Background Information for Teachers
The following excerpt is from Johnson County, Kansas: A Pictorial History,
1825-2005.
The Overland Trails
Favorable reports from traders, emigrants, and soldiers who journeyed
through the Shawnee Reservation during the 1830s and 1840s heightened interest
in the land reserved for Native Americans. Travel on any of three trails that
crisscrossed present-day Johnson County allowed people to experience the region
firsthand. The Santa Fe Trail opened in 1821, carrying trade goods between
Missouri’s river towns and Mexico; this trade traffic continued for nearly fifty
years. In 1865, an estimated 4,500 wagons traveled the Santa Fe Trail. Even
larger numbers of people journeyed through the region along the OregonCalifornia Trail, primarily during the 1840s and 1850s. It is estimated that nearly a
half-million people made the two-thousand mile pilgrimage to new homes and
opportunity in the Pacific Northwest. Soldiers also traveled through the area on the
Fort Leavenworth Military Road, which intersected the Santa Fe Trail near present
day Lenexa. Troops sent to fight in the Mexican War of 1846-48 were known to
travel this route.
The area that became Johnson County provided campgrounds, grass, and
water for the thousands who traveled these three trails. Branches of the Santa Fe
and Oregon-California trails ran parallel from the jumping-off towns of Westport
and Independence, Missouri. After crossing the state line, travelers on the northern
route from Westport passed by the three Shawnee Indian missions (Baptist, Quaker
and Methodist) once located in the county. The missions were often used as
meeting places for travelers beginning their westward journey.
Overland travelers would often meet a day or two after leaving their starting
point to organize their caravans and to train new oxen and mules. This meeting
place, often called a rendezvous point, was frequently in Johnson County. For
instance, Sapling Grove in present-day Overland Park served as the rendezvous
point for the Bidwell-Bartleson group, the first caravan of families to head west on
the trail in 1841.
Other travelers spend their first night at the Lone Elm campground south of Olathe.
During the spring, when most travelers embarked on their journeys, as many as one
hundred wagons a night camped at Lone Elm. Travelers then continued west to the
trail junction southwest of today’s Gardner, where the emigrants would either
follow the Oregon-California Trail to the northwest and traders would continue
southwest on the Santa Fe Trail to Mexico. Traffic along the Santa Fe Trail
continued long after the main starting points for emigrant travelers moving farther
north to towns like St. Joseph, Missouri and Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the mid1850s. The local trail continued to be used by traders and by stagecoach lines. The
Mahaffie Farmstead, established in 1858, became an inn and stagecoach stop along
the Santa Fe Trail near Olathe. It served many travelers until the railroad emerged
through the area in the early 1870s.
The following excerpt is from Johnson County, Kansas: A Pictorial History,
1825-2005.
Josiah Gregg, 1806-1850
Overland Trails Outfitter
Josiah Gregg made his living traveling and trading along the Santa Fe Trail.
His family immigrated to Missouri in 1812, where Josiah worked in a number of
professions, including teaching and medicine. In the fall of 1830, he became ill
with consumption, and on the advice of his physician, he headed to the warmer
climate of the Southwest in hopes of restoring his health. The trip would be his
first of eight trips over the next nine years. His accounts were widely published in
newspapers and popular magazines, heightening the public’s interest in the
American West and culminated in the 1844 publication The Commerce of the
Prairies. He described the busy activity in the jumping-off town of Independence:
“As Independence is a point of convenient access,…it has become the general port
of embarkation for every part of the great western and northern ‘prairie ocean.’
Besides the Santa Fe caravans, most of the Rocky Mountain traders and trappers,
as well as emigrants to Oregon, take this town in their route. During the season of
departure…it is a place of much bustle and active business.”
Commerce and industry converged in the Kansas City region during the
1830s and 1840s. Villages and towns along the Missouri River prospered as
traders searched for the best place to transfer their goods from water to land travel.
Independence, Kansas City, and Westport, Missouri, all profited greatly from trail
traffic. New businesses and job opportunities formed to meet the traders’ needs.
Men were needed to unload and pack goods and to craft wagons and yokes. Mules
and oxen were in great demand, as were other supplies for the long journey.
