Oregon Country
Meriwether Lewis from the Lewis and Clark expedition had thought that their expedition would mark the way for other people to start traveling. He thought "In the course of 10 or 12 Years, a tour across the Continent by this rout [route\ will be undertaken with as little concern as a voyage across the Atlantic" But, the "voyage" they had talked about was far too rugged and risky for ordinary people to travel on. Luckily, a fur trapper named Jedediah Smith discovered a passage through the Rocky mountains in 1824. It was called the South Pass. The South Pas was easy for wagons to travel on, unlike the high, steep passes in the Lewis and Clark expedition. The land was low and flat.
Oregon Trail
The first people to travel the Oregon Trail were missionaries. They saw the land as fertile and great for farming. They sent letters back to friends and family and other people started to move. In 1843 about 1,000 pioneers packed up everything they needed to start a new life in Oregon, and headed off in covered wagons. The next year, twice that many went. That year, 1844, James Polk won the election, and had promised Americans that he would make sure the US claimed all of Oregon. Things did not go as planned though, and he had to compromise; he agreed to a treaty with Great Britain that divided Oregon in half, at what is now the border between the US and Canada.
The Trip
The Oregon Trail started from Independence, Missouri, to the Colombia River in Oregon. It added up to about 2,000 miles. The trip took about 4-6 months with a wagon pulled by mule or oxen. The wagon traveled approximately 10-15 miles a day, which was a lot at the time. The people used Conestoga wagons. These wagons were sometimes called "Prairie Schooners" and were "like boats going over the prairies of the west". They were made primarily out of wood, iron and cloth. It was a heavy, broad-wheeled wagon with a large sheet of cloth for a cover. These "Prairie Schooners" were usually about 4 feet wide and 10 feet long.