The Long Haul West: Life on the Oregon Trail By ... - Lourdes College

Missionaries 1830’s
In the 1830s a Christian movement to save the Indians came about. <strong>The</strong>re were three
main missions on the frontier. <strong>The</strong>y were the Tschimakains, Clear Water and Waiilatpu. 11
From
that movement came one of the first waves of early western travelers. In 1863 Dr. Marcus
Whitman, a Presbyterian missionary, and his wife Narcissa, headed to the Oregon Territory. <strong>The</strong>
Whitmans would become the most important missionaries to the history of the Oregon Trail.
<strong>The</strong>y set their mission up in Walla-Walla and preached to the Cayuse Indians. <strong>The</strong>ir mission
would also be an important stopping point for numerous bands of pioneers upon arriving in the
territory. However, for all of their hard work and dedication to the Indians of the upper northwest
their lives would end in tragedy. 12
News of the Whitman massacre was forwarded to the American nation and the
government of the United States by the Reverend William Roberts. He wrote that the Cayuse
Indians had formed an alliance with the Walla Walla and the Nez Perce Indians to band against
the white man. Many of the Indians had become gravely ill from the diseases that the white men
brought and they placed sole blame upon them. While all that they had wanted to do for the
Indians was help them they, Marcus and Narcissa, along with nine others would lose their lives. 13
Emigrants 1840's-1860's
<strong>The</strong> Emigrant era was by far the most exciting time in the history of the Oregon Trail.
During this brief time period, hundreds of thousands of people made the trip west. <strong>The</strong>re were at
least 500,000 people that made their way west by this route. During the busiest year in the trails
history, 1852, over 70,000 embarked. Most of these people were headed out west for the chance
at rich fertile farm land.
One of the best documented of the endeavors was taken by the Boatman party. It comes
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