The Oregon Trail: Dreams, Disaster, and Conquering the West

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Credits:
Host - Simon Whistler
Author - Morris M.
Producer - Jennifer Da Silva
Executive Producer - Shell Harris
Business inquiries to [e-mail]
Source/Further reading:
Extremely detailed overview of the Trail: www.historynet.com/oregon-trail
History’s take: www.history.com/topics/westwa...
The Great Emigration Begins: www.history.com/this-day-in-h...
Britannica: www.britannica.com/topic/Oreg...
History and culture (via the National Park Service):www.nps.gov/oreg/learn/histor...
The Donner Party: www.nationalgeographic.com/ne...
Oregon Treaty: history.state.gov/milestones/...
www.nwcouncil.org/reports/col...
Manifest Destiny: www.history.com/topics/westwa...
Law and order on the trail: www.legendsofamerica.com/crim...
California genocide: www.history.com/news/californ...
Recreating the trail in 2015: www.nationalgeographic.com/ne...

[@timpoolssentientbeanie5646]

“You have died of dysentery. What do you want on your tombstone?” Pepperoni and sausage 🍕

[@garrettallen7427]

Delicious...

[@AdmiralJT]

Mmmm some good pizza

[@cuttwice3905]

It's still a 💩y situation.

[@LeeryMuscrat]

NGL, Tombstone is some of the best cheap pizza of all time.

[@acefreak9561]

73 pounds of bison meat

[@PingMe23]

Missed opportunity for alliteration in the title: "The Oregon Trail: Dreams, Disaster and Dysentery"

[@ernestgrouns8710]

Only took about 5 seconds to stumble onto the first dysentery comment, you win!! LOL

[@jordanoneill]

Stephen Horrocks I thought the same thing!

[@JohnWhite-gd4tx]

I support that title with a backup of "The Oregon Trail: Dreams, Disaster, and Death by Dysentery."

[@robgould9313]

Just like that crappy old PC game I loved as a kid.

[@--enyo--]

Also Dashlane for his business daddy.

[@OG_Wakanobi]

I grew up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. My High School friend still had his Great-Great-Grandmother's trunk carried the whole way. They left their piano on the prairie to keep it. BTW, Oregon is absolutely an Eden-like Paradise.

[@newb431]

Egh… I’d debate Eden-like

[@FYMASMD]

@@newb431it’s a big state. Every state has crap areas. Most places aren’t.

[@littlearsehole75]

My mom's ancestors were on the second wagon train West. They settled a valley in Southern Oregon that still bears their name; Rice Valley. Cheers from Portland.

[@ffrreeddyy123456]

littlearsehole75 cheers! Stay healthy

[@syyndev2161]

cool, who owns the property now?

[@Simonsvids]

Interesting. The surname Rice derives from the Welsh 'Ap Rhys' - Pryce - Ryce - Rice. Greetings from Wales :) It means 'son of Rhys'.

[@littlearsehole75]

@@planetbroccoli5405 Her family history is well documented. Literal books of it.

[@littlearsehole75]

@@syyndev2161 The Rice family is still there.

[@RobDucharme]

I live on the Canadian prairies in the year 2020. I look at our winters and I can't even begin to imagine how brutal it must have been to not have modern amenities like a warm car or heated home. Those people were hardcore (not that they knew it at the time).

[@acefreak9561]

Pretty sure their 11 year olds would kick my ass

[@jinglebells3323]

their not hard core most people are just useless and whiney and these days

[@jmjedi923]

i don't they traveled during the winter at least not by choice

[@kylegreene1356]

@@jinglebells3323 Learn to spell, and differentiate the use of basic words before writing in English, please.

[@rnedlo9909]

Hardcord to them was an ironwood tree axle . . . .

[@Restilia_ch]

Had an Oregon Trail game in my 4th grade class when we were learning about it. Basically played like a board game over a period of weeks. When my group got our settlers to the Rocky Mountains, winter was looming and we were told to either try and cross or wait it out on the East side of the pass. I asked the teacher if we could try sending the men across, leaving the women and children behind to cross in spring. Got approved and it worked out great! Come spring the men had supplies and a rest stop built on the far side and the women and children made it to it safely.

