Jared B's Blog

This will be about the hardships the settlers faced on their way West. This will talk about three hard things they faced including weather, disease, and river crossing. They faced many hard times but persevered and made it to the territory of Oregon.

The Weather: They faced some bad weather traveling across the country. Hail would kill half a dozen people per storm being the size of apples. Lightning was also a big problem; with no shelter, over a dozen people were killed. Rain was a big problem because if enough came down the wagons tarps would start to leak and ruin their supplies.

Disease: Hypothermia was bad because they really had no shelter from the cold and they just could not escape it. They caught the flu because they did not have vaccination to prevent it. Cholera was also a huge issue. Cholera was caught by drinking contaminated water. The settlers did not have much choice of water to drink besides streams and lakes they came upon.

 

River Crossing: River crossings were never easy. Some women and children that rode in the back of the wagons would fall out, are trampled, and ran over by the oxen and wagons. Some rivers would have such a strong current that people would be sucked away in it and drown. Sometimes a wagon would break in the middle of the river and all of their supplies would be soaked and ruined.

Those were some of the hardships faced by the settlers. They did not have it easy like we do today, and they had to travel a lot farther than we do today. This really showed the perseverance they showed to get a new life. For some of them the reward was worth the risk for others not so much.