Shoofly Shae's
Oregon Trail
Pioneer Food
Shoofly Shae, yore
scout.
Preparation & Organization
We study the Oregon Trail
Getting Ready to Go
Overview of the trail. Last link has great list of emigrants.
Index
Pioneer Biographies
Learning about Types of Wagons
Reading about and Planning what to take
Family Supply List, Budget and Ledger
Oregon Fever Farewell Moviemaker
Keeping Your Family Journal
Fort Kearny Letter Home
Trail stops along the way
Hot Springs and Geysers Research
Willamette Valley Letter Back East
Maps
Miscellaneous Things of Interest
We begin...
The end of the trail...
Extra Credit Project
Rodeo Rich
Preparation & Organization
Shoofly Shae's Wagon Train
For Traveling on the Oregon Trail with Westward Ho!
Introduction and Week 1and 2-- January 17- February 2, 2012
Greenwood Laboratory School
*
Timeline and Due Dates
Each wagon family needs to complete the following assignments during the Week 1 and 2
of Westward Ho!
Tuesday,
1.17
Research Pioneer Biographies, Homesteaders' Act 1852
Research Pioneer Biographies, Homesteaders' Act 1852; mini lesson on how to write your
persona paper, going over the scoring guide (see website for more details)
IP: continue research on the classroom website or from library books; take notes; talk over as a
family what pioneer vittles to bring on February 1 for our campfire-send-off party. Let Shoofly Shae
know by Tuesday next week 1/24 what you would like to contribute. (See website “Pioneer Foods”
for ideas.)
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Campfire Wagon Train Send-off
We need volunteers to make the vittles for the campfire meetin'.
Campfire and vittles Wednesday, February 1, 10:45-12:30 (Don't bring a lunch that day since
we will be sharing vittles with the wagon train.) Parents welcomed! Shoofly Shae needs to
know what you are bringing by Tuesday, January 24, please!
***Parents are invited to help serve, provide music, pioneer stories, etc. Let me
know in what way you can contribute. Do you play a guitar? a fiddle? Do you have
some great campfire stories to share? Do you have a relative who was on the trail
and can you share that story with the children?
Our campfire send off meeting will include all the families along with
vittles, stories, and
music Plan on wearing some sort of pioneer-lookin’ outfit that day. Those of you who have
volunteered to prepare the vittles should bring them in on that morning. Vittles will be shared
at11:00-12:30 during the campfire.
May y’all have a safe journey out to the Oregon Country!
Forming Your Families and Pioneer Personae.
Tuesday
1/17
Pioneer Biographies
and
Wednesday
1/18
--Research and assume an individual pioneer identity or
persona
Each student is to research and assume an individual pioneer identity. All pioneers need to be at
least 14 years of age. The reason for this is that anyone aged 14 or more could vote. Younger
children could not. (See our webpage “Pioneer Biographies” for some possibilities and don’t forget
to check at the library for books, too.). Keep in the time period of around the 1850’s. Gain
background knowledge about the period. Use period pictures, diaries, and other
sourcematerials you can find. Be as factual as possible.
primary
Wednesday, Establish families
1.18
Pick surname and individual names; decide from where your family is coming
(town and state);
IP: brainstorm and pre-write webbing of persona
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--Each wagon will represent a family.
Pioneers (the students) will divide into wagons consisting of 4 students in each wagon with one
wagon having only 2. Each wagon will represent a family. Our families' wagons will make up one
wagon train led by Yore Faithful Scout, Shoofly Shae.
Scholastic Overview of the Oregon Trail
Families are assigned.
Research primary sources to find out about real Oregon Trail pioneer families; find a picture of
what they looked like and what they wore; why they were going on the trail, and where they were
leaving from (city/town, state).
--Decide on family name and your relationship in the family.
Each wagon is to work out the details of their family relationships, that is: Are you a son, daughter,
mother, father, uncle, aunt, etc.? Make sure you know why a man was important to be in your
family. (Hint: It has to do with land ownership. Check the Homesteaders Act of 1862.)
After reading and doing some research, each family needs to choose a family
surname.