[@phantomechelon3628]

You would have been a good pioneer! 👍

[@viridiscoyote7038]

Growing up in East Oregon, it was always entertaining bringing out of town guests to see the Oregon Trail because they always have this idea of historical preservation grandeur. It inevitably leads to the disappointment of seeing a slight ditch stretching across an alfalfa field.

[@brawndothethirstmutilator9848]

Lol! Accurate. I grew up near the “End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center”.

[@youngrevival9715]

So literally is not that big? Do things cross it like roads is anything preserved? I’d like to see one day

[@viridiscoyote7038]

@@youngrevival9715 Honestly, the main tracks aren't terribly prominent whatsoever. It was a bunch of wagons rolling across the same patch of land and leaving some dents. In the flatter regions they can farm, there will be some markers denoting its existence. If you go out into the rougher and hillier regions, the wagon ruts are more likely to still exist because it's harder to get a plow through. Since the wagon trains went through the most passable terrain, it ends up being the same terrain used by modern folks; in a way it is living history. If you happen to find yourself in Eastern Oregon, I'd recommend seeking out Well's Spring and Fourmile Canyon. They aren't terribly prominent, but serve as permanent reminders of the dry wilderness the settlers faced when they within reach of the Willamette Valley.

[@youngrevival9715]

@@viridiscoyote7038 very cool. Thanks

[@DanMaker]

The trail at least many parts of it, are not "long gone" you can now drive much of it, it is identified with historical markers and every year people even walk and drive wagons over parts of it. In years with particular historical significance, large groups participate in reenacting the trek, or parts of it. Thanks for covering this piece of geography and history.

[@Erinya558]

I would actually love an RDR2 like remake of Oregon Trail, you could include all the classic features like hunting, river crossings, diseases, etc... all upgraded to modern gameplay and graphics. You could also add a whole bunch of other historical details during the journey like negotiating with/fighting off Native tribes. I’d definitely play that :P

[@TheSenorpierre]

I suggest the show 1883 then.

[@NikkyElso]

I Read this as R2D2 lol

[@jamesfracasse8178]

​​@@TheSenorpierre 1883? Would not the iron horse 🐴🐎 have made journeying West more safe and faster than covered wagon trails by that point in the history of migrating?

[@deinonychusben]

Hell to the yeah.

[@aceundead4750]

​@@jamesfracasse8178 not really, because the railroads didnt go to all portions of the country at the time so they'd still end up having to trek many extremely dangerous miles after departing the train if they could even afford a train ticket. The main saving grace in 1883 would be the fact that the wild west was nearly not so wild having towns popping up to take advantage of people traveling west and around mines, thus having places to stop and resupply/rest.

[@nemeceka]

I'm sitting in Portland, Oregon, watching this and thinking of my great-great-great-grandmother, who walked behind a wagon all the way to Oregon as a child. Without that track, I wouldn't exist. The people whose lives had to crossed in order to create me would not have met without that trail.

[@peepaw_of_9]

Im sure you would have existed without the trail. She would have settled elsewhere.

[@user-ok8yq6nc6x]

​@@peepaw_of_9 Her great-great-great-grandmother wouldn't have met and had children with her great-great-great-grandfather

[@tisjester]

@@user-ok8yq6nc6x Sure they would have.. It would have just been a possibly different great-great-great-grandfather.

[@user-ok8yq6nc6x]

@TisJester PG No. You can't have a different great great great grandfather and still be the same person, that's not how genetics work.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Simon: Oregon Trail Me: dysentery flashbacks

[@boomwave2]

"Fart has a snakebite." "Fart has died."

[@rwdplz1]

While driving from Michigan to California, I had just entered the mountains and what appeared to be a snow storm when I had a car problem. I pulled over at the next exit/gas station, and my stomach sank when I read the street sign: *DONNER PASS RD*

[@PurelyJimbo]

I beat the PC game...take a break, Simon- I GOT THIS ONE.

[@kobra6660]

That game was unfair

[@adakahless]

@@kobra6660 it was supposed to be unfair and unbeatable with all your family in tow.

