How Many People Traveled the Oregon Trail?: And Other Questions about the Trail West

After Lewis and Clark reached Oregon in 1805, Oregon became a destination for increasing numbers of Americans. Some early travelers on the Oregon Trail were fur traders; others were Christian missionaries. By the 1840s and 1850s, large groups made the slow trip by wagon train to stake out land for farming, to search for gold, or to head south for a Mormon life free from persecution. Along the way, they faced dangerous river crossings, diseases, food shortages, and exhaustion. This book explores the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the Oregon Trail.