1. What was life like on the overland trails?
A Nation moves West
What was life like on the overland trails?

2. Lesson 4 Vocabulary
Resourceful: good at finding solutions to problems

3. Why did people head west?
Economic Opportunity!
Rich farmland…

4. Why did people head west?
Mineral Wealth…
(I see gold in them thar’ hills!)

5. Why did people head west?
Harbors for shipping…

6. Why did people head west?
Most just hoped for a better life!

7. Narcissa and Marcus Whitman
Pioneer Missionaries who helped make Oregon Territory a part of the United States
Built a mission for the Cayuse tribe in 1836
Marcus was a pioneer doctor
Narcissa was most likely one of the first two women to cross the Rocky Mountains
They helped guide a wagon train party to the Oregon Country in 1843

8. Oregon Trail 2,000 miles long
By the 1840s, thousands of settlers were moving west to the Oregon Territory

9. Willamette Valley
Most settlers on the Oregon Trail were bound for the rich soil of the Willamette Valley in present-day Oregon.

10. Mormons and the Mormon Trail
The Mormons were a religious group founded in New York in 1830 by Joseph Smith.
Mormons moved to Illinois to avoid religious persecution.

11. Mormons and the Mormon Trail
Brigham Young replaced Joseph Smith as leader of the Mormon church after Smith was killed by an anti-Mormon crowd in
Young led his followers west and founded the territory of Utah (1846) and Salt Lake City (1847)
Brigham Young served as governor of Utah after it became a territory of the United States.

12. Mormons and the Mormon Trail
The route the Mormons followed from Illinois to Utah became known as the Mormon Trail.

13. Gold brought more than 80,000 people to the Sacramento area in 1849.
Trails to California
Gold brought more than 80,000 people to the Sacramento area in 1849.
The Old Spanish Trail connected routes that had been used by American Indians and Spanish explorers.

14. Life on the Overland Trails
Most people walked
Wagons pulled by horses carried supplies

15. Life on the Overland Trails
Pioneers faced many hardships on the trails:
Poor planning could mean not enough grasses for the animals
Thunderstorms and hail
Swift currents on rivers
Lack of water in deserts
Snowstorms in mountains
Conflicts with American Indians
Shortcuts with deadly terrain

16. Assignment Read Unit 8, Lesson 4, pages 193-196
Answer questions as you read
Complete Lesson 4 quiz