat our dinner. • Write in our journal. • Sleep and be ready to travel in the morning.

20. Entertainment Make Soap or candles. Singing around campfire. Children wrestled each other at school. Held spelling bees Reading and writing in journals.

21. Oregon Trail Jobs of the Era

22. Doctor • Provided medical treatment. • Leeches were commonly used. • Served as man-midwives.

23. Tanner • Striped hair and fat from animals. • Another name for a doctor Apothecary. • Tanners make leather goods. • They could also tan with animals brains. • Tanners always smelled like animal hide

24. Coopers • Coopers made barrels. • Made barrels of wooden staves. • Numbered staves in case of shipment. • Put metal hoops around the wood to keep it together.

25. Candle Making • Candle Making was done in fall • Main ingredient was Tallow. • Tallow was fat from cows,sheep,and hogs. • First tallow was stirred in cast iron pots

26. Blacksmiths • They made iron rims for cart wheels. • Blacksmiths worked long hours with little pay. • Often fixed children’s play hoops. • Shoed horses. • Soften metal with fire.

27. Oregon Trail Hardships

28. Disease Hardly any real doctors traveled along the trail to cure diseases. People who were sick and dead from disease along the trail would be abandoned on the side of the road. Cholera killed more emigrants than anything else.

29. Deaths • Pioneers lied saying that they knew how to drive. They lost control and death occurred . • Infection caused deaths. • When people were on the wagon and they fell under the wheels .

30. River Crossings • The indians helped the pioneers cross rivers. • Source of distress for pioneers. • 37people drowned in1850 alone trying to cross the Green River .

31. Injuries • Sometimes there weren’t real doctors on the trail. • Cuts and broken bones could become infected. • The youngest kids were usually the ones to get hurt.

32. Supply and Quality of Water • At Cherry Creek the water was dried up like most other creeks. • The pioneers had to dig holes in the sand for water for people and horses. • Scarcity of water can lead to intense suffering for man and animals on the trail.

33. Lack of Food • Because of the lack of food pioneers wouldn’t have energy to move on. • They might get diseases from lack of vitamins. • In the desert there wasn’t much game to hunt.

34. The End

35. Works Cited www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Allabout.html