WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.879 --> 00:00:06.440 Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, where I help 2 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:11.599 you drift off one fact at a time. I'm your host, 3 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:21.519 Benjamin Boster, and today's episode is about the Oregon Trail. 4 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:25.120 The Oregon Trail was a two thousand, one hundred and 5 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:30.960 seventy mile east west large wheeled wagon route and emigrant 6 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:35.520 trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to 7 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:42.240 valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon 8 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.880 Trail crossed what is now the states of Kansas, Nebraska, 9 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:52.200 and Wyoming. The western half crossed the current states of 10 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:58.640 Idaho and Oregon. The Oregon Trail was laid by fur 11 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:03.640 traders and trappers from about eighteen eleven to eighteen forty 12 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:11.159 and was initially only passable on foot or horseback. By 13 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:15.319 eighteen thirty six, when the first migrant wagon train was 14 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:20.799 organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared 15 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:27.760 to Fort Hall, Idaho. Wagon trails were cleared increasingly farther 16 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:32.920 west and eventually reached the Willamet Valley in Oregon, at 17 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.920 which point what came to be called the Oregon Trail 18 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:43.120 was complete. Further improvements in the form of bridges, cutoffs, 19 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:50.280 ferries and roads made the trip faster and safer from 20 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:55.959 starting points in Iowa, Missouri, or Nebraska territory. The routes 21 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.879 covered along the Lower Platte River Valley near Fort Kearney, 22 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:06.400 Nebraska Territory. They led to fertile farmlands west of the 23 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:13.960 Rocky Mountains. The Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were 24 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:19.800 used by about four hundred thousand settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers, 25 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:23.879 and business owners and their families to get to the 26 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:29.639 area known as Oregon and its surroundings, with traffic especially 27 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:36.000 thick from eighteen forty six to eighteen sixty nine. The 28 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:39.919 eastern half of the trail was also used by travelers 29 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:44.479 on the California Trail from eighteen forty three, the Mormon 30 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:48.599 Trail from eighteen forty seven, and the Bozeman Trail from 31 00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:53.599 eighteen sixty three before turning off to their separate destinations. 32 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:00.000 Use of the trail declined after the first Transcontinental railroad 33 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:04.280 road was completed in eighteen sixty nine, making a trip 34 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:12.280 west substantially faster, cheaper, and safer. Since the mid twentieth century, 35 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:16.800 modern highways such as Interstate eighty and Interstate eighty four 36 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:22.319 follow parts of the same course westward and pass through 37 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.199 towns originally established to serve those using the Oregon Trail. 38 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:34.599 The first land route across the present day contiguous United 39 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:39.319 States was mapped by the Lewis and Clark expedition between 40 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.719 eighteen o four and eighteen o six, Following these eighteen 41 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:48.439 oh three instructions from President Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, 42 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:53.000 the object of your mission is to explore the Missouri 43 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.000 River and such principles stream of it as by its 44 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:01.759 course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, 45 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:08.439 whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, and or other river may 46 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:13.360 offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this 47 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:21.040 continent for commerce. Although Lewis and William Clark found a 48 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:25.879 pass to the Pacific Ocean, it was neither nor practicable 49 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:31.199 for prairie schooner wagons to pass through without considerable road work. 50 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:36.480 The two passes they found going through the Rocky Mountains, 51 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:41.120 lem High Pass and Lolo Pass, turned out to be 52 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:48.079 much too difficult. On the return trip in eighteen o six, 53 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:52.040 they traveled from the Columbia River to the Snake River 54 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:57.800 and the Clearwater River over the Lolo Pass, again. They 55 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:02.000 then traveled overland up the Blackfoot River and crossed the 56 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:05.920 Continental Divide at Lewis and Clark Pass, as it would 57 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:09.600 become known, and on to the head of the Missouri River. 