Your goal: to decide upon your relationship within the family; draw and write a description of your
persona (identity)
--Write a description for your persona. Final paper due on Friday 1/20
Next, each pioneer (student) is to write a description for his or her persona (name, age, occupation,
past experiences, family role, appearance, personality traits, aspirations, hopes, dreams, etc.). Try
to investigate their true heritage and make-up the missing pieces or let your historical imagination
run free! See the Pioneer Persona Scoring Guide Check this scoring guide to make sure your
character sketch is complete.
Thursday,
1.19
Scholastic Overview of Oregon Trail
Work on rough draft of persona; use scoring guide
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IP: final, edited draft due on Friday; use scoring guide
Pioneer Persona Scoring Guide Check this scoring guide to make sure your character sketch is
complete. Example: Shoofly Shae's Persona
Friday,
1.20
Create paper doll family figures for bulletin board.
NEED 3-4 PARENT VOLUNTEERS 10:30-11:30
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*Wagons will be made in class on Monday, 1.23 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Friday, 1.20
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1. Persona FINAL copy, 2. prewrite and 3. edited/revised rough draft are due 8:00
a.m.
Monday,
1.24
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Research, sketch and label types of covered wagons
Learning about Types of Wagons
Research Types of Wagons
Families need to research types of wagons. Do research with your family to find out what the best
kind of wagon was to use. (Remember, you need the wagon that can go over mountains easily.
Which kind it is?) Draw a sketch and label the main parts of the wagon, including the size of the
wagon --length, width and depth. You will have one wagon for each family.
1:45-2:30 construct covered wagons
(Possible time to begin working on Budget Supply list: research supplies needed. See "Reading
about and Planning what to take" below.)
Julie Baker, Darla Rosen PARENT VOLUNTEERS 1:30-2:30
Begin working on Budget Supply list; research to find out more about supplies and
provisions, what kinds of things were taken with, etc. (see below)
Tuesday,
1.24
Wednesday, 10:30-11:30 Distribute pioneer clothing.
1.25
Jill Vahldick, Need one more. PARENT VOLUNTEERS 10:30-11:30
Begin working on Budget Supply list; research and fill out Excel form; each family gets $1600
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Reading about and Planning what to take
Creating Your Supply List and Budget
Each wagon is to create a supply list spreadsheet (see Westward Ho! Supply List and Oregon Trail
Price List handouts and websites). Pioneers may use these documents to help them decide which
supplies to take on their journey. Buy your wagon and supplies and pack yore belongings. Your
scout will let your wagon know if you have adequate supplies for our long and dangerous trip.
(Remember, there are few trading posts along the way. Think hard and make sure you have what
you need and some extra supplies if things like wagon wheels break!)
Make sure you understand the importance of these supplies as well as how they were used. The
provided supply list was compiled from the general lists of supplies most often found in historical
reference to this period. Students may add to the list but must be sure they have enough food
supplies for the trip. (When adding items, consider quantity, weight, room etc.) The Emigrants'
Guide to Oregon & California, recommended 200 lbs. of flour, 150 pounds of bacon, 10 pounds of
coffee, 20 pounds sugar, 10 pounds salt, and these additional supplies: chipped beef, rice, tea,
dried beans, dried fruit,
saleratus, vinegar, pickles, mustard and
tallow.
Family Supply List, Budget and Ledger
Each wagon is to prepare a budget ledger and keep a daily supply ledger of expenses/income
incurred while on the trail (see Supply Ledger and Oregon Trail Price List handouts). Please look
over the "Sample Supply List Ledger" on the website, then use the Supply List-Ledger for the entire
trip. We will load onto our desktop. Save it to your family’s name (Hawke.budget-ledger). When it
is completed, export the data into a Microsoft Word document to hand in to Scout Shoofly Shae.
**The budget ledger must be completed and turned in to Shoofly Shae by Thurs. 1/25, by 2:00 p.m.
Pioneers needed cash or trade
commodities to pay expenses while on the trail and to set
up their new life once they reached their destination. Pioneers purchased supplies and
livestock
en route, and paid fees for using toll roads, bridges, ferries, etc. Poor farmers
often had very little cash, while storekeepers and professional families may have had a great deal
of money.
