USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -There were many reasons for the westward movement to Oregon and California. Economic problems upset farmers and businessmen. Free land in Oregon and the possibility of finding gold in California lured them westward.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1841, the Bartleson-Bidwell Party was the first emigrant group credited with using the Oregon Trail to emigrate west. The group set out for California, but about half the party left the original group at Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, leaving their wagons at Fort Hall.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Oregon Trail was the main route that migrants used to travel from the east of the USA, to the west. First published by explorer Jedidiah Smith in 1825, it was the only practical way for migrants to make this journey.

Detailed explanation-4: -The first person to follow the entire route of the Oregon Trail was Robert Stuart of Astoria in 1812-13. He did so in reverse, traveling west to east, and in the process discovered the South Pass, so named because it was south of the pass Lewis and Clark followed over the Continental Divide.

Detailed explanation-5: -In 1843, a thousand Easterners left from Independence, Missouri, to settle in the Oregon Territory, marking the beginning of a huge westward migration. During the period from 1846 to 1869, about 60, 000 Mormon pioneers crossed the prairies.