Westward to Home, Joshua’s Diary, the Oregon Trail, 1848

In the 1840s, poverty encouraged farmers to pack their families and all their belongings into covered wagons and move west, following the 2,000-mile Oregon Trail. The huge cross-country drive meant dangerous traveling from four to six months on the trail — and living a life that few families had experienced before. In addition to the steep mountains and huge distance to travel, settlers faced Indian attacks, cholera epidemics, grass fires, storms, and floods. Many people never even made it to the end of the trail. Despite the extremely difficult journey, people still wanted to move west. Every year more settlers followed the Oregon Trail. By the end of the Civil War in 1865, more than 300,000 people had braved the journey and followed the Oregon Trail to settle in the far west.

Meet Joshua McCullough

Joshua McCullough kept a diary of his family’s cross-country adventure on the Oregon Trail. Experience with him life on the six-month journey!

Before setting off on the trail, Josh described their wagon house.

There are hoops to hold a cover. Pa oiled the cover to make it waterproof. Inside are two chairs. There’s a table and a rug. There’s even a picture of Grandma on the table. It’s like a tiny parlor. In the middle of it is Becky’s washtub bed.

Around it are crammed barrels of dried meat and flour and coffee. There’s bedding to make pallets to sleep on and spare parts for the wagon. There are Pa’s rifles and Ma’s wedding trunk. There’s a tent for us to sleep in.

Pa built a cupboard on the side of the wagon. It holds pots and plates and Ma’s medicines.

He also expressed some of his family’s fears on April 6th.

Pa worries that we’re waiting too long. If we delay, we won’t make it to Oregon before winter. It’s going to take us six whole months.

People tell about one wagon train, the Donner train going to California. They got lost in the mountains and had to stop for the winter. Some people froze to death and some starved to death. To survive, the cooked and ate their dog, and worse.

Charlie grinned at Buster. He said, “I bet dogs taste good.”

I held Buster close. I said, “Don’t listen, Buster. He’s just trying to scare you.”