Here's What It Was Really Like To Pioneer On The Oregon Trail 

Good way to lose weight too.

@@shirleybalinski4535 Lovely story, thanks for sharing!

Amazing ..

Can’t imagine how desperate things have to be for you to make this trek .. These were amazing driven people

rapist trail USA, bags of shit USA

That’s one Hell of life! I guess if you can survive that, your guaranteed an easy life even in tough times.

But the women had no panties. 😯

Yup, same. The one Dude that made it to Utah, wrote "a rich man is still rich & a poor man is still poor." Disallusioned some of the relatives split to Mexico

Very few came pulling handcarts, and it was only for a couple of years.

@@scoutandastir Many Jerked off along the way.

They were idiot zealots who gave their money to conmen.

I think I would have been a pioneer. I can't imagine life without unknowns and mysterious places. I've driven alone across the country several times and always had an adventure.

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@mikeykm1993-Left-wing anti-American democrats feel that way about America right now!

My great grandparents lived in Ky...had 13 kids. They walked (stuff & chickens & babies in wagon - the rest walked (and herded ox, cows, 2pigs) all the way to SW Missouri. I have a board that was saved from the "new" Mo cabin...some of which is still standing (delapidatedly)...

@@SteveBrownRocks2023 Huh? That comment makes no sense at all as a response.

Thank you for sharing that with us.🤗

Very interesting and a fortune of fate for you being able to get to know such a woman with her history and experience!!!

I can only imagine the fascinating stories that lady could tell.

That must have been a fantastic visit with her. How interesting. I imagine she had an endless supply of stories to tell. What a memory to have of a visit with such an interesting person

You are more worthy of telling a story here

@Jim Marcum I knew a man growing up here in Pensacola whose name was Jim Marcum. He was a really great guy. I l was fortunate to know Pap Snell. He died when I was 13. He was German and about 5 ft nothing. He built a village in southern Ohio named Jonesboro. The homes were built to his height, so I had to duck to go in the doorway. When we ate dinner, I could not sit with my back to the wall or I would hit my head on the ceiling. His blacksmith shop though was huge. Fond memories of Ohio as a kid. I was born & raised here in Florida, but I always looked forward to visiting my relatives there every August for two weeks.

I bet he was a rough ol' cob! Most of those fellers were.

😊🤗 thank you for sharing ! Interesting how our grandparents were young once just like us 😁😳👀 lol

and he saw the rise of the auto industry and the interstate highway system replace pioneer trails

my great grand uncle was a blacksmith.

It's interesting that -- next to illness -- possibly the greatest risk on the trail was the armed white male. The Barnes family went back to NC because of the "many pioneers that were murdered around their homestead." And the beginning part of the video indicates that the initial attitude of the Indians was open minded and even positive in hopes of producing an equitable trading relationship. That changed when they recognized just how "equitable" this arrangement was going to be. No wonder later representations of that era veered so far into the wildly fantastic. The truth was just a little too ... true.

L. BM P2w😮7j U BM

Traveled together! Years not tears! Fingers are getting old here!

@@denickite y u gotta b so mean??????

Thanks 4 sharing

@@allyshivers3082 Mean about what ?

No Indian troubles because most of them had either been outright killed, put on a reservation or given disease ridden blankets.

Interesting... Accurate too.

Yes I've heard the Conestogas where not used much except for hauling . Twas different hand carts etc that they used. I'm sure the bigger wagons were slept in at night time though.

@@sandyfreyman3501k look 12:06

That’s really cool!! My father and I built a steen sky bolt biplane and a few times we went to Montana and Wyoming from Washington we saw some of the trails. It was very neat. Crazy to think how people back then took care of themselves and how determined they were, not quite the same in most cases today

Your introspection is mature and thoughtful, Sean. Thank you.

We would have one idiot less if you had been traveling that time.

Ty Great info

Lucky kids to hear her account.

The older you get, the shorter it gets ..

@@adamdavis5312 good one. Those who fail to understand our history have to re take it in summer school.