[@KillsAll.]

I was only 7 when that game was new and kept dying of m’n’f’n dysentery WTF?!?

[@cheesyc4614]

You ledgend

[@blakejacobs5703]

I never played the original but got to play Oregon Trail 2, the sequel growing up. Interestingly enough, I was able to beat it once I understood more about needed supplies and managing food from Boy Scouts (and that I stopped using all my ammo at the first buffalo stampede. Nothing like shooting 836 pounds of meat only to be able to carry back 73!)

[@Christopher-N]

_The Organ Trail:_ When the westward journey is less about golden fields, and more about chainsaw windows, fighting though zombie hordes, and keeping LaserFrog from ruining all the mufflers.

[@CannaCJ]

Joke's on him, I ruined mine already.

[@PrezVeto]

I think I walked out of that movie once 😆

[@mv7647]

"It was the greatest migration the continent had ever seen" The not-yet-nearly-extinct American bison: "Excuse me?"

[@YeeSoest]

Such a Speciesist...is that the word?

[@Evo1313]

Wasn't there also a trail that involved crying Indians? I think they were crying cause they also got dysentery, but no access to the strong Charmin that the whities had up in Oregon.

[@alexreifschneider6709]

@@Evo1313 tail of tears, If I remember right Oklahoma to Az.

[@vickigranacher3357]

@@alexreifschneider6709 no, the Trail of Tears was from the eastern states (NC, GA, etc) to OK consisting of the Cherokee Indians.

[@evanulven8249]

The native tribes that relied on those bison and considered the land theirs by right of being there first: "U wot, mate?"

[@laura7anne]

I never made it, always got dysentery.

[@iciajay6891]

Dysentery! Dysentery for everyone! I remember in middle school in 1998, To this day, that game is the hardest I have ever played.

[@KaladinVegapunk]

Haha yeah, we had it on the school computers back when I was a kid Snakebites, dysentery, fording the river The mega 64 parody video is great, trying to barter bacon to a swap meet guy and dying of smallpox

[@laura7anne]

@@KaladinVegapunk we had it on school computers too. I always remember an impending sense of doom when booting it up.

[@theloseph]

Never left, still Independence MO.

[@safehouse432]

The oregon trail game or as I called it the inspiration of dark souls.

[@leskobrandon6950]

I love the story of the Oregon trail. I live on the eastern Oregon side of the trail. There are markers with stories of people settling where our parks are. We are right before the blue mountains. I couldn't imagine crossing those on foot in a wagon. Amazing what people can do when they set their mind to survive and live free.

[@cwj9202]

I live close to the Applegate Trail that crosses the Warner Mountains (CA) and which is one portion of the overall Oregon trails. It is astonishing the effort the pioneers exercised getting the wagons over the eastern side of Fandango Pass.

[@benpurcell4935]

A part of the Old Oregon Trail ran through my hometown in Illinois.

[@karlbergen6826]

Good Video. Some of my Great Grandparents used that trail. One man and his wife come from Aalborg Denmark. He landed not in New York but rather New Orleans. He come up the Mississippi River to the Oregon/California/Utah.trail and ended up in Utah. Others of my ancestors also used the trail.

[@chancefort576]

The trail of tears would be a great video.

[@s.l.wymansrockinwriting6633]

Yes!!! Simon needs to make that happen!

[@113dmg9]

I don't think anyone had a movie camera back then. Baha ha ha ha

[@katrabbit]

They've done a couple I believe.

[@shanesmith2491]

Seconded

[@Lady_Chalk]

Oh jesus

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:35 - Chapter 1 - Heading west 5:35 - Chapter 2 - Oregon fever 8:50 - Chapter 3 - Westward ho ! 12:10 - Mid roll ads 13:15 - Chapter 4 - A day in the life 16:55 - Chapter 5 - Death & disaster 20:05 - Chapter 6 - The trail of dreams

[@yung_sirloin]

Being from Oregon, I remember doing a whole class unit on it. We had families/groups and once a week would meet up to make progress on our journey No one made it all the way

[@sahpem4425]

Hobo Ha! Oregonian here. With all of the Oregon Trail games always ending in disaster and death, it’s a wonder our ancestors even made it here. 😂

[@redchic]

The trail goes through my sister and brother-in-laws ranch in eastern Oregon, it's hard not to think of these stories of incredible hardship and death through desert, hellish terrain, and severe weather every time I see it when visiting there. My sister said it took her a couple of years of going by it daily to be able to 'tune it out'. Although it is amazing to still be able to see the wagon ruts after all these years.