The trails grew rapidly; the number of wagons leaving the area increased
from 650 in 1850 to over 3,000 in 1860 – a nearly fivefold increase in a period of
ten years. Wagon teams headed to Santa Fe hauled up to 5,000 pounds of freight
each, including domestic cloth, whiskey, tobacco, and groceries. The return trip
brought highly coveted wool, buffalo robes, dried buffalo meat, gold dust, and
silver ore.
Independence, Missouri, benefited from the majority of the overland trail
business until the 1840s, when the United States secured southwest territory in the
Mexican-American War. This acquisition ended a trade embargo with Mexico,
significantly increasing traffic along the Santa Fe Trail. The cities of Westport and
Kansas City then began to share in the profits of the renewed commerce. When
Kansas Territory opened for settlement after 1854, other cities in the region, such
as St. Joseph and Ft. Leavenworth, tried with little success to lure some of the
traffic from Kansas City region.
A DAY ON THE TRAIL
Oregon-California Trail
Women usually got up before dawn, around 4:00 a.m., about a half an hour before the men, to
start the fire and begin making breakfast. When breakfast was ready, the men and children got
up to eat. After breakfast, women washed the tin ware and packed cooking equipment and food.
The men cut their oxen from the herd and drove them to the wagon to be yoked. They then
hitched the team and got the wagons ready for the day. Most of the emigrants walked along the
wagons while they were traveling, and the men drove the oxen and navigated river crossings.
When they could, travelers spread their wagons out instead of traveling in a single line so there
wouldn't be animals and people in the dust and mud at the end. After traveling through the
morning, they made a brief stop in the middle of the day. This stop was called "nooning." The
men unhitched the team so the animals could graze and made necessary adjustments on the
wagons. The women brought a cold lunch which was usually made the night before. The
travelers then went on until evening, usually traveling 12 to 15 miles a day. When they stopped,
the women started a fire for cooking and hauled water to the campsite. After dinner, they made
beds, cleaned out wagons, and mended clothes while the men relaxed. The wagons were pulled
together for the night. At the end of the day, the exhausted travelers fell into the blankets to
sleep, while some of the men took turns guarding the camp.
Santa Fe Trail
The cook on the Santa Fe Trail also prepared breakfast before dawn. When breakfast was ready,
many cooks would shout "Bacon in the pan--Coffee in the pot--Get up and get it--While it's hot!"
to wake the other men. The animals were hitched and the wagons pulled out in columns. The
caravan traveled in columns whenever they could because otherwise it was too dusty or muddy
for the men and animals at the end of the line. The caravan stopped at mid-morning for several
hours to eat, rest, hunt, and take care of the animals. They continued in the afternoon, traveling
an average of 15 miles a day. Before eating the evening meal, the teams were unhitched and the
animals were taken care of. After eating, the men told stories, sang, smoked, and played cards.
At night, all the men slept except for those designated to watch for danger during the night.
Activity #1
Where did the trails go?
Curriculum Objectives:
KH4B1I5: The student compares and contrasts the purpose of the Santa Fe and OregonCalifornia Trail
Reading 4 – S1B4I2: The student understands the purpose of text features (e.g. graphs, charts,
maps)
Materials:
•
•
•
•
•
Map handouts of the Oregon-California Trail and the Santa Fe Trail
Looking at Maps worksheet
Current United States map:
http://www.50states.com/us.htm
United States outline map for classroom activity use (you will need to print and make
copies of this map for the class):
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/us_nl.pdf
Frontier Trails in Johnson County map
Instructions:
1. Print out and distribute copies of the maps of the Oregon-California Trail and the Santa
Fe Trail, or have them view the maps online. Both of these trails ran about 2000 miles
through varied terrain including the prairie, the mountains, and the high plateau desert.
Have students note some areas that might be difficult to cross in a covered wagon,
including mountains and rivers. Note that the trails often twist and turn in these areas.
Also, note that both trails have alternate routes (for example, the Cimarron Cutoff on the
Santa Fe Trail and the cutoff south of Fort Hall on the Oregon-California Trail). These
cutoffs usually had less grass for the animals and less water. Although they were shorter,
they were riskier. Point out to students that the Oregon Trail and California Trail divide
in Idaho.
2. Have students complete the Looking at Maps worksheet (Answers sheet for teachers
provided). Use the Oregon-California Trail map, the Santa Fe Trail map and the current
United States map for guides. Students can use the outline map of the United States to
trace the trail routes.
