STAR VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY HISTORICAL BOOKS INVENTORY DETAILS

1. Overview

Title ofBook: The Lander Trail Project-Curriculum Guidebook II

Author: David Ruthardt

Subject: Trails and Roads

Publisher: Lander Trail Foundation

Publishing Date: 2010

Number ofPages: 30

ID#: 114

Location: Website

2. Evaluation

Evaluator's Name(s): Polly Erickson

Date ofEvaluation: July 2014

Key Words: Sierra Mountains, , Fort Laramie, , , Louisiana Purchase, Great Basin, Lewis and Clark

Included Names: Samuel Parker, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, Henry and Eliza Spalding, Fredrick W. Lander, Lansford Hastings

3. Svnopsis:

The materials in this book were developed to help teach students about the California/ history, especially the Lander Trail. It contains a teacher's guide as well as a variety of lessons and activities for the students. Prior to the lessons, the author shows how the materials comply with the State Standards for Social Studies at the appropriate grade levels. Background information for this important trail is provided. The first group of emigrants used the trail in 1858. It continued to be used by emigrants as late as 1912. In addition, hundreds of head ofcattle, horses, and sheep were driven over this trail. 4. Other:

*The book is divided into sections: Meeting the goals ofthe Wyoming State Statues Teacher*s Guide Activities and a quiz Maps and photos *Table ofContents *Comprehensive bibliography / 0

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» vjj V V M -t1 :-'.//4. '-a THE LANDERTRAIL PROJECT

CURRICULUM GUIDEBOOK Phase 2

Developed and written by David Ruthardt Summer 2010 Financial support provided by The National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Program of the National Trails Office and ExxonMobil Corporation

The Lander Trail Foundation Post Office Box 4135-Bedford, WY 83112 (307)883-2174 The Lander Trail Curriculum Project Publishing Credits

The Lander Trail Curriculum Project was developed under a Memorandum of ^ Understanding between The Lander Trail Foundation and David Ruthardt/Lincoln County School District #2.

The National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Program ofthe National Trails Office ^ and ExxonMobil Corporation provided financial support.

All materials in this packet are the property ofThe LanderTrail Foundation, and have ^ been made available byThe Foundation for classroom use only. These materials are ^ intended to teach junior andseniorhighstudents aboutthe California/Oregon trailhistory in general, and the Lander Trail in particular.

The developer wishes to thank JermyWight of The Lander TrailFoundation, and Peter Harstad, retired Idaho State University professor for their valuable input. This project would not have been possible without them.

ii. Table of Contents

Title Page I. Publishing credits a. Table ofcontents Hi.

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Meeting The Goals Wyoming State Statutes and The Lander Trail Foundation - 8'^Grade

Meeting The Goals Wyoming State Statutes and The Lander Trail Foundation -9-12'*^ Grade

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Teacher's Guide - Lander Trail Curriculum 3

Why a Lander Trail - Student Lesson 4-17

Bibliography 18

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United States Population 1790-2000 Activity 19

Individual States Admission Dates Activity 20-21

Lander Trail Vocabulary List 22

How Far? Where Are We Going Activity 23

Lander Trail Test 24-26

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Satellite Map ofUnited States 27

Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman Pictures 28

Map ofthe Louisiana Purchase 29

Sacagawea and baby Jean Baptiste Charbonneau 30

III. ^ Meeting the Goals ofWyoming State Standards and The Lander ^ Trail Foundation The Lander Trail Curriculum Project Phase 2 Curriculum Theme: United States Government surveyors, religious leaders, former fur trappers, and pioneer families all contributed to the scientific, artistic, social, and economic development ofwhat would become known as the State ofWyoming in ^ general, and Star Valley, Wyoming inparticular. Wyoming Social Studies 8^** Grade Content/Performance Standards Content Standard 1. Citizenship/Govemment/Democracv Students demonstrate how structures ofpower, authority, and governance have developed historically and continue to evolve. SS8.2.3 Students recognize the basic principles ofthe U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other amendments and are able to identify those principles in real-life

scenanos.

Content Standard 2. Culture/Cultural Diversitv Students demonstrate an understanding ofdifferent cultures and how these cultures have contributed and continue to contribute to the world in which they live. ^ SS8.2.1 Students explain how family systems, religion, language, literature, and the arts contribute to the development ofcultures.

Content Standard 3. Production. Distribution, and Consumption Students demonstrate an understanding ofeconomic principles and concepts and describe the influence ofeconomic factors on societies. 558.3.2 Students describe the systems ofexchange ofpast and present.

Content Standard 4. Time. Continuitv and Change Students demonstrate an understanding ofthe events, problems, ideas, and culturesthat were significant in thehistory of our community, state, nation, andworld. SS8.4.1 Students identify people, events, problems, conflicts, andideas and explain their historical significance. 558.4.3 Students analyze the impact ofhistorical events and people on present conditions, situations, or circumstances.

^ Content Standard 5. People. Places, and Environments Studentsdemonstratean understandingofinterrelationships amongpeople, places, and environments. SS8.5.1 Students use charts,maps, and graphsto answerquestions dealing with ^ people, places, events, or environments. 558.5.2 Students apply the themesofgeographyto topics being studied. 558.5.3 Students demonstrate an ability to organize and process spatial information; i.e.. You Are Here maps ofvarious areas.

1. Meeting the Goals ofWyoming State Statutes and The Lander Trail Foundation The Lander Trail Curriculum Project Phase 2 Curriculum Theme: United States Government surveyors, religious leaders, former fur trappers, and pioneer families all contributed to the scientific, artistic, social, and economic development ofwhat would become known as the State ofWyoming in general, and Star Valley, Wyoming in particular.

Wyoming Social Studies 9- 12th Grade Performance Standards Content Standard 1. Citizenship/Govemment/Democracv Students demonstrate how structures ofpower, authority, and governance have developed historically and continue to evolve. /m, SSI 1.1.3 Students explain the historical development ofthe U.S. Constitution and how it has shaped the U.S. and Wyoming governmental systems.

^ Content Standard 2. Culture/Cultural Diversitv Students demonstrate an understanding ofdifferent cultures and how these cultures have contributed and continue to contribute to the world in which they live. SSI 1.2.2 Students communicate how shared cultural experiences influence peoples' perceptions ofprominenthistorical figures, groups, institutions, and world events.

Content Standard 4. Time. Continuitv and Change Students demonstrate an understanding ofthe events, problems, ideas, and cultures that were significant in the history ofour community, state, nation, and world. SSI 1.4.1 Students analyzethe interactionsamong individuals and groups and their impact on significant historical events. SSll.4.4 Studentsexplainhow past eventsimpactthe presentand the future.

