The Oregon and California Settlers Flashcards
What was the aim of the California and Oregon settlers ?
The aim or the California and Oregon settlers were to escape problems in the east in order to set up a new life in thee west. They did not wish to set up life on the plains as they were under the illusion that this land was useless.
Which factors pulled the California and Oregon settlers to the west ?
Mountain men told wonderful stories of places in the west which had enormous quantities of land with rich soils where food could grow. They were led to believe that the land there was fertile and that there was animals like pigs that could provide a food source.
The reports of mountain men spread in exaggerated stories that were passed from person to person and also through news papers which also pulled people wet as they were given a positive impression of the prosperous land.
Missionaries were pulled to the west as they believed they could convert people to christianity in new lands
What pushed the California and Orogen settlers west
There was a great economic depression in the east of America in the 1830/40’s , unemployment considerably rose and consequently many people suffered financial struggles. Also the wages of the employed were cut as employers were struggling the curse of economic struggle.
The east also became crowded as more settlers migrated over from Europe and occupied space , hence people were pushed west in the hope to attain more land. Also land in the east often could not be afforded as it was in high demand thus they moved west as if they could farm the land and it had no existing owner then they could claim it as their own.
The price of crops in the east was getting lower hence farmers could not make as much profit for their crops. They had to reduce the cost of their crops as there was more competition among those settled in the east as more farms were founded.
What were the organ / California trials ?
The Oregon and California trails stretched out the length of the plains and normally took about 5 months to cross by wagon. The land was varying and obstacles such as rivers mountains and desserts ha to be crossed. It was important to cross the plains within a certain window of time as the winter conditions of the plains were often intolerable for the migrants moving west.
Why did the people want to move west ?
The white people believed in the idea of ‘manifest destiny’ manifest destiny was the belief that it was a god given right and destiny to settle the entry of the plains. They believed that the land had potential and that it should all be cultivated and occupied , they believed that their religion and culture was superior to that of the Indians hence they considered settling the land to be a a way of civilising the continent.
What were the difficulties and dangers of moving west?
The terrain of the Plains was very uneven and there were several obstacles which impaired the efficiency of traveling the plains such as mountains which were difficult to orienteer and rivers which were difficult to cross.
The equipment used to cross the plains was mostly wagons dragged by horses , these wagons were normally made of wood which meant manoeuvrability could be difficult . The wagon was often not water proof which men in crossing the plains people would often have a limited degree of shelter. Plus the wheels of wagons could easily break as they were wooden hence spares had to be carried by the train of wagons and as a consequence lots of space was occupied . Due to the limited degree of manoeuvrability the wagons had they often had to be winched up mountains which was a very difficult task.
Entire families would often travel in a single cart hence the conditions were cramped and disease cud easily spread due to the poor hygienic state of the temporary living conditions. Camp fever was a particularly common disease to outbreak in the trains of wagons which crossed the plains.Out breaks of disease could slow down the progression of the band which was very dangerous as the journey had to be completed within a window of time in order to escape the toils of winter. As the journey was so long often women had to give birth this could be dangerous. If a wagon became overturned which was quite possible on the uneven terrain it could injure or kill people to the side of it and could also break as it fell or was tried to be pinched back up. There were often injuries however non of these could be treat very well as there was no way of contacting medical professionals.
As the journey was so long the trail blazers had to to take food with them to last them the most part of their journey this took up lots of space and if the food ran out they could be often forced into cannibalism in times of desperation. Moreover often fires could be difficult to maintain in harsh weathers thus those moving across the trials often found it difficult to come across food.. Water sources available while traveling often were not clean , this mean that cholera could also spread.
The Indians behaved in a hostile manor towards those crossing the plains as the sheer mass of wagons moving across portions of the land disturbed the pattern I the movement of the buffalo. Plus the Indians knew that these people crossing the plains were moving to settle the west which went against their beliefs that land could not could be owned as it was their mother. the Indians were also hostile as they thought those crossing the plains were purposely spreading disease to the Indians as in outbreaks where those travelling didn’t get ill the Indians did in actuality this was because the trailblazers has resistance to some of the diseases. the Indians were also shown hostility by those passing as they were perceived to e inferior and primitive as the outsiders did not understand their culture and were threatened by their way of life. The Indians would attack the trains of wagons in extreme cases were tensions ran high however this was not done as often as it was made out as the stories that arrived back in the east and west were exaggerated for effect and hence may not have give a true indication of the extent of the Indians feelings towards those crossing the plains. sometimes the Indians would engage in brief trade with those passing by.
Groups often split up over disagreements , travelling in smaller groups was more dangerous as it meant those travelling were more vulnerable to attack and had less man power for process such as wrenching carts up mountains . Some people could not cope with the stress of the tasking journey and were very highly agitated and had tendencies to argue , as the journey was un supervised by law officials often disagreements could lead to murder , alternatively people could go insane for the conditions they were in that varied considerably from their farming lives in the east.
Buffalos still stampeded the plains t the time of the California and Oregon trails which also passed as a problem. Additionally if winters fell early the climatic conditions could kill those traveling across the trails Orit could halt their journey and their stay would be on that was extremely hard to work in given the lack of resources they has with them in the carts.
Who were the Donner Party ?
The Donner part were a group of trail blazers who left Springfield in Illinois in the direction of California in April 1846. Upon the journey which was lead by George Donner , a splinter group (a proportion of the main band of wagons) took a different route through ‘the Hastings cut off’ as they believed this would cut 2 weeks from the time of their journey it was this which ended in fatality. The party got stuck in the mountains in Sierra Nevada as heavy snow fall trapped their carts for 5 months , in this time the Donner party ran out of food and had to resort to cannibalism in order for a proportion of the group to survive. This occurrence exemplified the dangers of crossing the plains as it exemplified the fatalities which could occur as an implication of the journey and also helped emphasises that band wagons must race against the weather.
