Messed Up Things That Happened On The Oregon Trail Marathon 

Do you think you could survive the Oregon Trail?

I had a great-great grandfather who was born on the Oregon Trail somewhere in Nebraska Territory. His mother, an immigrant from Ireland was several months pregnant with him. She walked until she had to give birth, recovered and then walked the rest of way to western Oregon carrying this infant, her only child. Amazing that this child survived to create thousands of descendants.

Could do without the “music”…

A few years ago having accepted a job in McMinnville Or. while living on Long Island NY, I hired a U-Haul trailer, bought a very used Lincoln Navigator and at 04:00 in the morning set off from Long Island. It was a few days before Christmas. That trip, which I managed in just three days was a complete eye-opener for me. Crossing the continental divide, looking out over hundreds of miles of wasteland, at Cheyenne, Wyoming my intention had been to catch 3 hours sleep in the driving seat and move on, as I'd done the night before but stepping out to put gas in the car and finding it blowing 50mph and a temp of around 20f I thought I'd probably not wake up again.. the next day driving out over snow patched the landscape and seeing maybe 100 miles ahead over the low rising ground it finally came home to me... Those wagon trainers were some hard sons of B*tches and I mean that with an amazing mountain of respect. We have to see that landscape before understanding what they achieved.

Back in the 1970's I took part on a Wagon Train Cattle Drive in Wyoming just South of Interstate 80 in commeration of the Oregon Trail. I was involved in many different Historic Events throughout my life. Train and Stage Coach Robberies and many other events. Now 85, Wish I could once again. I was a Wrangler as well as most any position on the events.

I had the chance to go from Pennsylvania to California by car. I was amazed at the distances and terrain the settlers had to go through. We stopped at a place where the settlers had to lower everything they owned wagons animals and themselves. Down a straight drop over 1000 feet to the valley below. Just the beauty of the mountains in California brought tears to my eyes. From California we went to Oregon and again the beauty of the mountains took my breath away. Especially mount Shasta sporting its white cap of snow. Yet the two strangest things I saw on my trip. Were 1.UFOS in Wyoming. 2. Of all things a camel. It was standing in a field in Oregon. It was 20 degrees Fahrenheit out side and had started snowing. I'm an old man in bad health. So this trip could be my one and only chance to see the beauty of our country. I feel sorry for those people who are so wrapped up in life they fail to stop and take in the beauty around them. I could even find beauty in some of the most inhospitable places I've seen.

I was able to visit Independence Rock a couple of times. Fascinating to see the inscriptions from those in the past. I’ve seen petroglyphs in New Mexico and graffiti dating back to 1104 in England’s old castles. So interesting!

My great-grandmother crossed the country on the Oregon trail. She passed at 101 in 1974 and was sharp as a tack right to the end. Durable was a quality of life.

Back in the 80's, The Oregon Trail computer game was 🔥. I've tried modern versions, but nothing beats that green stick figure look.

The old western, once-popular 1960 TV show Wagon Train with Ward Bond, was a reasonably accurate depiction of life on the Oregon Trail and had many interesting plots and story lines.

I grew up in the middle of Wyoming My father would take us on day.Trips along the Oregon trail.We would see graves along the road and you could see the. Ruts the wagon wheels made in the ground, There were also graves some had. I am bed frames marking their graves. You could also see where they would unload. The wagons to lighten this was in the 1970s. My dad was so kind to show us that needs stuff.😮

I worked as a traveler in Ontario Oregon and while there visited the Flagstaff Museum in Baker Oregon. The wheel ruts of the wagons are clearly visible and the museum, though expensive was worth the experience. I definitely recommend it, though recently closed for renovations, even the drive to the top of the hill has a wonderful vantage view.

Paranoid about hostile natives? There was a very real threat and the natives had been at war with each other for that same land for 100's of years. The settlers had good reason to be concerned.

As anyone with a wooden boat will tell you, there is very little that can't be fixed by a skilled carpenter on a wooden vehicle.