Each wagon will be allotted $1600.00 to buy necessary supplies and replace stock animals while
"traveling". Depending on their occupations, pioneer families would have $400-$600 per person to
make the trip. We will all begin with the same amount of money.
Pioneer families may be allowed to "earn" money or barter by family group as the wagon
progresses along the trail, based on criteria your scout establishes. The Travel and Fates do not
require any forfeit of money, but do require
adequate supplies in the pioneer wagons.
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IP: Think of at least 5 interview questions you would ask a family about why they are going
on the Oregon Trail, what they hope for, where they are from, their family names, etc. We will
decide on 5 – 6 questions that each family will answer for the interview movies. (We will be
making movies of each family’s interview on Monday.)
Thursday,
1.26
Movie making decision of interview questions; class will create the scoring guide criteria; families
will write notes pertaining to the answers of their questions.
IP: All families should have an outline about what they will be saying in the movie interview on
Monday NEED TO DRESS IN PIONEER CLOTHING ON MONDAY FOR FAMILY PICTURES
AND
FAMILY INTERVIEWS
**Schedule of your family journal writers due tomorrow, Friday 1.27 at 8:00 a.m..
Brainstorm dialogue and notes for Oregon Fever movie done by your family. You may need to use
a recess period to get this project done.
Oregon Fever Farewell Moviemaker
- Oregon Fever Farewell Moviemaker Project
Each pioneer needs to begin his/her journey by writing notes as if you were writing a letter
home about your particular "Oregon Fever”. You may write poignant letters to friends and family
whom you will be leavin’. You may want to share tales of your leave takin’ (the tears, the breakin’
hearts, the gifts from special friends or relatives, etc.) or of your packin’ and preparation. Use yore
creativity and imagination, pardners! Get into character when you write these notes. Your family
will create a movie that tells the audience why you are leaving for the trail, what you will miss about
home, etc.
** Oregon Fever Moviemaker is due by Wednesday, 2.1 by 9:30 a.m. Your family may need to do
this project during a recess period.
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Wear pioneer outfits on Monday for family pictures and for the interviews.
Monday
NEED TO DRESS IN PIONEER CLOTHING FOR FAMILY PICTURES AND FAMILY
INTERVIEWS
Pioneer family pictures today. Bring your outfits, guitars, hats, and bonnets.
1.30
Boys-plan to wear blue jeans, a plaid, long-sleeved shirt, if possible, a cowboy or straw hat, a
bandana.
Girls-long dresses, apron or pinafore, straw hat or bonnet. Bring a fiddle, acoustical guitar, walking
stick if you have them. I have a rifle we can use for pictures. Bring your outfits, guitars, hats, and
bonnets.
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Tues.
1.25
1:45 Review family journal wikis
Wednesday Campfire Wagon Train Send-off Today
Plan on wearing some sort of pioneer-lookin’ outfit that day.
2.1
10:45-12:30 Campfire, vittles, stories and songs for chuck wagon today
PARENTS ARE BOTH NEEDED AND WELCOME TO EAT WITH US.
Parents are invited to help serve, provide music, pioneer stories, etc.
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May y’all have a safe journey out to the Oregon Country!
Thursday,
2.2
Leave Independence, Missouri, our jumping off point, in order to head out on the Oregon Trail!
Find an Oregon Trail Map for Your Family
Maps
Each wagon family should keep track of their map of the Oregon Trail. They can use it daily to
keep track of where they are after the Travel and Fates have occurred for that day. Pay attention to
and label the landmarks along the way!
Your family will receive a blank United States map for you to track your trip to Oregon.
blank US map
We leave Independence, Missouri. Our travel and fate cards begin today as does daily journal
writing.
Later in the unit:
Fort Kearny Letter Home
Letter at Fort Kearny - Rubric/Scoring Guide for Ft. Kearny Letter
Hot Springs and Geysers Research
Rubric/Scoring Guide for Hot Springs and Geysers
Willamette Valley Letter Back East
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Letter at Willamette Valley - Rubric/Scoring Guide for Willamette Valley letter home
There will be other assignments along the way. Consult your daily assignments from now on.
