STATION 1
HARDSHIPS
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Hardships.html
a. Go to the website above, read, and
explain two of the hardships
pioneers endured while on the Oregon Trail:
Station 2
MANIFEST DESTINY
http://www.ushistory.org/us/29.asp
a. Read this section, and explain
Manifest Destiny in your own
words:
STATION 3
Chronicle of America
Find the newspaper article from 1846 titled “British give up
Oregon.” Read and answer these
questions:
a. What did Britain finally agree to?
b. What specifically did the Oregon
Treaty give the U.S.?
STATION 4
What Every American Should Know about American History
· Find 1845 The U.S. Annexes Texas
Read and
summarize:
a. Why was the annexation of Texas such a big
deal?
STATION 5
PRAIRIE SCHOONER
GO TO THIS SITE:
a. On the Oregon Trail, why was the
Prairie Schooner wagon preferable to the Conestoga wagon used on earlier
trails?
STATION 6
Young Nation Volume 4
· Go to pages 52-53, a journal entry of
one of the men on a wagon train to Oregon.
READ this account of the description of the day’s start.
a. The
first line of the journal entry says, “It is 4 o’clock a.m.; the sentinels on
duty have discharged their rifles....”
WHAT IS A SENTINEL?
b. What
happens to the wagons not ready to take their place in the line when it is time
to start moving?
STATION 7
Frontier Fort on the Oregon Trail
Find the
pages with the section “Inside the Fort”
a. It says, “pioneers, trappers and Indians all
use the shop of the sutler.” What is a sutler?
b. What is the job of the sentry?
c. On page 21 it says, “the fort’s high palisades
were taken down after the end of the Indian wars.” What is a palisade? (go to glossary in the back of the book to look up the
answer).
STATION 8
![MC900310998[1]](Oregon%20Trail_files/image010.gif)
PRIMARY DOCUMENT
Go to this website:
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/six/jospeak.htm
Chief Joseph was head of the Nez Perce Indians during the time of our
westward expansion.
a. Under
I, what was his tribe’s relationship with Lewis and Clark?
b. Under II, explain at least 3 problems that the Indians dealt with
after gold had been found in the mountains.
STATION 9
FREMONT
Go to this
website: http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Discoverers.html
a.
John
Fremont was an early explorer. What were his orders regarding settlement of
the west?
b.
Were
the reports on his journeys west his work?
Explain.
STATION 10
Life on the American Frontier
Go to page 57—“A Minder’s
Gritty Language”. These are words miners
came up with to describe their work.
Define these
words:
a. Claim
b. Claim jumping
c.
Grubstaking
d. Salting
e. Widow maker
STATION 11
POWER HORSE? MULE? OXEN?
Go to this website:
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Power.html
a.
What
animal was best to pull the covered wagons?
b.
List 3 reasons why this animal
was chosen:
STATION 12
Atlas of Westward Expansion
· Go to page 94: Sequoyah and the Cherokee Alphabet
The Cherokee
Indians became unwilling pioneers when they were forced to leave their
homelands in the southeast and to Arkansas and Oklahoma.
a. What did Sequoyah invent that helped preserve the identity of his
tribe? Why was this important?
STATION 13
The American Scene Volume 3
· Go to the Index and find the page about the Donner Party.
Answer about
the Donner Party:
a. Who were they:
b. What was their purpose:
c. When did this happen:
d. Where were they going:
e. What horrific thing did the group have
to do to survive?
IF YOU’D
LIKE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE DONNER PARTY TRAGEDY, GO TO STATION 16,
STATION 14
OREGON TRAIL FACTS
Go to this
website:
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Introduction.html
The journey
west was exceptionally difficult for all who traveled.
a. Approximately how many of the
settlers died along the way?
b. What enemies did they have to fight?
STATION 15
MORMON PIONEER TRAIL
Go to this
website:
http://omaha.adamhaeder.com/trails/main.htm
a. What were the motivations for the Mormons to move west?
b. List at least 2 things the
Mormons did to improve the trail.
STATION 16
THE DONNER PARTY TRAGEDY
Go to this website:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-donnerparty.html
a. Why did the originator of this group
choose the route he did? Be specific.
b. What was the problem with the
Hastings Route?
c. What are the statistics for those who
lived and died?