Content Standard 5. People. Places, and Environments Students demonstrate an understanding ofinterrelationships among people, places, and environments. SSll.5.1 Studentsinterpretcharts,maps, and graphs to answerquestions dealing with people, places, events, or environments. SSI 1.5.2 Students analyze how physical characteristics ofthe earth and human interactions with the environment have affected the development ofsocieties, cultures, and individuals. SSI 1.5.3 Students demonstrate an ability to organize and process information about people, places, and environments.

2. Teacher's Guide The Lander Trail Curriculum

Content Area: History/Geography

Grade Level: Middle through High School

Goal: Students will learn the political, historical, and geographical reasons why, and the people involved in the development ofThe Lander Trail.

This curriculum is designed to be an introductory study to the Lander Trail. All the materials are included as Word Document files on the CD to print out and distribute to your class. The largest reading assignment is 15 pages, and could be read in small groups, individually, or as a class reading activity. After reading and discussing the reading assignment there are several activities to expand student learning and a test to measure understanding. The additional activities are:

United States Population 1790 -2000 Individual State Admission Dates Lander Trail Vocabulary List How Far? Where Are We Going? Lander Trail Test

A packet ofadditional materials is included for students and staff. These include books by local Lander Trail expert, Jermy Wight, and retired Idaho State Universityprofessor, Peter Harstad. Other items in the packet include maps, a DVD produced by the US Forest Service about the trail, and field trip guides to the trail on PowerPoint.

3. Why a Lander Trail? In his excellent new book, We Saw the Elephant, Overland Diaries from the Lander Trail author Peter Harstad has reproduced the personal accounts of 45 emigrants who traveled along the Lander Trail between 1859 and 1865. These diaries not only record what these men and women accomplished, but what they considered important enough to write about. These emigrants recorded much more than their diet, the passing landscape, or major events. From their diaries we can about their joys, fears, failures, and simple pleasures of daily Hfe. On July 11, 1859, Charles Hull, an emigrant from Madison, Wisconsin, recorded. We found the Salt river valley alittie Paradise after the hardships of the rocky trail behmd us. Here small creeks with pebbly bottoms meandered through splendid grassy meadows where catde quickly ate their fill." Later that same month, Hamet Case, also from Wisconsin, wrote these words in his diary as he entered the Salt River valley, "This is by far the prettiest valley we have seen since we crossed the River. Numerous streams coming in from the mountains full of salmon and speckled trout. Bushels of wild currents and splendid grass." These words, written 151 years ago, accurately described this beautiful mountain valley. Rather than simply recording their passage through avalley, these men expressed their feelings about it in descriptive prose. Whether you are amodem-day tourist or long-time resident, this valley witii its meandering creeks, grassy meadows, and surrounding mountains can still be described as, "a littie Paradise . Imagine what it must have been like for these men and women who traveled The Lander Trail through Star Valley in the summer of 1859. Why did these pioneers leave the main California/Oregon trail and travel tiiis new "road" to Fort Hall? When the Lander Trail was built in1858, the official name for tiie California/Oregon Trail between Fort Keamy, and Honey Lake, California was the Central Division of the Pacific Wagon Road. This new route, called The Lander Trail or Lander Cut-Off, shortened the continental crossing by five to seven days and avoided a long stretch of dry, alkaline desert. Most importantiy, this new route provided the three essentials needed for traveling across the continent by covered wagon: water, grass, and wood. Covered wagons were grass-powered vehicles. Earlier migration along tiie established California/Oregon Trail by thousands of people and tens of thousands of animals left many camping areas polluted, tiie easily accessible wood consumed, and tiie available forage depleted. By providing travelers with these essentials. The Lander Trail extended the westward migration for many years until the development of the transcontinental railroad. In order to appreciate why the Lander Trail became asignificant route along the California/Oregon Trial, some earlier events must be understood. These include the political, geographical, and social forces that influenced the westward expansion.

^Harstad, PeterT., We Saw the Elephant, 40, 47 Political Influences

Early American History What began in the 1600's as thirteen Britishcolonies had, by the late 1700's, expanded into a new nation of sixteen individual states. According to early census figures, the population of the thirteen states in 1790 was 3,929,214. Ten years later the population had increased more than 35%, as European immigration had swelled that numberto 5,308,483.^ This explosive growth convinced President Jefferson that more land would be necessary if diis young nation was to compete economically with the rest of the world. Jefferson also realized that a larger nation would require a much larger Federal government.

However, this expansion of the Federal government's role went against ever5^hing Jefferson believed. He was of the opinion that the Federal Government's role was very limited by the constitution. When the constitution was being written, he argued that individual states should control their own affairs. He also believed that the Federal government should not accumulate a national debt. Even more significantly, the British, the French, and Mexico still controlled all the land West of the Mississippi. All these conflicting arguments culminated in 1803, when President Jefferson put aside his own beliefsand negotiated a 15 milliondollar deal with the French for what became known as the Louisiana Purchase.

The Louisiana Purchase was a vital moment in the presidency ofThomas Jefferson. At the time, this unprecedented land purchase faced domestic oppositionas possibly being unconstitutional. Jefferson understood, and even agreed with, the argument that the U.S. Constitution did not contain any provisions for acquiring new territory. One ofthe main reasonsJefferson decided to purchase Louisianawas that he feared the powerful French navymight block Americanaccess to the port ofNew Orleans. He reasoned that if America owned New Orleans the French couldn't blockade the port. Eventually he decided that access to the port at the mouth ofthe Mississippi River far outwei^ed the risk ofa constitutional battle over whether it was legal for the govemment to buy the land from the French.The purchase eventually benefited both parties; the French needed cash to rebuild their country after ten years of revolution, and America needed the land for it's growing population.

The Louisiana Purchase immediately doubled the size of the United States. Eventually fourteen new states, either wholly or partially, would be added to the nation from lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. Later, other land acquisitions, wars, or acts of congress expanded the nation into what we recognize as the United States of America. It is likely that if the westward migration had not occurred, the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho would be part of Canada, and California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona would still be part of Mexico. 5.

www.u-s-historv.com. Online Highway, Florence, OR Exploration Atthe beginningof the 19^'' century, the Louisiana Purchase includedthe entire Mississippi River valley and all its drainages, from the Canadian boarder to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward to the Continental Divide. Because it was unmapped wilderness. President Jefferson sent the discovery team led by and to explore the territory in 1804. Jefferson had another motive for sending these brave men into the wilderness. President Jefferson was convinced that an undiscovered water route existed across the top of North America; a so-called Northwest Passage.

