The Oregon Trail

          Hi, I’m Madison I’m going to tell you about The Oregon Trail. I am so happy I get to share this with you. The Oregon Trail was a long time ago Not many people knew about it. Now we will enter the amazing wonders of The Oregon Trail!

          First  we will talk about them heading west. Hi, I’m Jeff this is my life. When I  headed west I was looking for good soil and mild winters. I clamed the Willamette valley, near the end of The Oregon Trail.  In the middle years of the 1800s many thousands of people traveled west on The Oregon Trail. It was not easy like modern highways, The Oregon Trail was not a single clear path. Going west meant you might have to take two or even three trips back and get your family or cloths and other stuff.   

          Next we will talk about where The Oregon Trail is. The Oregon Trail ran from Independence, Missouri, to what is now north of Oregon, near the Columbia River. When I walked on the trail it was about 2,000 miles long. The Oregon Trail was one of two main routes to get to the far west. The other one was the Santa Fe Trail which led to New Mexico. Some people that used The Oregon Trail were bound for Utah or California not Oregon.

          Now we will talk about the day’s walk on The Oregon Trail. For one day’s march it was about 15 to 20 miles long. That is a long walk for just a day. The whole trip took about four to six months. I was very sleepy after that. I brought food  so I would not starve. I also hunted along the trail. When I needed water I got it from near by rivers. At night I would put the wagons in a giant circle and put the livestock in the middle. The walk was not easy I had to hunt and gather lots of water so I wouldn’t die. Some people had so much stuff with them most had to walk all the way there. Sometimes on the trail people would die because they did not get the food and water they needed. Some got sick along the trail too. 

          The Oregon Trail was very helpful to me when I was heading west. I used horses to pull the wagons. I also used weapons to hunt the animals. Most of the time I would walk on the trail. Sometimes I would ride horses or  sit in the wagons. At night I would have to build a fire to keep warm.  When I would see a river I would gather as much water as I could so I would have as much water as I needed. I had to walk for months, weeks, and days to get to where I wanted to be. It was a very long walk and no one liked walking that long.

The children would ride on the wagons and have the parents walk. But if the wagons had too many things in it some of the kids that were about 10 or older had to walk.

          This story was about the great Oregon Trail and it’s amazing story. When I was picking a topic a saw many topics but chose The Oregon Trail to write about. I thought to myself, what do I know not that much about, so I chose The Oregon Trail. This was an awesome topic. I really hoped you liked it. Someday I hope you do your own story about The Oregon Trail.          

“Oregon Trail.” Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2016. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.                <http://school.eb.com/levels/elementary/article/353574>.                                           

Marcriniak, Kristin. The Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion. Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 2013. Print.