What were some challenges on the California Trail?

What were some challenges on the California Trail?

Extreme temperatures and threats of violence, stealing, mortal accidents, and American Indian raids were all constant concerns. During the late 1840s and early 1850s, cholera outbreaks along the trail killed travelers by the thousands.

What hardships did travelers encounter on the Santa Fe and Oregon California Trails?

There were diseases: cholera, measles, smallpox, and dysentery. Children were crushed under the covered wagon wheels, people drowned in rivers, were lost, starved, killed by Native Americans (very few settlers), froze to death, trampled by buffalo, or shot by accident.

What was the reason Travelling The Oregon Trail was so difficult?

Heavy rains created mud that slowed travel and flooded rivers. People also had to time their journey to make it through the western mountain ranges before the onset of heavy snows in autumn. The journey west was difficult and sometimes deadly. About 10 percent of the Oregon Trail’s passengers died along the way.

What trail was the most dangerous and difficult connecting Santa Fe to Los Angeles?

The Old Spanish Trail (Spanish: Viejo Sendero Español) is a historical trade route that connected the northern New Mexico settlements of (or near) Santa Fe, New Mexico with those of Los Angeles, California and southern California.

What were some problems people faced when on trails traveling out West?

What were some problems people faced when on trails traveling out West? Once they embarked, settlers faced numerous challenges: oxen dying of thirst, overloaded wagons, and dysentery, among others. Trails were poorly marked and hard to follow, and travelers often lost their way.

Why did people go along the Santa Fe Trail?

The Santa Fe Trail was mainly a trade route but saw its share of emigrants, especially during the California Gold Rush and the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in Colorado. The trail also became an important route for stagecoach travel, stagecoach mail delivery and as a mail route for the famed Pony Express.

What was the purpose of the Oregon Trail and Santa Fe Trail?

Why did the pioneers travel the Oregon Trail?

There were many reasons for the westward movement to Oregon and California. Economic problems upset farmers and businessmen. Free land in Oregon and the possibility of finding gold in California lured them westward. Most of the pioneer families either followed the Oregon-California Trail or the Mormon Trail.

How did people travel on the Santa Fe Trail?

They traveled on horseback carrying packsaddles, a difficult and tiresome way to move goods. Horses were not reliable pack animals. The journey across the Great Plains to Santa Fe and back was almost 800 miles and horses had to be watered and rested frequently.

What kind of trails did the pioneers travel?

These brave pioneers journeyed west for about five to six months alongoverland trailssuch as the California Trail, Gila River Trail, Mormon Trail, Old Spanish Trail, Oregon Trail, and the Santa Fe Trail for many different reasons. The journey was uncomfortable, physically demanding, and hazardouswith limited food and water along most of the trails.

How did people die on the California Trail?

Cholera was a ravaging epidemic on the trail during the gold rush years. The illness killed many on steamers before ever reaching Missouri, while many others died on the journey to Fort Laramie. Strangely, few outbreaks ever occurred past this point.

Where was the last stop on the California Trail?

Fort Laramie was the last stop for many forty-niners before ascending the Rocky Mountains. Due to the necessity of lightening the load, gold-seekers discarded goods along the trail. In July 1849, John D. Lee set out from Salt Lake City going east on the California Trail. He returned within a month in awe at what he had witnessed.