Name: ______________________________
Date: __________________
Period: ___________________
Westward Expansion WebQuest
Mountain Men/Explorers
 Jim Bridger - http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/mtmen/jimbrid.html
1. How old was Jim Bridger when he signed up to me a member of General Ashley’s Upper Missouri expedition? ______
2. By the end of his lifetime, Bridger could claim the titles of trapper, __________________, _____________________,
_______________________, ____________________________________, and ______________________________.
3. In 1824 on an expedition to find the exact course of the Bear River, Bridger actually became the first white man to lay
eyes on what geographic feature? ____________________________________________________________________
4. Bridger’s Pass would eventually become the route for _________________________, _________________________,
and __________________________________.
5. How old was Jim Bridger when he died? ___________

Jedediah Smith - http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/mtmen/jedesmith.html
6. Jedediah Smith rediscovered South Pass which was key to the settlement of which two states? __________________
7. What did Smith read that wanted to make him live a life in the wilderness? __________________________________
8. Smith was not the typical mountain man. He refused to drink, ______________________, _____________________,
and was rarely _________________________.
Trails West
 The Oregon Trail - http://www.america101.us/trail/Hardships.html
9. River crossings tended to be difficult for travelers along the trail. How many people died in 1850 as a result of
drowning during a river crossing? __________________
10. In order to be ferried (fleeced) across a river, one had to pay a toll of: ______________.
11. What did Edward Lenox have to say about accidents? __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Why were pounding rains so difficult for the emigrants? ________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
13. Cholera was a deadly disease along the trail. What did animals do that made it especially nasty?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
14. In a bad year, it was not uncommon for some wagon trains to love what fraction of their members to cholera? ____
15. Use Google for this question: Where did the Oregon trail begin (City, State)? ________________________________
16. Use Google for this question: Where did the Oregon trail end (City, State)? _________________________________

Santa Fe Trail -http://www.santafetrail.org/the-trail/history/history-of-the-sft/ (skip ahead to ‘William
Bucknell’)
17. When (month) and where did William Bucknell begin his trip to Santa Fe in 1821?
When:____________
Where: _______________________
18. What was the major item of trade that was taken to the Southwest along the Santa Fe Trail? ___________________
19. What enabled Missouri to thrive when a financial depression struck the rest of the country from 1821-1848?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
20. It was a valuable trade along the trail. By 1860, _______________________ pounds is said to have been carried,
____________________ men were employed, and ______________ mules, __________________ oxen, and
____________________ were used.
Mormons Go West – Use pg. 349 of your textbook
21. What happened to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Ill in 1844? _________________________________________________
22. After Smith died, who took over as the leader of the Mormon church? _____________________________________
23. After taking over, this new leader chose ___________ as the group’s new home and led them to what is now the
_______________________________ .
24. By 1860, there were roughly _______________________ Mormons living in Utah.