Created by Cindy Sheehy and Shannon Jancich

Introduction

        Imagine packing up only a few of your most prized possessions for a 4- 5 month journey westward to Oregon,Texas, or another area of the western frontier for the inexpensive or sometimes  free land. Pioneers, most of them farmers,  wanted the rich, fertile land for their crops.  Other people came to the frontier because they had heard stories that made the new lands sound like magical places.  Still others went to the frontier in order to prospect for gold, to hunt and trade fur pelts, and for many other reasons.  Although the pioneers traveled to the frontier for many different
reasons, they all wanted an opportunity to start new lives.