Oregon Trail Journal
By: India Richardson
Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail. Digital image. Google Images, n.d. Web.
Settlers in the camp
Harrsch, Marry. Settlers in the camp. Digital image. Flicker. Google Images, 9 June 2006. Web.
Map of Oregon Trail
Map of Oregon Trail. Digital image. Wikipedia. Google Images, n.d. Web
Day 1: The Journey Begins
My name is Wyatt. Im a blacksmith from Philadelphia and Im traveling to Oregon with my family, in hope of opening my own blacksmith shop. I am traveling with my wife Elizabeth, my oldest son James, my oldest daughter Mary, my youngest son Jack, and my youngest daughter Niki. I excited but fearful of the journey ahead. Ive heard a lot of stories of Indians and robbers along the way. But we have to look forward to the future ahead. The first few hours were calm and peaceful, and then just like that we faced our first obstacle. A river was in our path, and along the bank we found an Indian who had a boat and would carry us safely across the river. I did not trust this strange Indian though, and neither did our wagon leader. So we found a safe spot and cross. Luckily, we didn't get swiped away by the current and all was fine. We kept walking and walking but along the dirty, dusty road we came across an Indian who was willing to gamble. Our wagon leader saw this as a bad idea and turned the Indian's offer down. So we traveled on. Finally after a long day we found a nice spot to sleep. But of course we did not have any fire wood and had to go search for some. So far it was a pleasant day.
Day 2: New Trail
It was not as calm as it was the first day. We were tired but determined to get to our destination. When we were just starting out, our wagon leader fell out of the wagon and he broke his leg. This caused a delay in our trip but we weren't going to leave him. After that fiasco, we came across another river. And there was another Indian who had a boat. So we decided to trust this one and take his boat. Although we had to pay for it, it was worth it. The currents we harsh and fast. I was glad I took the boat. We kept going and surpassingly there was so Indians or robbers. Instead we had to pick a new trail to go on. It was either Barrel grounds with Indian robbers that had said to have killed other wagon trains. The other was the long trail, that lived up to its name. We were already delayed so our wagon leader said that we should take the Barrel grounds. Yes, it was dangerous but we all felt we had no choice. But then we had to pass a mental challenge. We sent one group member up and unfortunately we lost. At the end of the second day we found a nice rocky spot. But frankly I kept my rifle close to me that night. Afraid of the Indians who might be watching us.
Day 3: Not A Good Day On The Trail
This day just kept getting a worse and worse. We started out all right but ended up having to cross another river. An Indian was there but he looked sketchy and I decided not to trust him. But quickly I wish I had, because right in the middle of the river my wagon tipped over. So now floating down the river are a hundred pounds of cargo I needed. Not loving it so much. After that big problem we pressed on hoping it couldn't get any worse. Oh wait it can. We then found out we had little water that would only last about a day. But right in front of us was a pond that was dirty. So we came up with a plan to fix that. So grabbed our bedding and poured water over the bedding. This would get rid of rocks, leafs, ect. Then we made a fire and boiled the water to get rid of germs. This worked well and fixed our problem. Then we were all hungry and we all ate, which got rid of 60 pounds off my wagon. In the end we picked another trail. It was either a safe long way, short but dangerous, and one that was in the middle of dangerous and long. So again we went on the short fast trail. So far its been okay.
Day 4: The Tragedy
The day was rough, my family was tired and was almost ready to give up. I kept thinking positive which didn't do much considering in our path was a giant rock. It was so big we had to dig and pic-axe our way out. This delayed us but when we broke through and we got our courage back and kept going. We came across a desert which didn't look pleasant to go into. But we held our heads high and went in the hot dessert. Sadly along the way I lost both Mary and Jack form the heat. I was conflicted about leaving them there, were I could never visit their graves again. Our wagon leader said we had to keep going. So we did. Another tragedy happened though. A whole family on the trail died form the heat. So we ended up leaving them too. We made it out of the desert finally and came across two trails. A snow mountain trail and a sandy beach trail. Of course we took the snow mountain trail and ended up all dying. So maybe it wasn't worth leaving Philadelphia.