Keeping Your Family Journal
Keeping Your Family's Daily Journal
Each wagon is to work out a rotating schedule for each family member to contribute weekly to their family’s written
journal by writing diary entries of the daily events your wagon experienced from the “Travel & Fates” scenarios.
Keep your Supply List Ledger Up-to-date Daily.
The Supply List Ledger is designed to help each wagon keep track of purchases and expenses while on the
trail. Your wagon’s Supply Ledger should be updated daily as your wagon experiences expenses and income
while on the trail.
**Your wagon’s completed Supply Ledger is due once you have reached The End of the Trail.
Yore faithful scout,
Shoofly Shae
Westward Ho!
Polly Wolly Doodle
Camptown Races
Red River Valley
Down in the Valley
Happy Trails to You
I've Been Working on the Railroad
You Are My Sunshine
Campfire Stories
Spooky Podcasts
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Pioneer Biographies
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Go to these sites to read about real pioneers who went on the Oregon Trail. Gain
background knowledge of them and the period of time, (circa 1850's).
Use pictures, diaries, and other primary source materials you can find. You and your
partners will pick a family name and work out the details of your family relationships.
What kinds of people traveled west?
Emigrants Narratives and Biographies
Pioneer Women and their family Identities
Frontier Personalities
Homesteaders Act of 1862 (and the information that lead up to it).
Pioneer Multimedia
Pioneer Persona Scoring Guide Check this scoring guide to make sure your character
sketch is complete.
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Learning About Types of Wagons
What was a covered wagon? What kind did most emigrants use?
Diagram of a Covered Wagon
Wagon information
What's in a Wagon?
Prairie Schooner
Conestoga Wagon picture
What's the difference between a Conestoga wagon and a Prairie Schooner?
A chuck wagon
Wagon Train Picture
The Covered Wagon | another covered wagon
How Did the Pioneers Travel?
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Reading About and Planning What to Take on the Trip
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Supplies, provisions, and how to pack yore wagon
Provisions and prices (You may need to change the view to zoom in because font is really small.)
What to Take Along
Power: Horse? Mule? Oxen? Horses, Mules, Oxen
Provisions
Provisions 2
Water
Fuel and Fire
Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California by Langsford W. Hastings
What is a bushel?
What is a keg? holds about 30 gallons of liquid; 100 pounds of solids, such as flour or nails.
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Create Your Family's Supply List-Budget
Oregon Trail Budget Spreadsheet This is an interactive Excel spreadsheet Rodeo Rich
created for pioneers/students to use to budget and track their initial startup expenses as they
prepare to travel on the Oregon Trail. An itemized list with realistic prices from the mid1800's is given in areas such as wagon supplies, provisions, animals, food, and luxuries. Let the
spreadsheet to do math for you!
(Thank you, Rodeo Rich, for creating this and making it available!)
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Oregon Fever Farewell Moviemaker
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You are writing a letter telling about your leaving and should include imagining you are your
character. along with your family and what it was like to be leaving friends and other relatives
to immigrate to the Oregon Country.
Ideas you might include along with some others you might think of are...
What would you say to a close friend about your journey?
How do you feel about the journey ahead?
Why have you (or why has your family) decided to go on this journey?
What do you expect to see on the journey? What challenges will you face?
What will you say to your friend when you know you may never meet again?
Express any concerns, fears, stories you have learned about the trip to your friend, relative.
How will you keep in touch? Will you being saying goodbye forever?
Let your friend or relative know that you will be thinking about them in thoughts, prayers...
Give them wishes of good luck, be careful, etc.
Scoring Guide/Rubric for Oregon Fever Farewell Moviemaker
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Keeping Your Family Journal
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Each family has its own page to keep journal entries. We are using a classroom wiki.
Check them out at Family Journals. There you will keep your family journal as you make
your trip west.