[@antoniovillanueva308]

Guernsey Wyoming, is where those wagon wheel ruts are. The place where all the settlers carved their names is only a couple of miles away. It was cool. Nice little town.

[@Azivegu]

So, so many wagon wheels. You will be remembered.

[@michaelhatling1453]

There's a street here in Phoenix named WagonWheel. Yup...each home has an actual wagon wheel near street...usually by the malbox.

[@MastinoNapoletano420]

Serious Simon is like a college professor, Business Blaze Simon is your mate that likes to talk but he isn't annoying :)

[@muchsweg3972]

Hey shout out Eugene Oregon, we appreciate you !

[@littlearsehole75]

Hi!

[@hannahskipper2764]

I'm glad to know that most of the settlers made it through all the way! I never made it when I played Oregon Trail so I wondered how California got to being so populated.

[@brawndothethirstmutilator9848]

“You have died of dysentery” 💀 💩

[@hannahskipper2764]

@@brawndothethirstmutilator9848 🤣🤣

[@sahpem4425]

Hello from Oregon! As a girl, I loved the history of the Oregon Trail. My mom even hand sewed at least two pioneer costumes for me. I still really love 19th century history.

[@theloseph]

I live in Independence MO. I like road trips. Let's meet at the half way point :p lol

[@jaredkennedy6576]

One of the main branches of the Oregon Trail is just a few miles north of me. There's a grave of an unknown person up on a bluff overlooking the Snake River, it is a bit of a reminder of the hazards that people took to make this trek. I guess death was a bit more common in people's experiences back then as well. I can't imagine people now having to bury a family member in the middle of nowhere and then continue on with their journey.

[@applejuice9468]

:(

[@LtColShingSides]

Darn it I died of dysentery. Hate when that happens

[@mikemaricle9941]

A real gut wrenching ordiel.

[@murkinstock]

He said Oregon! I live there! Daddy has basically acknowledged my existence!

[@soulfullginger88]

Nice to see great uncle Zeb getting a shout out in the beginning!

[@fredlougee2807]

Really peaked the interest.

[@BrianaMichelleMeyer]

I have never been so early! Anyway time to learn about dysentery.

[@iciajay6891]

Who dose not want to learn about dysentery!

[@ronnyfuentes709]

U poop till u die, especially with something like cholera, the bacteria creates toxins that damage the water retention and absorption cells in the small intestine, so water just pours into the small intestine causing severe diarrhea that can quickly lead to death by dehydration

[@KermitFrazierdotcom]

@@ronnyfuentes709 ☆ Go On... Eager for more Details.

[@jakeybby8527]

Turn on notifications

[@poorpauly1308]

My 3rd Great Grandma came out on the Oregon Trail. I still have the family Bible that made the trip. There was a smaller group of wagons ahead of them and another small group behind them that were both attacked by Natives. When you think about it it really was not that long ago.

[@magpie1504]

I have officially become addicted to this channel. Why do I enjoy learning about so much despair and death??

[@alexv6324]

Lol, thank you for not butchering, "Oregon" and "Willamette."

[@fatdaddyeddiejr]

I said the very same thing.

[@goldsmith1210]

Word

[@kevintemple245]

Indeed.

[@amandabricker3059]

Exactly. 😅

[@gaberomero1740]

I thought it was pretty good considering he’s British. There are plenty of Americans that mess them up worse

[@jayray2761]

The Trail of Tears would be a good video.

[@liamwinter4512]

Is it not?

