Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How many people died on the Oregon Trail?
Miscellaneous deaths included deaths by childbirth, falling trees, flash floods, homicides, kicks by animals, lightning strikes, snake bites, and stampedes. According to an evaluation by John Unruh,[101] a 4percent death rate or 16,000 out of 400,000 total pioneers on all trails may have died on the trail.
The Oregon Trail's nominal termination point was Oregon City, at the time the proposed capital of the Oregon Territory. However, many settlers branched off or stopped short of this goal and settled at convenient or promising locations along the trail. Commerce with pioneers going further west helped establish these early settlements and launched local economies critical to their prosperity.
Between the cities of Lawrence and Topeka, Kansas, US 40 follows the path of the Oregon Trail. During the 19th century, the Oregon Trail served as a major thoroughfare for people emigrating to the Pacific Northwest. Between 1850 and 1852, some 65,000-70,000 people traveled the trail.
Overall, some 268,000 pioneers used the Oregon Trail and its three primary offshoots, the Bozeman, California, and Mormon trails to reach the West Coast, 1840-60. Another 48,000 headed to Utah. There is no estimate on how many used it to return East.[89]
Following the trails pioneered by fur traders, the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri to the Oregon Territory developed crossing the central Great Plains, Rocky Mountains and northern Great Basin. Branching off from that route, some settlers traveled southwestward on the California Trail from Fort Hall, Oregon Territory to Sutters Fort, in Mexican Alta California. Also branching off to the south was the Mormon Trail from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. During the twenty-five years 1841–1866, 250,000 to 650,000 people "pulled up stakes," and headed west along these trails. About one-third immigrated to Oregon, one-third to California and one-third to Utah, Colorado, and Montana.
The north side of the Snake had better water and grass than the south. The trail from Three Island Crossing to Old Fort Boise was about 130 miles long. The usually lush Boise River valley was a welcome relief. The next crossing of the Snake River was near Old Fort Boise. This last crossing of the Snake could be done on bull boats while swimming the stock across. Others would chain a large string of wagons and teams together. The theory was that the front teams, usually oxen, would get out of water first and with good footing help pull the whole string of wagons and teams across. How well this worked in practice is not stated. Often young Indian boys were hired to drive and ride the stock across the river—they knew how to swim, unlike many pioneers. Today's Idaho Interstate 84 roughly follows the Oregon Trail till it leaves the Snake River near Burley, Idaho. From there Interstate 86 to Pocatello roughly approximates the trail. Highway 30 roughly follows the path of the Oregon Trail from there to Montpelier, Idaho.
The game was popular among elementary school students worldwide from the mid-1980s to mid-2000s, as many computers came bundled with the game. MECC followed up on the success of "The Oregon Trail" with similar titles such as "The Yukon Trail" and "The Amazon Trail". David H. Ahl published "Westward Ho!", set on the Oregon Trail in 1847, as a type-in game in 1986.
The Oregon Trail's nominal termination point was Oregon City, at the time the proposed capital of the Oregon Territory. However, many settlers branched off or stopped short of this goal and settled at convenient or promising locations along the trail. Commerce with pioneers going further west helped establish these early settlements and launched local economies critical to their prosperity.
The Oregon Desert Trail was envisioned by the nonprofit organization, Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA), as a way for people to connect to the landscape. 
The first thru-hike was made in the summer of 2013 by 33-year-old Bend resident Sage Clegg and took just under six weeks. During her hike Clegg reported trail conditions to ONDA, and gathered information to help make the route traversable for other trail users.
This version includes Oregon Trail II 1.3, Oregon Trail for DOS 2.1, Oregon Trail Deluxe VGA 3.01, Oregon Trail for Windows 1.2, series of 5 interview videos for Oregon Trail game history, collector's wooden box package with branded artwork on the sides, The Oregon Trail Strategy Guide, $25.00 rebate coupons for MECC/SoftKey International products, a limited edition stamped certificate of authenticity.
Travel diminished after 1860, as the Civil War caused considerable disruptions on the trail. Many of the people on the trail in 1861–1863 were fleeing the war and its attendant drafts in both the south and the north. Trail historian Merrill J. Mattes[92] has estimated the number of emigrants for 1861–1867 given in the total column of the above table. But these estimates may well be low since they only amount to an extra 125,000 people, and the 1870 census shows that over 200,000 additional people (ignoring most of the population increase in California, which had excellent sea and rail connections across Panama by then) showed up in all the states served by the Bozeman, California, Mormon, and Oregon Trail(s) and their offshoots.
