The Oregon Country
“Manifest Destiny”
• First coined by newspaper editor, John
O’Sullivan in 1845.
– ".... the right of our manifest destiny to over
spread and to possess the whole of the
continent which Providence has given us for
the development of the great experiment of
liberty"
• A myth of the West as a land of romance
and adventure emerged.
“American Progress” by John Gast, 1872
Oregon Country
• The Oregon country
stretched from the (1)
Rocky Mountains in
the East to the
Pacific Ocean in the
West.
• Americans called the
land in the Oregon
Country “wilderness”
and (2) freely staked
their claims.
Conflicting Claims
• Four nations – (3) Russia, Spain, Great
Britain, and the United States – laid
claim to the Oregon Country.
• America based its claim on the voyages of
(4) Robert Gray.
Conflicting Claims
• Great Britain and
the United States
pursued their claims
most actively.
• In 1818, (5) Great
Britain and the
United States
agreed to share the
Oregon Country for
ten years.
Mountain Men
• Soon the area was flooding with tough,
rugged fur-trappers. These Mountain Men
lived a lonely life and relied on their skills
for survival.
• In the summer, these men
gathered together (6) to sell
their furs, buy supplies, and
have some fun at rendezvous.
Blazing a Path for Others
• James Beckwourth and Jim Bridger
discovered paths through the Rockies.
• (7) Jedediah Smith explored Yellowstone
• Manuel Lisa established Fort Manuel
along the (8) Missouri River.
End of the Mountain Men
• By the 1830s and 1840s, (9) people
stopped wearing beaver hats and within
a few years the mountain man was out of
work.
• Some turned to farming, others acted as
guides for those traveling West.
Oregon Fever
• Between 1840 and 1860, (10)more than
250,000 people
made the trek
westward.
• Many of these
traveled the
famous Oregon
Trail.
Oregon Trail
• The Oregon Trail
began in (11)
Independence, MO
and ended at the
Columbia River in
Oregon.
• Families packed
into lightweight
wagons called
prairie schooners
and traveled across
the great plains.
Traveling the Trail
• Several families would then travel together (12)
in wagon trains.
• Families usually left Independence in May and
had five months to cross the Rockies before
winter.
The Oregon Trail – Albert Bierstadt, 1869
The Doomed Donner Party
• April, 1846 – April, 1847 the Donner Party set
out for the West, but got stuck in the harsh
winter.
The Doomed Donner Party
• Of the 83 members of the Donner Party,
only 45 survived to get to California!
• Those who survived were forced into
CANNIBALISM!!
Margaret Patrick John
Breen
Breen Breen
James Reed & Wife
Hardships on the Trail
• Besides the harsh winter, many died from
diseases such as (13) cholera and smallpox.
• Others drowned while attempting to cross
swollen rivers.
The Pony Express
• Between April, 1860 and Nov.,
1861.
• Delivered news and mail
between St. Louis, MO and
San Francisco, CA.
• Took 10 days.
• Replaced by the completion of
the trans-continental telegraph
line.
The Oregon Dispute: 54’ 40º or Fight!
• By the mid-1840s, “Oregon Fever” was
spurred on by the promise of free land.
• Americans began to call for an end of joint
occupation.
• The joint British-U. S.
occupation ended in 1846
and by (14) 1848, Oregon
was a territory.