[@davebeecher6579]

Yes yes yes from East Tennessee,if they tell the truth, thanks 😊

[@taylorwayland7064]

A hell of a story. My dad (step dad as I found out later) told me about the trail of tears when I was a kid. A horrible tragedy

[@nicholascorbett1256]

I have to say this man. I've been absolutely hooked! I have a hunger for more knowledge of history an geography. From your top tenz to today I found out. I absolutely love your content. Ive nearly watched all your videos from all your channels. The way you engage with your audience is nothing to just look over. You do an amazing job, an I look forward to seeing more of your work. Even business blaze, an mega projects are a must watch for me! You an your team do a phenomenal job! An to me this is definitely not a job (however there is much work involved) but an experience if you will! Keep up the great work!

[@peepaw_of_9]

Geography now is a great channel you might want to check out then. They cover every single country.

[@zonk3835]

Thanks Simon for pronouncing Oregon right... “Or-eh-gun”

[@shaunanelson2587]

And Willamette! That’s a tough one.

[@spacecatandthekittens1954]

I was also happily surprised he got Willamette correct!

[@dylanmccallister1888]

Idk I always did the gun a gen I was born in Sandy Or like orehgn idek what sound I put there between the g and n it's short

[@michaelb1761]

@@shaunanelson2587 That shocked me.

[@rafetizer]

Aragorn and the WillyMayes valley.

[@TheRiehlThing42]

Grew up in Walla Walla, near Whitman Mission, where Marcus and Narcissa Whitman lived, and where they were killed during the Whitman Massacre. My family came across on the Oregon Trail and founded Moscow Idaho and Weston Oregon. The family donated their diaries a couple decades ago.

[@angeloaksan7696]

i want a new version of The Oregon Trail that game was awesome

[@adakahless]

I vote for an open world sandbox. Red Dead Redemption 2 was close...

[@familywilliams4058]

They made an Oregon Trail card game.

[@rikijett310]

I walked a short part of the Oregon Trail. It's so cool seeing the wagon wheel carvings in the rocks and the old graffiti. It was sort of a spiritual experience just being there.

[@aMulliganStew]

As a land surveyor in western Wyoming, I regularly worked on/beside it.

[@LordMcKrakenVonLittleBits]

We moved from Maryland to Washington State. That trip gave me a new respect for people that traveled to the Pacific Northwest way back when. I never realized how insanely diverse and suddenly changing a trip like that becomes. Back in the horse and buggy days some of what we encountered would have doomed us. It took us 4 days in the middle of January to make it. That trip used to take months of back breaking work and losing a few along the way.

[@baclamom]

I can walk to where the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails started. In fact Santacalagon days is celebrated in Independence, Mo every Labor Day weekend(Friday-Monday).

[@lovelessissimo]

This Geographics is done so well, I got cholera.

[@familywilliams4058]

THANK YOU for pronouncing Oregon and Willamette correctly.

[@mugendono23]

I know right. lol

[@tubplunger]

I remember when I was learning about the Oregon Trail in elementary school that my teacher had the class play a giant boardgame about it. We were all divided into little caravans and sent through a gameboard of the Oregon Trail. I can't remember much of it now, but my caravan ended up with the most children at the end with fourteen of them. The one I remember the most of these fourteen children was an Andre the Giant of a baby that managed to fall out of the wagon and loose a leg to one of the wagon wheels. Still survived the trip despite that.

[@bmartin2304]

Now there's some childhood computer lab memories, lol!

[@murdelabop]

The Oregon Trail, and the westward migration overland, created political and ideological divisions which persist to this day. Colin Woodard explained this in his book, American Nations. The wealthy easterners who could afford to do so went by ship around Cape Horn, and established the nation Woodard labeled "The Left Coast". The people who traveled the Oregon Trail overland established the nation Woodard labeled The Far West. These divisions can be seen today in the liberal politics of the west coast, and the conservative politics that dominate inland North America.

[@kate2create738]

That explains a whole lot!

[@upperleftcoastchelseafan7718]

And I'm one of those micro-brew drinking, soccer loving, legal weed smoking, coffee fiend liberals! Biden 2020 (thank god).

[@bannanachops]

@@upperleftcoastchelseafan7718 Sounds fairly European. :)

[@dealspeed6756]

@@upperleftcoastchelseafan7718 GO AWAY

[@christianwestling2019]

@@upperleftcoastchelseafan7718 Good luck having a micro-brewery surviving the taxes imposed by the Green New Deal!

