Chapter 11 Section 1

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Chapter 11 Section 1

• Trails to the West

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Trails to the West

• Americans move West
• Americans start to go beyond the U.S. Territory
• One of the reasons was for beaver pelts
• John Jacob Astor
• Created the American Fur Company
• Bought pelts from Mountain Men (trappers and fur
  traders) who explored and lived in the lands west
  of the Rocky Mountains
• These men adopted Native American clothing and
  customs
• Because of the Cost to bring the furs out,
  William Ashley organized the Rendezvous which was
  a large meeting where trading, story telling, and
  culture was exchanged.

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Trails to the West

• 1811- John Jacob Astor founded Astoria, a trading
  post at the mouth of the Columbia River
• Oregon Country
• Full of Natural resources
• Quite a few countries laid claim to the land.
• The U.S. made treaties with Spain and Russia to
  gain control, and Great Britain shared control
• By 1840 the fur business was winding down and
  settlers started to work their way out to Oregon

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Trails to the West

• Oregon Trail
• 2000 miles long went from Independence, MO or
  Council Bluffs, IA to Oregon
• Followed the Platte River, crossed the Rocky
  Mountains then forked, one went to Oregon the
  other went to the California
• Travel lasted about 6 months
• Cost about 600 for a family of four
• Younger families were most of the travelers
• Wagons pulled by Oxen, mules or horses
• Faced running out of water, disease, natural
  barriers to cross, weather,
• By 1845 over 5,000 families reached the
  Willamette Valley

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Trails to the West
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Trails to the West

• Santa Fe Trail
• Led from Independence to Santa Fe, NM
• More of a trading trail
• Dangerous due to having to travel across the
  desert, but very very profitable for those who
  made the journey
• U.S. government sent protection along
• Had to go through Native American lands that
  werent very friendly

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Trails to the West
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Trails to the West

• Mormons Travel West
• Traveled west for religious freedom
• Led by Joseph Smith
• First Settled in Ohio, then Missouri, Illinois,
  then out to present day Utah
• Smith was said to find golden tablets and wrote
  them down in the Book of Mormon
• Some practices caused problems, such as polygamy
  (Outlawed by the church in 1890)
• Smith was killed in 1844 and Brigham Young became
  the leader and too the people out to Utah near
  the Great Salt Lake

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Trails to the West