58 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:15.360 This was ultimately a shorter and faster route than the 59 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:20.800 one they followed west. This route had the disadvantages of 60 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.079 being much too rough for wagons and controlled by the 61 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:31.720 Blackfoot tribes. Even though Lewis and Clark had only traveled 62 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:35.560 a narrow portion of the Upper Missouri River drainage and 63 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:39.800 part of the Columbia River drainage, these were considered the 64 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:44.720 two major rivers draining most of the Rocky Mountains, and 65 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:48.360 the expedition confirmed that there was no easy route through 66 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:54.360 the northern Rocky Mountains as Jefferson had hoped. Nonetheless, this 67 00:05:54.519 --> 00:05:58.959 famous expedition mapped both the eastern and western river valleys 68 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:03.120 Platte and Snake Rivers that bookend the route of the 69 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:09.040 Oregon Trail and other emigrant trails across the Continental Divide. 70 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:12.160 They just had not located the South Pass or some 71 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:15.560 of the interconnecting valleys later used in the high country. 72 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.800 They showed the way for the mountain men, who within 73 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:24.800 a decade found a better way across, even if it 74 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:32.079 was not an easy way. The Pacific Fur Company PFC, 75 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:36.959 founded in eighteen ten by John Jacob Aster as a 76 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:42.399 subsidiary of his American Fur Company AFC, operated in the 77 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:49.079 Pacific Northwest in the North American fur trade. Two movements 78 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:53.800 of BFC employees were planned by Astor. One sent to 79 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:58.480 the Columbia River aboard the merchant ship Tonquin, the other 80 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:03.519 dispatched overland under an expedition led by Wilson Price Hunt. 81 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:08.920 Hunt and his party were to find possible supply routes 82 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:16.399 and trapping territories for further fur trading posts. Upon arriving 83 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:20.160 at the river in March eighteen eleven, the Tonquin crew 84 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:26.399 began building what became Fort Astoria. The ship left supplies 85 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.399 and men to continue work on the station and ventured 86 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:34.720 north at the coast to Clarequat Sound for a trading expedition. 87 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:42.720 While anchored there, Jonathan Thorne insulted an elder Plaquiat, who 88 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:46.680 was previously elected by the natives to negotiate a mutually 89 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:53.959 satisfactory price for animal belt under Hunt. Fearing attacked by 90 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:58.720 the Nizzitapi, the overland expedition veered south of Lewis and 91 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:03.399 Clark's route into what is now Wyoming, and in the 92 00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:08.120 process passed to cross Union Pass and into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 93 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:12.839 From there they went over the Teeton Range by a 94 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:17.000 Teeton Pass and then down to the Snake River into 95 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:22.680 modern Idaho. They abandoned their horses at the Snake River, 96 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:28.759 made dugout canoes, and attempted to use the river for transport. 97 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:35.559 After a few days travel, they soon discovered that steep canyons, waterfalls, 98 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:43.240 and impassable rapids made travel by river impossible. Too far 99 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:47.120 from their horses to retrieve them, they had to cache 100 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:49.919 most of their goods and walk the rest of the 101 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:53.559 way to the Columbia River, where they made new boats 102 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:00.840 and traveled to the newly established port Astoria. The expedition 103 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:04.240 demonstrated that much of the route along the Snake River 104 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:08.759 plain and across to the Columbia was passable by pack 105 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:16.919 train or, with minimal improvements, even wagons. This knowledge would 106 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:21.679 be incorporated into the concatenated trail segments as the Oregon 107 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:29.240 Trail took its early shape. Pacific Fur Company partner Robert 108 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:32.440 Stewart led a small group of men back east to 109 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:37.480 report to auster. The group planned to retrace the path 110 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:41.840 followed by the overland Expedition back up to the east 111 00:09:42.279 --> 00:09:47.480 following the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Fear of a Native 112 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:52.039 American attack near Union Pass in Wyoming forced the group 113 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:57.440 further south, where they discovered South Pass, a wide and 114 00:09:57.559 --> 00:10:04.519 easy pass over the Continental Divide. The