[@slickstretch6391]

Why would you ever want to be known as "Montgomery Pike" when you have a first name like Zebulon.

[@annescholey6546]

Blazing Saddles we weren't allowed in the circle so we formed out own circle😂

[@BenRiddick07]

They darker than us!

[@skwervin1]

Mathew, Mark, Luke and Duck!

[@Fakeaorta]

@108johnny Yea! No one is finishing that line!

[@Wppk765]

“They said you were hung!”

[@goober5713]

Where the white woman at?

[@StormHeflin]

There's something great about how the wagon wheel indents can still be seen. It's a semi-permanent mark left by the people who paved the way to what we now have as a country. I just wish everyone could see the beauty of human triumph and look forward to achieve greatness. Some would say I romanticize human progression, but god damn isn't it the most beautiful thing?

[@ryanroberts1104]

I want to congratulate you for pronouncing both "Oregon" and "Willamette Valley" perfectly correct. This is where I am from and you would not believe how many Americans cannot say those words correctly to save their life!

[@macwright3925]

Who cares 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@stanleyhipkiss4690]

Of course he says it correctly its a word spoken in english, and he is english we unlike the americans understand how certain placements of certain letters in a word should be said because its our language you guys adopted it 🤦‍♂️🤣

[@ryanroberts1104]

@@stanleyhipkiss4690 LOL! What a stupid thing to say. Those words are literally not english, they are native American names. Nothing remotely british about it. What a moron!

[@stanleyhipkiss4690]

@@ryanroberts1104 considering its origin is not known and is widley believed to be taken from the french canadian word ouragan meaning storm or hurricane but translated into english id say your the idiot

[@ryanroberts1104]

@@stanleyhipkiss4690 "because its our language you guys adopted it" You're stupid. There is no other way to say it, you are just entirely, 110% incorrect.

[@barrywerdell2614]

The other reason they walked rather rode in the wagons was that it saved the strength of the Oxen, you know 300 lbs less two humans might mean a few more miles out of the oxen,

[@tamlandipper29]

What blows my mind is how much the oxen eat. I forget the stats, but I think if you go only a few tens of miles then the oxen eat everything they've carried. It's why so many colonial military expeditions moved so slowly

[@TheFrogInYourClosetWatchingYou]

@@tamlandipper29 that's why its crazy to me that people were still taking the trail after trains were mainstream... How is that economical at all

[@mybackhurts7020]

This is really cool some of my family probably took the Oregon Trail I could probably find out who but I’d have to talk to the Mormon half of my family I don’t wanna

[@davidwalters6814]

An episode on, basically, my father's family story. T.C. Davis and Samuel T. Walters are 2 of the colorful people I am descended from. Now I live in the part of Canada that was in the map correction that made Point Roberts, USA and where I live in Surrey part of Canada.

[@Kenkire]

From an Oregonian, thank you for pronouncing Oregon and Willamette correctly.

[@jeffreyfunk3514]

I had to like and share this one as I'm from Independence, Missouri. The Oregon Trail is a big important part of our history.

[@davidscott7005]

Last summer I took my 87 year old uncle from California to see the wagon wheel ruts at Minor Park KCMO. He liked seeing it.

[@Finallybianca]

I am from Central Nebraska so I feel you on being a big part of our history

[@Parasiteve]

measles, dysentery and those ox and that gear lost fording the river. i love that game

[@jenniferlee1993]

Zebulon..what an epic name!

[@blakerauch1716]

He said Oregon and Willamette correctly!

[@Duececoupe]

The last time I was this late, the good ol' US of A was a colony! 😉😏😆😂

[@pharmjust]

I’m hooked on these episodes. I can’t seem to get enough of the random, yet insightful information in addition to your amazing quips. Very well done!

[@gabrielhowardMKE]

As an American I am fairly knowledgeable about the Oregon trail but Simon yet again has taught me things I was not aware of.

