Oregon Trail Journal Ideas:

BACKGROUND

Who is traveling in your wagon?

Describe those traveling in your party.

What are your team members’ occupations?

Where are you orginally from?

Why did you choose to move west?

Where did you wagon begin its journey?

What time of year did you start your journey and why?

What was your final destination?

What do you hope to find or do when you get there?

YOUR JOURNEY

Each entry must have a date and weather report.

Your journal must talk about life on the trail.

What supplies did you feel were most important before you left? Was that the case?

What food items did you depend upon?

Did you trade with anyone?

With whom and for what did you trade?

Did anyone get sick? From what? How did you treat them?

Did anyone die? Why? Could it have been prevented?

Did your wagon train encounter any Native Americans? If so, how did they feel about those traveling westward?

What were some of the daily hardships your team faced?

Did you do any hunting? Why? What did you hunt for?

What are some of thes states and citites your wagon traveled through?

Describe the landscape. How did it help or hurt your progress?

Did you talk with anyone interesting?

What was the overall morale of your wagon train throughout the journey?

Why might it have been it high or low?

At what pace did you travel?

Did you rest often, rarely, or not at all?

What advise would you give to those traveling after you?

Did you party make it to its destination?

How many months and days did your journey take?

Do you think the journey west was worth all of the trouble?