Where? No Summer school in my state or surrounding four states!

@@darrellmortensen9805 Pity that. It can be good for readers who struggle or high school kids who want to take driver’s ed the easy way. The view was of the Shenandoah Valley. My mother shared stories about her very old teacher. She was probably 80 and worked so she could eat. One day a classmate decided to play a prank on the teacher. So he put a bloody hog head on her blotter. They all awaited her reaction. Without skipping a beat to get the day started she picked it up by the ears and put it in the wastebasket. Not a word was said of it even as the fly problem worsened. I would share these stories with my third graders over the course of 34 years. History lives.

Did you meet them?

@@karlabritfeld7104 no. But I met my Great Grandmother. Their child and she was in her 90s

Yep. Your folks are from Nebraska. Mom was from there and the word "agravate" was part of her talk.

😂😂😂😂😂

😂😂😂

👋🏻 SLAP !!!! You want another one ? Then you keep your mouth shut 🤐 when you’re talking to me !!

Probably weren’t as bored as they had to walk not sit on their holes.

Their kids usually died on the journey. At least one or two 😆

That's a beautiful story!

Haha.

I also thought, while taking care of my Gma who lived from 1907 to 2010, that she lived during the most interesting times. From the horse and buggy and outside bathrooms to the telephone, television, internet, etc. But her favorite invention was electric lights. So much so that she always liked to have a nightlight in her room all night.

Cool you have those memories of your grandmother. My grandfather said the same thing just about. He grew up riding in a wagon in Eastern Oregon with a ex wagon train Master for a dad and an Indian woman for his mom.

interesting comparison. A more weaponized race (pioneers)with big guns and a bible steal land from a smaller less well armed , less populated people says another ending is due. I hope there is a god with very strict constructionist leanings; he said that one goes to hell if a thief, I like that. So maybe the ending is punishment is hell for all those europeans god gave england, france et al....... to enjoy and end this coveting law they broke. Sorry but i see great disappointment in your fable

@@nkel6111 um err what? Are you trying to say the sins of the father shall be visited upon the son? If so, we would all be burning in hell.

Saw your comment about the Oregon Trail. I have always thought that out of all the Nations, Australians & the US shared very similiar historys. The US was colonized by rejected, religious sects, you by rejected citizens. Australia had its gold rushes, wagon trains to the Out Back & pioneers. You have( had) your sheep ranches. We had our cattle ranches. Funny in a way the comparable. Wish to make it some day, Down Under!! Probably won't.

@@shirleybalinski4535 If you make it to Sydney, let me know.

@walter graham isn’t is crazy? My great grandma was exactly 101 when she died in 2006. My gran, mom and I were all first borne so I was about 36- I knew her extremely well. I asked her a lot how the world must seem, because this has been an incredible time in history.

I read once, that if a farmer from 1860 was time traveled to 1940 USA, he would not have felt too out of place, except for minor changes. Electricity did not reach either of my parents homes until after WW2. Phones may have been a little earlier. Today, my phone system is still operated by the same local family!! It is a private system that was started by the grandfather in the early 1930's. We are not part of the big telecommunication networks!! It services our valley, the SE section of our county & publishes its own phone book. Until the 1980's there were still party lines & the switchboard was in Wilma's kitchen. The kids took over & modernized to direct dial!! After WW2, tractors came in to our area. The US , especially in rural areas like ours, Upper Michigan, remained effectively 100 years behind, compared to metro areas until after WW2.

Alice..read my reply to Walter concerning the Oregon trail & your grandmother. What area of Michigan was she from?

Well said.

Being tough was necessary to survive. I met and lived with some their descendants 12 years ago when I was recuperating from major surgery, and they haven't changed much...except they watch TV and play the lottery!!

except the part where we stole the native american land....

And look now... our govt. shut most of the country down... printing money and handing it out with helicopters. But the NFL and NBA is still in business... bread and circuses.

@@terrykrall Yes it makes you wonder if we would be that tough and determined. No safe spaces and playdough therapy for these folks, that is for sure.