[@rvaughan1523]

Hi Simon! I’m a big fan of yours and all e channels you do narrations for! Just wanted to say, as someone who was born and raised in the Columbia River Gorge (Hood River, Oregon to be exact), I liked seeing the picture your team posted at the 7:43 mark! The Gorge is beautiful and full of history! Thanks for covering the Oregon Trail! I learned some new things! Keep up the great work guys!

[@ascensionindustries9631]

Imagine going out west then and being some of the first to see tornados.

[@wolfcat1998]

*screams in settler*

[@MentoringGrowingLeaders]

I'm a native Oregonian. ( Living in Cambodian now) Its a beautiful state! I miss the beautiful nature alot. Thank you for pronouncing the name properly! 😊😍

[@BrewersPackers]

Fantastic video, as always. I thought I knew a lot about the Oregon Trail, but this gave me plenty more to store in my "vault." I'd love to see another trail tackled by this channel. The Appalachian Trail.

[@nibblitman]

Ah The old Oregon trail game one of the most universally know things to come out of Minnesota. Good ol’ MECC games

[@EvolvementEras]

Only Simon would use Kilometers to describe distance in one of only three nation which uses customary units! lol As an American I had to google 3,200 Km being 1998 miles! lol but according to Wikipedia the Oregon Trail was closer to 2,170 miles or almost 3,500 Km :)

[@resileaf9501]

I suppose the exact distance depends on which exact path you take.

[@amadeusamwater]

The distance depends on where you start counting from. The distance from St. Louis is farther than from Independence or St. Joseph.

[@nikonite222]

[@davidhughes1284]

Thanks Simon and all the others involved in these videos. I look forward to every upload for this and all the channels simon host.....which is a lot.

[@Absaroka]

I live next to the Oregon trail in Wyoming. I love traveling it to see if I can find hits of the past.

[@BornDead616]

I'd love to see a video on Wounded knee, Simon. Thank you for your content, it is entertaining across all channels.

[@shaggybreeks]

Much of the Oregon Trail has been improved into modern roads. I live about a 5 minute walk from a segment of it that's now a street. When I was a kid, you could see it in places where it crossed the main road. Actually, it was very wide in places, as wide as possible, so that the wagons could spread out and not eat one another's dust. I imagine it's still possible to find artifacts along the route in places.

[@augsdoggs]

“For better and for worse”. The right sentiment and subtle, but very effective, word replacement chosen to describe the historical effects of the topic and to close out the episode.

[@eduardohierro6086]

Hardest working man on the Internet! 🔥

[@9mardigras]

I would love more information on the Santa Fe Trail also, it's older and information on who went, how and why is pretty difficult.

[@ryanhamstra49]

Speaking of the whole 49th parallel, look up Point Robert’s Washington. It’s a section of Washington that isn’t an island that you can’t drive to without going into Canada.

[@Evo1313]

I'm 42 and I remember being the first one to play Oregon trail in my elementary school by winning a book reading contest. The only computer in the school was in the library and it was huge and most letters were green. I just remember it looking sooo advanced. U could also play hangman, tic tac toe, and a pong type game. All were on these big floppy disks. For Oregon trail my first try was with the banker cause he started out with the most money to buy goods at the Outpost. It eventually ended with dysentery which I pictured as being explosive diarrhea. Ahh, the good days. Now here I am trying to get on the dark interwebs.

[@s.l.wymansrockinwriting6633]

Great video! Well done as always. Thank you for mentioning the slaughter of the buffalo. Such a tragedy.

[@bruns.like.spoons9251]

GREAT choice for a Geographics.

[@JS-wc4xs]

Very informative, thank you so much for making this video!

[@thomaslarson459]

I actually grew up in those misty blue mountains. Its nice to hear a shout out to my homeland.

[@kreiner1]

A lot of people try to understand why us Americans are the way we are. Simon I think you hit the nail on the head, we will not turn back even if it kills us.

