Oregon Trail diary
Dear Diary,
Today I just finished a long journey with my family including: my mom, dad, three sisters, four brothers, and my cousin, Jane. Some of which didn’t make it through the journey. The whole point of this journey was to reach Oregon so that my family and I could start a new life. We wanted to own a farm and start a plantation to make money to support the family we had and any future members. I would have to say this six-month journey to arrive at the Oregon Trail was lengthy and devastating having lost so many family members and friends. The trail started out at St. Missouri and was over 2,000 miles of backbreaking terrain. Our first problem we came upon was decision which trail to take, there were several trails that all went to different places. With no map and nothing to go off but the knowledge of the trail we decided to set out and hope for the best.
We set out in early April, with two wagons and the family, thinking this would be the best time to leave with the weather getting warmer. Although it was April, we still battled the elements during the cold nights. We averaged about 20 miles a day 10 or so on a bad day and about 30 on a good day. It seemed as though everyone who decided to make the trip was doing well at first but as time went on and we got further and further from home we saw more roadside graves of both young and old, fortunately none of them were from my family yet.
We walked for days on end only resting at night or sometimes just pulling over for a nap. Several points in our journey we would have to back track our steps and find a new path or route or even food. Being such a large family with only two carts we were limited to what we could bring for supplies and brought things like bacon, dried apples, rice, coffee and beans along with our belongings on the trail were very expensive. We all used the supplies with caution and made them last as long as we could but we soon ran out and would...