This resource is an excerpt from the memoirs of David Arthur of his traveling to Oregon by wagon train with his parents. It was originally published in an Oregon newspaper in 1889.

Click through eighteen pages of information about food and cooking as it was experienced by people traveling by wagon train to Utah, and as they began to settle into homesteads and communities. This site began as part of the 1997...

"The Difficult Journey" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about the hardships of a family of early settlers moving West in a wagon train. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence...

"Traveling West" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the difficult journey west for pioneers traveling in wagon trains and how the railroad made traveling west much easier and faster. It is followed by questions which...

"The Difficult Journey" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about the hardships of a family moving west in a wagon train. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the story;...

This resource provides first-hand accounts and background information on the Old West. Content touches on crossing the plains, cowboys, train robberies, Dalton Gang's Last Raid, Custer's Last Stand, the Death of Billy the Kid, and much...

In this lesson quantitative skills in geologic context are reinforced. Students create a spreadsheet to calculate the distance of a peak using vertical angles sighted from a wagon train heading directly for the peak. The spreadsheet also...

"Traveling West" is a one page, nonfiction passage about pioneers traveling west in wagon trains. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes underlining the most important...

"Pioneer Families" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about pioneers who traveled west in wagon trains, the hardships they faced, and how they worked together to build communities. It is followed by questions which require...

Find a map of the Oregon Trail and California Trail and click Historical Trails tab to discover the hardships and daily grind of traveling on the Oregon Trail.

Read about the settling of Oregon country and how westward expansion prompted Congress to make it a territory.

A series of lessons utilizing primary texts, including narratives, photographs, and maps, through which students explore the following question: "What motivated thousands of people to journey west during the 1800s?"

This CalGoldRush.com site is an article that discusses where people came from, as well as the number of people involved in the California gold rush. The article focuses on the massive migration to California.

What does "Dakota mean" in French? What tribe did Sacajawea belong to? The Library of Congress's America's Story has answers and more about the state of North Dakota.

This site written by teachers provides lesson ideas and links to a number of topics related to the Oregon Trail.

This is the accompanying website for the popular PBS reality show, The Frontier House. Includes historical essays, quotations, and illustrations. Reading level suitable for upper elementary and middle school.

Joseph Reddeford Walker mapped this pass in 1834 after learning of it from Native Americans. He then led the first immigrant wagon train through it in 1846. This pass significantly contributed to the development of California.