I’m so glad he mentioned the relationship between settlers and native Americans. A lot of the Natives actually assisted, helped, and traded.

Some of the Donner party wanted to head north to the Oregon Trail. I believe they did not make it. Recently found out that the Donner Party assembled in and departed from Springfield, Illinois. Abe Lincoln was invited to join by one of his good friends who was also a principal organizer. Lincoln considered it, but wife Mary Todd was against it. Lincoln also had a good law practice and 2 kids, so he declined.

I watched these dudes metal detecting the Oregon trail, which I thought the trail was protected by a park service. They found gold coins and all kinds of artifacts from the thousands of people that died along the way.

Can’t believe that anyone would have thought of taking a wagon through Weber Canyon. When building I 80N (now I 84) the canyon was closed for 2 years. And the route up Echo canyon wasn’t much better.

A parent would do literally anything to keep their child alive. I don't blame them.

I was surprised there was no mention of the "Pickled Pioneer", Willie Keil. He was a 19 year-old would-be pioneer who was planning to accompany his family along the route to the West Coast from Missouri. His father, a preacher, was the leader of the party, and had promised Willie that he could lead the party in the first wagon. Sadly, Willie feel ill just days before their planned departure. Even as he lay dying, the boy talked about leading the wagon train, so when he finally passed, his father put his son in a vat of whiskey that was placed in the lead wagon so that he could fulfill his promise to his son that he would be the one to lead them to their new "promised land". Willie stayed in that vat all the way across the trail until they reached the Washington coast. There he was buried. Sadly, his family and their group decided that the climate was too rainy and grey (welcome to Western Washington in the winter!) and moved down to a drier part of Oregon, leaving poor Willie behind in what is now Menlo, Washington. There is a roadside monument to the "Pickled Pioneer" near the "Tombstone Willie Saloon".

Irish gypsies were living in this type of horse drawn wagon up to the 1970s in Ireland, the wagon was known as a barrel top wagon.

You didn’t mention childbirth on the trail. Those women were risking their lives two fold. Could you imagine giving birth on the side of a dirt road, and then dying during the process. Those women were brave, whether the made it or not, brave as all get out!!!!

I came for the history, stayed for the fresh techno beats. Ya’ll definitely sourced some bangers🔥

2:38 I stopped at Independence Rock back in 1982, climbed to the top to read the carved dates and names of pioneers. Well worth the stop.

Lets talk about the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

I understand that I had a great-great Aunt Nell traveled the Oregon trail and served. Also told of my Great-grandfather, Hills, was a Wagon Master out of Oklahoma. Sad to say, that is all I know of them 😢 Love the video

Dysentery Dysentery Dysentery.... I read that word so many times on Commodore 64 it gives me nightmares now lol haha

Ive been up and down the length of Wyoming many times via I-25, you can still see those wagon rutts if you know where to look for them.

The two week break at Ft Bridger was the nail in the coffin for the Donner party. Or was it the 8 days waiting on Hastings before someone went to look for him? The 11 days gained by cutting those in half might have saved them.

My family waited to move to Oregon...until there were cars and moving trucks!

Gosh I have an idea 💡 for you …try some music that isn’t psycho techno, the effect is most disconcerting. It would have been so easy to put a banjo or fiddle player on.

My family was attacked, murdered and sold into slavery at least 5 times, different generations, by Natives. There was a reason people were scared of them. Even the friendly ones, that they traded with and welcomed into their homes, did a surprise attack. I'm not justifying either side, but it was an issue.

I think it’s well known that we all have died of dysentery on the Oregon Trail. 🤢🤮😵

Caster oil is effective healer - I used it on numb toes and stiff feet - it works

Growing up just 6 miles from the official end of the Oregon trail, I have always had a keen respect for how difficult a journey it must have been. I know the terrain, and it's better here than in many other areas along the way. Considering how difficult the terrain is here now, and how much rougher it was then, with primitive technology... it's a feat of strength and determination to have come that far.