When he sent out Lewis and Clark, Jefferson knew that the Hudson Bay Trading Company controlled the PacificNorthwest. The British had set up trading posts and forts to protect their fur trading business with the Native Indians and trappers, but were not colonizing the area. Although Jefferson knew that the Louisiana Purchase bordered the Continental Divide, Lewis and Clark were ordered to explore the upper Mississippi Rivervalley, and to cross the Continental Divide, reach the Pacific Ocean, and hopefully find the elusive Northwest Passage.

At that time, very litde was known of the Rocky Mountain region. Many different tribes of Native Americans populated the area, but few white men knew of them. The exploration team of Lewis and Clark would have become hopelessly lost, and might have died without their French-Canadian guide Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife, . The explorers traveled across thousands of miles of unknown wilderness and had contact with natives who had never seen white-skinned men before. While their discoveries did not include the fabled Northwest Passage, they had drawn accurate maps of their route, made contact with several native tribes, and documented previously unknown species of animals, birds, and plants.

After returning to The States and publishing their journals, the nation read with wonder about the Oregon country: a vast area, rich in resources, waiting to be developed. Lewis and Clark had traveled up and down the Missouri, Clearwater, and Columbia Rivers, but their route would not accommodate large numbers of settlers. Because the nation's westward expansion could not follow Lewis and Clark's route, decades passed before emigrants used an overland wagon route to the new territory beyond the Rocky Mountains. As with most American developments, capitalism - the belief that man can benefit by taking risks - was the driving force in of the migration. In this case men would risk their fortunes, their health, and even their lives to capitalize on the profits to be made in the fur trade.

6. The Mountain Men The first white men to occupy the Rocky Mountain region were the fur trappers and mountain men. These men were explorers in the truest sense of the word. They left civilization to roam the canyons and valleys of the Rockies while searching for animal pelts and adventure. These hardy, and some would say foolhardy, men developed the fur trade in the Rocky Mountains from the early 1800's until the early 1840's when the demand for fur hats plummeted.

In 1810, some of these mountain men discovered, or more correctly, rediscovered, South Pass. This pass across the continental divide proved to be of much greater, and longer lasting, significance than the fashionable fur hat. The mountain men and freight haulers, who first brought supplies over South Pass by pack mules, had solved a key mystery in the geography of the North American continent. This pass crossed the continental divide, which not only separated the waters, but the nation. It was here that the emigrants crossed the eastern boundary of the and left the actual land of the Untied States. Thanks to die mountain men, South Pass became the geographical funnel through which the westward migration poured across the continental divide.

This picture was taken at the South Pass roadside marker along Wyoming Highway 28, East of Parson, WY. This section of highway parallels the Oregon Trail and the marker is at the approximate crossing ofthe continental divide. The actual South Pass is located in the background of this picture, at the base of Pacific Butte on the right.

Geographical Influences Look at a map of North America. Almost all the mountain ranges and valleys run north to south; The Appalachia in the East, and the Rockies and the Coastal Ranges in the West. Now imagine what the land map would look like if the mountain ranges were rotated so that they aligned east to west. This geographical alignment would have made it much easier to travel overland by following the valleys between the ridges. Of course, the mountain ranges of North American do run north to south, and were a major physical barrier to westward migration. In fact, the western emigrants ran into the mountains while still 1,300 miles from their California or Oregon destinations. They were forced to haul their wagons over the ridges and across the valleys or found route around them.

The next geographical obstacle to challenge the emigrants is known today as The Great Basin that covers much of Southern Idaho, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. Early maps and travel guides compared the entire western North American continent to the African Sahara. While not true, the geography of The Great Basin did force the emigrants to follow either the Humboldt or the Snake River across this vast, arid section. Those California bound emigrants who chose to follow the Humboldt River faced a 40-mile desert crossing as the river evaporated in the late summer heat into an alkaline swamp at the base of the Sierra Mountains. Author Samuel Clemens (also known as Mark Twain) visited this area decades later to find an endless supply of discarded wooden dressers, trunks, tools, wheels, broken wagons, and family heirlooms, along with the bleached bones of animals that died attempting to pull the lightened wagons across this wasteland.

The final monumental geographical hurdle the Oregon bound emigrants encountered was the Blue Mountain range, while those headed to California were forced to cross the Sierra Mountains. These were by far the most daunting geographical barriers the exhausted emigrants and their tired oxen teams had to cross. In 1846 a wagon train known as the Donner party were mislead by Lansford Hastings, believing he knew of a better route across The Great Basin and the Sierra Mountains. Their nightmare journey began when they left at the end of July, and wouldn't end until forty members of their party starved to death as they became snow-bound attempting to cross the Sierras. Narcissa Whitman described crossing the Blue Mountains of Oregon as, "...we began to descend one of the most terrible mountains for steepness and length I have yet seen. It was like winding stairs in its descent and in some places almost perpendicular."^

8.

Drury, ed.. First White Women Over the Rockies, 1:88-92 Of the estimated 500,000 people who traveled west between 1812 and 1866, approximately 20,000 died."^ Many died from disease and accidents, and some from bandits and Indians. Others died from exposure and starvation as a consequence of the harsh geographical environment they crossed.

Social Influences

From the earliest Pilgrims, one ofthe great influences guiding America's social structure has been religious groups, called denominations. In 1810, one ofthese denominations, the Congregationalists, formed the American Board ofCommissionersfor Foreign Missions, America's first foreign mission society. In 1835 the directors at this mission sent the Reverend Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman on an ambitious reconnaissance mission to explore the West. Parker and Whitman were to investigate the condition of the Indian nations and formulate a plan to bring the Christian religion and civilization to the region. The only way Reverend Parker and Dr. Whitman could travel on this exploratory mission was by a mule train hauling supplies to the Rendezvous of mountain men on the Green River.

Reverend Parker's refined and fastidious manners were not accepted among the rough crew of muleskinners, and they initially had littie use for either missionary. Eventhough he was a supporter of temperance (a belief in abstinence from alcoholic drinks), the unpretentious Dr. Whitman earned the esteem of the mountain men when he successfully treated cholera that was spreading throughout the caravan. At the Rendezvous, the doctor astonished the mountaineers when he removed a ±ree-inch iron arrow point that had been buried in 's back since a battie with the Blackf^eet in 1832! Both Reverend Parker and Dr. Whitman were outraged with the demoraHzing influence the mountain men had on the Indians. They particularly despised the mountain men selling packs of playing cards at excessive prices and telling the Indians they were Bibles.^ The two missionaries parted ways after meeting with the and Flathead Indian chiefs. Samuel Parker continued to explore the Columbia Riverregion with the Indians, while Whitman returned to the states to raise money, recruit more missionaries, and find a suitable wifewilling to make the journey.