Remember to date the entries with the historic dates, mention the landmarks, and things
that happen according to the Travel and Fate scenarios. Family members will take turns
writing in the journal. Other family members are to make sure to give the typist ideas and
take time to proofread the entry before submitting it. You might even want to include
pictures of the places you've been,
Remember to fill in which family member is doing the writing. You cannot go back to
make corrections once they are submitted.
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Fort Kearny Letter Home
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Spirits are high. Talk of the nostalgia of home has almost disappeared and you're all
anticipating the new lives ahead of you. The letter you send home to friends and relatives
are positive and filled with adventure and hope. You learn that your next supply post is
Fort Laramie. In your letters, make sure you tell your kin, cousin or friends about the
hardships and things you've had to do to get this far. Be sure to mention lots of details and
name at least 4 events or sights or experiences you've had so far on the trail. Be sure to
share your excitement as you write.
The letter should include the elements of a friendly letter: Heading (just the place name
and state will suffice), a greeting, the body, the closing and the signature of the writer. If you
are not sure how to write a friendly letter, go to:
Friendly letter
Letter Generator
Learn the parts of a letter, then practice writing your own friendly letter.
As with all writing assignments, make sure you have a rough draft that shows revisions,
corrections, and editing along with your final draft.
Rubric/Scoring Guide for Ft. Kearny Letter
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Hot Springs and Geysers Research
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Research how hot springs and geysers are formed, where they are located in the earth and
on the earth, including labeled diagrams. Paper must convey that the student understands
the formation of hot springs and geysers. This is a science paper.
Rubric/Scoring Guide for Hot Springs and Geysers
Willamette Valley Letter back East
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Write letters back east to the kinfolk at "home" to tell them about our trials and tribulations,
joys and excitement.
Students will need to hand in both the rough draft and final copies.
Letter should include the following: You have arrived in the promised land. Who are you?
Where have you chosen to live? How will you support your family? Will your children go to
school? Is the valley everything you dreamed it would be? Name some events that took place
between the end of the trail and Ft. Kearny when you wrote your last letter.
Rubric/Scoring Guide for Willamette Valley letter home
Maps
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United States in 1850
Ya need a good map to Oregon!
Interactive Map
Miscellaneous Things of Interest
If you have a Kindle and $.99, you can purchase this book which has some interesting facts
about the Oregon Trail in it. Go to: Amazon.com
Landmarks along the trail (student art work of these places)
Historic Sites on the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail Song You may get some supplies if you are willing
to perform this song.
Homes on the Prairie
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We begin...
Mile 0.0
May 1
Fort Independence, gathering at Courthouse Square
Last chance purchases!
Independence, MO
Independence 2
The Oregon Trail Tour Map
(See pictures of landmarks along the trail by going here.)
Trail Stops Along the Way
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2 Independence
Spring
Mile 0.0
May 1
Cholera!
6 River Crossings
8 Fremont Springs
Mile 54
May 5-7
Mile 194
May 16
4 miles south of Diller, Nebraska
5 miles southeast of Lawrence,
John C. Fremont 1 | 2
What is cholera?
Kansas
Another look at what Hardships
Wakarusa River (also
is cholera?
Cures for cholera in known as Bluejacket, named
after George Bluejacket,
the 1800's
proprietor of a ferry and hotel
Kit Carson 1 | 2
c1855)
9 The Narrows
Mile 252
May 20
1.5 miles northwest of Oak,
Nebraska
Pioneer Cures for
Rattlesnake Bites:
Cures for Rattlesnake
Bites
Old Time Cures (see
10 Fort Kearny
Mile 319
May30
Fort Kearny
Fort Kearny 2
12 Gilman' Station
Mile 401
June 11
A fort, located 8 miles west of Gothenburg, Nebraska
5.5 miles south of Kearny,
Nebraska
Gillman's Station
#66)
15 Windlass Hill
17 Courthouse Rock and
Windlass Hill picture
Chimney Rock
Mile 561
picture 2
Mile 500
June 25
Garden County near Ash
Hollow, Nebraska
June 30
Courthouse Rock
20 Horse Creek Crossing
Mile 615
July 6
4 miles southwest of Morril, Nebraska
5 miles
due south of Bridgeport,
Nebraska
Courthouse Rock
Picture of Chimney
Rock
Chimney Rock 3.5 miles
southwest of Bayard, Nebraska
22 Fort Laramie
Goshen County, Wyoming
Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie 2
Video
When you arrive here, you
need to stock up on
26, 27 Poison Spring,
Alkali Slough
Natrona County, Wyoming
Poison Spring Pictures
and info
28Saleratus(PlayaLake)
(1 mile northeast of Independence Rock, Wyoming)
Saleratus Lake
(Click on the audio to hear about it.)