[@SirAsdf]

2:44 Imagine looking upon your newborn baby boy, thinking of all the things he's going to accomplish in life, so you go out of your way to give him the most spectacular name in the history of mankind ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE Sounds like the name of a Starship Captain who's so smug that even James T Kirk wants to punch him in the face

[@gespalder]

A few more trails to add: Shawnee, Dodge City (Western), California, Goodnight (and Goodnight Loving), Handers, Virginia City, Badlands, Deadwood, Green River, Old Spanish and Cheyenne

[@Kaseyberg]

Love this video im from oregon and my family came here on the trail and was also apart of the lewis and Clark expedition

[@nraynaud]

Just a detail (it's a pet peeve of mine): the "traces of wagons" in the rock are not wear marks, they are actually carved and they had to be re-carved periodically because they did wear off (they become round and widen with time). They acted as rails in hilly terrain to keep the carts on course, because the lack of inflatable rubber tires and progressive brakes made going downhill a sketchy experience, in particular when the direction is controlled by the horse and not the driver.

[@alicehardy1668]

I was born & raised in Oregon, a stone's throw of the Willamette River. I'm 71, & have spent a lifetime studying the Oregon Trail. I've visited the Oregob Trail Museum in Baker on the Oregon/Idaho border & The End of the Oregon Trail Museum in Oregon City, among many other museums in Oregon & other museums throughout the West not dedicated specifically to the Trail. I have read & attended lectures & classes about the Trail. I have visited not only the main Trail but also the Mormom Trail, the Applegate Trai, Donner Pass & other lesser known cut-offs from the main Trail. I have a collection of more than 100 first hand accounts from journals kept by men, women & young adults while on their journeys. I have seen the wagon wheel ruts still visible on prairies on the trail. Not once have I ever read, listened to museum curators or in any other way been told the wheel ruts were cut deliberately. I have seen scars on rocks above sharp cliffs where hundreds of wagons were lowered over the edge. Where did you get the idea the ruts were deliberately cut into the Trail? I'm serious. I'd really like to know to expand my knowledge.

[@nraynaud]

@@alicehardy1668 I understood it on my own when seing them in eastern France. 1) the corners are sharp, but erosion produce round things. 2) why would all the carriages have the same width and erode the same path? -> they have the same width to fit in those rails, the rails are here "first". 3) if you look at the Pompeii crosswalk ruts, they are rails centering the wheels away from the stones, whereas erosion would erode the entire width of the space between the stones and the side of the stones themselves. 4) I googled it, because I couldn't guess why they would make such an expensive carving, and found that the answer is that in hilly terrain you can't control the cart.

[@theheartoftexas]

nraynaud1 SMH!

[@TheWatz05]

In independence Missouri they celebrate it every year with santa-cali-gon days for Santa fe nm California and Oregon destinations

[@lukesteel3773]

Thanks for not putting in as many ad’s on this one definitely will give thumbs up and share for the ad free videos cheers

[@rachel_sj]

In 1992, PBS made an excellent American Experience documentary episode on the Donner party. It’s one of the most hauntingly moving pieces I’ve seen. It was on KZbin for awhile but I can’t find it anywhere anymore.....

[@Urmum3469]

Can you do a video on lake George. It's in New York and was carved out by a glacier. A lot of native American history is there, the French and Indian war and revolutionary war were both around the lake and the lake was used. I'm sure you could do another great video on this lake.

[@karissa8576]

Congratulations on pronouncing Willamette Valley right! most say will-a-mettee

[@shaggybreeks]

I hear people say "will-am-ETT". Locals say "will-AM-it".

[@bassman87]

This may be a great idea for your Mega Structures channel but the US Interstate system follows many of these old trail systems, Oregon Trail included. Interstate 80 and 84 roughly follow the old trail system going over many of the same mountain passes.

[@brianhester1996]

My family came from Illinois in 1933 to Oregon. Followed the route for most of the way, settling in Tillamook to dairy farm.

[@thekingminn]

please make a video on Bagan or Shwedagon. these two places even work for megaproject video.

[@CrystalEmpowerment1111]

The Oregon Trail still exists. People are driving on it outside my window right now.

[@barneymiller7894]

Do any of them have dysentery? 🤣

[@bethannwood8362]

Love this video I live along the trail near the end of it I've never been in such a fantastic place your info is right on and entertaining I actually enjoy your channels and tell everyone I know about them.