Welcome to our newest addition to the blog - Historical Tidbit Thursdays!
The next few weeks I'm veering off my normal Texas History research trail to dive deep into the Oregon Trail and share my research with you! Hope you enjoy!
The Oregon Trail became really popular between 1843 and 1869 as people headed west to claim land or find their riches.
It is estimated that 300,000 up to 500,000 people made the 6 month long journey.
In 1848, the discovery of gold near San Francisco, caused travelers to form a southwestern branch off the trail to California.
Mormons on their way to Utah created another branch - the Mormon Trail.
To compare, in 1869 with the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, it only took 1 week to journey from Nebraska to California (eventually putting the Oregon Trail out of business).
Source:
The Oregon Trail by Rachel Lynette; ISBN#978-1-4777-0786-9
No comments:
Post a Comment