Here’s one thing you can say about the lasting legacy of the Oregon Trail, a fact that has lodged the 2,170-mile migration in the minds of generations: The struggle was real.
The numbers alone are enough to chill. Of the estimated 500,000 settlers who made the five-month journey from Missouri to Oregon in the 1840s to 1860s, one in 10 would never arrive, having succumbed to all manner of mid-journey surprises: snake bites, gunshot wounds, drowning, starvation and, of course, dysentery. Those who did make it to the Willamette Valley and beyond faced the rigors of starting from scratch in an unknown and often unforgiving landscape.
Explore the trials and tribulations of this journey with this activity book.
