Web Quest

As America expanded across the continent, the settlement by the pioneers that followed the Oregon Trail was a major accomplishment. This adventure was one that was filled with many hardships. This trip was not one made by the weak of heart or conviction.

The goals of this diary simulation are to 1) allow the student to better understand the experiences faced by these pioneers 2) let the student write his/her own historical fiction and 3) to identify various landmarks of the Oregon Trail.

You are about to start the movement west along the Oregon Trail. You will keep a diary of your progress along the trail.

Diary of Sarah Sprenger Diary of a ten year old girl, as she traveled along the Oregon Trail.

Diary of A. H. Garrison Diary of a fourteen year old boy, as he traveled along the Oregon Trail.

Diary of George Hamerick Diary of George Hamerick as copied from his penciled writings.

Supplies. Use this web site to see what supplies the pioneers may have taken with them.

How to determine distance on a map. This page will help you calculate distance on a map. This page will help you calculate distance on a map.

Activity 1: Make a diary. Your diary should be a bound book of pages made from the Diary Template. One idea is to “age” your paper by wadding it up, dipping in tea or coffee, and once dry, binding it in some manner. You will also need some type of ink with which to write.

Activity 2: Make an identity for yourself. Describe yourself in the front of your diary. Your description should include an old-fashioned name, age. Describe your family. You must include parents, a minimum of two children, and possibly grandparents, cousins, uncles or aunts living with you.

Diary Entry 1 – Diary Entry 20: Write about the following topics for each entry to your diary. Calculate how far you have traveled in miles to each location listed. Record this information on each diary entry. Also make a sketch of some event, location or person you encountered. Be creative in your writing, remember this your chance to use your imagination. Imagine you are on the wagon train to Oregon.

Entry 1: Decision to Move: Husband decides to move to Oregon (with or without the consent of the wife.) Wife obeys and pregnancy or illness is no excuse not to go or to postpone the trip.

Entry 2: Independence, Missouri: Meet at the southeast corner of Courthouse Square and wait until enough wagons show up to form a wagon train. Tell what you brought with you (supplies, heirlooms, animals) as well as what the town looks like.

Entry 3: FIRST NIGHT—Crossed Blue River. Describe your first day of travel by wagon plus crossing a river. Camp near the flourmill run by river power, and buy flour from either Blue Mill or Fitzhugh Mill. A rattlesnake and dies bite someone on your wagon train hours later.

Entry 4: CROSSED KANSAS RIVER. Used the Pappan Ferry run by two brothers who used two canoes with poles to carry the wagons over. They coiled a rope around a tree to lower the boat into the water. The river was 200 yards wide, rapid and deep current. Animals swam, and it cost $4/wagon, .25/mule, .10/man. One of your children falls off the wagon and is swept away by the current and drowns.

Entry 6: ASH HOLLOW. This is the first steep grade you've encountered, and it was so scary that people did not even talk for the last 2 miles. You lost several hours holding the wagons back with ropes (to keep them from racing down the canyon), so you decide to camp in the grove of ash trees at the bottom of the canyon.

Entry 7: COURTHOUSE ROCK. You passed a huge rock that looked like a castle or jail. It was alone on the prairie and you've been watching it for days. The ground has changed from lush green to browns and tans. In fact, it is so dry that your lips and nose are cracked and parched, but this evening relief came with a thunderstorm, which lit up the sky with all the lightning. Your animals became frightened, and you have to calm them down.

Entry 8: CHIMNEY ROCK. You passed a tall rock formation out in the middle of the plains. It is hot and the boils bother you on the back of your unwashed neck.

Entry 9: SCOTT'S BLUFF. On the south bank of the Platte River, you pass a high cliff. There is no wood and you're forced the use buffalo chips to make your fire (it does give a distinctive taste to the food).

Entry 10: FORT LARAMIE. This Mexican-style fort made of adobe seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. There is water on two sides. You buy supplies.

Entry 11: INDEPENDENCE ROCK. It's the Fourth of July and you spend the next couple of days celebrating around this huge granite rock that is 3-4 acres in size and looks like a giant whale. You celebrate independence with patriotic singing, picnic lunches, and carving your name on the rock.

Entry 12: SWEETWATER RIVER CROSSING. You camp near the river because it is a lush area with good water and grass for the animals. Indians attack this evening, and while your wagon train fought them off, several friends died.

Entry 13: SOUTH PASS. Today you crossed the Continental Divide, although it was so gradual a climb that you were unaware at the time. This pass is only 3/4 of a mile in parts, but it marks the beginning of the Oregon Territory.

Entry 14: STEAMBOAT SPRINGS. You passed this natural phenomenon but did not want to camp there. It is an opening in rock where hot mineral water shoots out and emits a noise like a high-pressure steamboat whistle (though not very loud). The water is hot, pungent, and had a disagreeable metallic taste to it. One of your children burned his/her tongue trying to drink it.

Entry 15: SODA SPRINGS. You've decided to camp here in a cedar grove where there are round openings several feet in diameter. One hole contains a natural soda water and you baked several batches of bread with the water you don't have the use yeast. The other hole contains water that is like beer. Several men drank too much of it and got giddy.

Entry 16: FORT HALL. Although this isn't the nicest fort you've stopped at, it does sell fresh vegetables, which you've not had since the trip began. You buy supplies, but they're expensive: sugar - .50/pint; coffee - .50/pint; flour - .25/pint; rice - .33/pint.

Entry 17: FORT BOISE. You've been traveling along the Snake River plain and you finally see a lot of trees in this valley where you decide the camp for the night.

Entry 18: VALLEY OF GRANDE RONDE. You're almost there and now you're in a beautifully lush valley with berries everywhere. You spend several days picking fruit and resting.

Entry 19: BARLOW ROAD. You decide to use the toll road rather than raft down the Columbia River. Even the road, though, is dangerous as it plunges down cliffs, so you have to slow your wagon by wrapping rope around trees to gently guide it down the steep incline. You can see Mount Hood in the distance, and some decide to stay here.

Entry 20: WILLAMETTE VALLEY. You've reached your destination and it's as beautiful as you'd heard.

After completing this project, the student will have a collection of creative historical writing samples. He/she will also have gained empathy for the early pioneers faced the incredible task of crossing the Oregon Trail.

Dana Dawson