A History of the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail in the United States

Land enough land enough! Make Way, I say, for the young American buffalo he has not yet got land enough; he wants more land and his cool shelter in summer He wants more land for his beautiful pasture grounds.I tell you, we give him Oregon for his summer shade, and the region of Texas as his winter pasture. Like all of his race, he wants salt too.

Well, he shall have the use of two oceans, the mighty Pacific and the turbulent Atlantic shall be his. He shall not stop his career until he slakes his thirst in the frozen ocean. Democratic politician Major, Auguste Davezac The term Manifest Destiny was the nineteenth-century belief that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout North America to spread white American culture.

The Santa Fe Trail gave the people and clear passage way to expand to the west, in fact both the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail gave the people a clear, hassle free way to expand westward. The Santa Fe Trail was used for a trading route and also for travelers moving west. It started in Franklin, Missouri, and ended in Santa Fe now called New Mexico. The Santa Fe Trail wasn t a smooth road at we think of it today, it was a wide path that followed the course of rivers from landmark to landmark.

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Whenever there was room, the wagons traveled next to each other instead of single file, because the dust at the end of the caravan was very thick. The trail was opened in 1821 and was used almost all the time from 1822 to 1880 until a railroad had finally reached Santa Fe. One of the stops on the Santa Fe Trail was Arrow Rock, Missouri, actually that was one of the starting points of the trail and also the Santa Fe Spring was in that stop.

The next stop was Fort Osage, a peaceful trading post, and established to trade goods. Next, West Port Landing, Traders used the steam boat to carry their good up the Missouri River to the landing where they loaded their goods into covered wagons and headed southwest along the Santa Fe Trail toward the next stop.

The next stop was called Council Groove, in Kansas, inside that was the Post Office Oak, a place in Council Groove where people would drop off their mail. The next stop was Pawnee Rock in central Kansas, it was a high hill so the people could see far away when they were at the top, they used it to see if they were heading in the right direction on the trail.

There were two more stops on the trail, first was Fort Larned, it, was made out of sand stone because their weren t any trees out on the prairie. And the last stop was Chance Stop, It was the last stop on the trail for travelers traveling west. Travelers bought their good such as food and some blankets to keep warm before they headed out onto the Prairie.

The Oregon Trail was 870km long, it was routed to the northwest. The trail started in Independence Missouri and ended at the Columbia River in Oregon. Native Americans used it and so did the trappers. People had began to use it as early as 1742, and that was before America had won the Mexican American War. The Oregon trail also had many stops.

The first one was the Grande Ronde River Valley, the next was the Blue Mountains, next was the Umatilla River Exchange, next was Fort Bridger, Fort Hall, Salmon Falls, and the last was Rort Boke.On both of the trails the travelers had to eat and drink something. It needed to be something that lasted a long time and was acceptable taste wise, and their was plenty of it, it also had to be at a reasonable price.

Well Beef Jerky was one of the main foods that they ate. It didn t spoil, it had an acceptable taste, they could get it for cheep, and their was plenty of it. The travelers also ate berries from plants and bushes as least often as they could. Lots of People drank water from the river, and when they came to a trading stop or a so called store, they bought beer.

The Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail both had pretty must the same purpose. They both were to help expand the United States expand westward by giving a obvious route heading toward the west. The United States would not be like it is today because of these two trails, they played a big part in helping the settlers settle in the west and also helping the United States achieve its Manifest Destiny.

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