That sounds about right. I was a late baby boomer and yet my grandfather, my dad's dad, was born in the 1870s.

That’s the part that gets left out of the movies.

That is so so horrible

I know right! They probably stuffed cotton balls on the bottoms of their shoes. They didn't have our comfortable shoes back then.

And after a long day of walking, the children had to gather Buffalo dung for the cooking fire, the wife had to cook the evening meal, and the men had to take care of their livestock and all the harnesses and repairs of the wagons, etc. If the pioneer wagon train was unlucky enough to be passing through some area of land that was being contested between the Indians and US government, there was the additional burden of who stayed up to guard, and the worry of being set upon by Indians and tortured by them. It all sounds just exhausting!

I am reading that book now and came across this video. A very good book for a Brit like me living in Ohio.

You should consider yourself lucky - At least you didn't live in Florida where it snowed a foot a day for 9 months a year.

🤣🤣🤣 I agree , you were lucky. My walk was 35 miles , uphill in both directions, underwater with gale force winds!

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And incomplete. As long as the history of Indigenous Americans is not included, it is incomplete history.

@@BigBri550 a person can only tell what they know.

@@christinepeniaranda8484 When it comes to American history, there is much they deliberately leave out.

What did you say? "Here kids. have a drink of water that tastes like grandma's feet."

The old Apache man that taught me to track and hunt Antelope in Colorado told me how it was done and didn't believe it until showed me. He taught me many things. He was a poor lonely old man that lived in a shack in town. When I made a trip in town I met him really for the first time at 14 yrs old. He fascinated me and I found a job for him and got him moved into the old bunk house. He fixed it up really cool. At first my hard core Dad didn't approve but I made it happen any way and mother intervened as?she was a Christian and they became good friends as she had lots of little chores for him so he had some money. I spend 5 years on the prairie with him learning what he knew and the knowledge was priceless as i later learned in life. He died in bed with a flu at 78 and he was sorely missed. Even my hard core old man cried at his funeral. That was 50 years ago and I still think of him almost every day.

@@ashemgold lol! I'm sure they boiled it and strained it.

@@ashemgold it's ok you wait til it's bottled lol.

Awesome! What state do you live in?

Our telephone exchange when I was growing up in Southern California was BUtterfield8-, so the person calling you dialed the first 2 numbers as BU -then the number. It was named for the stage line.

I have actually found a few of those spots along the Overland trail. One such wagon dumping site 2 ft deep under the soil in a cornfield, revealed a complete busted up wood stove, oxen shoes, barrel band hoops, broken china, 1 wagon hub, shell buttons and a load of busted Drake's 1860x plantation bitters bottles. Every artifact I find has a story to tell, if only they could talk.

True but it’s easier to use horses for Hollywood s depiction because they are already trained unlike oxen.

My great uncle's drove freight wagons between Nebraska and Wyoming with horses. When they started going to Oregon they continued to use horses. They led eight wagon trains of family members out the Oregon trail all using horses. My father was on the last one as a child with his parents.

The Donner Party tragedy occurred because they split off from the main wagon party, and left the trail, in order to take an unestablished short cut. The suffering of the Donner Party pioneers…absolutely heart wrenching. I always wonder where God is at these times of crisis.

Or we’re only used by the I’ll prepared, as oxen were hardier and stronger.

they would kill you just for being there and scalp you alive when it's life or death and your just trying to pass thru someone is charging to try to kill you and your wife kids dog whatever your start shooting till the threat is over 10/4 there were no rules other than try to see the sunrise

Adults were killed children were often adopted especially if tribe had lost children do to death.

@@cynthiarothrock4255 adopted???

Im 1/8th Choctaw my grandma on my dads side but we are from Louisiana thanks for sharing 😆

Beginning with the 1849 Gold Rush traffic increased enormously: that's when it really got bad.

True and we did all of this without the crap going on today!

