The Oregon Trail & Gold Rush

The Oregon Trail from 1810

The Oregon Trail was a 2,000 mile route cutting right across the Great Plain. It went from the East Coast of America to the West Coast of America.

The origins of the Oregon Trail

In the 1810s, merchants and traders had begun to lay a trail right across America. The main company using the trail was the 'Pacific Fur Company'. By 1836, the trail had been improved and it could carry wagons, pulled by horses.
This trail was a vital piece of infrastructure that enabled white settlers to trade more and move around the USA.
- The Oregon Trail had a similar impact to the railroads in the late 1800s, opening up trade and movement across the USA.

The Oregon Trail

Migration events

In 1837, a 7-year recession was triggered by the collapse of some American banks. Unemployment in cities rose and people were forced to look for opportunities outside cities.
In 1841, the US government published a map for migrants showing people how to follow the Oregon Trail and where to go.
In 1843, there was the 'Great Migration'. This involved 1,000 people leaving Oregon and heading towards Missouri.
Religious persecution also encouraged the migration west. The Mormon Church had been founded by Joseph Smith in 1830. In 1844, Smith was killed by an angry mob in Illinois. 2 years later, all Mormons were banned from Illinois (in the middle of the USA).

The Gold Rush

The Gold Rush encouraged the migration westwards.
The Gold Rush began in the state of California (on the West coast of America) in 1848. But Gold was then discovered in the Rocky Mountains (to the East of the Great Plains) and in the Black Hills, which were sacred to the Sioux Indian tribe.
The Gold Rush encouraged Americans to move to California, the Rocky Mountains, and an Indian tribe's sacred home.

Farming land

The Great Plains are grasslands. Grasslands are usually fertile for growing crops and are good for grazing cattle and livestock.
As unemployment rose in cities during the 7-year recession, moving to a farm in the Great Plains was an attractive alternative job if you were unemployed.
However, corn and wheat prices fell during the recession.

The Gold Rush

As well as farming, and the belief in 'manifest destiny', settlers moved west partly in a hunt for gold and wealth.

The gold rush

The Gold Rush encouraged migration westwards as people wanted to earn their fortunes by finding and selling Gold.
The Gold Rush began in the state of California (on the West coast of America) in 1848. But Gold was then discovered in the Rocky Mountains (to the East of the Great Plains) and in the Black Hills, which were sacred to the Sioux Indian tribe.

The magnitude of the gold rush

Over 100,000 people are thought to have arrived in San Francisco between 1848 and 1849.
The rush started because a man called James Marshall found gold near the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Some people even migrated from China in 1852 to search for gold and a better life.
Most of these people found no gold and lost money moving to California.
The NFL team the San Francisco 49ers are named after the great migration of 1849.

Professional gold mining

The rapid rise in the population of San Francisco and the surrounding area meant that in 1849, California applied to join the United States of America as its 31st state.
By 1859, the Californian population had risen to 380,000 people.
Most normal people 'panned for gold'. This involved picking up stones from the river, sieving out rocks and looking for gold.
By the early 1850s, professional miners were digging for gold in the ground using mining equipment.
Many of the gold rushers killed lots of the Plains Indians living in California in disputes over land and other things.

1The Early Settlement of the West, c1835-c1862

1.1The Plains Indians: Beliefs & Way of Life

1.1.1The Plains Indians - Social Structure

1.1.2The Plains Indians - Way of Life

1.1.3End of Topic Test - Social & Tribal Structures

1.1.4Grade 9 - The Plains Indians

1.2Migration & Early Settlement

1.2.1The Oregon Trail & Gold Rush

1.2.2Manifest Destiny

1.2.3Major Migrations - Donner, Mormon & Farmer

1.2.4End of Topic Test - Migration and Early Settlement

1.2.5Grade 9 - The Early Settlement of the West

1.3Conflict & Tension

1.3.1Fort Laramie Treaty & Indian Appropriations Act

1.3.2Lawless Towns

1.3.3End of Topic Test - Conflict & Tension

2Development of the Plains, c.1862–c.1876

2.1The Development of Settlement in the West

2.1.1Causes of the American Civil War

2.1.2The American Civil War

2.1.3Homesteading & Railroads 1862-1876

2.1.4Continuing Law & Order Problems 1862-1876

2.1.5Ranching, Cattle & Cowboys 1862-1876

2.1.6End of Topic Test - Development of the Plains

2.2Changes in the Way of Life of the Plains Indians

2.2.1Impact of Railroads & Settlers 1862-1876

2.2.2Impact of the Peace Policy & Reservations

2.2.3The Indian Wars (1862-1868)

2.2.4End of Topic Test - Changes in the Way of Life

2.2.5Grade 9 - Development of the Plains

3Conflicts & Conquest, c.1876–c.1895

3.1Changes in Farming & Settlement

3.1.1Farming & the Cattle Industry 1876-1895

3.1.2The Exoduster Movement & Oklahoma Land Rush

3.1.3End of Topic Test - Exodusters, Land Rush & Cattle

3.2Conflict & Tension

3.2.1Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp and the Range Wars

3.2.2Little Big Horn, the Ghost Dance & Wounded Knee

3.2.3Destroying the Indian Way of Life

3.2.4End of Topic Test - Conflict and Tension

3.2.5Grade 9 - Conflicts & Tension

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