What was it like traveling west in the 1800s

Declan, Tobin. Tobin, Declan. American History for Kids. Traveling West. Fun Facts Native Americans had lived in the Kentucky woods for hundreds of years. Their trails ran throughout the region. Later, settlers came on horses and then by wagon. Men chopped down trees to make the paths wider.

These wiki pages can point you to significant pioneer record collections though not all of them are freely available :. FamilySearch Blog. About FamilySearch. For Latter-day Saints. For the Whole Family. Genealogy Research. Heritage and History. News and Events.

Personal History. Westward Expansion. Travelers often left warning messages to those journeying behind them if there was an outbreak of disease, bad water or hostile American Indian tribes nearby.

As more and more settlers headed west, the Oregon Trail became a well-beaten path and an abandoned junkyard of surrendered possessions. It also became a graveyard for tens of thousands of pioneer men, women and children and countless livestock. Over time, conditions along the Oregon Trail improved. Bridges and ferries were built to make water crossings safer. Settlements and additional supply posts appeared along the way which gave weary travelers a place to rest and regroup. Trail guides wrote guidebooks, so settlers no longer had to bring an escort with them on their journey.

Unfortunately, however, not all the books were accurate and left some settlers lost and in danger of running out of provisions. With the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in Utah in , westward wagon trains decreased significantly as settlers chose the faster and more reliable mode of transportation.

It was also a main thoroughfare for massive cattle drives between and By , the railroads had all but eliminated the need to journey thousands of miles in a covered wagon.

Settlers from the east were more than happy to hop a train and arrive in the West in one week instead of six months. Although modern progress ended the need for the Oregon Trail, its historical significance could not be ignored.

The National Park Service named it a National Historic Trail in and continues to educate the public on its importance. First Emigrants on the Michigan Trail.

Oregon California Trails Association. Marcus Whitman Narcissa Whitman Oregon Donation Land Act. The Oregon Encyclopedia. Oregon or Bust. Arizona Geographic Alliance. Oregon Trail. Trail Basics: The Starting Point. National Oregon California Trail Center. Trail Basics: The Wagon. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. A significant push toward the west coast of North America began in the s. It was intensified by the belief in manifest destiny, federally issued Indian removal acts, and economic promise. Pioneers traveled to Oregon and California using a network of trails leading west. In historian Frederick Jackson Turner declared the frontier closed, citing the census as evidence, and with that, the period of westward expansion ended.

Explore these resources to learn more about what happened between and , as immigrants, American Indians, United States citizens, and freed slaves moved west.