
Westward Expansion WebQuest
1. Why did people move west? List at least three (3) reasons.
2. What kinds of people chose to move westward? List and describe at least three types.
PBS - THE WEST - The Letters and Journals of Narcissa Whitman 1836-1847
The True Story of the Sagers
PBS - THE WEST - Across the Plains in 1844 Catherine Sager Pringle Journal (1860)
Diary of Patrick Breen - One of the Donner Party - Edited by Frederick J. Teggart
Overland Trails Documents, 1843-1860 Links to first person accounts.
3. How did they travel and live? Describe vehicles, provisions, and daily life -- at least two facts about each.
Vehicles
Riding The Overland Stage, 1861 Eyewitness account by Mark Twain.
What to take?
Life on the trail
General Pioneer Life
Living History Farms; Get Your Grip on History Click on activities from list halfway down page.
Pioneer Life in Ohio Food & Medicines
4. What routes did they take?
Select a trail to research. Write down the following information. plus at least 6 interesting facts about the trail and its history.
Location of beginning of trail
Location of end of trail
Locations on the trail
Who used this trail?
Dates the trail was used by pioneers.
OREGON TRAIL
Pioneer Tidbits: Interesting Facts about Pioneer Life on the Trail
APPLEGATE TRAIL
OVERLAND TRAIL
SANTA FE TRAIL
MORMON PIONEERS
Utah History To Go - Settlement and Exploration Why did the Mormons choose Utah?
KANSAS HISTORIC TRAILS & PIONEERS
CALIFORNIA TRAIL
California History Collection: First Person Narratives
GOLD RUSH
IDAHO TRAIL
MISSOURI TRAIL
5. Locate writings of a person who traveled and/or settled in the west. Read about their experiences in their own words. Write a paragraph naming the person, telling where they were located, and sharing some of their experience. Use any of the sites on this Webquest to answer this last question.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Western Expansion & Reform (1829-1859)
Description of the period from America's Story by Library
of Congress; includes related links at bottom of page.
American West - Expansion
Includes maps of the Lewis & Clark Expedition 1804, the Santa
Fe Trail 1821, the Oregon Trail 1835, the Mormon Pioneer Trail of 1846, the
Pony Express Route 1860, the Overland Trail 1862 and Key Dates of Expansion.
Also, several other trails are described and a story on frontier
transportation explain the important role of the transcontinental railroad
and the railroad companies.
Originally From http://mccants.anderson5.net/library/westward.htm 1/20/05