When he returned to the states, Dr. Whitman discovered that not everyone thought it was a good idea to colonize the Pacific Northwest. Further more, the idea of sending women overland to the ColumbiaRivervalleywas widely considered insanity.

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^ Mattes, Merrill, The Great Platte River Road, 82-85 ^Parker, Journal of an Exploring Tour, 78, 82-83, 312-313 "Only parties of men could undergo the vicissitudes of the journey;" wrote W.J. Snelling. "None who ever made the trip would assert that a woman could have accompanied them." ^ Two devout women from NewYork, Narcissa Prentiss and Eliza Hart Spalding, did not tolerate this accepted idea. Although Reverend Parker had told Narcissa that there were no openings in the mission field for unmarried females, before his journey west, he must have told Marcus Whitman about the young woman's interest in going to Oregon. On his return to New York, Marcus wasted no time proposing marriage to Narcissa; possibly on the same day he met her!^

Dr. Whitman was also successful in recruiting another young couple to join him. Eliza Hart had married Henry Spalding in 1833. Henry was a Presbyterian studying for the ministry, and they had decided to join the Foreign Missions. (At the time, the organization considered Oregon a foreign mission.) "What object can we engage in that will compare with the cause of missions?" Eliza asked in 1834. "Forthis object I wish to exert my powers and spend my strength."®

Dr. Whitman recalled that during his reconnaissance trip, he had met Colonel Henry Dodge marching a Regiment of Dragoons to the Columbia Rivervalley. In his report to David Green, the secretary of the mission board. Dr. Whitman presented the idea of taking Narcissa and the Spaldings on his return trip to the Rockies. "If Colonel Dodge should go to the Pacifick and transport cannon as he did last summer, we could cross the mountains with a wagon," Marcus wrote. He also knew that Captain Bonneville had taken vehicles over South Pass, and believed that what had been done once could be done again.^

While preparing for their return to Oregon, Marcus was clearly aware of the challenges the women would face keeping up with a fast-paced mule train, especially when they had to ride sidesaddle. Secretary Green must have questioned the doctor's sanity. "Have you carefully ascertained and weighed the difficulties in the way of conducting females to those remote and desolate regions and comfortablysustaining females there?"^° Marcus must have been persuasive, because not long after New Years 1836, the board approved sending women on the mission - "But families of children cannot be taken".^^

10.

^Abbatt, William, The Magazine of History, No. 67, Tanytown, NY, reprinted 1919 ^Drury, ed.. First White Women Over the Rockies, 1:28-29, 32 ®Drury, ed.. First White Women Over the Rockies, 1:175-78 ^Whitman, Vournal Kept by Dr. Marcus Whitman" 26 October 1835, 255-56 Drury, ed., Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon, 1:144- 45 Drury, ed.. First White Women Over the Rockies, 1:32-33 EventuallyWilliam H. Gray, a teacher and cabinetmaker signed on as the party's "mechanic" or general handyman. Eliza contributed a light Dearborn wagon with wooden springs, a covered top, and wheels painted yellowwith blue stripes that her father had given the couple as a weddingpresent."^^ After packing all their supplies in the two-wheeled Dearborn and a farm wagon drawn by four horses, the two young couples set out from New York on one of the most remarkable honeymoons in history.

Both women wrote excellent letters and diaries describing their adventures on the way to the Pacific. " We are really a moving village - nearly four hundred animals, with ours, mosdy mules and seventy men. The Fur Company have seven wagons drawn by six mules each, heavily loaded, and one cart drawn by two mules, which carries a lame man, one of the proprietors of the Company."^^ Mrs. Spalding provided the only written record of what happened on the historic summer day in 1836 when the first white women crossed the continental divide at South Pass. "Crossed a ridge of land today called the divide, which separates the waters that flow into the Atlantic from those that flow into the Pacific, and camped for the night on the head waters of the Colorado," she recorded at a campsite on Little SandyCreek on the evening of the Fourthof July.^"^

The Whitmans and the Spauldings completed their historic journey later that summer and the Whitmans established a mission near Fort Walla Walla. For many years the Oregon Trail went past the Whitman Missionwhere the weary travelers received food, medical attention, and blacksmithing services. Regrettably, the Cayuse Indians murdered Marcus and Narcissa in 1847 after he unsuccessfully treated an outbreak of measles. Many of the tribe had died from the disease, and the Indian tradition of holding medicine men personally responsible for the patient's recovery eventually resulted in violence. In what became known as the Whitman Massacre, the Indians killed the Whitmans in their home on November 29,1847. Most of the buildings at Waiilatpu were destroyed, and twelve other white settiers in the community were also killed. But their accomplishment inspired thousands of other men and women to pursue their own dreams of settiing this new Oregon County.

The westward migration was about to begin: Lewis and Clark had seen the raw, unexplored riches of the new Oregon Country, the fur trappers and freight haulers had unlocked the secret passage of South Pass over the continental divide, and a devote group of medical missionaries had proven to the citizens of the United States that men, and even women, could travel by wagon all the way to the new promised land.

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Drury, ed., Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, 1:154-156 Drury, ed.. First White Women Over the Rockies, 1:51 Drury, ed.. First White Women Over the Rockies, 4 July 1836,1:189 The Making ofan Emigrant Wagon Road "The road on this river is lower than the ground on the sides ofit, on some places by twofeet It is occasioned by the teams treading the loosesoil up and the stronger winds we have here blowing the dust out of the roadforming a kind ofditch." Lewis Beers, along the Humboldt River, August 4,1852, "Across the Continent in 1852."^®

The California/Oregon Trail Most scholars recognize Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, and Henry and EUza Spalding as the first white emigrants to travel by covered wagon along what would become the California/Oregon Trail. While there was no single trail, there were several starting points or, "jumping-off places, and unlimited destinations. Throughout the westward migration years, wagon trains were formed and registered at Independence and St. Joseph, Missouri, and Westport, Kansas, and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Many single men, or married men traveling without their families made the trip. Some made the trip several times. Former slaves, soldiers, fortune hunters, and widows joined the caravans. But by far the most common travelers were entire families, leaving their homes with all their possessions to begin a new life out west. Between 1812 and 1866, a conservative estimate of a half million people would follow the trails to Utah, California, and the Pacific Northwest.^® Never before or since, except for perhaps the Exodus of the Israelite nation from Egypt, has there been so great a voluntary movement of people across so vast a distance anywhere in the world.