party continued east 115 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:08.919 by the Sweetwater River, north Platte River, where they spent 116 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.159 the winter of eighteen twelve to thirteen, and Platte River 117 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:17.360 to the Missouri River, finally arriving at Saint Louis in 118 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:23.039 the spring of eighteen thirteen. The route they had used 119 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:28.919 to potentially be a practical wagon route, requiring minimal improvements, 120 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:33.759 and Stewart's journals provided a meticulous account of most of 121 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:38.919 the route. Because of the War of eighteen twelve and 122 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:41.960 the lack of U. S. Fur trading posts in the 123 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:46.440 Pacific Northwest, most of the route was unused for more 124 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:54.679 than ten years. In August eighteen eleven, three months after 125 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:59.279 Ford Astoria was established, David Thompson and his team of 126 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.960 Northwest Company explorers came floating down the Columbia to Fort Astoria. 127 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:09.879 He had just completed a journey through much of Western 128 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:15.360 Canada and most of the Columbia River drainage system. He 129 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:21.720 was mapping the country for possible fur trading posts. Along 130 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.919 the way, He camped at the confluence of the Columbia 131 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:29.159 and Snake Rivers and posted a notice claiming the land 132 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:33.039 for Britain and stating the intention of the Northwest Company 133 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:38.000 to build a fort on the side. When the War 134 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:42.200 of eighteen twelve broke out, the managers at Fort Astoria 135 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:46.080 were concerned the British Navy would seize their forts and supplies, 136 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.759 and in eighteen thirteen they sold out to the Northwest Company. 137 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:59.440 By eighteen twenty one, intense competition between the Hudson's Bay 138 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:05.440 Company HBC and the Northwest Company reached the point of 139 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:10.039 armed hostilities, and the British government pressured the two companies 140 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:16.720 to merge. The newly reconfigured HBC had a near monopoly 141 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:21.039 on trading and most governing issues in the Columbia District, 142 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:26.720 or Oregon Country as it was referred to by the Americans, 143 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:33.480 and also in Rupert's Land. That year, the British Parliament 144 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:36.799 passed a statute applying the Laws of Upper Canada to 145 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:44.919 the District and giving the HBC power to enforce those laws. 146 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:49.600 From eighteen thirteen to the early eighteen forties, the British, 147 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:55.279 through the NWC and HBC, had nearly complete control of 148 00:12:55.320 --> 00:13:01.600 the Pacific Northwest and the western half of the Oregon Trail. 149 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:05.120 In theory. The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War 150 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:10.039 of eighteen twelve, restored possession of US property in Oregon 151 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:15.960 Territory to the United States. Joint occupation of the region 152 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:20.559 was formally established by the Anglo American Convention of eighteen eighteen. 153 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:26.759 The British, through the HBC, tried to discourage any U 154 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:30.799 S trappers, traders, and settlers from work or settlement in 155 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:40.120 the Pacific Northwest by overland travel. American missionaries and early settlers, 156 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:45.399 initially mostly ex trappers, started showing up in Oregon in 157 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:52.840 the late eighteen twenties. Although officially the HBC discouraged settlement 158 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:57.799 because it interfered with its lucrative fur trade, its manager 159 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:04.639 at Fort Vancouver, John Mclauckylan, gave substantial help, including employment 160 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:11.200 and delicated get established. In the early eighteen forties, thousands 161 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:16.799 of American settlers arrived and soon greatly outnumbered the British settlers. 162 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:23.559 In Oregon, McLaughlin, despite working for the HBC, gave help 163 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:30.080 in the form of loans, medical care, shelter, clothing, food supplies, 164 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:36.639 and seed to US emigrants. These new emigrants often arrived 165 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:42.559 in Oregon tired, borne out, nearly penniless, was insufficient food 166 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:48.679 or supplies just as winter was coming on. McLaughlin would 167 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:54.840 later be hailed as the father of Oregon. The York 168 00:14:54.960 --> 00:15:01.240 Factory Express, establishing another route to the Oregon territory, evolved 169 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.600 from an earlier Express brigade used by the Northwest Company 170 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:11.559 between Fort Astoria and Fort William, Ontario, on Lake Superior. 