Playa Lake is made up of bicarbonate soda, also known as
baking soda. Baking soda is an alkali. It reacts with the flour in
goods. Click here to see a
short price list and directions
for what else you need to
write in your journal and on
your supply list.
Experiments Page on
Acids and Alkaline
Reactions
bread to help it rise. Baking soda helps things to rise, otherwise
you would have food like hardtack.
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24 Ayers Natural
Bridge
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(12 miles west of Douglas,
Wyoming)
Pictures of Ayers
Bridge
29 Independence
Rock
30 Devil's Gate
(Natrona
48 miles southwest of Casper, County, Wyoming)
Video
Wyoming
Second only to Chimney Historic Sites
Rock as a major natural Devil's Gate
landmark - gives a clue
to its importance as a
gauge of trail progress
because we are now
about halfway there!
Historic Sites
Historic Info
See the names!
Independence Rock
Video
32 South Pass
33 Parting of the Ways
South Pass was important
(9 miles northeast
only as a landmark - offered of Farson, Wyoming )
the easiest way across the
Picture
Continental Divide.
Video of South Pass
Historic Sites
South Pass
Information
Continental Divide
What is the
continental divide?
Map of the
continental divide
Sublette Cutoff
Map
Three Island
CrossingMarks a brief split in
the trail that offered pioneers
two choices - each of which
carried risks. The Three Crossings
Route was a narrow rugged
path that crossed the
Sweetwater River 3 times in a
row; the Deep Sand Route
crossed the river once, but
passed through a stretch of trail
with thick, heavy sand that
could turn to quicksand after
31 Ice Spring Slough
Video
9.5 miles east of Sweetwater Station, Wyoming
2 different paths linked together at Ice Spring Slough - always
take the road to South Pass.
"The next milepost was Ice Slough, a shallow basin at the 6000
foot level just before South Pass. Ponds and springs here were
covered with turf. Ice from the previous winter was insulated
under the turf and could be dug out during the hot summer
months. The surface water was alkaline, but the ice was clear
and good: "We dug down in the earth about 12 inches, and
found chinks of ice. We carried it along till about noon, and
made some lemonade for dinner. It relished first rate." (George
Belshaw, July 4, 1853)
34 Fort Bridger
Little Sandy Crossing, 7 miles northeast of Farson, Wyoming
Historic Sites
Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger video
Fort Bridger 2
Pictures of Fort Bridger (mute yore sound!)
heavy rains. The Deep Sand
Route was the safer of the two.
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35 Emigrant Spring
(Sandy Crossing)
18 miles west of Fontelle,
Wyoming,
Sandy River
Crossing (click on picture
to make it bigger)
Emigrant Springs (click
Deep Rut Hill Video
Platte River Crossing
Video
36 Thomas Fork
Crossing
rejoining the trails Sublette and
Ft. Bridger, 1.2 miles west of
Border, Wyoming
Thomas Fork Crossing
on the picture to make it
bigger)
37 Steamboat Spring
(Soda Springs), Idaho
Geysers and Hot Springs sites
About Geysers
Weird Geology: Geysers
Geysers, Fumaroles, and Hot Springs
Hot Springs and How They Work
Pictures
**Ask to view teachers domain
information.
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38 Fort Hall
(south of the Snake River,
Idaho)
39 Three Island Crossing
Elmore County, Idaho
Three Island Crossing
Fort Hall 1
Historic Site
Fort Hall 2
Quicksand
Price List for Supplies The Crossing
41 Ladd Canyon Hill
Union County, Oregon, at
the base of the Blue
Mountains
Blue Mountains
Barlow Road
Barlow Road
Barlow Road
42 Deadman's Pass
Umatilla County, Oregon
Deadman's pass
What
are renegade Indians?