By 1995, "The Oregon Trail" comprised about one-third of MECC's $30 million in annual revenue. An updated version, "Oregon Trail Deluxe", was released for DOS and Macintosh in 1992, as well as Windows in 1993 (under the title of simply "The Oregon Trail" Version 1.2) followed by "Oregon Trail II" in 1995, "The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition" in 1997, and 4th and 5th editions. , more than 65 million copies of "The Oregon Trail" have been sold.
The Oregon Trail Memorial Association (OTMA) was an American organization founded by pioneer Ezra Meeker in 1922 as the Old Oregon Trail Association to memorialize those who traveled to the U.S. West Coast via the Oregon Trail. The group was incorporated in New York in early 1926 as the Oregon Trail Memorial Association. The organization is best known for promoting the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar. It was succeeded by the American Pioneer Trails Association (APTA) in 1940. Oregon-California Trails Association is considered a successor to OTMA.
As the years passed, the Oregon Trail became a heavily used corridor from the Missouri River to the Columbia River. Offshoots of the trail continued to grow as gold and silver discoveries, farming, lumbering, ranching, and business opportunities resulted in much more traffic to many areas. Traffic became two-directional as towns were established along the trail. By 1870 the population in the states served by the Oregon Trail and its offshoots increased by about 350,000 over their 1860 census levels. With the exception of most of the 180,000 population increase in California, most of these people living away from the coast traveled over parts of the Oregon Trail and its many extensions and cutoffs to get to their new residences.
The cemetery is one of the largest emigrant cemeteries along the Oregon part of the Oregon Trail. The emigrants' graves are unmarked and uncounted, but the site includes a memorial to Cornelius Gilliam of the Oregon Volunteers, who died by accidental gunshot in the vicinity. The cemetery is protected by a fence, which keeps out sheep and cattle that otherwise graze on leased land on and near the trail.
The Oregon Trail, the longest of the overland routes used in the westward expansion of the United States, was first traced by explorers and fur traders for traveling to the Oregon Country. The main route of the Oregon Trail stopped at the Hudson's Bay Company Fort Hall, a major resupply route along the trail near present-day Pocatello and where the California Trail split off to the south. Then the Oregon Trail crossed the Snake River Plain of present-day southern Idaho and the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon before reaching the Willamette Valley. It was the only practical way for settlers in wagons without tools, livestock, or supplies to cross the mountains and usually thought critical to the colonization of the American West. Some of the first to travel the Oregon Trail were Christian missionaries, members of the Methodist Episcopal Church who established the Methodist Mission in 1834. Even though they didn't make many converts, they were impressed by the short amount of time needed to reach the Pacific Coast. Rumors about how the sun always shone there and wheat grew as tall as a man attracted American settlers.
The journey to the west was pleasant, but there were dangers and challenges along the route. There were diseases: cholera, measles, smallpox, and dysentery. Children were crushed under the covered wagon wheels, people drowned in rivers, were lost, starved, killed by Native Americans (very few pioneers), froze to death, trampled by buffalo, or shot by accident. With these accidents, many pioneers died. About 20,000 to 30,000 died on the Oregon Trail along the way in 40 years.
The 2002 book "Designing Instruction for Technology-enhanced Learning" suggested that edutainment properties that have been around for a long time, such as "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" and "The Oregon Trail" "have been through many..evaluations, and the subsequent versions reflect careful attention to who is using the product and how well it sells". It cited the then-recent "The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition" (1997) and "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" (1996) as examples of this.
In 1985, MECC produced a fully-graphical version of the game for Apple II computers, redesigned by R. Philip Bouchard as a greatly expanded product for home consumers under the same name. "The Oregon Trail" was extremely successful, and along with successive versions of the game it sold over 65 million copies. Several further games have been released in "The Oregon Trail" series, many under the title "The Oregon Trail", as well as a number of spinoffs such as "The Yukon Trail" and "The Amazon Trail".
