Illustration of the pioneers traveling with their wagons, oxens, and horses

Illustration by Allan Davey; Dave Neligh for Colorado Country Life magazine (wagons); Art Phaneuf/Alamy Stock Photo (oxen); Carol Barrington/Alamy Stock Photo (Chimney Rock); Shutterstock.com (background)

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Blazing a Trail

Students in Nebraska find out what life was like for settlers along the Oregon Trail. 

February 3, 2025
By the Editors of Scholastic News

As You Read, Think About: What were some challenges people faced on the Oregon Trail?

Kids on the Oregon Trail
Watch a video to learn about the Oregon Trail.

Imagine packing everything you own and walking nearly 2,000 miles to find a new home. Starting in 1843, tens of thousands of Americans did just that. They migrated west on a pathway that became known as the Oregon Trail.

Last spring, students at Central Elementary School in Kearney, Nebraska, got a hint of what life was like for those pioneers. The students decorated shopping carts to look like covered wagons. They were also given pioneer family names. Then they spent a day working in groups to push their “wagons.” They walked nearly 3 miles along their own version of the trail.  

“The Oregon Trail is a big part of our state history,” says teacher Troy Saulsbury. He’s been leading the project for his fourth-grade students for about 15 years.  

Courtesy of Troy Saulsbury

Sophia Jimenez and Matthew Lemus-Lopez stand near their “wagons.” 

Going West

In the early 1840s, present-day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho weren’t yet part of the United States. The area was called Oregon Country. The U.S. government urged settlers to head west. The goal was to expand the country’s borders.

The pioneers had heard stories about Oregon Country’s rich soil, thick forests, and mild climate. To many, it seemed like a good place to build a new life. 

Many pioneers set off from the Oregon Trail’s starting point in Missouri (see map on page 8). They packed food, tools, and other supplies into covered wagons. Oxen and mules pulled the wagons during the five-month journey. Because the wagons were filled with supplies, there was usually little room for people. Families walked next to their wagons, traveling up to 15 miles in a day.

A Dangerous Trip

The Oregon Trail was actually a series of trails made by the fur traders and the Native peoples who lived there (see “Another View of the Trail”). Some areas on the route were treacherous.

Parts of the journey involved crossing raging rivers. Since few pioneers could swim, many drowned. Another threat was a deadly disease called cholera (KAH-luh-ruh). People often got it from drinking dirty water.

The travelers also faced other challenges, including a lack of food. No matter how much they packed, it was rarely enough to keep them going during months of walking. In all, about 1 in 10 pioneers on the trail died.

Of the pioneers who did complete the trip, many settled in Oregon Country. Others branched off to different places in the West. By 1869, as many as 400,000 people had traveled on the Oregon Trail. 

Pioneer Appreciation

The path that the Kearney students followed was modeled after the original Oregon Trail. For example, a rock garden in a local park was their version of the Rocky Mountains. Ten-year-old Matthew Lemus-Lopez says getting over the rocks required teamwork.

“The first group to go over would help the next wagon, and then it would just be like a chain,” he says.

Matthew’s classmate Sophia Jimenez says the trip helped them appreciate the pioneers. 

“We got firsthand experience of what it was like,” Sophia says. “I was very tired after walking the little bit that we walked!”

Another View of the Trail

The Granger Collection

The Oregon Trail passed through areas where Native peoples lived for thousands of years. John Washakie is the great-grandson of Chief Washakie, who led the Shoshone (shuh-SHOHN) people in the late 1800s. Below, in his own words, he describes how pioneers affected his ancestors.
 

The Oregon Trail crossed right through Shoshone territory in southwestern Wyoming. You had all these people coming through—hundreds of thousands of travelers. Over time, there was no game for Shoshone to eat. Bison, antelope, and deer were gone from the area. The westward travelers had been hunting them.

The travelers brought diseases like smallpox and measles. They killed a lot of Shoshone people.

Ultimately, the Shoshone had to move to a new area to survive. We now live on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. The Oregon Trail changed everything for us.
 

Pictured: A group of Shoshone in about 1870

  1. Based on the article, why do you think Troy Saulsbury has his students re-create a journey along the Oregon Trail?
  2. How do the authors support the claim that parts of the Oregon Trail were treacherous?
  3. Based on the sidebar, “Another View of the Trail,” describe two ways the Oregon Trail affected the Shoshone Tribe.
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