What It Was Like to Be On the Oregon Trail

Life on the Oregon Trail was both incredibly boring and extremely dangerous. Pioneers had to exercise extreme caution and a lot of bravado to cross the 2,170 mile stretch of land starting in Missouri and ending in Oregon. Accidents and disease were just waiting around the corner, but a majority of the trip was just spent trudging along next to the wagon. To say daily life on the Oregon Trail was difficult is a vast understatement. It was hard work and required uprooting your entire family and deciding to venture West for new opportunities, but that didn't stop thousands of people from emigrating and making the long journey.

#oregontrail #oregontrailgame #weirdhistory

[WeirdHistory]

What's your essential "must bring" item if you're traveling the Oregon Trail?

[chrisbedwards]

Imagine going through hell for 6 months to settle in California only for your descendants to move back to the East Coast to become social media managers.

[jerryhouck]

My great grandfather came to Oregon by wagon train in the 1800's as a baby and then as a young man he traveled to the east and back on a train, then as a middle aged man made the journey by car, and the as an old man he made his final trip to the east and back to Oregon by airplane. He died at Yamhill, Oregon in 1952 at the age of 98. My how time flies!

[MrKen-wydk]

If they had just waited 150 years, they could have just flown over it in three or four hours. Jeez, people are just so impatient.

[JWCinPDX]

People didn't just die on the Oregon Trail, occasionally they were born...my great-grandmother for instance. That makes me a true descendant of the Oregon Trail and I never played the game.

[mariposaario]

Playing The Oregon Trail on those old Mac computers was the best in elementary school

[jeannevoneuw]

I think a reality show with the toughest people attempting the whole trail with wagons would be a huge hit!

[alexdaugherty]

I live at the end of the Oregon Trail. The hardest part of the the trail according to most pioneers was going over the Blue Mountains in NE Oregon and going around Mt. Hood. The trail on the west side of Mt. Hood was so steep, they had to lower the wagons down using ropes. It was a brutal trip. Once they got to the Willamette Valley, it didn't get any easier. They needed to file a claim, find the plot of land and build a house before winter. In the early years of statehood, Oregon pioneers were treated like the rockstars they were for making that journey.

[thelakeman]

While I was in Wyoming, I had my friend drop me off and I walked 6 miles on the Oregon trail near Independence Rock where he waited for me. Imagining all those people that took the trail and I was walking in their footsteps. Saw a rattlesnake during my walk and wondered how many died along the trail from snakebites. You can go to a National Park and see the sights, but here, all alone, on the Oregon Trail, you can relive an experience that people had 140 years ago. It's admission is free and the experience is priceless! Next time I'm out there, I plan on doing 30 or 40 miles and camping overnight. When you get to Independence Rock, you'll see all the names carved in it from the 1840's and 50's wagon trains.

[SpudEater]

Craziest part is the marks left by the wagon wheels are still visible for certain stretches, that blows my mind.

[stankyfingers]

I live on the Oregon trail!! Some amazing sights for sure! Register rock is just a few miles away. This was an interesting listen.

[DamonNomad]

In my youth, I met the last known pioneer who actually traveled by covered wagon from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail, other than modern reenactors. Her family made the journey many decades after the trail's heyday, in 1912. At the time I met her, just before the turn of the millennium, she was in her 90s and living in a small town retirement home. She had some fascinating stories to tell, like the family's dog chasing a prairie dog down a burrow, and her dad having to dig it out.

[lyria]

My great grandparents were on that trail. The family never stopped talking about it. I still have a piece of furniture they brought.

[thebadfairyprincess]

"You have died of dissing Terry."

[lilj]

I was disappointed the top comment wasn’t a joke about the game, but then I died of dysentery.

[_will]

Imagine traveling all that way, never getting sick and dying, just to end up in Oregon

[jackielinde]

6:17 - "There was a wrong time to travel, like to Arizona in the middle of July."
Me: Laughing from Arizona in the middle of July.

[hypernerdhd]

I do not understand how such a quality filled YouTube channel does not have over 500k, you guys have quickly grown to become my favorite you tube channel out

[nvrgngback]

When they arrived in Portland, they were surprised at all the rainbow hair dye and ukulele players.

[faroukabad]

My great great grandparents came from Wisconsin to California, they even went back and forth a few times. They got a Spanish land grant in Nevada and ended up very rich. They still kept their covered wagon in their barn. I saw a pic of my great great grandmother, she looked pretty toguh and scary. I can see why.