Appendix I 



"By 1840, the fur trappers and traders had unwittingly 

 hastened their own demise by developing an east-west corridor 

 across the Trans-Mississippi West suitable for wagon travel. 

 Popular interest had been aroused by the tales of returning 

 Astorians, explorers, and mountain men of the vast empire 

 that lay west of the Mississippi River. By an 1818 convention 

 with England, the Oregon country became open for joint 

 occupation by both English and American citizens. Spanish 

 and Russian claims to the Oregon country were relinquished 

 by treaties. American claims were tentative, as Astoria had 

 been purchased by the North West Company during the War 

 of 1812, and the American fur trade had lagged in the region 

 until after 1819. In 1821, the North West Company and the 

 Hudson's Bay Company merged under the charter and name 

 of the latter to form a colossal fur empire. The resulting English 

 monopoly in Canada and the Oregon country attempted to 

 drive out American fur interests using 'cutthroat competition.' 

 However, the proximity of the American settlements allowed 

 hundreds of American citizens to enter the Oregon country, 

 either overland by the Oregon Trail or by sea in the years 

 following the convention, so that they eventually greatly 

 outnumbered the British. Finally, in 1846, Oregon became a 

 territory of the United States. 



"The Oregon Trail allowed thousands of dissatisfied citizens 

 to enter Oregon and helped tip the balance for its acquisition 

 by the United States. As a result of the financial panic of 1837, 

 depressed farm prices, the social impact of the industrial 

 revolution, and the hope that life will be better elsewhere, 

 thousands were willing to 'take the jump' at Independence, 

 Missouri, and cross the rolling prairies to the Great Platte River 

 Road. 



"In 1836, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and their party were 

 sent to the Oregon country by the American Board of Foreign 

 Missions to establish a Christain mission among the Indians. 

 Leaving the annual trappers' rendezvous (held that year near 

 the confluence of the Green River and Horse Creek near 

 present-day Pinedale), the Whitman party traveled by wagon 

 on a laborious route to Fort Hall. The wagon was converted 

 into a cart which was finally abandoned at Fort Boise. In 1840, 

 the Newell party took three wagons from Fort Hall to the 

 Willamette Valley, reaching the Whitman mission that fall. The 

 following year, Newell proceeded down the Columbia River 

 with his wagon and is credited with the first wagon trip to 

 reach the Pacific. 



"In 1841, the Bidwell-Bartleson Party left Westport Landing 

 guided by Thomas Fitzpatrick bound for Oregon. This party 

 is generally credited as 'the first emigrant party' to traverse 

 the entire length of the Oregon Trail. However, they abandoned 

 their wagons at Fort Hall. The Elijah White party followed in 

 the 1842 season and likewise left its wagons at Fort Hall. In 

 that same year, John C. Fremont traversed a large portion 

 of the emigrant road and made the first accurate map and 

 guidebook for travelers. In 1843, the first large overland 

 migration was led by Marcus Whitman. The party consisted 

 of 130 women and 610 children in addition to the men. Due 

 to the numbers and composition of the emigrants, many 

 historians use the year 1843 to mark the real beginning of 

 the great westward migration. 



"Aubrey Haines, a noted Oregon trail historian, has compiled 

 the following statistics for emigrant numbers utilizing the 

 Oregon trail prior to the California Gold Rush of 1849: 



1841 32 



1842 197 



1843 875 



1844 1,750 



1845 3,000 



1846 1,500 



1847 4,500 



1848 1,000 



"The Mormon migration began in 1847, using the north side 

 of the Platte River as far as Fort Laramie, then generally 

 following the Oregon Trail to Fort Bridger. The Mormons had 

 been brutally driven from Nauvoo, Illinois, in February 1846 

 and followed territorial roads and Indian trails across Iowa 

 and established Winter Ouarters near the site of Omaha. Over 

 3,700 Mormons gathered there and in communities in Iowa. 

 In the spring of 1847, Brigham Young led a party of 148 

 westward to Fort Bridger. He then followed the recently 

 discovered Hastings Cutoff to the Salt Lake Valley where he 

 established an embryo Mormon colony in the wilderness. The 

 migration continued throughout 1847 and 1848 with 

 subsequent parties establishing mileposts, ferry crossings, 

 camping spots and improving the road. In 1848, The Latter 

 Day Saints' Emigrants Guide was issued by the Mormons and 

 was one of the earliest trail guides to be used by travelers 

 on the Oregon Trail. Thousands of Mormon converts from 

 England as well as the United States continued to make the 

 long overland journey to Salt Lake until the completion of 

 the transcontinental railroad in 1869. 



"The Mormons began the handcart system in 1856 due to 

 the lack of funds for a sufficient number of wagons. However, 

 an early winter storm in October of that year resulted in the 

 deaths of over 200 emigrants. The Willie company was caught 

 by the storm along the Sweetwater River near South Pass. 

 The party was already in a debilitated state from the long 

 journey and made a camp on Rock Creek not far from the 

 later site of the Lewiston mining camp. Before relief could 

 arrive from the Mormon settlements, 67 emigrants had 

 perished. Handcart travel was discontinued after 1860, and 

 church sponsored teams and wagons were often sent east 

 to haul the emigrants west. By the inception of the 

 transcontinental railroad in 1869, an estimated 42,800 

 emigrants reached the Mormon settlements by means of 

 overland travel, on foot, pulling handcarts, or by covered 

 wagons. The Mormons were the first significant emigrant group 

 to recognize the potential of and settle within a portion of 

 the region lying between the Pacific Coast and ttie eastern 

 settlements. Their seed colony gradually spread in all 

 directions including east into southwestern Wyoming, and they 

 maintained several ferry sites on the Green and Platte River 

 crossings on the Oregon Trail. 



"Prior to 1849, records show that 12,764 emigrants traveled 

 the Oregon Trail, bound for Oregon or Utah. However, in 1849, 

 interest shifted to California where significant gold deposits 

 were discovered. The number of emigrants suddenly swelled 

 to an estimated 22,550 to 30,000 in 1849 and 45,000 to 55,000 

 in 1850. These figures were obtained from wagon counts kept 

 at Fort Kearney and Fort Laramie and multiplied by 3 to 4 

 occupants per wagon, along with estimates of packers (those 

 who did not use wagons) taken from contemporary diaries. 

 California-bound emigrants diverged southwesterly from the 

 Oregon Trail, by using either the Hudspeth Cutoff from Soda 

 Springs or proceeding southward down the Raft River 

 southwest of Fort Hall. This huge influx of argonauts was 

 initially composed chiefly of males bound for the gold fields. 

 Later, the number of women and children increased as 

 California's warm climate and agricultural virtues were more 

 fully recognized after the gold fever had subsided. In 1850, 

 cholera epidemics swept the emigrants, thus reducing the 

 number of travelers the following season. By 1852 the numbers 

 rose once again with 50,000 emigrants estimated on the 

 Oregon Trail. By that year, the gold rush traffic had ebbed, 

 and a significant portion of the emigration headed for Oregon, 

 as it did in 1853. 



"West of South Pass, a number of significant trail variations 

 or cutoffs were blazed in order to shorten the journey and 

 to avoid or limit waterless stretches in the Big Sandy Desert. 

 Many of these cutoffs were opened in the 1850s, but the most 

 significant, the Sublette or Greenwood Cutoff was blazed in 



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