TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  About Your Adventure

  Chapter 1: Manifest Destiny

  Chapter 2: The Pioneers' Story

  Chapter 3: Working in the Wild West

  Chapter 4: The Warrior's Story

  Chapter 5: The End of the Wild West

  Timeline

  Other Paths to Explore

  Read More

  Internet Sites

  Glossary

  Bibliography

  Copyright

  Back Cover

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  ABOUT YOUR ADVENTURE

  YOU are living in America in the age of westward expansion. Settlers are pushing the border of the United States farther and farther west. Will you join them?

  In this book, you’ll explore how the choices people made meant the difference between life and death. The events you’ll experience happened to real people.

  Chapter One sets the scene. Then you choose which path to read. Follow the links at the bottom of each page as you read the stories. The decisions you make will change your outcome. After you finish one path, go back and read the others for new perspectives and more adventures. Use your device's back buttons or page navigation to jump back to your last choice.

  YOU CHOOSE the path you take through history.

  CHAPTER 1

  Manifest Destiny

  The West. The word sends a thrill through you. For some, the West is a place to search for gold and strike it rich. Others hunger for adventure in a wild and untamed place.

  It is the mid-1800s, and an idea called “Manifest Destiny” grips the country. That’s a big name for a big idea. Americans believe that the United States is meant to reach from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. And nothing, not even the American Indians who already live there, can or will get in their way.

  Americans felt it was their right to settle in the West, even though American Indians already lived there.

  It isn’t a new idea. Back in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase. This huge section of land stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. It doubled the size of the United States.

  Soon, Americans took their first steps to explore the West. They brought back tales of a wild, rich land filled with promises.

  Meanwhile, the U.S. population grew to more than 23 million people. Now, the East is crowded. Every day, Americans pack their wagons and move to the wide-open land of the West.

  Americans built towns and railroads as they moved west.

  But Americans aren’t the first people to live in the West. American Indians have lived there for hundreds of years. Now, they must share their hunting lands with white settlers. Except most settlers don’t seem interested in sharing. Instead, they are taking the land away from the Indian tribes. They expect the Indians to live closer together in smaller areas.

  Manifest Destiny affects everyone living during this time. Whether you join it or fight it, the shape of the United States is changing. Now is your chance to make your mark. What will you do?

  To travel west as a settler, press here.

  To get an exciting job in the West, press here.

  To fight for your land as a Lakota warrior, press here.

  CHAPTER 2

  The Pioneers' Story

  It is early March 1848. You and your family have sold everything but your clothes, a wagon, some oxen, and the cast-iron stove. You have said good-bye to your friends and neighbors. Mother and Father ride up front. You, your brother, and your sister climb into the wagon bed.

  You are leaving your small Ohio farm behind and going west. Father is excited about the free land in the unsettled West. Any married person can claim 640 acres for free in Oregon Country. That’s twice as much land as you own now, and no neighbors to crowd you!

  Families loaded as much as possible into their wagons before heading west.

  The three-week trip to Independence, Missouri, is an easy one. Independence is the “jumping off” place for most pioneers as they begin the long trip west. You’ve never seen such a busy town. You can barely think over the clatter of wagons and the shouts of hundreds of people rushing through the streets.

  You and Father go to one of the many stores in Independence to buy supplies. “I’ll need flour, bacon, coffee, sugar, and salt,” Father says to the man standing behind the long wooden counter. You leave the store with almost 1,000 pounds of food.

  Father parks the wagon outside town. Each day, more and more people arrive. The prairie is packed with pioneers and their wagons. Everyone is waiting for the grass to grow long enough for the animals to graze along the trail.

  In late April, the grass is long and green. You can finally head west! You load the wagon and climb in. Father cracks the whip, and you follow the wagon train onto the trail.

  The wagon is packed with food, the stove, and other supplies. The oxen plod slowly along as they pull the heavy load. You travel about 15 miles a day. It soon becomes clear that the wagon is too heavy. “It’s too much for the oxen,” Father says.

  Other families begin dumping extra supplies. But Mother worries about running out of food. “I don’t want my family to starve!” she cries.

  “We’ll still need to lighten the load somehow,” Father says.

  To offer to walk to lighten the load, press here.

  To get rid of some of your supplies, press here.

  You and your brother and sister get out of the wagon. “We can walk,” you offer. “There’s no need for the oxen to pull our weight too.”

  Father nods. “We’ll give that a try,” he says.

  Walking instead of riding in the wagon lessens the load, but it doesn’t solve the problem. The farther west you travel, the rockier the trail becomes. Father worries the heavy wagon won’t survive the rough road. The oxen are exhausted. “We could break a wheel or an axle,” Father says. “I’m sorry, but we need to dump something.”

