Settlers faced many dangers and hardships along the Oregon trail such as attacks, accidents, supply shortages, terrain, disease and weather. The Oregon Trail was a 2,170 mile route from Missouri to Oregon Territory. It enabled migration for the early pioneers to move West. The trail was laid down from 1811-1840 by fur trappers. It could only be traveled by horseback, wagons, or by foot. Over 500,00 people used the trail until the transcontinental railroad was established. One reason travelers in the east left, was because they wanted no part in disease such as yellow fever and malaria. “Diseases also took a heavy toll on the trail. Opportunities for sanitation—bathing and laundering—were severely limited, and safe drinking water frequently
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Human and animal waste, garbage, and animal carcasses were often in close proximity to available water supplies. As a result, cholera, spread by contaminated water, was responsible for the most deaths overall on the Oregon Trail, although diphtheria was the single biggest killer of children. Many emigrants, exhausted and suffering from poor nutrition, fell prey to typhoid, “mountain fever” (believed to be a tick fever that causes flu like symptoms), dysentery, mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, food poisoning, scurvy (from the lack of vitamin C), or poisoning from drinking water that was too alkaline. Measles, mumps, and smallpox also preyed on the pioneers, especially children, and women were always at risk while giving birth.” https://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Oregon-Trail/57332 The amount of danger only from disease as …show more content…
Once this happens, travelers would have to start to save their food to make it last until they reached a post on the trail. “When travelers would underestimate the amount of supplies to bring, it could result in a supply shortage. Once this happens, the trip becomes miserable by trying to ration food evenly until they get to the next fort. For example, the Whitman party ended up having to live off of dried buffalo meat. The supply shortages do not always have to be food shortages, they could also run out of spair wagon parts and even clothing. If a wagon breaks down without having any spair parts to fix it, the travelers would surely die. Supply shortages can result into an inevitable death” Deaths did occur when food was needed in critical
Human and animal waste, garbage, and animal carcasses were often in close proximity to available water supplies. As a result, cholera, spread by contaminated water, was responsible for the most deaths overall on the Oregon Trail, although diphtheria was the single biggest killer of children. Many emigrants, exhausted and suffering from poor nutrition, fell prey to typhoid, “mountain fever” (believed to be a tick fever that causes flu like symptoms), dysentery, mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, food poisoning, scurvy (from the lack of vitamin C), or poisoning from drinking water that was too alkaline. Measles, mumps, and smallpox also preyed on the pioneers, especially children, and women were always at risk while giving birth.” https://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Oregon-Trail/57332 The amount of danger only from disease as …show more content…
Once this happens, travelers would have to start to save their food to make it last until they reached a post on the trail. “When travelers would underestimate the amount of supplies to bring, it could result in a supply shortage. Once this happens, the trip becomes miserable by trying to ration food evenly until they get to the next fort. For example, the Whitman party ended up having to live off of dried buffalo meat. The supply shortages do not always have to be food shortages, they could also run out of spair wagon parts and even clothing. If a wagon breaks down without having any spair parts to fix it, the travelers would surely die. Supply shortages can result into an inevitable death” Deaths did occur when food was needed in critical