3. Additional Activity: Print out and distribute the Frontier Trails in Johnson County map,
or have the students view it online. Have the students use the map to answer the
following questions:
Note: This map may be easier to view online because you can use the zoom feature to see
the details of the map more clearly.
1. Did a trail pass near your school?
2. Did a trail pass near a student’s house?
Activity #1 Worksheet
Looking at Maps
1. On your map of the United States, draw the routes of the Santa Fe and Oregon-California
Trails. Use two colors for the two trails, and use a third color where the Oregon and California
Trails divide.
2. Which present-day states does the Santa Fe Trail pass through?
3. Which present-day states does the Oregon-California Trail pass through before it divides?
Which states does the Oregon Trail then pass through? The California Trail?
4. Both trails sometimes are winding rather than straight. Name two things that would have
caused the trail to be crooked.
5. Many people wrote books giving advice to travelers on the trails. One man said that on the
Oregon-California Trail, the trip from Fort Hall to Sacramento was easier than the trip from
Independence to Fort Hall. Look at your map. Follow the trail from Independence to Fort Hall.
Now follow it from Fort Hall to Sacramento. Do you think this man was correct? Why or why
not?
6. In what city did the Santa Fe Trail end? In what city did the Oregon branch of the OregonCalifornia Trail end? In what city did the California branch of the Oregon-California Trail end?
ANSWERS TO LOOKING AT MAPS WORKSHEET
2. Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico
3. Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, (Utah)
Oregon
Nevada, California
4. Rivers, mountains, difficult terrain
5. No. The trail between Fort Hall and Sacramento had more difficult places to cross, including
the mountains. The trail from Independence to Fort Hall was relatively flat.
6. Santa Fe; Oregon City; Sacramento
Large version available at:
http://www.jocohistory.net/research/4-5/trails/additional/JoCoMuseum_FrontierTrails.pdf
Activity #2
Why did people travel on the trails?
Curriculum:
KH4B1I5: The student compares and contrasts the purposes of the Santa Fe and OregonCalifornia Trail (e.g. commercial vs. migration).
KH4B1I6: The student describes life on the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails
Writing 4 – S1B1 – The student writes narrative text using the writing process.
Materials:
• Pencil and paper for journal
• Using Primary Sources handout
• Using Primary Sources worksheet
Note: The journal will be an ongoing activity and will used in Activities #2-#5
Instructions:
1. Discuss the difference between the trails with students. The Oregon-California Trail and the
Santa Fe Trail were two different kinds of trails. The Oregon-California Trail primarily was a
"people" trail, on which emigrants seeking a better life in the West traveled to find a new home.
Often they were in search of better farm land, gold, or a better climate for a family member in ill
health. The Santa Fe Trail was a commerce trail, or a trail for goods going to and coming from
New Mexico. Both trails served as supply lines for the U.S. Army, mail routes, and roads for
adventurers, gold seekers, and others traveling west.
2. Talk with students about primary source documents. Primary source documents are those
that were created when an event was happening. Journals and letters written by people who
traveled the trails are primary source documents.
One of the ways we know why people went on the trails, is because of the number of journals
that were kept by the travelers. It would seem that almost every traveler felt compelled to keep
some kind of record of the journey. Journals were kept by women as well as men. Children did
not seem to keep journals, but many young people who made the journey wrote their
recollections at a later date.
The primary purpose for these journals was to describe the route taken for family and friends
who remained "back in the States." These journals covered every aspect of the trip--miles
traveled, rivers forded, the best camping areas, weather, and even the number of graves passed.
The journals served as extended letters to be sent to family members to keep family bonds
strong. This is particularly true of many of the journals kept by women, who felt wrenched from
the security of their homes and families.
During the mid-1800s, journals would have been written with quill pens and ink. Show students
the pen and the ink well to illustrate that travelers kept journals on the trails. After the Civil
War, more pens with metal nibs would have been used.
Most journals begin with the first day of the journey and end on the day the traveler arrived at his
or her destination. Reasons for emigrating were often added later in the form of a preface or
were written to friends in letters.
3. Have students read and complete the worksheet on Using Primary Sources worksheet
(Answer key for teachers provided).
