Animalscaretips
Major threats to pioneer life and limb came from accidents, exhaustion, and disease. Crossing rivers were probably the most dangerous thing pioneers did. Swollen rivers could tip over and drown both people and oxen. Such accidents could cause the loss of life and most or all of valuable supplies.
- What were the dangers which the pioneers faced Travelling West?
- What were the dangers of the California Trail?
- Was the journey west dangerous?
- What were the dangers of traveling the Oregon Trail?
- What are some challenges pioneers faced?
- How many pioneers died while traveling west?
- What did the pioneers eat?
- How did pioneers get cholera?
- Was the Oregon Trail Safe?
- What was the most feared disease on the Oregon Trail?
- Why did the pioneers move west?
- How did pioneers treat dysentery?
- What was the main cause of death on the trail?
- How did settlers travel west?
- When did the pioneers move west?
What were the dangers which the pioneers faced Travelling West?
Obstacles included accidental discharge of firearms, falling off mules or horses, drowning in river crossings, and disease. After entering the mountains, the trail also became much more difficult, with steep ascents and descents over rocky terrain. The pioneers risked injury from overturned and runaway wagons.
What were the dangers of the California Trail?
Shootings, drownings, being crushed by wagon wheels, and injuries from handling domestic animals were the common killers on the trail. Wagon accidents were the most prevalent. Both children and adults sometimes fell off or under wagons and were crushed under the wheels.
Was the journey west dangerous?
The journey westward was highly dangerous for the early pioneers - conditions were harsh, and the distance was great. The story of the Donner Party highlights the plight and severeness of such a journey.
What were the dangers of traveling the Oregon Trail?
The hardships of weather, limited diet, and exhaustion made travelers very vulnerable to infectious diseases such as cholera, flu, dysentery, measles, mumps, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever which could spread quickly through an entire wagon camp.
What are some challenges pioneers faced?
Along the way, many pioneers faced very real dangers such as disease, drowning, runaway covered wagons on steep hillsides, accidental discharge of weapons, and hostile encounters. For many Native Americans, the western expansion meant risks and changes to their way of life.
How many pioneers died while traveling west?
Bashore and Tolley analyzed 56,000 records of pioneers who traveled to Salt Lake City between 1847 and 1868. The researchers found 1,900 deaths during the journey or within the calendar year of arrival in Salt Lake, making the overall mortality rate 3.5 percent.
What did the pioneers eat?
The mainstays of a pioneer diet were simple fare like potatoes, beans and rice, hardtack (which is simply flour, water, 1 teaspoon each of salt and sugar, then baked), soda biscuits (flour, milk, one t. each of carbonate of soda and salt), Johnny cakes, cornbread, cornmeal mush, and bread.
How did pioneers get cholera?
Today cholera is treated by rehydrating the patient with salty solutions, but at that time the cause, means of transmission, and treatment of the disease were unknown. Travelers spread the infection among the unsanitary outfitting towns and carried it west from campground to campground and waterhole to waterhole.
Was the Oregon Trail Safe?
Dangers on the Oregon Trail
According to the Oregon California Trails Association, almost one in ten who embarked on the trail didn't survive. Most people died of diseases such as dysentery, cholera, smallpox or flu, or in accidents caused by inexperience, exhaustion and carelessness.
What was the most feared disease on the Oregon Trail?
While cholera was the most widely feared disease among the overlanders, tens of thousands of people emigrated to Oregon and California over the course of a generation, and they brought along virtually every disease and chronic medical condition known to science short of leprosy and the Black Death.
Why did the pioneers move west?
Pioneer settlers were sometimes pushed west because they couldn't find good jobs that paid enough. Others had trouble finding land to farm. ... The biggest factor that pulled pioneers west was the opportunity to buy land. Pioneers could purchase land for a small price compared to what it cost in states to the east.
How did pioneers treat dysentery?
Castor oil was used to treat dysentery and other bowel disorders. Mountain fever: Usually not fatal, with symptoms such as intestinal discomfort, diarrhea, headache, skin rashes, respiratory distress and fever.
What was the main cause of death on the trail?
Death was rampant on the Oregon Trail. ... These deaths were mostly in part to disease or accidents. Diseases ranged from a fever to dysentery, but the most deadly disease was cholera. This disease stole into the shadows and reared its ugly head from the unsanitary conditions on the trail.
How did settlers travel west?
Most groups traveled at a pace of fifteen miles a day. Few traveled the overland trails alone; most settlers traveled with their families. Large groups of settlers joined together to form "trains." Groups were usually led by "pilots" who were fur trappers or mountain men that would guide them on the trails.
When did the pioneers move west?
From the 1840s to the 1860s, more than 300,000 people crossed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to reach the Pacific Coast.