STATION 17
A Frontier Fort on the Oregon Trail
Go to the
section “Inside a Pioneer’s Cabin”
a. What are sod houses?
b. The simplest sod house posed what kind of problem?
c. Good points of
a sod house?
d. What other types of houses might be built?
STATION 18
Finding drinking water was
a problem along the trail.
Use the Index to find the pages with the answer
to this question:
a.
How
did they clear mud from the water they found along the way?
STATION 19
TIMELINE
Go to this
website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldrush/timeline/index.html
Look at this
timeline.
a. In 1846, before the Gold Rush, what
was the population of California?
b. By 1849 what was the population?
STATION 20
COST OF LIVING
Go to this
website:
http://www.kidport.com/reflib/usahistory/calgoldrush/lifeof49er.htm
Look at the Cost of Living
for miners. Were they rich?
a. How much did the average miner make
per day?
b. How much did it cost to board at a boarding
house or hotel for a week?
c. How much did each meal cost at the
boarding house?
d. If the miner drank 3 cups of coffee
per day, how much would he spend in a week for coffee?
STATION 21
SURVIVAL
This site has an article
from a San Francisco newspaper in 1846 titled “Distressing News” telling of the
first letter to reach San Francisco telling what happened to the Donner Party on
their trek west.
The first five paragraphs
explain how the group was slow, how they didn’t follow the trail they should
have, and how they ran out of food and water.
Go to this website:
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/donner.html
Go to paragraphs 7 & 8 and READ.
a. For what did the group cast lots (draw names)?
STATION 22
A
STUDY IN ART
· Take a look at the painting on pages 44-45 of a wagon train
heading west.
· READ page 44 with details about the painting.
a. Why do you think the painting is
called “a romantic perspective”? (Think
about what you know about the trek west)
b.
c. What does the caravan of wagon trains
moving into the light imply?
Station 23
Wagon Train Food
Go to this
website:
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpioneer.html
Click on Westward ho! Wagon train cookery
READ
paragraph one (beginning with “In 1840 there….”)
a. What kinds of staples did families
take on the wagon train?
b. Mealtime on the Oregon Trail was
governed by the ______________________.
STATION 24
The Oregon Trail
Use the Index in this book and find the page that
tells you the meaning of the phrase “seeing
the elephant.”
a. What does “seeing the elephant” mean?
b. Give some examples:
STATION 25
OREGON TRAIL MAP
Go to this
website:
http://www.historyglobe.com/ot/otmap1.htm
On the map,
click on the landmark Independence Rock.
a. What was the significance of the rock
for the pioneers traveling west?
STATION 26
TEXAS – THE LONE STAR REPUBLIC
When Mexico was granted
independence from Spain, the Mexican government encouraged American pioneers to
settle in what is now the state of Texas.
Go to this
website:
http://www.ushistory.org/US/29A.ASP
a. List 2 reasons Mexico agreed to let Stephen
Austin take 300 American families onto the land that is now Texas.
b. What “strings” were attached to this
land deal?
c. What was the result?
STATION 27
BISON
George Catlin was a famous
painter in the 1800’s. Go to Slide 23
in the Virtual Exhibition of some of his paintings at the site below. This is a painting Catlin did of a dying
buffalo.
Go to this
website:
http://americanart.si.edu/catlin/highlights.html
a. What did Catlin think would happen to
the Plains Indians if the buffalo became extinct?
b. The white man was killing bison for
what purposes?
c. Why did the U.S. government want the
killing of the bison to continue?
STATION 28
PIONEER FAMILY
Go to this website:
This site has an account of a real pioneer family that moved to
Oregon.
Go to paragraph 3
a. What are two reasons the family decided to make the move to Oregon?
b. Read paragraph 5 and describe the reasons
for the hostilities between the Indians and wagon trains.
STATION 29
MEMOIRS
This site has memoirs from
pioneers.
Go to this website:
http://oregontrail101.com/00.n.trailarchive.html
a. How is a memoir different from a diary?
·
Click
on Memoirs and choose one of them to
skim (If you don’t want to choose, read Reminiscences of Sarah Sprenger)
b. Write down 3 interesting facts from
the memoir you read.