171 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:17.159 By eighteen twenty five, the h b C started using 172 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:21.240 two brigades, each setting out from opposite ends of the 173 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:26.440 express route, one from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River 174 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:30.480 and the other from York Factory on Hudson Bay in 175 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:34.679 spring and passing each other in the middle of the continent. 176 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:41.039 This established a quick about one hundred days for two thousand, 177 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:45.600 six hundred miles one way to transport personnel and transmit 178 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:50.519 messages between Fort Vancouver and York Factory on Hudson Bay. 179 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:57.159 The h b C built a new much larger Ford 180 00:15:57.240 --> 00:16:02.519 Vancouver in eighteen twenty five, about ninety miles upstream from 181 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:06.360 Fort Astoria on the north side of the Columbia River. 182 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:11.320 They were hoping that Columbia would be the future Canada 183 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:16.240 u S border. The fort quickly became the center of 184 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:21.320 activity in the Pacific Northwest. Every year, ships would come 185 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:25.559 from London to the Pacific via Cape Horn to drop 186 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.240 off supplies and trade goods in its trading posts in 187 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:33.879 the Pacific Northwest and pick up the accumulated firs used 188 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:38.240 to pay for these supplies. It was in nexus for 189 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:42.960 the fur trade on the Pacific coast. Its influence reached 190 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.840 from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands, and from 191 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:54.159 Russian Alaska into Mexican controlled California. At its pinnacle in 192 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:59.279 about eighteen forty, the manager of Ford Vancouver watched over 193 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:04.920 thirty four outposts, twenty four ports, six ships, and about 194 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:12.319 six hundred employees. When American emigration over the Oregon Trail 195 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:17.519 began in Earnest in the early eighteen forties, for many settlers, 196 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:20.400 the fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail 197 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:24.960 where they could get supplies, aid, and help before starting 198 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:30.799 their homesteads. Fort Vancouver was the main resupply point for 199 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:35.680 nearly all Oregon Trail travelers until u s towns could 200 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:41.480 be established. The hp C established Fort Colville in eighteen 201 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:46.200 twenty five on the Columbia River near Kettle Falls as 202 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:50.160 a good side to collect firs and control the Upper 203 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:56.680 Columbia River fur trade. Fort Niscali was built near the 204 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:01.200 present town of DuPont, Washington, and was the first h 205 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:07.200 b C fort on Puget Sound. Fort Victoria was erected 206 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.759 in eighteen forty three and became the headquarters of operations 207 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:16.920 in British Columbia, eventually growing into modern day Victoria, the 208 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:24.160 capital city of British Columbia. By eighteen forty the h 209 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:29.920 b C had three forts, Fort Hall, Fort Boise, and 210 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:33.319 Fort nez Perce on the western end of the Oregon 211 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:37.519 Trail route, as well as Fort Vancouver near its terminus 212 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:44.200 in the Willamma Valley. With minor exceptions, they all gave 213 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:48.920 substantial and often desperately needed aid to the early Oregon 214 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:55.559 Trail pioneers. When the fur trade slowed in the eighteen 215 00:18:55.640 --> 00:19:00.920 forties because of fashion changes in men's hads, the value 216 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:04.759 of the Pacific Northwest to the British was seriously diminished, 217 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:10.680 Canada had few potential settlers who were willing to move 218 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:14.599 more than two thousand, five hundred miles to the Pacific northwest, 219 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:20.240 although several hundred ex trappers British and American and their 220 00:19:20.279 --> 00:19:24.559 families did start settling in what became Oregon and Washington. 221 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:31.640 In eighteen forty one, James Sinclair, on orders from h 222 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:36.599 b C Governor Sir George Simpson, guided nearly two hundred 223 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:40.240 settlers from the Red River Colony into the Oregon Territory. 224 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:45.200 This attempt at settlement failed when most of the families 225 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:49.039 joined the settlers in the Willamma Valley with their promise 226 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:56.359 of free land and h b C free government. In 227 00:19:56.440 --> 00:20:00.720 eighteen forty six, the Oregon Treaty ending the Oregon Boundary 228 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:05.680 Dispute was signed with Britain. The British lost much of 229 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:10.640 the land they had so long controlled. The new Canada 230 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:14.359 United States border was established at the forty ninth parallel 231 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:21.519 to the Pacific coast, then dipping south around Vancouver Island. 