Country's westward expansion left its mark on this area, too
Sophia Diaz, 8, a second-grader at Spaulding School in Gurnee, asked, "How did people who went west survive the journey?"
As many as 600,000 Americans hit the trails to venture west of the Mississippi during the westward movement in the late 1840s through the 1860s. They rode horses, rounded up wagon trains and even walked so they could stake a claim in California, Utah, Oregon and other western territories. This meant abandoning friends, family, homes and possessions in exchange for the lure of gold, the promise of free or inexpensive land or religious freedom.
"It was a national phenomenon," said Nancy Fike, administrator of the McHenry County Historical Society in Union. "There was always a hope of better things."
Journal entries remain from travelers who have written about daily life during the journey west. "There weren't a lot of newspapers from that time," Fike said. "The Woodstock Sentinel didn't begin publication until 1856."
A research library at the McHenry County Historical Society contains local residents' stories about their days on the trails.
"We have an account of a family from Hebron who were attacked by Indians in Utah," Fike said. People died from accidents and starvation. Cholera killed thousands of settlers as they journeyed west. People carried diseases like smallpox that spread quickly among the Native Americans who lived along the trails, killing them.
A word used at the time, "leaverites," had to do with the belongings people carried in their carts but had to "leave-it-right-there" when their cherished possessions floated away at river crossings or had to be thrown from the wagon in order to hike up steep trails. Shortages of food and supplies created markets for conniving entrepreneurs. "People who lived along the route robbed them blind, charging for water and flour and basic necessities," Fike said. Abandoned household items that littered the trails west were snatched up and resold.
There were happy times on the journey. People fell in love and were married; babies were born. Despite the monotony of the journey, people looked forward to seeing various landmarks like the plains, river bluffs, mountains and unusual rock formations like Chimney Rock in Nebraska and Wyoming's Independence Rock. The wagon trains left their mark; wagon ruts are still visible at points along the western routes.
Why did people take such risks during these times?
In 1848, a gold nugget was found at Sutter's Mill in California. Thousands of men left to try their luck panning for valuable gold flakes and nuggets.
The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 promised 320 acres of free land in Oregon Territory to any married couple who settled in the area before December 1855. "No one had to be an expert in farming. America, with its open land, was a country of hope," Fike said. "People could settle on the land and their children could have a better life."
Mormons left for religious freedom. "Maple Street out of Marengo used to be called Mormon Road," Fike said, a reference to the Mormon presence in McHenry County that may have been tied to the western movement.
By 1869, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. had laid tracks from the nation's east coast all the way to the Pacific Ocean, shortening the five- or six-month-long journey by ox-drawn wagon to two weeks by train.
The McHenry County Historical Society at 6422 Main St. in Union offers educational programs for school groups, a one-room school house, a log cabin and a museum that will open on May 3 with the exhibit "The Arrival - the 1890s." For more information, see the society's Web site mchsonline.org or call (815) 923-2267.
<p class="factboxheadblack">Check these out</p> <p class="News">The Warren Newport Library in Gurnee suggests these titles on the westward movement:</p> <p class="News">• "The Oregon Trail," by Sabrina Crewe and Michael V. Uschan</p> <p class="News">• "The Tragic Tale of Narcissa Whitman and a Faithful History of the Oregon Trail," by Cheryl Harness</p> <p class="News">• "You Wouldn't Want to Live in a Wild West Town!," by Peter Hicks</p> <p class="News">• "True Tales of the Wild West," by Paul Robert Walker</p> <p class="News">• On the Web: The Oregon Trail at <a href="http://isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html" target="new">isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html</a></p>