Across the Prairie: Routes Then and Now

Routes Across a Growing Nation

Today, a family traveling across the prairie can use highways, bridges, and detailed maps. A trip across a broad region may take days. Some modern roads cross parts of the same region that earlier travelers crossed, but today's roads do not follow every historic trail. Signs and historic sites help travelers imagine how different the journey once was.

In 1803, the United States bought a huge area west of the Mississippi River from France. This agreement was called the Louisiana Purchase. It greatly increased the land claimed by the United States and encouraged the government to learn more about the region. The purchase was an agreement between the United States and France. Native nations already lived in the region, governed their own communities, and had deep connections to the land.

President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore part of the purchased region. Their expedition set out in 1804 and returned in 1806. The travelers followed rivers, recorded information about plants and animals, and made maps and notes. They reached the Pacific Ocean. Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone woman, traveled with the expedition and helped with communication and knowledge of routes. Many Native people traded with or shared knowledge with travelers, although relationships did not all have the same results.

Later, especially in the 1840s and 1850s, many pioneers traveled west on overland trails such as the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails. Some hoped to find farms, trade, or other opportunities. Wagons and pack animals carried people and supplies. Journeys could last months, and travelers faced weather, river crossings, illness, and shortages. The trails crossed the homelands of Native nations such as the Pawnee, Lakota, and Cheyenne, bringing more settlers and pressure on these nations, including loss of land and conflict.