232 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:26.119 The treaty granted the HBC navigation rights on the Columbia 233 00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:30.720 River for supplying their fur posts, clear titles to their 234 00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:34.880 trading posts properties, allowing them to be sold later if 235 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:38.559 they wanted, and left the British with a good anchorage 236 00:20:38.599 --> 00:20:44.000 at Victoria. It gave the United States most of what 237 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:48.480 it wanted, a reasonable boundary and a good anchorage on 238 00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:52.839 the West coast and Fugid Sound. While there were few 239 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:56.119 United States settlers in the future state of Washington in 240 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:00.599 eighteen forty six, the United States had already done demonstrated 241 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:03.440 I could induced thousands of settlers to go to the 242 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.240 Oregon Territory, and it would be only a short time 243 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:11.400 before there would vastly outnumbers a few hundred HBC employees 244 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:19.400 and retirees living in the region. Reports from the expeditions 245 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:23.559 in eighteen o six by Lieutenant Zebulin Pike and in 246 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:28.799 eighteen nineteen by Major Stephen Long described the Great Plains 247 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:36.440 as unfit for human habitation and as the Great American Desert. 248 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:40.079 These descriptions were mainly based on the relative lack of 249 00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:46.240 timber and surface water. The images of sandy wastelands conjured 250 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:49.960 up by terms like desert were tempered by the many 251 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:54.160 reports of vast herds of millions of Plains bison that 252 00:21:54.359 --> 00:21:59.680 somehow managed to live in this desert. In the eighteen forties, 253 00:21:59.839 --> 00:22:04.119 Great Plains appeared to be unattractive for settlement and were 254 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:09.839 illegal for homesteading until well after eighteen forty six. Initially 255 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:12.119 it was set aside by the U. S Government for 256 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:18.400 Native American settlements. The next available land for general settlement, 257 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:23.000 Oregon appeared to be free for the taking and had 258 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:32.640 fertile lands, disease free climate, extensive forests, big rivers, potential seaports, 259 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:41.119 and only a few nominally British settlers. Fur trappers, often 260 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:46.599 working for fur traders, followed nearly all possible streams looking 261 00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:49.920 for beaver in the years when the fur trade was active. 262 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:56.519 Besides describing and naming many of the rivers and mountains 263 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:00.680 in the Inner Mountain West and Pacific Northwest, they often 264 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:05.000 kept diaries of their travels and were available as guides 265 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.160 and consultants. When the trail started to become open for 266 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:14.599 general travel, the fur trade business wound down to a 267 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:18.839 very low level, just as the Oregon Trail traffic seriously 268 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:26.119 began around eighteen forty. In the fall of eighteen twenty three, 269 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:31.200 Jedediah Smith and Thomas Fitzpatrick led their trapping crew south 270 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:36.039 from the Yellowstone River to the Sweetwater River. They were 271 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:41.279 looking for a safe location to spend the winter. Smith 272 00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:46.119 reasoned since the sweet Water flowed east, it must eventually 273 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:51.279 run into the Misery River. Trying to transport their extensive 274 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:56.079 fur collection down the Sweetwater and North Platte rivers, they 275 00:23:56.119 --> 00:24:00.160 found after a near disastrous canoe crash, that the river 276 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:06.920 were too swift and rough for water passage. On July fourth, 277 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:10.359 eighteen twenty four, they cashed their furs under a dome 278 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:15.119 of rock they named Independence Rock and started their long 279 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:20.720 track on foot the Missouri River. Upon arriving back in 280 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:25.160 a settled area, they bought pack horses on credit and 281 00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:30.359 retrieved their furs. They discovered the route that Robert Stewart 282 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:36.359 had taken in eighteen thirteen, eleven years before. Thomas Fitzpatrick 283 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:38.839 was often hired as a guide. When the fur trade 284 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:45.240 dwindled in eighteen forty. Up to three thousand mountain Men 285 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:50.480 were trappers and explorers employed by various British and United 