Even though the Whitmans and the Spauldings had taken women in wagons over South Pass in 1836, it wasn't until 1841 that the first true emigrant wagon train, the Bidwell-Bartleson party, guided by Thomas Fitzpatrick, a former fur trapper, attempted the journey. The party split at Fort Hallwith some following the Snake River towards Oregon, while the others opted for the Humboldt River to California. Bythe time the latter group reached Californiathey were no longer a "wagon train" having been forced to abandon their wagons along the route.

The 1843 migration of over 1,000 emigrants kicked off the start of what became a massive movement of people along the California/Oregon Trail. Thiswestward movement of people became known as "the great migration" and among the prominent members was Peter Burnett and Jesse Applegate, early pioneers to setdein Oregon. During theirtrek, on July 18^, six-year oldJoel Hembree was killed when he fell under a wagon near present day Guernsey, Wyoming. His gravesite is believed to be the oldest marked grave along the trail, and would have been seen by all who followed. 12.

Office of National Trails Preservation, Oregon- Association, Mapping Emigrant Trails, METManual

Oregon-California Trails Association, Trail Facts- FrequentlyAsked Questions While they may have started at different points most "overlanders" as they became known, eventually made their way up the Platte River. It became a major emigrant highway across the plains, and lived up to the settler's complaint that it was, "too thick to drink and too thin to plow". Whether their destination was Utah, California, Oregon, or the gold fields of Idaho and Montana, most emigrants moved west by following "the Great Platte River Road". Travelers along the south shore of the river crossed the South Platte at what was originally known as Brule Crossing, which was renamed California Crossing after the 1849 California . Once across, the emigrants followed the North Platte and the Sweetwater ail the way to South Pass.

When the route was flat, the wagons would fan out side by side in a broad front up to a mile wide to avoid each other's dust. In other places the geography required a narrow path and even solid rock became rutted several feet deep from the thousands of iron wheels following in single file.

As and the Mormon Saints left , they headed west to what became known to them as Winter Quarters on the west bank of the just north of present-day Omaha. In the spring, they gathered at Council Bluffs, Iowa and then followed the north shore of the Platte River all the way from Fort Keamy to Fort Laramie. From a May 9,1846 article in the Illinois Gazette, a reporter wrote that the Mormon camp "bore the appearance of a moveable town, the wagons and tents being arranged on either side of large streams, and public spaces left for the cattle as we see in some of our River cities".^^ In another article from the July 23, 1846 Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL) the correspondent writes that, "The whole number of souls now on the road may be set down in round numbers at twelve thousand."^®

Following the discovery of gold in California, the covered farm wagons carrying entire families were replaced by handcarts, two-wheelers, or pack animals without wagons carrying single men and husbands traveling alone to find their fortune. In 1849, as many as 40,000 people may have passed Fort Laramie during the migration season with a large percentage lured west by the Californiagold rush. Consider the environmental impact of 40,000 people, with several tens of thousands of livestock, traveling over the same area, during a single summer travel season. Multiply these impacts over the many seasons the California/Oregon trail was used and you can begin to imderstand why new routes were explored and developed.

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Oregon-California Trails Association, i«Ibid. Cutoffs Alternative routes along the California/Oregon Trail were called cutoffs or shortcuts. Some would b5q)ass deserts, dangerous river crossings, or even forts. Sublette's cutoff was a fifty-mile, water-less trek across a desolate landscape that bypassed Fort Bridger, shortening the overland journey by three days. When approaching these cutoffs, wagon trains often voted about which road to travel. Sometimes a train divided, with some members stajdng on the original route while others opting to try the cutoff. These decisions were not taken lightiy; saving time could risk the death of animals.

Between 1850 and 1860 an estimated 330, 000 people emigrated along the California/Oregon Trail to Utah, California, or Oregon. This number includes an estimated 60,000 fortune hunters who traveled to Colorado because of the discovery of gold at Cherry Creek in 1859.^^ This great migration was consuming the natural resources, putting travelers at risk, and damaging the environment along the Trail. At the same time, political leaders were debating the possibility ofbuilding wagon roads and even a transcontinental railroad. With the influence of some wealthy citizens from the new state of California, the Federal Government made the decision to build the first wagon roads in the west. In 1857 President Pierce signed into law the appropriation bill to build a wagon road along the central route through South Pass.^° The emigrants would soon call this new wagon road The Lander Cutoff, named after Fredrick W. Lander.

The Lander Cutoff Fredrick W. Lander was bom in Salem, Massachusetts on December 17,1822.^^ As a young man, Mr. Lander was a surveyor for the Eastern Railroad, where he surveyed and designed the routes for railroad tracks. When he was thirty-one years old, Lander became the Chief Engineer for the Northern Pacific Railroad survey of 1853. Mr. Lander led this group of explorers who surveyed a railroad route to the , following the path that Lewis and Clark had traveled.

14.

In April of 1857, Mr. Lander was appointed by the Department of Interior as Chief

Oregon-California Trails Association, Oregon Trail Mileposts

Wight, Jermy Benton, Fredrick W. Lander and the Lander Trail, 21

Wight, Jermy Benton, Fredrick W. Lander and the Lander Trail, 15, all this biographical information comes from this source Engineer for the Central Division of the Pacific Wagon Road. His instructions were to survey all the practical routes from the west side of South Pass through the mountains to Fort Hall.

In June, Mr. Lander left Independence, Missouri with a crew of 15 men and one 11 year-old boy. Nothing is known about William Keliys background or his family; he was found as an orphan and hired to drive tiie measuring wagon. This device, known as a surveyor's or odometer wheel, counted the rotations of the wheel to determine distances. When the crew reached Fort Laramie on July 3"^, Mr. Lander wrote a progress report. In the letter Mr. Lander wrote about the William, "It also becomes my duty to report to you, the circumstances of my halt at this place as connected with an unfortunate affair, which has resulted in the loss to ±e expedition of the services ofWilliam Kelly, the young lad who was hired at Independence to drive the 80 pound measuring wagon across the unexplored northern pass."^ While the crew was resupplying at the fort, young William was wounded in his thigh by a musket ball fired by a drunken soldier during a Forth ofJuly celebration. Mr. Lander left the boy under the care and supervision of the fort hospital. When the summer ended, William did not return to the States but wintered with some of the crew near present-day Lander, Wyoming.