4.Have students begin a journal about their travels on the Santa Fe Trail or Oregon-California
Trail. Each student should choose a trail and write their first entry, giving the reasons why they
are leaving their home and going on the trail. On the Santa Fe Trail, primarily men went to make
money by bringing trade goods to Santa Fe. However, some women went on honeymoon trips
on the trail when they married men in the military or in the freight business. On the OregonCalifornia Trail, many people were emigrating to new homes in the west. However, on both
trails, gold seekers went when gold was discovered in California in 1848 and in Colorado in
1858. Some travelers simply were adventurous and went for the experience. And military
personnel traveled from fort to fort, providing supplies and troops.
Additional Activity:
Students can make and decorate a journal cover using construction paper or cardstock. Punch
holes down the left side of the cover and tie the pages together with leather cord for an authentic
look. Here are some ideas for decorating the cover:
• Search www.jocohistory.net for trail images. Print them out and paste them on the cover.
• Search www.jocohistory.net for trail images. Decorate the cover using those images for
inspiration,.
• Draw a picture of the trail life using descriptions from the Background Information and
activity information.
• Draw a map of Johnson County with the Oregon-California and Santa Fe Trails going
through it.
Activity #2
Using Primary Sources
Below are selections from letters and journals written by people who traveled on the overland
trails. These letters and journals are called primary sources because they were written by the
people who actually lived the adventure. Some of the words are spelled differently or
incorrectly. These words give you clues about language and education in the 1800s.
MARY A. JONES
In the winter of 18 and 46 our neighbor got hold of Fremont's History of California and began
talking of moving to the New Country & brought the book to my husband to read, & he was
carried away with the idea too. I said "O let us not go" . . . We sold our home and what we could
not take with us and what we could not sell . . . we gave away & on the 7th day of May 1846 we
joined the camp for California.
(from Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey)
NICHOLAS CARRIGER
[After settling in Andrew County, Missouri]
. . bought 160 acres and . . . I fenced my land, built a house upon it, and when I had already
cleared many an acre; the rumor of the fertility of California, . . . made me feel displeased with
my farm, and without consulting any person, I sold it . . .
(from Overland in 1846: Diaries and Letters of the California-Oregon Trail)
ANONYMOUS WOMAN
One Saturday morning father said he was going . . . to hear Mr. Burnett talk about Oregon . . . .
Mr. Burnett hauled a box out on to the sidewalk, took his stand upon it, and began to tell us
about the land flowing with milk and honey on the shores of the Pacific . . . he told of the great
crops of wheat which it was possible to raise in Oregon, and pictured in glowing terms the
richness of the soil and the attractions of the climate, and then with a little twinkle in his eye he
said "and they do say, gentlemen, they do say, that out in Oregon the pigs are running about
under the great acorn trees, round and fat, and already cooked, with knives and forks sticking in
them so that you can cut off a slice whenever you are hungry." . . . Father was so moved by what
he heard . . . that he decided to join the company that was going west to Oregon . . . father . . .
was the first to sign his name . . . .
(from Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey)
JAMES M. FUGATE
In April 1853, young, vigourous, and never having seen as much of the world as generally fills
the ambition of fellows in their early days of manhood, I engaged as a teamster to drive through
with a train of ox-wagons loaded with merchandise for the Santa Fe trade.
(from On the Santa Fe Trail)
CATHERINE HAUN
10
Early in January of 1849 we first thought of emigrating to California. It was a period of National
hard times and we being financially involved in our business interests near Clinton, Iowa, longed
to go . . . and "pick up" gold enough with which to return and pay our debts. . . . Our discontent
and restlessness were enhanced by the fact that my health was not good. . . The physician
advised an entire change of climate.
[from Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey)
Activity #2 Worksheet-Using Primary Sources
Name_________________________________________
People traveled the Oregon-California Trail and Santa Fe Trail for many reasons. Some heard of
gold rushes in California and Colorado, others were bringing goods to Santa Fe, some were
traveling for the U.S. Army, and some were simply going because they had a sense of adventure.
