How much did food cost on the Oregon Trail?

How much did food cost on the Oregon Trail?

The usual meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner along the trail was bacon, beans, and coffee, with biscuits or bread. The typical cost of food for four people for six months was about $150. In today’s dollars, that would be about $3000.

Why did emigrants choose the California Trail?

Over 250,000 people headed west on the California Trail to a land of opportunity, freedom, riches, and adventure. Decisions were made, routes chosen, and supplies bought in preparation for migration west. People came for reasons including economics, adventure, health, and ideas like Manifest Destiny.

How did emigrants adapt to the challenges on the Oregon Trail?

On steep descents, emigrants had to lock the wheels of the wagons and lower them using chains and ropes. The road beyond Fort Laramie began the climb into the Rocky Mountains and to keep the animals moving required the wagons to lighten their loads.

What did it cost to join a wagon train?

The overland journey from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon or California meant a six-month trip across 2,000 miles of hard country. It was costly—as much as $1,000 for a family of four. That fee included a wagon at about $100.

How much would a wagon hold in the Oregon Trail?

The food and other provisions needed to sustain a family on the Oregon Trail for six months took up most of the room in their wagon — though the overlanders’ wagons were structurally capable of carrying as much as two tons when in good repair, the conventional wisdom at the time was not to carry more than 1600-1800 …

Did pioneers have chocolate?

Ration: a fixed amount of food for each soldier in an army. On occasion, pioneers did have access to chocolate, but it isn’t like chocolate you have today. It was bitter tasting, but was mixed with sugar to make sweet. So, pioneers did drink hot chocolate… watch the video to see how it was made.

Where did this trail take emigrants?

The California Trail went from western Missouri across the Great Plains into the Rocky Mountains to the gold fields of northern California. It was most heavily used in the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s. The length of the wagon trail from the Missouri River to Sacramento, California was about 1,950 miles (3,138 km).

What were the main advantages of the California Trail?

“If we never see each other again, do the best you can, God will take care of us.” The California Trail carried over 250,000 gold-seekers and farmers to the goldfields and rich farmlands of the Golden State during the 1840s and 1850s, the greatest mass migration in American history.

Why did emigrants circle their wagons?

To be on the safe side, the pioneers drew their wagons into a circle at night to create a makeshift stockade. If they feared Native Americans might raid their livestock—the Plains tribes valued the horses, though generally ignored the oxen—they would drive the animals into the enclosure.

How many people traveled on the Oregon Trail?

The Oregon Trail was a 2,000-mile wagon trail that emigrants took from points east (such as St. Joseph or Independence, Missouri) to Oregon and other western destinations. An estimated 250,000 to 650,000 people migrated on the trial between 1841 and 1866. 1 Use of the trail declined after the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

How much did it cost to stock a wagon on the Oregon Trail?

The cost to fully stock a wagon and buy oxen or mules was about $600-$800 3 or approximately $17,000-$23,000 in current day dollars. Some families would grow or prepare portions of their own food prior to leaving on the trip, but merchants who catered to the travelers were ready to lend their assistance.

What did families bring on the Oregon Trail?

Supplies for a trip on the Oregon Trail are included in Job Carr Cabin Museum’s traveling trunks for schools. Families would also bring personal favorite foods, clothes, supplies, books and furniture, but had to be very mindful of weight.

What was the condition of the Oregon Trail?

As more and more settlers headed west, the Oregon Trail became a well-beaten path and an abandoned junkyard of surrendered possessions. It also became a graveyard for tens of thousands of pioneer men, women and children and countless livestock. Over time, conditions along the Oregon Trail improved.