The Whitmans
Narcissa Whitman
40 Farewell Bend
Baker County Oregon
Say goodbye to the Snake River
Farewell Bend was a significant landmark to the pioneers
because it was their last view of the Snake River.
Farewell Bend
43 Whitman Mission
Whitman Mission
Whitman Mission
The Columbia Gorge
Columbia Gorge
Pictures of the Columbia Gorge
The Spauldings and the
The Dalles
Nez Perce What do they have
in common with Lewis and
Clark?
The end of the trail...
44 Willamette Valley
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Willamette River has gone through many spellings but the root word was the Indian word, Wal-lamt. When
an early explorer asked an Indian the name as he pointed toward the river, the Indian answered "Wal-lamt".
The Indian was looking at the 'west bank' of the river.
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Extra Credit Project (To have permission to earn extra credit, you must get teacher
approval first.) Worth 30 points possible.
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Oregon Trail Research
Use another sheet of paper to answer these questions. Be sure to number each answer and
write the question. Answers should be in complete sentences and in neat handwriting or
typed.
Use the sites below for information. You must write both the question (in bolded font) and the
answers (in regular font). This project is due at the end of the unit.
End of the Oregon Trail and Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and The Oregon
Trail and Fantastic Facts about the Oregon Trail and Pioneer Life and Emigrant
Road
Where Was the Oregon Territory? Who owned it at the time? The Oregon Trail
Clickable Map Go here and click on the place you want to see.
History Globe Map
Historic Sites
What was a covered wagon? What kind did most emigrants use?
What was a wagon train?
Wagon Trains
Did anybody lead the wagon train?
What was a trail guide?
Why did some people want to travel to Oregon?
What kinds of people traveled west?
People on the Oregon Trail
What would your family bring in their covered wagon? Name at least five foods,
and five other supplies.
Provisions for the Trail
Provisions
When was the best time to start the trip?
Jumping Off
Life on the Trail
How would you cross rivers when there were no bridges?
How far would you travel in a day?
What was it like...?
Would you ride in a wagon for the whole trip?
What were the dangers and difficulties for the trip?
Problems of Illness, stress, privacy and traveling
Hardships
Where would you sleep?
What was the trail like for the women?
What kind of clothes did the people wear?
Clothing
What would you eat? Name at least five things.
Pioneer Food
Recipes on the Oregon Trail
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Pioneer Vittles
Frontier Foods
Heritage Gateways Pioneer Food
Heritage Gateways: Ways of cooking and preparing meat
Heritage Gateways: Bread-The Staff of Life
Heritage Gateways: Cakes/Cookies
Indian Recipes
Pioneer and Indian Recipes
Fruitcake on the Trail
How did you make buffalo meat last a long time?
How would you build a fire if you didn’t have any wood? How would you collect
what you needed?
Buffalo Chips and Pioneers
What happened if you met Indians on the trail?
Emigrant and the Indian (scroll down for the information)
Would you go to school during the trip?
What chores would you have to do?
Children's Chores
Could you have fun on the trip?
Pioneer Games
Toys
Quilts
Would you see any wild animals?
Wildlife on the Oregon Trail Then and Now
Could you send a letter or receive one?
If you ran out of supplies, could you get more?
Hardships
Was it hard driving the wagons over the mountains?
Without road signs, how would you know where you were?
What is the Continental Divide?
Over the Continental Divide
What special tricks of the trail did the pioneers learn?
How do we know what it was like to travel west in a covered wagon?
Diaries and Letters
Is there anything left of the old Oregon Trail?
Emigrant Road
to the top
Hop to the Top
Copyright © 2003-2011 Cheryl "Shae" Johnson
URL: http://courses.missouristate.edu/ShaeJohnson
Due to the constant changing state of websites
and the Internet, if you encounter a problem
or a broken link, please contact me at
Shae Johnson
Last Modified: March 16, 2012
Greenwood Laboratory School