Actually, the native Americans were with the group that left and got stranded in the blizzard. Some in the group proposed that they kill and eat the Indians, but the Indians quickly and angrily ran away and did not get eaten. This is untrue, grunge

Willamette is pronounced : Will am it / dam it :)

The Comanche did not primarily view immigrants as trading opportunities! 😅

I could not imagine walking to California!! 😂🤣

Most pioneers did not walk. Read the diaries. It would have been physically impossible considering the number of miles they traveled each day. There are an overwhelming number of accounts of riding in the wagons and riding horses - yes, horses! The myth that many are perpetuating is that women walked most of the trail. They did not. They walked SOME of the trail but they rode most of the way tending children and infants, tending the sick or being sick,, sewing, reading, writing and even cooking. Someone should compile diary and journal accounts of approximate times recorded that they actually walked and time that they rode. I have read hundreds of diaries, own some, and surprised by the the vast amount of data that tells a different story than the one that has become politically correct.

Great documentary... Strange about the Milk Sickness, it totally makes senses that happened though.

Thank everyone who is commenting!!! So many interesting stories!!

Do some Arizona history ?

Keep it going

That's one of the reasons I didn't name my characters after family members. I have the newest edition of the game for Windows 10..

Very interesting topic and told very well, but the 50/50 ratio of video to ads was hard to get through. I mean, you gotta get paid and I believe you should, but every minute of play leading to a minute of ads makes it difficult to stay interested

Just got done playing the game Oregon trail and this video came up 👍

There was an occasional flip to a video game. A distraction from the subject of the video. Great history.

There are things folks should learn. We live on timelines like an onion. Layered time lines. So an example would be, you are on your phone watching this video meanwhile there is actually folks experiencing this in their 1800s timeline. As our soul traverses, things we see in our timeline that we are interested in, we when in our next life maybe cast. This is how through history...we had seers and great inventors. Our soul has been proven to never die, only our body. You may have a very difficult time in life now...but you are learning something. Then your next life, you help many others...and it could be in your next life, you are a part of these wagon trains with a piece of knowledge. Science today is discovering time lines at CERN, and they have documented truth of time travellars. Its along with this big step of AI.

you refer to a hunting game on a home computer ! In my young days there was NO SUCH thing ! NEVER had a computer in the 40's. but good video..

There’s a book by a couple of guys who recreated the trip in a period wagon as close to the same conditions as the pioneers, very interesting story. Not fun.

We now know, in regard to treating the boy with the crushed leg, leaving the maggots to eat away the decaying flesh would probably have been his best hope for survival. So whomever splinted and bound the leg in such a way as to let it become maggot infested, maybe was such a quack doctor after all.

Wagons in those days did not have tires, they had wooden wheels with an iron rim around the spoked wheel.

I was really looking forward to this video! However the music bed is up way too high! I didnt .ake it 2 minutes in 😢

I dont believe guns were a big problem like you say!

Sounds like an interesting time. Someone should make a video game about this

What shows did you use for source video? Or did you do all of these recreations?

the origan trail game I remember that it was on a floppy disk the black plastic that was more like paper

McDonalds would have made a fortune on the Oregon Trail.

I am from Gering Ne so I know some Landmarks along the Oregon Trail

Imagine now, in 2024, risking your life to get to Portland, Oregon?

This brings back so many memories. I used to take care of my great grandfather when he was a baby.

Maggots are not an uncommon way of minimising the development of gangrene in an open wound..

