Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 589 views

    Ot 6

    Uploaded by

    api-296687294
    River crossings along the emigrant trails posed a major danger, with hundreds drowning trying to cross rivers like the Platte, Kansas, and Columbia. Ferries would overcrowd boats and charge exorbitant fees. Most emigrants walked the entire 2,000 mile journey due to overloaded wagons, and accidents from falling under wagon wheels commonly killed children. Harsh weather like thunderstorms and hail brought additional hazards. However, the biggest threat was cholera - the disease could kill within hours, and victims were often abandoned alone on the trail or had bodies dug up by animals. Cholera took more lives than any other cause some years.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Ot 6

    Uploaded by

    api-296687294
    589 views2 pages
    River crossings along the emigrant trails posed a major danger, with hundreds drowning trying to cross rivers like the Platte, Kansas, and Columbia. Ferries would overcrowd boats and charge exorbitant fees. Most emigrants walked the entire 2,000 mile journey due to overloaded wagons, and accidents from falling under wagon wheels commonly killed children. Harsh weather like thunderstorms and hail brought additional hazards. However, the biggest threat was cholera - the disease could kill within hours, and victims were often abandoned alone on the trail or had bodies dug up by animals. Cholera took more lives than any other cause some years.

    Original Title

    ot6

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    River crossings along the emigrant trails posed a major danger, with hundreds drowning trying to cross rivers like the Platte, Kansas, and Columbia. Ferries would overcrowd boats and charge exorbitant fees. Most emigrants walked the entire 2,000 mile journey due to overloaded wagons, and accidents from falling under wagon wheels commonly killed children. Harsh weather like thunderstorms and hail brought additional hazards. However, the biggest threat was cholera - the disease could kill within hours, and victims were often abandoned alone on the trail or had bodies dug up by animals. Cholera took more lives than any other cause some years.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    589 views2 pages

    Ot 6

    Uploaded by

    api-296687294
    River crossings along the emigrant trails posed a major danger, with hundreds drowning trying to cross rivers like the Platte, Kansas, and Columbia. Ferries would overcrowd boats and charge exorbitant fees. Most emigrants walked the entire 2,000 mile journey due to overloaded wagons, and accidents from falling under wagon wheels commonly killed children. Harsh weather like thunderstorms and hail brought additional hazards. However, the biggest threat was cholera - the disease could kill within hours, and victims were often abandoned alone on the trail or had bodies dug up by animals. Cholera took more lives than any other cause some years.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 2

    Hardships

    Walking 2,000 miles barefoot

    Above: Crossing the Platte River. Drownings here were common.


    RIVER CROSSINGS
    River crossings were a constant source of distress for the pioneers. Hundreds drowned trying to
    cross the Kansas, North Platte and Columbia Rivers--among others. In 1850 alone, 37 people
    drowned trying to cross one particularly difficult river--the Green.
    Emigrant John B. Hill:
    "The ferryman allowed too many passengers to get in the boat, and the water came within two
    inches of the gunwale. He ordered every man to stand steady as the boat was liable to swamp.
    When we were nearly across the edge of the boat dipped; I thought the boat would be swamped
    instantly and drowned the last one of us."
    Those who didn't drown were usually fleeced. The charge ranged up to 16 dollars; almost the
    price of an oxen. One ferry earned $65,000 in just one summer. The emigrants complained
    bitterly.
    WALKING
    Because most emigrants grossly overloaded their wagons, few could ride inside. Instead most
    walked--many made the entire 2,000 mile journey on foot.
    ACCIDENTS
    The emigrant wagons didn't have any safety features. If someone fell under the massive wagon
    wheels, death was instant. Many lost their lives this way. Most often, the victims were children.

    Edward Lenox:
    "A little boy fell over the front end of the wagon during our journey. In his case, the great wheels
    rolled over the child's head----crushing it to pieces."
    WEATHER
    Great thunderstorms took their toll. A half-dozen emigrants were killed by lightning strikes;
    many others were injured by hail the size of apples. Pounding rains were especially difficult for
    the emigrants because there was no shelter on the open plains and the covered wagons eventually
    leaked.
    CHOLERA
    Perhaps the biggest problem on the Trail was a mysterious and deadly disease--called cholera for
    which there was no cure. Often, an emigrant would go from healthy to dead in just a few hours.
    Sometimes they received a proper burial, but often, the sick would be abandoned, in their beds,
    on the side of the trail. They would die alone. Making matters worse were animals that regularly
    dug up the dead and scattered the trail with human bones and body parts.
    Emigrant Agnes Stewart:
    "We camped at a place where a woman had been buried and the wolves dug her up. Her hair
    was there with a comb still in it. She had been buried too shallow. It seems a dreadful fate, but
    what is the difference? One cannot feel after the spirit is flown."
    Cholera killed more emigrants than anything else. In a bad year, some wagon trains lost twothirds of their people.
    Emigrant John Clark:
    "One woman and two men lay dead on the grass and some more ready to die. Women and
    children crying, some hunting medicine and none to be found. With heartfelt sorrow, we looked
    around for some time until I felt unwell myself. Got up and moved forward one mile, so as to be
    out of hearing of crying and suffering."

    You might also like