In the game The Oregon Trail, the player tries to make the journey west for gold without their character dying. Just like the game portrays, the trail was a grueling journey to follow a dream. The trail was a game of reality for families moving west. The dream of striking god and being rich. Women tagged along with their husband’s on their journey for gold. The journey was long a difficult often leading to injuries and death. While on the journey women kept a feminine demeanor even though being faced with many difficulties and having immense responsibilities and constant fear. Women went on the Oregon trail to follow their husbands. The gold rush was a new opportunity for families to have financial freedom and a new start. The west meant new …show more content…
Catherine Haunt describes some of her jobs in her journal, “The latter service was expected of us all- men and women alike, we very indefinite and might mean anything from building campfires and washing dishes to fighting Indians, holding back a loaded wagon on a down grade or lifting it over bowlers when climbing a mountain” (Haun 167). Women had to clean and cook. They often went off alone in search of food and fuel when the wagon train was camped for the night. Food was scarce and they used anything they could find to make a meal like buffalo humps and tongues (Haun 176). Buffalo chips where gathered throughout the days of traveling and used as fuel for fires. Along with cooking and would also fix things in the wagon as the men would steer the wagon. They would have to do anything in order to help the wagon move west in a moment’s notice. When men would become sick or unable to do work, women took over. They weren’t looked at as just women; they were looked at as another important person who is there to do work, “Many times the greater part of the day would be consumed in this strenous and altogether unladylike labor” (Haun 179). Men often relied on their wives to help them in dangerous work since there was no one else. Women also had to keep control of their children. The wagon trail was extremely dangerous …show more content…
Catherine Haun wrote a detailed account of a morning were she woke with overwhelming emotion and dread, “When I woke the next morning a strange feeling of fear at the thought of our venturesome undertaking crept over me…. It was a restful scene- a contrast to our previous day of toil and discomfort and caused me to break completely down with genuine homesickness and I burst into a flood of tears…” (Haun 168). When wagon trains left there was a possibility they would never come back, leaving most of their belongings and families. Women had difficulties keeping their fears of Indians hidden. Indians were a common occurrence and often lead to the mothers having anxiety of the next attack, “Unlike the Indians of the prairies and plains these mountain inhabitants did not have horses and were expert in concealing themselves, and during the entire trip we were never so apprehensive and terrified” (Haun 178). The wagons often went past remance of attacks which fueled the fear in women. They needed to keep their fears hidden in order not to scare the children and to keep their minds on the task at hand. The constant fear would keep the women distracted from their responsibilities. It sometimes made a simply task like picking up buffalo chips longer due to the constant paranoia of being
The women were in charge of the house and sometimes the field. The women also had to cook and skin the animals. The men were in charge of hunting and fishing for food. The hardest responsibility was making war and protecting the village.
The Choctaws in the Southeast were a matrilineal society. Traditionally, women preformed tasks related to domestic life. Among these responsibilities were creating pottery and utensils, food preparation, and planting and harvesting crops. The majority of their diet consisted of agricultural products such as corn, pumpkins, squash, and beans. Women would also accompany men on hunting excursions in order to provide food preparation. After the hunt, women were responsible for transporting the slain animal back to the village for processing of skins, bone, and meat (Carson 1995:495-6).
I noticed a few graves of people whom have died of the disease cholera (Document C). Some campers may need to
Significantly, Welch deconstructs the myth that Plains Indian women were just slaves and beasts of burden and presents them as fully rounded women, women who were crucial to the survival of the tribal community. In fact, it is the women who perform the day-to-day duties and rituals that enable cultural survival for the tribes of...
Modern day interpretations of pioneer women are mostly inaccurate and romanticized as easy, and luxurious in a new land however, that is far from the truth. Overall, pioneer women had many jobs that were underappreciated, they weren’t valued as men but without them many people in the West wouldn’t have survived and had to leave so much to go on a trip that took weeks and was no vacation, because women pioneers would have to cook and clean and take care of her children and husband, while on a wagon with having to adapt to the changing weather and climates, they did jobs that were considered as “men’s jobs” and worked as hard as men to survive in the west during the Manifest Destiny. Therefore, women pioneers were overlooked as an insignificant part of the Westward Expansion.