  Wagon trains usually traveled single file along the Oregon Trail.

  We can buy more food when we get to the next fort,” you suggest. You throw out several pounds of bacon and flour. Father unloads the cast-iron stove. Mother cries as you leave it behind. Cast-off furniture and supplies litter the trail.

  You continue west, following the Platte River across the plains. The river is wide but shallow. The water is thick with mud. “It’s too thick to drink and too thin to plow,” Father says.

  Days fall into a pattern. Each morning, you eat breakfast, repack the wagon, and head out on the trail. After several hours, you stop for a lunch of cold beans and bacon before moving on. At suppertime, you stop and circle the wagons for the night. Your mother serves a hot meal of boiled rice with dried beef. After supper, you tell stories and sing songs around the campfire. You go to bed by 9:00 in the evening. Your bed is only a blanket on the hard ground, but you are too worn out to care.

  A few weeks later, you wake up and hear crying and moaning. Something isn’t right. You find Mother hunched over the breakfast fire. She looks pale and sick. “What is it?” you ask frantically.

  “Cholera,” she whispers. “Your brother and sister are sick too.”

  Cholera! There’s no cure for this disease. You run to find Father, who is talking to the other men in the wagon train. “My daughter Sally is sick too,” one man says. “We can’t just leave them.”

  “We have to. We need to move on,” another man says. “They may be dying,” he continues, “but if we wait for them to die, we’ll never make it to Oregon City before winter. Then we’ll all be dead.”

  “We’ll take the wagons ahead, and we’ll choose a watcher, someone to stay behind with the dying people. The watcher will see that everyone gets a proper burial,” suggests Sally’s father.

  Father nods slowly in agreement. Your heart sinks. You can’t leave your mother, brother, and sister behind. Maybe you should volunteer to be the watcher. But watching them die could be just as painful as leaving them behind. Either way, your heart is broken.

  To volunteer to stay behind, press here.

  To leave with the wagon train, press here.

  Father has the same idea. “I’ll stay with them,” you both say.

  The men nod. A young man offers to drive Father’s wagon. “The trail is so rough. You’ll be able to travel faster on foot,” he says.

  The healthy travelers bid tearful good-byes to their dying loved ones. They quietly board their wagons. Dust rises behind them as they drive away.

  Father begins the backbreaking task of digging graves. You stay with the sick to offer comfort. There’s nothing else you can do. Within hours, your brother and sister are dead. Mother and Sally die sometime in the night.

  Graves of pioneers who died along the trail can still be found today.

  The next morning, your head feels fuzzy, you’re thirsty, and you have terrible stomach cramps. Cholera!

  At least Father is still healthy. He waits with you, holding your hand. The sun rises, painting a glorious sunset across the prairie sky. Birds sing. You listen to their chirps as your life slowly fades away. Father will have to go west without you.

  To follow another path, press here.

  To read the conclusion, press here.

  Sally’s father steps forward. “I will stay,” he says.

  It feels like your heart is being torn from your chest, but you have no other choice. Your mother, brother, and sister would want you to keep going. Grimly, you and your father climb into the wagon and drive away.

  After a few days, Sally’s father catches up with the group. He tells you your mother, brother, and sister died in their sleep. He buried them and left stones as grave markers.

  Chimney Rock still stands in present-day Nebraska.

  The wagon train continues on at a good pace. In early June, you spot a tall column of rock standing in the distance. “Chimney Rock!” you shout. Three days later, you finally pass the landmark.

  Spring turns to summer, but you lose count of the days. Grief weighs you down like a heavy stone.

  People often climbed Independence Rock and carved their names into it.

  In early July, the wagon train stops for lunch by Independence Rock. It looks a bit like a giant turtle covering the flat prairie. You are relieved to reach the landmark by July 4. Any later, and you might not reach Oregon before winter.

  Beyond Independence Rock, you reach the South Pass, a flat plain about 20 miles wide. You cross river after river. Each day blends into the next.

  Fort Hall was an important supply stop for westward settlers.

  In early August, the wagon train arrives at Fort Hall just inside Oregon Territory. Hundreds of settlers pass through this large trading post every day. The wagon train decides to rest here for a few days. Father is restless, though. He wants to continue on without stopping. A few others agree with him. You’d like a rest, but you also want to get to Oregon City soon.

  To stop with the rest of the wagon train, press here.

  To continue on, press here.

  “It’s best to stay with the large group,” you say. Father agrees with you.

  The next day, you and Father talk to other men at the crowded trading post. “I’m telling you, California is the place to be,” one man says.

