Imagine the excitement, the thrill of the unknown, and the potential for a better life. A trail can take you there; to a place where you can make it on your own, your fortune to be had if only you can get to this new and Promised Land. Out there, out past the cities and the farms, out past the horizon is the American dream of the Wild West. Even the tales of dangerous animals, wild Indian raids, and the dashing mountain men, add to the mounting anticipation of the trip across the country on the Oregon Trail. The reality was a very different saga. It was a never ending monotonous trail of toil and hardship; one of trials in starvation, exhaustion, and the reality of facing a wild continent of indefinite possibilities.
1 Photo Credit: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/places/trails_ter/oregon.htm
The Oregon Trail is thought of today as one direct road joining the eastern United States to the western. The reality is that the Oregon Trail is a wide collection of trails that snake over the country with many starting and stopping points, even with spurs that run off into the wild that were traveled from 1840 to approximately 1900. These trails were originally Indian hunting and migrating routes that the mountain men then used to find their pelted animals in the mountains and their rendezvous in the valleys. As pioneers began moving west, the re-scripted mountain man became a trail boss, or leader and guide, to take the wagon trains west. Moving along his familiar landscape, these trails became the Oregon Road or the Oregon Trail.[1] Just about anywhere in the east to mid-west could be a “jumping off point” or a starting point to get onto the western trail. The end point was often individual; some wandered off trail to make their homes long before they came to Oregon. California, Idaho, and Utah were also common destinations.[2]
[1] "Basic Facts About the Oregon trail," Bureau of Land Management, accessed March 3, 2012, http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/history-basics.php.
[2] "Start of the Oregon Trail," Historic Oregon City, accessed March 4, 2012, http://www.historicoregoncity.org/end-of-the-oregon-trail-history/ oregon-trail-history/131-startoftrail.