By October 1857 Mr. Lander and his crew had traveled thousands of miles on horseback, explored mountain passes, and surveyed several possible routes that could be used for a Pacific Wagon Road. Mr. Lander's final progress report to the Interior Department included a detailed map of a shorter northern route from South Pass to Fort Hall that would make an excellent choice for an emigrant road. This route provided the three essentials needed for traveling by covered wagon, abundant grass, water, and timber. The new route had fewer stream crossings than the southern route, bypassed expensive ferries or bridges, and avoided Mormons who were causing trouble for many travelers near Fort Bridger at that time.

Mr. Lander returned the following year and supervised the construction of the new road. With a crew of over 100 men, including 47 men from 's Mormon community, they constructed the 230-mile section of road in less than 90 days. This was heavy, difficult work. His work crews moved tons of rock and soil, cut down trees, removed miles of willow, and made a level path for the emigrants' wagons.

15.

22 Wight, Jermy Benton, Fredrick W. Lander and the Lander Trail 26 Beforeit was even finished, the emigrants started using the road. "Fort Hall, Oregon Territory, July 15,1858. This is to certify that we, the undersigned, have traveled over the Pacific Wagon Road, better known as Lander's Cutoff, and find it a very acceptable road for emigrants. We think it is preferable to any other road across the mountains in many respects; most of the way well worked, and with a bridge across the Green River (the only stream at all troublesome) it would be as good a road as many now traveled in the States; it is some five days' travel shorter than any other road across the mountains. There is no desert to cross on this route, no alkali to kill your stock; but instead, plenty of good water, abundance of grass, and wood enough to satisfy a reasonable man. Many of the undersigned have crossed by other routes, and give this the preference. William Glaze, Missouri and Fifty-nineother men."^

In 1859, the first full year of operation, the Interior Department printed 5,000 copies of an "Emigrant's Guide" for travelers who opted to take the Lander Cutoff.^'^ These guides described the distances, terrain, and road conditions between certain milestones. They sold out very quickly; records indicate that over 13,000 emigrants traveled The Lander Cutoff that summer with 79,000 head of stock. To give some perspective on that number, the entire population of Lincoln County, Wyoming in July 2009 was 16,995.^^ Imagine almost all the residents of the county camping and traveling across the Lander Trail during one summer season. Add in many thousand head of catde and hundreds of covered wagons to gain an understanding of what traveling conditions along The Lander Trail were like.

The Lander Trail - The Civil War to the Present Following the successful completion of The Lander Road, Mr. Lander served his country during America's deadliest war. On March 4,1861 Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office as the United States 16^^ President. One month later, on April 12''' confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter and the Civil War soon began. Mr. Lander joined the Union army, and was nominated by President Lincoln for the rank of Brigadier-General.At Edwards Ferry, Lander was severely wounded in the leg, but led a cavalry charge at Blooming Gap while suffering from the wound. Brigadier-General Lander died of complications from his injuries on March 2, 1862, and President Lincoln attended his funeral in Salem, Massachusetts.^^

16.

^ Wight, Jermy Benton, Fredrick W. Lander and the Lander Trail 49 Wight, Jermy Benton, Fredrick W. Lander and the Lander Trail, 52 ^ http://www.city-data.com/county/Lincoln_County-WY.html Harstad, Peter T., WeSaw the Elephant, 16 During the summer of 1862, United States Armytroops patrolled the LanderTrail, protecting the emigrants from Indian attack. Captain Medorem Crawford's orders from the War Department were to escort emigrants to the Pacific Northwest. In hisjournal he wrote, "OnAugust 7'^ we... took the Lander Road. I found this road very much injured by the water since last year. Bridges had been carried away, banks of streams so washed out as to render crossings dangerous and frequentiy impossible; and in many instances emigrants who had preceded us had dug roads along the hillsides to avoid the streams through the canyons."^^

William Smedley was one of the emigrants preceding Captain Crawford's train. William had been a schoolteacher in Illinois when he decided to go west, bound for what he hoped was better health. After traveling along The Lander Trail and re-joining the original California/Oregon Trail near FortHall on July25^, William wrote, "Came onto the old emigrant road in the evening, to our infinite satisfaction, making nineteen days on the long-to-be-remembered "Lander's Cut off," upon which I experienced more hardships, more exposure, more danger and more misery than in my life before; but now that it was passed we rather looked back upon it with satisfaction and pride, as well as with gratitude, for our safe deliverance."^®

Travel along the Lander Cutoff was not restricted to the westward direction. Between ISySQand 1890, drovers herded vast numbers of cattle, horses and sheep eastward from Oregon to Wyoming. The animals were moved along the Lander Trail and onto the Central Wyoming rangelands where catde and sheep barons used them as the initial range stock for their large herds. Some local residents remember driving catde out of Star Valley in the fall over the Lander Trail to winter in milder pastures and making the return trip in the spring, bringing the animals back to feed in, "...splendid grassy meadows where cattie quickly ate their fill."

Emigrants continued to use the Lander Cutoff as late as 1912. Later, Forest Service Roads were built on or near the trail, but no highways follow the old route from South Pass to the Snake River. In 1962, an Idaho journalist teased, "The pioneers enjoyed a shorter route than the modem motorist does... If Idaho is to ever win approval for an Interstate connection to the east, we would be wise to look at the wagon ruts of the old Lander Trail."

17.

Harstad, Peter T., Vl^e Saw the Elephant^ 71 ^ Harstad, Peter T., We Saw the Elephant, 128 ^ Swisher, Perry, Intermountain, 10 in Harstad, Peter T., We Saw the Elephant, 16 Bibliography Abbatt, William, The Magazine ofHistory, No. 67, Tarrytown, NY, reprinted 1919 Boehm, Richard G., Senior Author, Exploring Our World People, Places and Cultures, McGraw Hill, Columbus, Ohio, 2008 Bram, Leon L., Editorial Director, Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, Volume 24 United States ofAmerica, New York, 1971 Bram, Leon L. Editorial Director, Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, Volume 15 Lewis and Clark Expedition, New York, 1971 Drury, ed.. First White Women Over the Rockies, A. H. Clark Co., Glendale, CA, 1963 Drury, ed., Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon AH ClarkCo., Glendale, CA 1963 6 , • • Harstad, Peter T., We Saw the Elephant - Overland Diariesfrom the Lander Trail Jackpine Press, Lakeville, MN, 2010 Kansas State Historical Society, www.kshs.or^, Sacagawea picture, Topeka, KS Mattes, Merrill, The Great River Road, University of Nebraska Press, 1987 Office of National Trails Preservation, Oregon-California Trail Association Mappmg Emigrant Trails, MET Manual, 2002, Independence, MO Online Highways, www.u-s-historv.com. Florence, OR, 2010 Oregon-California Trails Association, www.octa-trails.org. Independence, MO, ^\Jj.\J Parker, Samuel, Journal of an Exploring Tour, Andrus, Woodruff, &Gaundett 1844, Ithaca, NY Russell, Osborne, Journal of a Trapper, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1986 South Pass: The History of aNational Landmark, unpublished manuscript \^tman, Marcus, "Journal Kept by Dr. Marcus Whitman'', Oregon Historical Quarterly No. 28, Portland, OR, 1927 Wight, Jermy Benton, Fredrick W. Lander and the Lander Trail, Star Valley Llama Bedford, WY, 1993 www.city-data.com, 2010 Advameg, Inc. United States Population 1790 - 2000

