Impact on American Society
The Oregon Trail was an important part of American History, especially today in modern day life. Back in the 1800s the impact it had on the people was a drastic one, it gave several people more oppertunity, and gave many of them who completed the journey land to live and work on.
Families suffered many hard times along the trail, dieseases and native attacks targetted their children, spouses, and siblings. One person out of every ten people died on their journey to Oregon. The impact of people lost touched the hearts of many, and we're difficulties the pioneers knew they had to face.
Today, without this trail, most of the West (like California, Washington, Oregon, and even our own Colorado) might not be part of the USA, because we would not have been able to cultivate it into the pop-culture, money-making area it has become today. Once we had won the Mexican-American War, the issue of getting settlers across the country was a main one. But thanks to the missions of John Jacob and Lewis and Clark, they paved the way for the West to become occupied.