Pretty sure those wagons didn't have tires on them! Duh

This video has some accuracies but alot of inaccuracies as well. Travelling to Oregon or California around rhis rome was treacherous as abything oitside of Independence or Fort Laramie was unscathed terrain. Many individuals did die from diseases such as Dysentery, Cholera, Consumption (otherwise known as TB) and the Flu. There were VERY FEW Native American tribes that caused havoc for these pioneers, but there were some. The Paiute Tribe did successfully poison several herds of cattle with the Donner party. Other tribes often tried to barter or trade on the trail, or straigh up steal. This isn't to say there wasn't any fear of Navive Americans on the trail, but there were bigger concerns. The concept of hygeine, guns accidentally misfiring, and the amount of children dying on the trail just to name a few. Timing was everything for these individuals, and it was ill fated for some (like the Donner Party). The wagons often weighed significantly more than what their oxen could pull, so there was a great deal of walking, but only towards the end of the journey, when the parties probably emptied out much of their wagons to help ease the strain on their oxen. Individuals also rode on horseback as much as they could.

Whats that recent oregon trail movie they keep showing on here?

0:13 | what's the name of this movie with this clip in it?

The game Oregon Trail hadn't aged well? What does that even mean?

Those are wheels,Tires were 50 years later.

my uncle was one of the guys that performed gunfights when i was a kid i got to go almost everyday for about two weeks that place was so fun

Tires? I think not! Wheels, yes !

The best book ever about the journey is "WOMEN'S DIARY OF THE WESTERN JOURNEY". If the men said "we're going..." women were expected to go....pregnant or no. I nearly burned up my motor going up a hill so I could see the wwagon ruts. Amazing !

Many of the LDS church members kept diaries of crossing . One Scandinavian member lost a leg on the trail stated to other members grumbling about the handcart companies stated he would gladly pay the same price. One of my fondest memories of youth was sitting in sacrament meeting with my siblings and parents and singing come come yea saints,written about the hardships of the trail.

"They didn't use Conestoga wagons". Shows footage of them using Conestoga wagons...

Wagons do not have "tires". They do have wagon wheels, made of wood and metal, not inflatable rubber.

I had measles in the early 70s, great fun.

What movie is it that they keep showing clips from here?

The Indians did attack the settlers. As recorded it thousands of settlers diaries. Not saying wrong or right. But this rewriting of history hurts everyone including the Indians…. I’m sorry I meant First Nation people So you understand where I come from I am 54 years old descendent of the Navajo people (about 1/8th) but very proud My great grandfather on our Indian side often took captives from other tribes. Making the First Nation people the first slave traders

Covers made of HEMP canvas.

They weighed 1400 pounds and hauled 2500 pounds. Cool.

Parts of Oregon (north of the Colombia River) were British territory until the late 1840s when a treaty was signed with the US, following which Oregon became a part of the United States.

Ur looking exceptionally fit....have u been working out?

I never heard that Jim Bridger was the reason that the Donner party took that route. And I don't know that I believe it now.

Cast iron stoves?. Omg

My great grandmothe rode to wyoming with the wagons my momwas boren on theway there i knowquitea babout this subject from first hand account !😂

Oh, Interesting, I didn’t know the Donner party came through Weber canyon (pronounced Weeber) I live close to it.

cool. concise documation documentary. tha nks for sharing. it has increased my book of knowledge .

You could start you own store. Just take a empty cart and grab stuff thrown on the ride. Nice furniture things like that and take back where you came from and sell it. Woohoo it would be mostly profit if it was enough nice things.

that game is from 1971． best game ever❤

Right, Native Americans weren’t a threat and fear of them was hype, until it wasn’t..

Road trip to see the ruts and rock writing are 10 yr old daughter would of rather gone to Disney lol

9:35 sure it wasnt dysentery?

Can you offer these without the background music?

"Arduous" used twice in the first 80 seconds... Nice.

Wagon should have been designed with 8 wheels and twice the size with 16- 24 ox.

6:45 keep in mind that most of these tribes were essentially committing genocide on each other raiding villages, killing women, old people. kids and babies.

“…what do get cigarette buts, chewing gum wrappers…”

My Mom has an oxyn🎉 I was a caregiver for a lady she said the Indians would come over to her house trying to get coffee 😅

Also.there was the infamous slaughter by Mormons dressed as Indians who stole the little children of an entire wagon train.

Forrest Gump is my hero!