How Dangerous Was The Oregon Trail?

American History Hit

History Hit

History, America

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From the 1830s until the arrival of the transcontinental railroad, hundreds of thousands of people packed their possessions into wagons and headed west, seeking land and opportunity. Following in the footsteps of Native Americans and fur trading ‘mountain men’, many travelled for several months along what became known as the Oregon Trail. But as Don hears from YouTube history teacher Mr Beat (youtube.com/c/iammrbeat), not all would succeed. Miles from civilisation, people succumbed to disease, dangerous river crossings and attacks by Native Americans, whose land they were crossing and on which they intended to settle.

Produced by Benjie Guy. Mixed by Thomas Ntinas. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, let's see here.
0:08.2	John has dysentery.
0:09.9	Mary's broken her arm.
0:11.9	Emma, well, she drowned in a river with two horses.
0:14.8	And William died from a rattler's bite.
0:17.2	Oh, and my word.
0:18.6	The trail leader is suffering from exhaustion.
0:21.2	You know what?
0:21.8	I'm hitting reset.
0:24.8	In the Oregon Trail, the famous video game, started back in the 1970s and 80s,
0:30.0	the typical list of agonizing mishaps, dreadful sicknesses, and fatal encounters could be pretty extreme.
0:37.3	But apparently did not hold a candle to what the actual 400,000 or so American pioneers back in the day would have faced on the real Oregon Trail, all 2,000 miserable miles of it.
0:50.3	They say one in ten travelers died out there. One wonders why so many went.
0:56.6	All right, let's try this again.
0:58.3	Last time we were a farmer, this time, hmm, carpenter.
1:01.8	Maybe that'll improve my chances.
1:03.8	Purchase oxen, food, clothing, bullets, and spare parts from Matt's General Store.
1:09.7	Check the weather, wagon trails health, food supply, and we are off.
1:15.0	On our pixelated appointment with destiny, all from the comfort of our own low-res computer screen.
1:22.1	Yeeha! Hello and welcome to a new episode of American History Head.
1:38.9	I'm Don Wildman. Welcome.
1:40.9	You know, I'm a little at sea today as to, you know, how to proceed at first,
	...

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