How the United States Grew

• ​Remember that Lewis & Clark explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800's.

• Other explorers traveling west from the Mississippi River first found the flat grassy plains that stretched for hundreds of miles in all directions.

• There were few trees on these plains.

Westward Exploration

• Beyond the plains, explorers had to cross the Rocky Mountains.

• Some of the explorers made maps of the easiest way to cross the Rocky Mountains and the desert areas west of the Rocky Mountains.

• Eventually explorers got all the way to the California coast.

The Rocky Mountains

• ​Some of the explorers helped set up trade routes such as the Santa Fe Trail.

• They also set up other routes west.

• One of these routes was the Oregon Trail.

• The Oregon Trail led to Oregon Country.

Westward Trade Routes

• People back east began to hear about the good farmland in Oregon Country.

• They wanted to move there.

• In 1843, the first large group of pioneers set out in covered wagons.

• They followed the Oregon Trail.

• It was a very hard trip in a covered wagon.

• Sometimes the pioneers didn't have enough food or water. The trip to Oregon took about 6 months.

Oregon Country

• ​The Oregon Country was claimed by both Great Britain and the United States.

• Settlers from both Great Britain and the United States went to Oregon, but most of the settlers were Americans.

• Great Britain finally gave up its claim to the Oregon Country, and it officially became part of the United States.

Who does Oregon Belong to?