Read the journal and letter entries to learn why people decided to go on the trails and answer the
questions below:
1. How did Mary Jones' husband learn about California?
2. Did Mary Jones want to go?
3. What did the Jones' do with the things they could not take with them?
4. Why did Nicholas Carriger sell his farm in Missouri?
5. Did he ask his wife or friends about his decision?
6. How did the anonymous woman's father learn about Oregon?
7. Was everything Mr. Burnett said about Oregon true? Why or why not?
8. Why did James Fugate sign on as a worker on a wagon train on the Santa Fe Trail?
9. Give two reasons why Catherine Haun and her husband decided to go west.
10. List at least three reasons that you can find in the letter and journal entries why people
traveled on the trails.
ANSWERS TO USING PRIMARY SOURCES WORKSHEET
1. He read Fremont's History of California which he got from a neighbor.
2. No, she says "O let us not go."
3. They sold what they could and gave the rest away.
4. He became dissatisfied with it when he heard about fertile farm land in California.
5. No, he didn't ask anyone.
6. Mr. Burnett stood on a box on the sidewalk and told about it.
7. No. He said that there were pigs running around already cooked with knives and forks
sticking in them, which couldn't possibly be true.
8. He signed on for adventure. He wanted to see the world.
9. To make money by finding gold and for Catherine's health.
10. Better farm land, adventure, gold, health.
Activity #3
Starting on the Trails in Johnson County
Curriculum
KH4B1I5: The student compares and contrasts the purposes of the Santa Fe and OregonCalifornia Trail (e.g. commercial vs. migration).
KH4B1I6: The student describes life on the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails
Writing 4 – S1B1 – The student writes narrative text using the writing process.
Reading 4 – S1B4I2: The student understands the purpose of text features (e.g. graphs,
charts, maps)
Materials
•
•
•
Overland Trails: Focus on Johnson County online exhibit –
www.jocomuseum.org
Frontier Trails in Johnson County Map
Journal
Instructions
1. Most travelers left their "jumping off" points in Westport or Independence near the
end of April. The first leg of their journeys took them through Johnson County. Have
students follow the trails through Johnson County on their Frontier Trails in Johnson
County maps online or on a print out, or by viewing the Overland Trail: Focus on
Johnson County exhibit at www.jocomuseum.org. Both the Oregon-California Trail and
the Santa Fe Trail passed through Johnson County.
Use the Trails in Johnson County document in this section to discuss Johnson County and
the trails with students. Talk about each numbered site as you trace the trails through
Johnson County. Two sites are not numbered on the map, but their locations are given
so you can find them.
2. Have students access the images of sites on the trail:
Shawnee Methodist Mission Sapling Grove
Mahaffie Farmstead
Captain’s Creek
Lone Elm Campground
Flat Rock Creek
Trails Divide
Indian Agency
Boone’s Fork
Elm Grove
Baptist Mission
Quaker Mission
Or Have the students access the Overland Trails: Focus on Johnson County exhibit or
show it to the class on and LCD projector.
4. Have students make an entry into their journal. Have them describe the trip from their
"jumping off" point to their first night's stay at the Lone Elm Campground. Encourage
them to be as specific as possible. See A Day on the Trail in the Background Information
for Teachers for more on daily trail life.
Activity #3
Trails in Johnson County
1-Indian Agency
As trail travelers crossed over the Missouri state line, they entered Indian Territory
occupied by the Shawnee Indians, now known as Johnson County. One of their first
stops was the Indian Agency where travelers would obtain passports that they had to
carry through Indian Territory. The Indian Agency was located at Brookwood Street and
State Line in present-day Mission Hills.
2-Swales in Harmon Park
Years of wagons crossing the prairie made indentations in the soil. These marks are
called swales. Swales originally started as sharp ruts in the ground, but weather and
shifts in the trail have made the swales smooth shallow inclines. Swales are visible at
Harmon Park in Prairie Village.
3a-Shawnee Methodist Mission
3b-Shawnee Baptist Mission
3c-Shawnee Quaker Mission
Also in eastern Johnson County, travelers leaving from Westport sometimes passed
through the Methodist Mission in present-day Fairway. The Methodist Mission was one
of the first places to stop for water on the trail.
4-Boone’s Fork
Boone’s Fork was another stop on the trail in Johnson County. In 1845, westward
explorer John C. Fremont and his party camped at Boone’s Fork for two weeks to wait
for a heavy rainfall to pass. Boone’s fork is now Turkey Creek Streamway park near 75th
Street and Shawnee Mission Parkway in Merriam.