Increase Urban' ~ Riifaii Increase Population % % % • 1790 3,929,214 i - 5.1 94.9

1800 5,308,483 1,379,269 35.1 6.1 93.9

1810 7,239,881 1,931,398 36.4 1 15.4 92.7 1820 9,638,453 2,398,572 33.1 7.2 : 1 92.8 1830 12,860,702 3,222,249 33.4 8.8 91.2

1840 17,063,353 4,202,651 32.7 10.8 89.2

1850 23,191,876 6,128,523 i1 35^9 15.4 84.6

1860 31,443,321 8,251,445 35.6 19.8 80.2

1870 38,558,371 7,115,050 22.6 25.7 74.3

1880 50,189,209 11,630,838 30.2 28.2 1 71.8

1890 62,979,766 12,790,557 25.5 35.1 64.9

1900 76,212,168 13,232,402 i1 21.0 39.6 60.4 i 1910 92,228,496 16,016,328 t 21.0 45.6 54.4 1920 1 106,021,537 13,793,041 1 15.0 51.2 48.8 1930 123,202,624 17,181,087 1 16.2 56.1 43.9 1940 142,164,569 18,961,945 1 15.4 56.5 43.5

1950 161,325,798 19,161,229 14.5 64.0 36.0

1960 189,323,175 27,997,377 18.5 69.9 30.1

1970 213,302,031 23,978,856 13.4 73.6 1 26.3

1980 236,542,199 23,240,168 11.4 73.7 1 26.3

1990 258,709,873 22,167,674 9.8 75.2 1 24.8 i

2000 291,421,906 32,712,033 13.2 81.0 19.0

ir

NOTE:New methodfordetermining Urban/Rural designation is used in figures for 1950and later. Assignment: Look at this census chart of the United States population. Compare the growth rates from the early 1800's to 2000. 1. How much less is our current growth rate than in 1790?

2. What has happened to the percentage of urban and rural residents?

3. How many more people were added between 1990 and 2000?

4. If the percentage of growth stays at the 2000 level, what will the approximate population level be in the 2010 census? 2020? 5. How does an increase in population impact the nation's education, transportation, agricultural, housing, and business systems?

19. Individual State Admission Dates

Rank State Admission Date

1 Delaware December 7, 1787 2 Pennsylvania December 12, 1787 3 1New Jersey December 18,1787 4 Georgia January 2,1788 5 I Connecticut January 9, 1788 6 j Massachusetts February 6, 1788 7 Maryland April 28, 1788 8 South Carolina May23, 1788 j 9 i New Hampshire f June 21,1788 10 Virginia June 25, 1788

11 New York July 26, 1788 12 North Carolina November 21,1789 . 13 Rhode Island May 29, 1790 14 Vermont March 4, 1791 15 Kentucky June 1,1792 16 Tennessee June 1, 1796 17 Ohio March 1,1803 18 Louisiana April 30, 1812 19 Indiana December 11, 1816 20 j Mississippi December 10, 1817 ;( 21 ^ Illinois i December 3,1818 22 Alabama December 14,1819 23 Maine March 15, 1820 24 Missouri August 10, 1821 25 Arkansas June 15, 1836 26 Michigan | Jan 26, 1837 27 Florida March 3,1845 28 Texas December 29, 1845 29 Iowa December 28,1846 30 Wisconsin | May 29, 1848 31 California September 9, 1850 32 Minnesota | May 11, 1858 33 Oregon j February 14, 1859 34 Kansas January 29, 1861 35 1WestVirginia June 20,1863

36 Nevada October 31, 1864

37 Nebraska March 1,1867

38 Colorado August 1,1876

39 North Dakota November 2, 1889

40 South Dakota November 2, 1889

41 Montana November 8,1889

42 Washington November 11, 1889

43 Idaho July 3, 1890 44 Wyoming July 10,1890 45 1Utah January 4,1896

46 Oklahoma November 16,1907 47 1New Mexico January 6, 1912

48 Arizona February 14,1912

49 Alaska January 3, 1959

50 Hawaii August 21,1959 Assignment: Look at this chart of the admission dates of individual states. Use it to answer the following questions. 1. About how long did it take the thirteen original colonies to ratify the Declaration of Independence, and all become individual states?

2. How many states were in the Union at the time of the Louisiana Purchase?

3. Most scholars recognize the years between 1812-1866 as the western migration. How many states were added during that time period?

4. California was the Sl'^ state added to the Union. What major event in California's history immediately preceded admission?

5. What state was admitted to the Union in 1859, the first year The Lander Trail was in operation?

21. Lander Trail Vocabulary List

The following vocabulary words appear in the curriculum or in the journals. They may not have been spelled correctly in the journals, but were not corrected.

Emigrant: A person who is leaving one country to enter another. Pioneers in the early years ofthe California/Oregon Trail were called emigrants because most were leaving the United States to enter the unorganized "Oregon Country". Oregon became the 33"* state in February 1859, but the word, "emigrant" was still used to describe the travelers.

Cholera: An infectious disease caught by many emigrants on the California/Oregon Trail. It spread rapidly because ofunsanitary water. There was no cure and most died within a day. There is almost no Cholera in the United States today because ofbetter sanitation and safe drinking water, but there have been epidemics recently in poor countries.

Manifest Destiny: The belief that the United Stateshad an innate right to settle the entire West. Most Americans believed the British, the Mexicans, and the Indians should be removed because the United States had the real 'right' to expand to the west.

Pioneer: An early settler in a new territory. All the people on the California/Oregon Trail were pioneers, but there were many other pioneerswho did not go to Californiaor Oregon.

