Dreams on the Oregon Trail

Reasons may include: “Manifest Destiny”, the cholera epidemic, finacial problems, free land, fewer people, the pamphlets that portrayed the western territories as “The Land of Milk and Honey”, where crops nearly plant themselves and grow to enormous size! Women were offered more rights.

In my class, we’ve done these on computer, choosing pictures and maps to add to the text. We use facts as well as emotional persuasion, exaggeration, and propaganda techniques.

After reading about the Oregon Trail, the hardships of the trail, how much of the information people were given was false or exaggerated, we then write a “Don’t Go to Oregon!” paragraph, reversing our position and using the same techniques to convince people NOT to make the trip.

Journal Entries:

Do some research on actual diary entries of people traveling the trail. Write your own journal/diary entries as though you were traveling the trail in the mid-1800’s. Write entries from the start of the trip, the middle and the end. Refer to sites you may see along the way. Refer to dangers, hazards and joys that may be experienced. How would you feel about going? What are some of the dangers that could befall you and your family? What would be your reasons for going?

Plan a Trip:

In the story, Jenna and her mother make their trip in 6 days. To cover all that they did, it would actually take longer. Plan your own trip, starting in St. Joseph or Independence, Missouri.

This is a cross-curricular project involving map reading skills, geography, research, planning, estimating, adding, subtracting, multiplying, basic percentage and using a calculator.

Items needed:

A map of the Oregon Trail route

A selection of road maps, and a copy on which the trip can be plotted.

Calculators

Highlighters or markers

Travel planning books and brochures of sites along the Oregon Trail

National Park books, maps or information brochures.

The trip can take 8 to 10 days. You will travel in pairs, in either a car or a truck camper. The car uses less gas but you have to eat in restaurants more often and stay in motels. The camper takes more gas, but you save money staying in camping areas.

You will have to plan your time, how long you will be on the road and how long you will stay at each site.

When traveling on main roads, you will average about 50 mph, since you have to stop for eating, to get gas and so forth. You can safely drive about 400 miles a day, or 8 hours driving at this rate. When on secondary roads, your average speed will be 35mph. Since you will be stopping at sites along the way and spending anywhere from an hour to several hours, you will most likely not be driving many hours!

First choice to be made:

Truck camper: you will get 12 mpg.

Small car: 28 mpg

Figuring mileage on your trip: Add up how far you have gone in the day by using the mileage numbers on the road maps, or by measuring. (If you access to a GPS, go for it!) Add 10% for getting lost, looking for gas, food and finding the sites! Divide by your vehicle’s mpg, then multiply by the price of gas, using the latest average. So, using a calculator: how many miles driven that day + 10% divided by (mpg) x gas price.

Come up with daily rates for food and overnight. Private campgrounds and state parks will be more expensive than National Parks or National Forest sites, but they will have flush toilets and showers.

I set consistent prices for meals, hotels and campgrounds. They could also use internet research to find actual prices.

I assign an amount of money they can use and they cannot go over. (say $75 each per day) It’s amazing how well kids can cut corners and plan an inexpensive trip! If they choose to save even more by tent camping, insist on at least one night at a motel due to rain or some such excuse!

Some sites have entrance fees. You can look them up individually or again set a standard fee.