Trail Terms
This popular nickname was given to the covered wagons because their white canvas tops looked like sails on a sea of grass.
What are Prairie Schooners?
This essential staple food, often baked into rock-hard biscuits called hardtack, was packed into heavy barrels for the journey.
What is Flour?
"Jumping off" was the term used for leaving civilization, most commonly starting from this Missouri city.
What is Independence?
Caused by contaminated drinking water, this severe intestinal disease was the leading cause of death on the Oregon Trail.
What is cholera?
Millions of these massive grazing animals roamed the Great Plains, providing a crucial source of fresh meat and hides for travelers.
What is bison or buffalo?
At night, pioneers used this defensive strategy, placing their wagons end-to-end to create a protective corral for their livestock.
What is Circling the wagons?
These draft animals were preferred over horses because they were stronger, cheaper, and could survive by eating prairie grass.
What are Oxen?
This distinctive, towering spire-like rock formation in Nebraska signaled to pioneers that the flat plains were ending.
What is Chimney Rock?
Contrary to Hollywood movies, traumatic injuries were far more likely to be caused by accidental discharges of these than by Native American attacks.
What are firearms?
Because firewood was completely absent on the open plains, pioneers gathered dried "chips" left behind by this animal to fuel their cooking fires.
What is the buffalo?
This term referred to the organized group of emigrant families traveling together, typically governed by a written constitution and an elected captain.
To prevent this debilitating vitamin C deficiency, pioneers brought along rations of vinegar and dried fruit.
What is scurvy?
Known as the "Register of the Desert," pioneers carved their names into this massive granite monolith in Wyoming to prove they made it that far.
What is Independence Rock?
Attempting to do this at a river crossing could result in swept-away wagons, drowned livestock, and lost supplies.
What is fording the river?
These burrowing rodents built massive underground "towns" that posed a major tripping hazard, often leading to broken legs for livestock.
What are prairie dogs?
This highly nutritious, long-lasting travel food consisted of pounded dried meat mixed with melted fat and sometimes berries, frequently traded with Native Americans.
What is pemmican?
To keep the wagons from bogging down in mud or snapping axles, experienced guides recommended keeping the cargo weight strictly under this amount.
What is 2,000-2, 500 pounds?
Near the end of the trail in Oregon, pioneers faced a terrifying choice: pay a toll to take the Barlow Road, or raft their wagons down the rapids of this major river.
What is the Columbia River?
Also known as the "ague," this disease characterized by severe fever and chills was transmitted by mosquitoes along humid riverways.
What is malaria?
This venomous reptile was a constant, hidden threat to pioneers walking in tall grass or gathering brush.
what is rattlesnake?
This somewhat derogatory slang term was used to describe a discouraged pioneer who abandoned the journey and turned their wagon around to head back East.
What is "Go-back" or turnaround?
Pioneers used a mixture of animal fat and this dark, sticky substance to waterproof the canvas covers of their wagons
What is tar or linseed oil?
This incredibly steep, dangerous descent on the Mount Hood toll road required pioneers to tie ropes to trees and slowly lower their wagons down the cliffside.
What is Laurel Hill?
This highly contagious bacterial lung infection, also known as "consumption," drove some sick people to join the trail in the false hope that fresh prairie air would cure them.
What is tuberculosis?
Native to the Pacific Northwest, the starchy bulbs of this blue-flowering plant were highly prized by Indigenous peoples and introduced to starving pioneers arriving in Oregon.
What is camas root?