286 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:55.599 States fur companies or working as free trappers, who roamed 287 00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:59.759 the North American Rocky Mountains from about eighteen ten to 288 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:06.079 the early eighteen forties. They usually traveled in small groups 289 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:11.279 for mutual support and protection. Trapping took place in the fall, 290 00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:16.720 when the fur became prime. Mountain men primarily trapped beaver 291 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:21.400 and sold the skins. A good beaver skin could bring 292 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.160 up to four dollars at a time when a man's 293 00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:29.599 wage was often one dollar per day. Some were more 294 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:34.519 interested in exploring the West. In eighteen twenty five, the 295 00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:38.880 first significant American rendezvous occurred on the Henry's Fork of 296 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:44.799 the Green River. The trading supplies were broadened by a 297 00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:49.759 large party using pack trains originating on the Missouri River. 298 00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:55.720 The trading supplies were brought in by a large party 299 00:25:55.880 --> 00:26:00.920 using pack trains originating on the Missouri River. These pack 300 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:04.079 trains were then used to haul out the fur bales. 301 00:26:05.319 --> 00:26:07.960 They normally used the north side of the Platte River, 302 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:11.680 the same route used twenty years later by the Mormon Trail. 303 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:16.960 For the next fifteen years, the American rendezvous was an 304 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:22.599 annual event, moving to different locations, usually somewhere on the 305 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:28.160 Green River in the future state of Wyoming. Each rendezvous, 306 00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:32.400 occurring during the slack summer period, allowed the fur traders 307 00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:35.720 to trade for and collect the firs from the trappers 308 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:39.880 and their Native American allies without having the expense of 309 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:43.720 building or maintaining a ford or wintering over in the 310 00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:49.400 cold Rockies in only a few weeks at a rendezvous, 311 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.079 a year's worth of trading and celebrating would take place, 312 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.480 as the traders took their furs and remaining supplies back 313 00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.279 east for the winter, and the trap uppers faced another 314 00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:07.880 fall in winter with new supplies. Trapper Jim Beckworth described 315 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:16.640 the scene as one of mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, 316 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:23.160 target shooting, yarns, frolic with all sorts of extravagancies that 317 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:29.759 white men or Indians could invent. In eighteen thirty, William 318 00:27:29.880 --> 00:27:33.839 Sublet brought the first wagons carrying his trading goods up 319 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:39.160 the Platte, North Platte, and Sweetwater Rivers before crossing over 320 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:42.039 South Pass to a fur trade rendezvous on the Green 321 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:48.160 River near the future town of Big Piney, Wyoming. He 322 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:50.599 had a crew that dug out the gullies and river 323 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:56.599 crossings and cleared the brush where needed. This established that 324 00:27:56.720 --> 00:27:59.839 the eastern part of most of the Oregon Trail was 325 00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:05.519 passable by wagons. In the late eighteen thirties, the HBC 326 00:28:05.880 --> 00:28:09.920 instituted a policy intended to destroy or weaken the American 327 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:16.799 fur trade companies. The HPC's annual collection and resupply Snake 328 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:23.720 River Expedition was transformed into a trading enterprise. Beginning in 329 00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:28.519 eighteen thirty four, it visited the American Rendezvous to undersell 330 00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:34.920 the American traders, losing money but undercutting the American fur traders. 331 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:39.640 By eighteen forty, the fashion in Europe and British shifted 332 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:45.039 away from the formerly very popular beaver feldhads, and prices 333 00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:53.359 for furs rapidly declined, and the trapping almost ceased. Fur 334 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.680 traders tried to use the Platte River, the main route 335 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:01.000 of the Eastern Oregon Trail, for transport, but soon gave 336 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:04.960 up in frustration as its many channels and islands, combined 337 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:10.039 with its muddy waters, were too shallow, crooked, and unpredictable 338 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:15.880 to use for water transport. The Platte proved to be unnavigable. 