Westward Expansion and the Oregon Trail By Marshall Underwood
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Table of Contents Section Title Chapter 1:All About Westward Expansion Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Moving West Chapter 2:Westward Expansion Starts Westward Expansion Oregon Trail Daily life on the Oregon Trail
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Chapter 3:The Impact of the Oregon Trail
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Glossary
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Bibliography
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Chapter 1 All about Westward Expansion Louisiana Purchase In 1803 president Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana Territory from France. It cost $15 million for the whole Territory . Before Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase it was Unknown land west of the Mississippi river to the Rocky Mountains. The purchase doubled the size of our country over night. The Territory was about 828,800 square miles. This was important because we wanted more land to live.
Lewis and Clark Expedition Thomas Jefferson wanted to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean, so sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find one. They began May 14, 1804 in St. Louis. Lewis and Clark had journal and they sketched animals, plants and more. Lewis and Clark made friends with Native Americans like Sacagawea and Traded with different Tribes . Sacagawea helped on the Expedition with Lewis and Clark and was the first woman to explore. They traveled in many different boats up the Mississippi River. Lewis and Clark went on and got to the Pacific Ocean in 1805, still using boats. They turned around and arrived home in St. Louis, 1806 finally getting to rest after 2 years. After traveling, they heard that they traveled over 7,000 miles.
Moving West On the journey pioneers turned their “faces towards the land of golden promise that lay beyond the rocky Mountains” far from home. The pioneers began traveling on the Oregon Trail, California Trail and Mormon Trail in 1840’s. It was a long hard Trip and many people did not survive if they went. Pioneers used wagons or Wagon Trains to carry supplies and food around with them. 2
Chapter 2 The Oregon Trail Starts How Oregon Trail Started In early march 1848, families sold things except cloths, Wagons, Oxen and the cast iron clothes. Each Morning you get up, eat breakfast, load the wagon and go on the trail. When it turns night you go to bed at 9:00 o'clock and then you get up again and eat breakfast, load the wagon and go on the trail. When you went on the trail your pa or ma is going to be happy because you had free land but sad because you had to leave home. Oregon Trail In spring 1839, some pioneers left to go on the Oregon Trail. They left from Independence Missouri and left most of their belongings behind because most of it wouldn’t fit in the wagon. The Oregon Trail was about 2,000 miles long. The Dangerous trip took over 6 months and when people went on the trail, they usually didn’t come back. About 300,000 people traveled west from Missouri to Oregon Country. Pioneers were at the end of the trail and finally reach Oregon City. After 1869, the Oregon Trail was no longer the best route west.
What Pioneers did on the Oregon Trail Pioneers didn’t just buy food or hunt they brought their own food. Pioneers brought food like crackers, cornmeal, bacon, eggs, dried meat and dried fruit, potatoes, rice, beans and a big barrel of water. if they wanted to bake bread they would bring flour and yeast. A lot of things got broken so Pioneers brought tools like saws, hammers, axes, string and knifes but something's got ripped so they brought cloth, needles, threads, pins, scissors and leather. You would see a lot of animals like prairie dogs, snakes,owls and many more but the biggest animal you would see is a Buffalo. Animals, food, tools, you could bring or see a lot of stuff but you’re not aloud to bring anything illegal.
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Chapter 3 The Impact of the Oregon Trail Westward Expansion, reasonable for making the United States one of the largest countries in the world. When national parks were created, they helped preserve some of the western lands. If you’re brave enough you’ll could have a chance of wanting to go on the Oregon Trail but you have to survive if you do. Back then it was even more dangerous and you had to fix problems that stood in your way.
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Glossary Expansion: the act of expanding or the states being expanded Pioneers: a person who is the first or among the first to explore or settle a region Route: a course, road or way to travel Territory: any large area of land held by someone else Tribe: a group of people connected by common ancestry
Bibliography Porter, Livina Honeyman. “It was like tearing our heart strings ascender.” Online. 1-11-16. WWW.cilindependanoe.mo.us. Domhauer. Teresa. Life in the west. New York. Scholastic children's press. Allison, Lassieur. Westward Expansion. Minnesota. copyright 2008.
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