5-Sapling Grove
Sapling Grove was a campsite on the trail. It served as a rendezvous point for the
Bidwell-Bartleson group, the first caravan of families to head west in 1841. The site,
located near Comanche Elementary School in Overland Park, was known as Comanche
Park until 2003 when a local teenager petitioned to change the park’s name to Sapling
Grove Park.
6-Flat Rock Creek
Flat Rock Creek, also known as Indian Creek, was another campsite and rendezvous
point on the trail. The site was named for the flat rocks that surrounded the creek.
Travelers would often meet to elect officers and draft laws for their journey while at Flat
Rock Creek. The site is now Flat Rock Creek Park in Lenexa.
Mahaffie House (located at 1100 N. Kansas City Road in Olathe)
Some travelers spent their first night at the Mahaffie House, an inn and stagecoach stop
north of Olathe. Three stagecoach lines stopped at the house, and meals were available
for businessmen and military personnel. Caravans of wagons often camped overnight all
around the house.
7-Elm Grove
8-Lone Elm
Other travelers spent their first night on the trail at the Elm Grove or Lone Elm
Campgrounds south of Olathe. Elm Grove was located near Old Highway 56 in Olathe.
Travelers often confused it with Lone Elm, located further south. In the diary she kept
when accompanying her husband down the Santa Fe Trail, Susan Shelby Magoffin
recalls traveling until just before sundown when they prepared to camp at "The Lone
Elm." She describes it as follows: "There is no other tree or bush or shrub save one Elm
tree, which stands on a small elevation near the little creek or branch. The travellers
always stop where there is water sufficient for all their animals. The grass is fine every
place, it is so tall in some places as to conceal a man's waist." The land that Lone Elm
Campground occupied is not Lone Elm Park in Olathe.
Bull Creek (running north to south, located between Dillie Road and Four Corners
Road north of Edgerton)
Magoffin also writes of having lunch at Bull Creek the next day. "Nothing of importance
occurred till noon when we stopped for dinner at 'Big Bull Creek.' The travelers call this
'nooning it.'"
9-Trails Divide
Ask students which highway roughly follows the route of the trail coming from Westport.
Point out that I-35 follows this route. The trails divide near Gardner, where the OregonCalifornia Trail headed north and the Santa Fe Trail continued southwest. The
approximate site of the trails divide is 183rd Street and Highway 56, between Gardner and
Edgerton.
10-Captain’s Creek
After the trails divide, the Santa Fe Trail continued south and the Oregon-California Trail
continued northward out of Johnson County. Heading north helped the OregonCalifornia Trail travelers avoid crossing several creeks. One creek that they did stop and
rest at was Captain’s Creek at Wilderness Park outside DeSoto. Travelers described a
rock at the creek where trail travelers would carve their names. Unfortunately, no trace
of that rock exists today.
Travelers usually passed out of Johnson County after their second day on the trail,
staying overnight in Black Jack or Baldwin.
Large version available at:
http://www.jocohistory.net/research/4-5/trails/additional/JoCoMuseum_FrontierTrails.pdf
Activity #4
Hardships and Dangers on the Trail
Curriculum
KH4B1I6: The student describes life on the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails
Writing 4 – S1B1 – The student writes narrative text using the writing process.
Materials
•
Journals
Instructions
1. Read the following quote to students and encourage them to think about hardships and
dangers which may have occurred on the trails.
“To enjoy such a trip along with such a crowd of emigration, a man must be able to
endure heat like a Salamander, mud and water like a muskrat, dust like a toad, and labor
like a [mule]. He must learn to eat with his unwashed fingers, drink out of the same
vessel with his mules, sleep on the ground when it rains, and share his blanket with
vermin, and have patience with musketoes [sic] . . . He must cease to think, except as to
where he may find grass and water and a good camping place. It is a hardship without
glory . . .”
An Anonymous 1852 Overlander (from The Plains Across by John D. Unruh, Jr.)
2. Discuss the dangers and hardships of the trails with students. Stress that the trails
could be very dangerous and that many people died while traveling. Along the OregonCalifornia Trail alone, there were 17,000 graves.
Travelers on both the Oregon-California Trail and the Santa Fe Trail encountered many
different kinds of difficulties. They usually left at the end of April on their five-month
journey which began across the Plains during the summer. By July, they were in the
Rocky Mountains, and reached their destinations around September. The trails were full
of obstacles including rivers and mountains. Travelers also had to combat the weather,
disease, and accidents.