Life and death, happiness and sadness, loneliness and company, frustration and understanding, guilt and content. All of these are emotions that you will experience as you walk in Toby’s footsteps through The Trail, written by Meika Hashimoto. In the story, the main characters are Toby, Lucas, Denver, Sean, and Moose. The main setting is a portion of the Appalachian Trail, along with many shelters throughout that section of the Appalachian Trail. In the beginning of the story, it introduces Toby, the protagonist, and hints at his reasoning behind why he is hiking the Appalachian Trail in the first place. It also introduces Lucas, Toby’s best friend, and some of the ways that whatever happened between them effects Toby. The overall conflict, or problem in The Trail is Toby battling guilt and the emotional aspect all together, along with the physical obstacles he has to face. The solution to the problem is Toby becoming content with who he is, what has happened between
... and men of the community would freely pick their jobs without being demanded. Both women and men received an evenly amount of hours. Most of the time the women would be taking care of household chores and the children while the men produced crops and did most of the farming. At one point a man named Lewis Ryckman, suggested a business of shoemaking which successful.
Even though there were plentiful reasons, there were ample hardships too. First of all, women often had no say in whether they were going or not, and then had to sell anything that wouldn’t be of any use on the trail. Then, it was a six month trip, sometimes longer, and all of that time was on the trail, out in the wilderness. Many died, and when that happened, the family had to immediately get over it; otherwise they would be “a weak link.” Travelers could be attacked by Indians or animals. Wagons could break down and the whole crew would stop. Although it wasn’t often, cannibalism could be the only way to survive. There were diseases. Many women had to g...
Between 1840 and 1950, over fifty-three thousand people travelled the Oregon Trail. Native American exposure to diseases such as smallpox and diphtheria decimated the tribes, and that along with the encroachment of settlers on tribal lands, was the cause of much strife between Native Americans and the incoming Europeans. The Land Donation Law, a government land giveaway allotting three-hindred twenty acres to white males and six-hundred forty to married white couples, gave impetus to the western expansion and the American idea of "Manifest destiny." This promotion of migration and families also allowed America to strentghen its hold on Oregon, in the interests of displacing British claims.
The journey along the Oregon Trail was a very long and rough experience. Stretching out to almost a whopping 2000 miles it usually took the pioneers 4-6 months travelling at 12 to 16 miles per hour. Throughout this journey the pioneers had to battle with cholera, poor sanitation, and accidental gunshots. The travelers had to gather all the resources that they had in order to survive. Usually the travelers traveled in large groups to help dealing with obstacles such as ravines, deep mud, snowstorms, thunderstorms, and rivers. Since there were no bridges or ferries crossing rivers and streams was a major hazard. Many supplies, animals, and travelers were lost attempting to cross rivers.
Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so.
They were left to juggle raising small children, rising prices, shortages of medicines and the possibility of the loo of loved ones. Women stepped in and tilled fields, manages shops or worked docks. Supplies ran short, conditions were not ideal and life was tougher than it ever has been. Women improvised and became resourceful. Farm wives were no stranger to working on the farm, but doing the day to day jobs that were typically men 's tasks were uncharted territory. Jobs like mending fences, cutting and storing firewood were ones that women adapted to. In addition to their more stereotypical roles like mothering, cooking, weeding, and sewing. Women evolved into negotiators in their new role. Wives has never bargained the sale of crops, bought farm equipment, or paid laborers. Women has a renewed cal d
The Oregon Trail had an extensive impact on early America. It spread the population with approximately 50,000 people moving 2,000 miles west. The trail conceded of a group of paths. The route started in Missouri and finished in Oregon. The journey was 2,000 miles long and last about 5 months. With about 10 grave per mile by the end of a 30 year rage it was the longest graveyard in America. What was so bad with where they were at that they were willing to risk it all? Why was the rush to go west so vast? Every day the people were in fear that death was close by. What was so important to risk their lives and the lives of others for this odyssey?
The Oregon Trail is a 2000 mile long wagon route and emigrant trail made by fur trappers and traders from 1811 to 1840. The trail was then only possible on foot or horseback. By 1863, the trail was cleared from Independence, Missouri, to Fort Hall, Idaho. The trail later kept being cleared until Willamette Valley, Oregon. Improved roads, cutouts, and bridges made the trip faster and safer every year. The Oregon Trail had three offshoots: the California, Bozeman, and Mormon trails. The eastern half of the trail spanned future Idaho and Oregon. The western half of the trail spanned part of future Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Modern highways pass through the same course as the Oregon Trail. It was sometimes called “The Highway of Hope”.
When a man goes out to war he’s putting his life on the line and sometimes they didn’t come back, causing a vast burden back at the tribe, “We women tried to keep our men from going to war… sometimes many women, mourning for men who had been killed in war. These women had to be taken care of…war made more work for everybody.” (Linderman, 96). This caused additional work for everyone, because it required other men to hunt for the women while she mourned until she remarried, which occasionally never happened. Under the circumstances of Indian policy, gender roles within the tribe were severely stressed.