In 1845, there were rumors circulating among the emigrants on the Oregon Trail that the Walla Walla and Cayuse Indians might possibly attack the settlers in the Blue Mountains of Oregon or along the Columbia River. Reports of threats came in conjunction with the murder of two Frenchmen in the area. Stephen Meek, the older brother of Joe Meek, was an experienced fur trapper and explorer who made his living as a wagon train guide. Meek was unemployed at the time but was considered to be someone who was familiar with eastern Oregon. When he offered the emigrants an alternate route to avoid the Blue Mountains many decided to follow him. Some 200 wagons and 1,000 people turned off the primary Oregon Trail at Vale and followed Meek into the Oregon desert, where no wagons had traveled before.
The north side of the Snake had better water and grass than the south. The trail from Three Island Crossing to Old Fort Boise was about 130 miles (210km) long. The usually lush Boise River Valley was a welcome relief. The next crossing of the Snake River was near Old Fort Boise. This last crossing of the Snake could be done on bull boats while swimming the stock across. Others would chain a large string of wagons and teams together. The theory was that the front teams, usually oxen, would get out of water first and with good footing help pull the whole string of wagons and teams across. How well this worked in practice is not stated. Often young Indian boys were hired to drive and ride the stock across the river—they knew how to swim, unlike many pioneers. In present-day Idaho, I-84 roughly follows the Oregon Trail from the Idaho-Oregon State border at the Snake River. Approximately seven miles (11km) east of Declo in present-day rural Cassia County, I-84 meets the western terminus of the western section of I-86. I-86 heads east, then northeast to American Falls and Pocatello following the Oregon Trail, while I-84 heads southeast to the State border with Utah. US-30 roughly follows the path of the Oregon Trail from Pocatello to Montpelier
In 1984, an Oregon Trail Advisory Council was formed by executive order of Governor Atiyeh. In 1988, the council published "Our Oregon Trail: A Report to the Governor". In December 1990, Governor Roberts responded to the report by supporting the founding of the Oregon Trail Coordinating Council (OTCC) as an independent nonprofit corporation, and called on the council to plan activities for the 1993 Oregon Trail sesquicentennial celebration. The OTCC had anticipated dissolving after the commemoration, but the sesquicentennial highlighted the success of its programs and the state continued to support the group while expanding its mandate to include other Oregon historic trails, so the OTCC postponed its dissolution until at least 1995. The same year, the state legislature passed the Oregon Historic Trails Bill, which provided for the OTCC and the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department to enter into a cooperative agreement to develop a statewide historic trails program and recognized the "value and significance" of sixteen trails in Oregon. During the 1997 legislative session, however, a bill was passed that included a provision terminating the manufacture of the specialty Oregon Trail commemorative license plates that had been authorized in 1993 and 1995 to provide funding for the council. Faced with a shortage of funds, in 1998 the OTCC transferred its financial assets to the Oregon Community Foundation, establishing the Oregon Historic Trails Fund, which continues to support programs related to Oregon's historic trails.
The Oregon-California Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Pony Express Trail and the Sidney-Deadwood Trail all ran near the rocks. The pair of rock formations served as a landmark along the trails for many pioneers traveling west in the 19th century. Many travelers would stray as much as five miles (8 km) from the Oregon Trail just to get a glimpse of the rocks.
This game is the first graphical entry and the most well known entry in the "Oregon Trail" series, and was released in multiple editions between 1985 and 1993. Other entries in the series, including other games titled "The Oregon Trail", have since been released in many editions by various developers and publishers who have acquired rights to it, as well as inspiring a number of spinoffs (such as "The Yukon Trail" and "The Amazon Trail") and the parody/homage "The Organ Trail".
Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site is a preserved site of wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail on the North Platte River, about 0.5 miles south of Guernsey, Wyoming. The Oregon Trail here was winding up towards South Pass. Wagon wheels, draft animals, and people wore down the trail about two to six feet into a sandstone ridge here, during its heavy usage from 1841–1869. The half-mile stretch is "unsurpassed" and is the best-preserved set of Oregon Trail ruts anywhere along its former length.
Many other trails followed the Oregon Trail for much of its length, including the Mormon Trail from Illinois to Utah; the California Trail to the gold fields of California; and the Bozeman Trail to Montana. Because it was more a network of trails than a single trail, there were numerous variations with other trails eventually established on both sides of the Platte, North Platte, Snake, and Columbia rivers. With literally thousands of people and thousands of livestock traveling in a fairly small time slot the travelers had to spread out to find clean water, wood, good campsites, and grass. The dust kicked up by the many travelers was a constant complaint, and where the terrain would allow it there may have been between 20 and 50 wagons traveling abreast.