USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Wagon accidents were the most prevalent. Both children and adults sometimes fell off or under wagons and were crushed under the wheels. Others died by being kicked, thrown, or dragged by the wagon’s draft animals (oxen, mules, or horses).

Detailed explanation-2: -Combined with accidents, drowning at dangerous river crossings, and other illnesses, at least 20, 000 people died along the Oregon Trail. Most trailside graves are unknown, as burials were quick and the wagon trains moved on.

Detailed explanation-3: -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.

Detailed explanation-4: -Of the estimated 350, 000 who started the journey, the trail claimed as many as 30, 000 victims or an average of 10-15 deaths per mile. The leading causes of deaths along the Oregon/California Trail from 1841 to 1869 were disease, accidents, and weather.

Detailed explanation-5: -Free land in Oregon and the possibility of finding gold in California lured them westward. At the same time, eastern churches wanted to teach American Indians of the Oregon Country their European ideas of “civilization.” Many simply hoped for a chance to start a new life.