How Did Lewis And Clark Influence The Journey Of The Oregon Trail

Many individuals who traveled the Oregon trail experienced things like the journal entry above. Americans left their home in hopes of a better life but many were disappointed with the outcome of their journey. There were many different factors that went into the journey of the Oregon Trail which included people, ideas and outcomes. All of these influenced the long and tedious journey that thousands traveled during the early 1840s. Americans decided to leave the midwest for various different reasons, but leaving to travel to Oregon was influenced by many different individuals. The journey of the Oregon Trail wouldn’t have been possible without the path being explored by individuals before the mass travel of Americans to the west. By far Lewis and Clark are the most common people who are known to travel the Oregon Trail, but they were not the only ones. The first travels of the Oregon Trail, that led to its establishment, came from a missionary named Marcus Whitman (Hulbert, 1936). Whitman had tried to apply for many exploration missions before, but had always been denied travel. It wasn’t
Lewis and Clark spent nearly two years traveling west learning about various plants, animals and tribes that they came across. The group was able to successfully work with various tribes with the help of Sacagawea who was more of an interpreter than a leader, like many believed.
Although there were numerous people who had influenced the traveling of the Oregon Trail, why did many Americans choose to uproot their life in the midwest and journey for six months to the west? At the time the vast crowds of Americans began traveling west, there were numerous factors that contributed to the