Blacksmith: A worker who shapes heated iron by pounding it with a hammer. Blacksmiths were in great demand along the California/OregonTrail because the iron rims ofthe wagon wheels were often in need ofrepair.

Ford: To cross a river on foot or horseback. Often the pioneers forded streams or small rivers. If a river was too deep to ford, they floated their wagons across or hired a ferry. On rare occasions a toll bridge was available.

Pass: A gap in a mountain range. Mostpassesare narrow gorges, but SouthPass on the Califomia/Oregon Trail was a large, 'saddle' in the mountains- many miles wide.

The West: Term used to describe the part ofthe United States to the west ofthe Mississippi River.

Oregon County: Refers to a large territory that was originally not a part ofany other nation. It was bordered on the East by the Continental Divide, and reached to the Pacific Coast. Oregon Country encompassed all ofwhat is now, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho; much ofBritish Columbia; and parts ofWyoming and Montana. Later, Oregon Countrywas jointly held by Britain and the United States;eventuallyit became a part of the United States.

22. How Far?

Most pioneers walked the entire California/Oregon Trail. Occasionally a traveler would ride when they were sick or injured. Covered wagons had no shock absorbers, and riding in one over a rough trail was a body-pounding experience. Young children often walked alongside the oxen, driving them with a stick. Figure out how many steps it took for an emigrant to walk to Oregon.

First, measure one of your normal steps from front heel to back heel. How many inches is it?

Next, divide 63,360 (the number of inches in a mile) by that number.

Write that number here. This is the number of your steps in a mile.

Finally, multiply the number of your steps by 2,000 miles (approximately the ^ distance from Independence, MO to Willamette Valley)

Write that number here. This is the number of steps it would take for you to walk from Missouri to Oregon.

Where Are We Going?

When the emigrants traveled the California/Oregon Trail they did not have any maps. They may have had a guide who had previously traveled the Trail, or they may have purchased a guidebook. These booklets listed the distances between campsites, rivers, forts, or landmarks. They weren't always very accurate.

Look at a modem-day road atlas. Find the east and west end of the California/Oregon Trial. Find Independence, Missouri (it's near Kansas City) then find Oregon City (it's near Pordand).

What roads would you take to get from Independence to Oregon City?

1^

Are those roads close to the old California/Oregon Trail?

23. Lander Trail Test

1. About how many emigrants traveled the California/Oregon Trail between 1812 and 1866? a. 10,000 b. 50,000 c. 500,000 d. 1,000,000

2. Who were the first emigrants to travel to Oregon Country in a wagon? a. The Whitmans and Spaldings b. TheAstorians c. The Johnsons d. The Donner Party

3. Which was the only feasible passage through the Rockies for emigrant wagons? a. Independence Valley b. Emigrant Canyon c. The Lander Road d. South Pass

4. Which of the following was most commonly used to power emigrant wagons? a. Horses b. Oxen c. Crude steam engines d. All of the above were used about equally

5. What president was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase? a. Washington b. Jefferson c. Nixon d. Lincoln

6. Which direction are the mountain ranges of North America orientated? a. North and South b. East and West c. Up and Down d. Northeast and Southwest

7. Which river did the emigrants NOT follow on the California/Oregon Trail? a. Colorado b. Humboldt c. Platte d. Snake 24. 8. Before emigrants started going west, most Americans thought the Great Plains area was: a. A vast desert. b. A lush, fertile prairie. c. A dense forest. d. Gold-mining country.

9. What were the three essentials needed for traveling by covered wagon? a. Water, grass, and wood b. Maps, food, and water c. Clothing, a rifle, and water d. Fresh food, clothing, and blankets

10. Which of the following was NOT a fort on the California/Oregon Trail? a. Ft. Laramie b. Ft. Hall c. Ft. Keamy d. Ft. Lander

11. What was the most common deadly disease on the California/Oregon Trail? a. Smallpox b. Cholera c. Influenza d. Pneimionia

12. Who led the Mormons west along the California/Oregon Trail? a. Joseph Smith b. John Richard c. Brigham Young d. Angus Stansbury

13. "Oregon County" included the places we now know as: a. California, Oregon, and Washington. b. Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho. c. Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. d. Oregon, Washington, and Idaho

14. Fredrick W. Lander worked for what government agency? a. US Fish and Wildlife b. IRS c. Bureau of Indian Affairs d. Department of Interior

25. 15. Who were the '49ers? a. California-bound emigrants looking for farmland. b. Gold prospectors who began going west in 1849. ^ c. Bored emigrants who invented a sport using pigskin. d. Famous group of older emigrants; all over the age of 49.

^ 16. What was the name of the alternate route on the California/Oregon Trial ^ from South Pass to Fort Hall? ^ a. Sublette Cutoff b. Fremont Cutoff c. Lander Cutoff d. Teton Cutoff ^ 17. About how long was the California/Oregon Trail? a. 300 miles b. 1,000 miles c. 1,300 miles ^ d. 2,000 miles ^ 18. Most of the Califomia/Oregon-bound travelers were: a. Single men. ^ b. Elderly men and women. ^ c. Families. d. Government workers.

^ 19. When was ±e Lander Trail completed? ^ a. 1956 ^ b. 1776 c. 1865 d. 1858

^ 20. After he completed the Lander Trail, what happened to Fredrick W. Lander? a. He worked for the Union Pacific Railroad surveying possible routes for the transcontinental railroad b. He became a successful congressman from California c. He became a Brigadier-General in the Union Army, fought, and died in the Civil War d. He guided emigrants along the Lander Trail

26. nationalaf/as.gov SATELLITE VIEW Where We Are ^

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Colorful Landsat imagery merged with terrain covering the conterminous United States.

U.S.Department of the Interior U.S.Geological Survey The National Atlas of the United States of America^'

ril«nan^«« (KTEf^C^EOLiXslCAL^S8 SURVEY RCSTON. Vtft

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Narcissa (Prentiss) Whitman (1808-1847), Marcus Whitman (1802-1847), idealized portrait based on 1847 sketch. Courtesy National Park Service

Whitman Mission atWaiilatpu, ca. 1847 Painting by William Henry Jackson, Courtesy National Park Service 28. Map of the Louisiana Purchase

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\lunoisi ' LOUISIANA - i TERR II ^ ,jos 1509

PURCHASE IND teOH'O LOUtSlANA TERR fjSOSiP TERRtTORV >305 1803

MISSISSIPPI TERR (ieo*>

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loulsiaru purchased from France

29. Sacagawea and baby Jean Baptiste Charbonneau

30.