339 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:20.359 The Platte River in the North Platte River Valley, however, 340 00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:25.200 became an easy roadway for wagons, with its nearly flat 341 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:33.640 plains sloping easily up and heading almost due west. Several 342 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:38.319 US government sponsored explorers explored part of the Oregon Trail 343 00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:45.279 and rode extensively about their explorations. Captain Benjamin Bonneville, on 344 00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.960 his expedition of eighteen thirty two to eighteen thirty four, 345 00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:54.359 explored much of the Oregon Trail and brought wagons up 346 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:59.400 the Platte North Platte Sweet Water Route across South Pass 347 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:04.480 to the Green River. In Wyoming, he explored most of 348 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:08.920 Idaho and the Oregon Trail to the Columbia. The account 349 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.640 of his expeditions in the West was published by Washington 350 00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:18.680 Irving in eighteen thirty eight. John C. Fremont of the U. S. 351 00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:24.359 Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers and his guide Kit Carson, 352 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:29.200 led three expeditions from eighteen forty two to eighteen forty 353 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:35.759 six over parts of California and Oregon. His explorations were 354 00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:39.079 written up by him and his wife, Jesse Brenton Fremont, 355 00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:45.799 and were widely published. The first detailed maps of California 356 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:50.000 and Oregon were drawn by Fremont and his topographers and 357 00:30:50.119 --> 00:30:57.559 cartographers in about eighteen forty eight. In eighteen thirty four, 358 00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:02.599 the Dall's Methodist Mission was founded by Reverend Jason Lee 359 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:07.440 just east of Mount Hood on the Columbia River. In 360 00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:12.599 eighteen thirty six, Henry H. Spaulding and Marcus Whitman traveled 361 00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:17.839 west to establish the Whitman Mission near modern day Walla Walla, Washington. 362 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:23.559 The party included the wives of the two men, Narsissa 363 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:28.559 Whitman and Eliza Hartspaulding, who became the first European American 364 00:31:28.599 --> 00:31:33.400 women to cross the Rocky Mountains. En route, the party 365 00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:37.039 accompanied American fur traders going to the eighteen thirty six 366 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:41.880 rendezvous on the Green River in Wyoming, and then joined 367 00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:46.599 Hudson's Bay Company fur Traders traveling west to Fort Nez 368 00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:52.920 Perce also called Fort Walla Walla. The group was the 369 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.680 first to travel in wagons to Fort hall where the 370 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.640 wagons were abandoned at the urging of their guides. They 371 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.240 used pack animals for the rest of the trip to 372 00:32:03.319 --> 00:32:07.000 Fort Walla Walla, and then floated by boat to Fort 373 00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:12.480 Vancouver to get supplies before returning to start their missions. 374 00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:17.960 Other missionaries, mostly husband and wife teams using wagon and 375 00:32:18.039 --> 00:32:23.319 pack trains, established missions in the Willamette Valley, as well 376 00:32:23.319 --> 00:32:27.240 as various locations in the future states of Washington, Oregon, 377 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:34.720 and Idaho. On May first, eighteen thirty nine, a group 378 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:38.839 of eighteen men from Peoria, Illinois, set out with the 379 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:42.960 intention of colonizing the Oregon Country on behalf of the 380 00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:46.759 United States of America and driving out the h b 381 00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:51.799 C operating there. The men of the Peoria Party were 382 00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:55.480 among the first pioneers to traverse most of the Oregon Trail. 383 00:32:57.039 --> 00:33:01.039 They were initially led by Thomas J. Farnhum and called 384 00:33:01.079 --> 00:33:07.440 themselves the Oregon Dragoons. They carried a large flag emblazoned 385 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:12.920 with their motto, Oregon or the Grave. Although the group 386 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:16.640 split up near Bent's Fort on the south plaid and 387 00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:21.559 Farnham was deposed as leader, nine of their members eventually 388 00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:30.640 did reach Oregon. In September eighteen forty, Robert Newell, Joseph L. 389 00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:35.359 Meek and their families reached Fort Walla Walla with three 390 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:41.079 wagons that they had driven from Fort Hall. Their wagons 391 00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:44.119 were the first to reach the Columbia River over land, 392 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:47.599 and they opened the final leg of the Oregon Trail 393 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:53.960 to wagon traffic In eighteen forty one. The Bartleson Bidwell 394 00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:58.000 Party was the first emigrant group credited with using the 395 00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:02.920 Oregon Trail to emigrate west. The group set out for 396 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:07.279 California but about half the party left the original group 397 00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:11.480 at Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to the Willamma Valley 398 00:34:11.480 --> 00:34:18.400 in Oregon, leaving their wagons at Fort Hall. On May sixteenth, 399 00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:22.639 eighteen forty two, the second organized wagon train set out 400 00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:28.480 from Elmgrove, Missouri, with more than one hundred pioneers. The 401 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:32.719