@@redrock3109 Amen! Take a kids (20 something) smart phone away and drop them off in the middle of nowhere, even with some basic survival gear and a small rifle to hunt food with and see how long they last. Maybe the rifles a bad idea they may hurt themselves or someone else.

@@donc9751 But, but, rifles are big scary things! LOL

My grandmother rode in a stage coach as a young woman and lived to see a man walk on the moon! What will transpire in our own lifetime???

@Don C 😂😂😂😂

I read about those Dutch people traveling and settling in Michigan. There was a group from my hometown in the Netherlands that traveled to Michigan. They're family's are still there.

Hahahahhahhaa

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. Ever heard that one?

@@mbca007 .....Saw your comment about The Dutch in Michigan. The area they settled in is what we call West Michigan. It is close to the coast of Lake Michigan. The towns( cities) in that area are Grand Rapids, Holland, Zeeland, New Gronigen,Vreisland,Graafschop & more. The area is a fruit & dairy farming region. Grand Rapids was the furniture capitol of the US for years. People are still quite religious & Conservative. The phone directories are nothing but, Dutch names!!

@@nancid5265 what's your question?

@@nancid5265 I am no relation to the person in my story. She told me her story of her folks on the wagon train.

But he does not really represent the truth when he said that it was a widely debunked myth that Native Americans were a scourge to the wagon trains and pioneers. 50,000 men, women, and children died from attacks and often horrible deaths at their hands. There are many well-documented books on this history. Gregory Michno is known as the best living historian of the American West. His books can be found for sale online at all the usual places.

I always died from dysentery.

But the big lie in this documentary is about the myth of depredations by "Native Americans." (If you're born here, you're a native). 50,000 men, women, and children often died horrible deaths trying to get to California or Oregon at the hands of "Native Americans." There are many factual histories on the issue, available. Gregory Michno's "Circle the Wagons" is a great place to start.

What do you want on your tombstone? "peperoni and chease"

@@jab3593 I never did make it to Oregon when playing that game. It's a good thing I already lived here. (Descended from those who did survive the trip by ship and wagons.)

Greetings up in the Appalachian Mountains from Canada 🇨🇦!

@@ianstuart5660greetings to Canada from the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky,.....stay! Safe my friend...... Canada is a beautiful place.....

@William Brown Thank you William, what a lovely message to wake up to. Also waking up to the coldest morning of winter so far, zero degrees Fahrenheit. I have traveled through some parts of the Appalachians, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia has a part that goes way far north bordering North parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania! Love to study History and Geography too. You stay safe and warm as well!

Greetings from the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, born and raised and have some recently moved west to the Rockies. Can't keep mountain folk away from the mountains. Have a good year.

@Lost In Transit Greetings to you from Canada as well. Forgot to mention to William that I also went through the Pennsylvania mountains traveling from Buffalo en route to South Carolina!

Lucky you they crossed the border

Why?

@@neldonah2833 I don't look down on the United States. I love the USA. My roots there go back to 1700 in Virginia, but God's purposes for my life required me to be born and raised in Canada, and I love Canada, too. I think it is a great privilege for people to be born in either of these nations.

@@faithworks217 I lived and worked in Canada. I believe it's much easier than the U.S. it's not overrun by, according to real stats, 28 million poor latin Americans willing to work for 7$ an hour. Canada takes care of it's people. Canadian jobs are for Canadians, free clinics, hospital etc. Just look how Canada dealt with taking care of people with checks starting a year ago. No comparison between quality of life in the 2 countries. Canada's usually in the top 5 countries when not number 1 or 2 for best places to live. Good for them.

@@faithworks217 Born Toronto 1944. My mother's family crossed into Canada by wagon train. My husband was born in Darien, CT, in 1940. Governor of Virginia, late 1700s on his mother's side. Still have his dresser & mirror from Governor's Mansion. He's dying from Parkinson's now in a nursing home here in Kingston, ON. I can't see him because of the lockdown. I sometimes wonder what God's purpose could possibly be.

Wait how? Now?

Wow! Love to hear more.