•
River crossings. The most common obstacle on the trails was rivers. Rivers
could be crossed by ferry, putting the wagon on a flat raft and floating across, or
by fording, tarring the wagon so it was water tight and walking through the river.
Rivers often had steep embankments and one of the most difficult parts of the
crossing could be getting the wagon down to the water. Travelers often lowered
the wagon by ropes or chains so it did not crash down the embankment. Once the
wagon was at the water's edge, teams had to be coaxed to cross the river.
Sometimes in strong currents, animals, wagons, and even people were swept
away.
•
Mountain crossings. Mountain crossings were also an obstacle to travelers. On
steep slopes, travelers pulled the wagon up with a rope or a chain, and then
lowered it down the other side in the same way. Near the end of their journeys,
some travelers on the Oregon-California Trail abandoned their wagons, loading
their possessions on their animals to finish their journeys.
•
Lack of water. During a very hot summer, water holes could dry up, leaving
both travelers and their animals without water. This was a problem especially on
some of the cutoffs, which were quicker, but had less water.
•
Weather. Dust storms, thunderstorms and snowstorms posed dangers to travelers
and animals on the trails. On the plains, dust could stop a caravan from moving
for a day. In addition, lightning on the plains could be dangerous. During the last
half of their journey, travelers who took too long to rest or were arriving at their
destination in late fall for other reasons, were in danger of being caught in the
mountains during an early snowstorm. Exposure from extremes in temperature
also was difficult for travelers. Because of the weather, Santa Fe traders often
charged more for hauling loads during late fall, winter, or early spring.
•
Indians. Indian attacks were not common during the early years on the trails, but
during the later years, travelers began to have conflicts with Indians over territory
and buffalo rights.
•
Accidents. Many different types of accidents happened on the trails. There are
many entries in diaries that record accidents that happened during routine
activities--accidents while cleaning guns or hunting, skirts catching fire while
cooking, children falling off wagons, and travelers tripping and falling.
•
Disease and lack of medical care. Travelers took a very limited supply of
medicine with them and many died because of inadequate medical care for
common diseases, animal bites, and childbirth.
3. Have students make a journal entry that reflect the dangers and hardships of the trail.
They may choose simply to record that they passed a grave, which was common in
journals. Or they may describe a particularly difficult day or a harrowing event.
Activity #5
CLOTHING
Curriculum
KH4B1I5: The student compares and contrasts the purposes of the Santa Fe and OregonCalifornia Trail (e.g. commercial vs. migration).
KH4B1I6: The student describes life on the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails
Writing 4 – S1B1 – The student writes narrative text using the writing process.
Materials
•
•
•
Excerpt from The Prairie Traveler by Randolph B. Marcy 1859
Photographs of men, women and children from 1800s
Journals
Instructions
1. Discuss the types of clothing used on the trails and why this type of clothing would be
used. Note that children would have dressed very much like their parents. Each person
traveling needed two or three changes of clothing. Begin by looking at the list for men's
clothing from The Prairie Traveler. Men on the trails generally wore flannel shirts and
wool pants. Wool pants were considered to be good for both hot and cold weather
because the sun could not penetrate the heavy cloth and it was warm in winter. Men
often topped their shirts and pants with vests and coats in colder weather. Men also wore
hats to shade their eyes and to keep them cool. If the day was dusty, men tied
handkerchiefs around their noses and mouths to keep the dust out.
Long skirts or dresses, long sleeves, and high necklines were common for women on the
trails. Although these long skirts seem impractical to us today, they did provide women
on the trail protection from the extreme heat and insects of the prairie. A danger to
women was working around open fires in long skirts. Shifting winds often caused skirts
to blow into the fires, so women pinned or tied back their skirts to avoid this danger.
Women's clothing also included sturdy shoes, an apron, and a sunbonnet. Sturdy shoes
were important because women walked much of the way to their destination. The apron
was useful for keeping a woman's dress clean, for acting as a potholder when lifting pots
from the fire, a towel for drying hands, and a basket for any number of things.
Sunbonnets provided protection from the sun, but also made it difficult for women to see
what was beside or behind them.
