The Oregon Country

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The Oregon Country
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Manifest Destiny

• First coined by newspaper editor, John
  OSullivan in 1845.
• ".... the right of our manifest destiny to over
  spread and to possess the whole of the continent
  which Providence has given us for the development
  of the great experiment of liberty"
• A myth of the West as a land of romance and
  adventure emerged.

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American Progress by John Gast, 1872
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Oregon Country

• The Oregon country stretched from the (1) Rocky
  Mountains in the East to the Pacific Ocean in the
  West.
• Americans called the land in the Oregon Country
  wilderness and (2) freely staked their claims.

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Conflicting Claims

• Four nations (3) Russia, Spain, Great Britain,
  and the United States laid claim to the Oregon
  Country.
• America based its claim on the voyages of (4)
  Robert Gray.

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Conflicting Claims

• Great Britain and the United States pursued their
  claims most actively.
• In 1818, (5) Great Britain and the United States
  agreed to share the Oregon Country for ten years.

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Mountain Men

• Soon the area was flooding with tough, rugged
  fur-trappers. These Mountain Men lived a lonely
  life and relied on their skills for survival.
• In the summer, these mengathered together (6) to
  sell their furs, buy supplies, and have some
  fun at rendezvous.

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Blazing a Path for Others

• James Beckwourth and Jim Bridger discovered paths
  through the Rockies.
• (7) Jedediah Smith explored Yellowstone
• Manuel Lisa established Fort Manuel along the (8)
  Missouri River.

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End of the Mountain Men

• By the 1830s and 1840s, (9) people stopped
  wearing beaver hats and within a few years the
  mountain man was out of work.
• Some turned to farming, others acted as guides
  for those traveling West.

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Oregon Fever

• Between 1840 and 1860, (10)more than250,000
  people made the trekwestward.
• Many of thesetraveled the famous OregonTrail.

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Oregon Trail

• The Oregon Trail began in (11) Independence, MO
  and ended at the Columbia River in Oregon.
• Families packed into lightweight wagons called
  prairie schooners and traveled across the great
  plains.

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Traveling the Trail

• Several families would then travel together (12)
  in wagon trains.
• Families usually left Independence in May and had
  five months to cross the Rockies before winter.

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The Doomed Donner Party

• April, 1846 April, 1847 the Donner Party set
  out for the West, but got stuck in the harsh
  winter.

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The Doomed Donner Party

• Of the 83 members of the Donner Party, only 45
  survived to get to California!
• Those who survived were forced into CANNIBALISM!!

Margaret Patrick John
Breen Breen Breen
James Reed Wife
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Hardships on the Trail

• Besides the harsh winter, many died from diseases
  such as (13) cholera and smallpox.
• Others drowned while attempting to cross swollen
  rivers.

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The Pony Express

• Between April, 1860 and Nov., 1861.
• Delivered news and mail between St. Louis, MO and
  San Francisco, CA.
• Took 10 days.
• Replaced by the completion of the
  trans-continental telegraph line.

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The Oregon Dispute 54 40º or Fight!

• By the mid-1840s, Oregon Fever wasspurred on
  by the promise of free land.
• Americans began to call for an end of joint
  occupation.
• The joint British-U. S. occupation ended in 1846
  and by (14) 1848, Oregon was a territory.