Incredible they laid eggs under that stress. And chickens don't do well under stress. Surprised they survived one day walking single file. Hard to believe.

Native Americans ?

@@trkddy No

The burials were marked at the time and another video said there was a grave every 70 yards. Like ancient mile markers.

Unfortunate that after such an eye opening adventure, with so many chances to broaden your world view you still managed to come up with that name.

I feel the same way.

Thanks, gonna try and find that book!

@@track1219 It's available on Amazon in both book and Kindle forms. It was fun reading about areas just a few miles away from me before many people were here.

@Scott Larson Thanks, gonna try the library first, then Amazon

he took the last Oregon trail migration in the 1900's

@@harleyhawk7959 ??? Meeker's first trip to Oregon was in 1852. He traveled from his home in Puyallup, Washington to Washington D.C. in 1906 to publicize and remember the pioneers who had traveled on the Oregon Trail.

Very interesting since the train was dwindling in the 1870s. You must be really old yourself. Why don’t you publish a story about her trip? Walking? She had to be a very little child, what a feat that must have been. This would make a great story to relate to our youngsters.

An Indian might have been the last thing she saw.

Your ancestors we're slaves Mike Anthony Foster from Rockford, Illinois! Always b.s'ing

That statement is true , it cuts right straight to the bone . If it hurts feeling then so be it . Thank you for sharing your opinion.

Never a truer statement.....thx

rags to riches & back again , in 3 generations. woman's version.

Sir, you are absolutely correct. Whilst a 😔 reality, I could not help but 😊 ☺ 🙂.

Welcome to the 2020's Or maybe 20/20... Seeing things clearly.

Very interesting, Bonnie. She must have endured great hardship in her young life, both emotional and physical. Does she have descendants you keep in touch with?

Hope she and her baby survived! Times were indeed different then.

@@marydonohoe8200 ... I found a grave in our ancestors cemetery with a 2 yr. old child (1910-1912) that gives the parents initials that match. as does the baby's name match the man she met on the trail...and married. She went on to live one week shy of her 67 birthday, and had 5 other kids that lived to adulthood. My dad does not remember ever seeing the 2 yr olds grave before....until finally one trip about 20 yrs ago. Dad thinks his aunt must have had her child's coffin moved much later in life to be near other family members. F'or every question answered by Genealogy... there's always a new ? that pops up!!...but it's fun!

@@annbolyn4910 ... sadly, with all the Privacy Issues out now, it's very difficult to track those who may still be alive. I was able to find those that were alive when I was young (1950-60's). But you have encouraged me to search some more, I'll check to see if I can find obits of her children. Thank You! I have been working ALL my family lines, but became very disabled 3.5 years ago and had to stop doing what I loved.

@Lauren DuVall ~ curse is a pretty strong word Lauren, it basically means you wish they would've gone to hell when they died. I would never wish that on anyone. Also, she stopped in Montana for a couple years before going on to Oregon. You have to remember that back in 1900-1910 time frame, especially in southern Illinois and vast other areas of the US, it was not respectable to get pregnant before marriage, and in teeny tiny little towns with a population of about 200-300, everybody made it their business to know your business and make life unbearable for you. I have no idea why the boy did not follow her out there, I wasn't born for several more decades. Her husband that she met soon after though was a very nice man, and father to her child for the couple short years he lived. She even gave the child his name. She went on to have 5 more kids, a couple of them traveled with her back to southern Illinois when my grandpa (her little brother) died. She had a very well to do lifestyle having married a man who worked construction. I'm sure if my Great Grandparents were alive today, things probably would have turned out different. She didn't hate her parents...so why should you?

Loved this!

That is a good one. But my favorite is Meeks Cutoff. It really shows what the mind numbing daily drudgery of trail life is like. At least it was like that for me when I walked it....

@Vinyl Dad -- Bot of my sons did, but we didn't have a computer so they couldn't play it at home, only during computer time at school.

@@alycewich4472 the only time I got to play if I remember correctly is when my cousin would bring it over or we went to there place

There's a board game version.