USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The covered wagon made 8 to 20 miles per day depending upon weather, roadway conditions and the health of the travelers.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Oregon Trail was a wagon road stretching 2170 miles from Missouri to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It was not a road in any modern sense, only parallel ruts leading across endless prairie, sagebrush desert, and mountains.

Detailed explanation-3: -It normally took four to six months to traverse the length of the Oregon Trail with wagons pulled by oxen. About 80, 000 pioneers used it to reach Oregon, and about 20, 000 to Washington before the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Detailed explanation-4: -Between 1840 and 1860, from 300, 000 to 400, 000 travelers used the 2, 000-mile overland route to reach Willamette Valley, Puget Sound, Utah, and California destinations. The journey took up to six months, with wagons making between ten and twenty miles per day of travel.

Detailed explanation-5: -Only around 80, 000 of the estimated 400, 000 Oregon Trail emigrants actually ended their journey in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Of the rest, the vast majority splintered off from the main route in either Wyoming or Idaho and took separate trails leading to California and Utah.