2. Have students write a journal entry which describes how their clothing on the trail
helped or hindered them in a daily activity. This may be as simple as describing needing
a coat in cool weather, to having a dress catch fire while cooking.
3. Have a Dress-for-the-Trail Day. Have students choose clothing from their closets
which would be most suitable for traveling on the trail. Or, as an alternative, have
students design a trails outfit on paper using their knowledge of life on the trails. Use the
pre-selected photographs or do a search on www.jocohistory.net to get ideas.
Note: Few photographs of people on the trails in Johnson County exist. Most of the
photographs on www.jocohistory.net were taken in the 1860s and later. It was rare for
people to have their photographs taken in the mid-1800s and, when they did, they had
formal portraits taken. Most of the photographs identified for this lesson are studio
photographs of people in their best clothing. Trail travelers would not have been as
formally dressed for their travels.
Excerpt from The Prairie Traveler by Randolph B. Marcy 1859
Image available at:
http://www.jocohistory.net/images/curriculum/prairieTravelerClothes.jpg
To Learn More
Links on this website:
Starting on the Trails in Johnson County. ALBUM, Fall 1992.
History Just Ahead: Historic Markers of Johnson County. ALBUM, Fall
2005.
Books for Teachers
Faragher, John Mark. Women and Men on the Overland Trail. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1979.
Franzwa, Gregory M. The Oregon Trail Revisited. St. Louis: Patrice Press, 1988.
Horn, Huston. The Pioneers. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1974.
Drumm, Stella, ed. Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico: The Diary of Susan
Shelby Magoffin, 1846-1847. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
Morgan, Dale, ed. Overland in 1846: Diaries and Letters of the Overland Experience.
2 vols. Georgetown, CA: Talisman Press, 1963.
Myers, Sandra L., ed. Ho for California: Women's Overland Diaries from the
Huntington
Library. San Marino: Huntington Library, 1980.
Rounds, Glen. The Prairie Schooners. New York: Holiday House, Inc., 1968.
Russell, Marian. Land of Enchantment: Memoirs of Marian Russell along the Santa Fe
Trail. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981.
Schlissel, Lillian. Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey. New York: Schocken
Books, 1982.
Simmons, Marc, ed. On the Santa Fe Trail. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press,
1986.
Unruh, John D. The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi
West, 1840-60. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982.
Books for Students
Byars, Betsy. The Golly Sisters Go West. Harper, 1986.
Illustrated. May-May and Rose Golly travel westward in a covered wagon,
entertaining crowds and having misadventures along the way.
Chambers, Catherine. Frontier Dream: Life in the Great Plains. Troll, 1984.
A Scandinavian family relocates from Omaha to the Dakota territory and
struggles
to make a home on the plains. Characters are individualized, hardships and setbacks are described, and the book gives a feeling for the vastness and loneliness
of the Great Plains.
Levitan, Sonia. The No-Return Trail. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.
This fictionalized account of the Bidwell-Bartleson expedition to California in
1841
recreates the hardships and dangers of that journey. Seventeen-year-old Nancy
Kelsey is the first woman to make the grueling overland passage.
MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. Harper & Row, 1985.
Anna and Caleb need a mother; their father, Jacob, needs a wife; so Sarah
Wheaton agreed to come West from Maine for a month to get to know them.
As she joins in the everyday tasks of farm life, Sarah endears herself to the
family.
Parkman, Francis. The Oregon Trail. Farrar and Rinehart, 1931.
Considered one of the best books written about the West and a faithful record of
life beyond the Mississippi before the California Gold Rush in 1849.
Round, Glen. Mr. Yowder and the Windwagon. Holiday House, 1983.
Mr. Yowder attempts to change the great ox-drawn wagons used to carry
emigrants
across the plains into swift schooners, or "windwagons."
Waddell, Martin. Going West. Harper, 1984.
Illustrated. An accurate and easily understood account of the hardships faced by
pioneers at the time of Westward movement as recorded in a small girl's diary as
she and her family travel west in a wagon train.
Webb, Dave. Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail: An Activity Book for Kids and
Teachers.
Kansas Heritage Center, 1989.
An activity book covering different aspects of the Santa Fe Trail. Includes
biographies of "Trail Travelers."
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House on the Prairie. Harper, 1953.
One of 8 titles by Laura Ingalls Wilder of her memories of her pioneer childhood.