  “Gold everywhere! Why, I heard you can’t hardly walk down the street without kicking a nugget of gold,” another man says.

  “A bunch of us are going to California instead of Oregon. We’re going to be rich! You can join us if you like,” the first man says to Father.

  California! You can tell by the look on Father’s face that he is thinking about changing plans.

  To stick with your plan to go to Oregon, press here.

  To try California, press here.

  Father thinks for a while and shakes his head. “No, let’s keep going to Oregon City,” he says.

  You spend several days at Fort Hall. You stock up on supplies, repair wagons, and enjoy your first taste of Pacific salmon.

  In mid-August, the wagon train begins the last leg of the long trip. You follow the Snake River to Farewell Bend. After several days, you reach the Blue Mountains. The oxen struggle for days to pull the wagon over the steep, rocky hills.

  Nights grow colder as you near the Cascade Mountains. You worry that snow is on its way. But the weather holds, and in late September, you reach a green valley dotted with houses. Oregon City! You feel like crying with relief. You made it here alive.

  Press here.

  The lure of life in a warm place is enough for Father to change his mind. You’re going to California instead.

  The next day, you leave Fort Hall and head southwest. Soon, the wagon train arrives at a fork in the trail. One fork leads west, and the other leads south. A note is stuck to a stick between the two roads. Eagerly, you read the note aloud: “Go south for Lassen’s Cutoff. Good road.”

  A shortcut sounds great to you. But others don’t trust the note. There is talk that the way south is harsh and rugged. Which do you choose?

  To take Lassen’s Cutoff, press here.

  To take the longer, more common route, press here.

  You follow Lassen’s Cutoff. For a week, the trail is easy. Then the trail suddenly ends at the top of a hill. A deep, thick forest stretches as far as you can see.

  “If Lassen made it through, so can we,” Father says. Cutting a road through the forest is a struggle. Some days, you work 10 hours to cut only 1 mile of trail.

  Almost three weeks later, you emerge from the forest, cursing the “shortcut” that cost you so much time. It’s the beginning of October. You hope to cross the Sierra Nevada mountain range before the first snow, but you’ll have to travel quickly.

  The next weeks are a blur of hunger and endless days. The weather grows colder. Then one day, you see the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The brand-new town of Sacramento is on the other side. Your new life awaits you!

  The night before you begin your crossing, it begins to snow. In the morning, there are several feet of snow on the ground.

  To stay here, make a camp, and hope you survive the winter, press here.

  To try to get over the mountain before the next snowstorm, press here.

  It’s clear that you’re never going to make it over the mountain before winter hits. The people in the wagon train build makeshift cabins to wait out the winter.

  One by one, Father butchers the oxen, but it’s still not enough. You eat shoe leather, bark, twigs, and leaves — anything to keep you alive. Somehow, you and Father manage to survive the winter. Almost everyone else starves or freezes to death.

  In early spring, a rescue party arrives at your camp. One by one, they gather the few survivors and lead you out of the mountains. You weep with joy and relief. Your terrible ordeal is over. Soon, you reach Sutter’s Fort.

  Press here.

  Settlers used three small islands as stepping stones to cross the Snake River.

  You leave Fort Hall the next day. You follow the Snake River, passing American Falls, Shoshone Falls, and Twin Falls. Two weeks later, you reach Three Island Crossing. You don’t have to cross here. But this side of the river is dry and bare. Across the river, the valley is lush and green. Crossing the river is risky. Some people say it is the most dangerous river crossing of the whole trip. What choice will you make?

  To not cross the river, press here.

  To cross the river, press here.

  “Let’s stay to the south,” Father says.

  In late August, you enter the Blue Mountains. The nights are chilly. Snow will be falling soon. You are glad you didn’t waste any time at Fort Hall.

  The Barlow Road cut through thick forests and steep hills to go around Mount Hood.

  Finally, you reach Barlow Road. For a $5 toll, you take the road around Mount Hood and into the Willamette Valley. Beyond the valley is Oregon City.

  Press here.

  “Let’s play it safe and take the common route,” you suggest. Everyone agrees.

  The wagon train pushes west toward California. You must make it over the Sierra Nevada mountain range before the first snowfall. You begin to cross the mountains in early November.

  You make it through the mountains and into California just in time. You look back and see a blizzard brewing. You wonder what would have happened if you had gotten stuck in that terrible storm.

  You and Father go directly to Sutter’s Fort near the American River.

  Press here.

  To stay here, make a camp, and hope you survive the winter.

  To take the longer, more common route.

  You and Father spend two weeks at Sutter’s Fort. You’ve never seen such a place. Everywhere you look, you see mud and dirty men with pickaxes and shovels.

 

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