Q 01/05

Rather than for defense, why did pioneer wagon trains usually circle their wagons at night?

A) To share one campfire

B) To block prairie fires

C) To corral their animals

D) To mark their land claims

Answer · why

C) To corral their animals

To corral their animals in the middle, emigrants parked the wagons nose to tail so the stock could not stray or be stolen overnight. Wagons were rarel...

Q 02/05

Despite what films show, what did hardly any Oregon Trail emigrants do on the long journey west?

A) Ride in the wagons

B) Cook over open fires

C) Travel in large groups

D) Hunt for fresh meat

Answer · why

A) Ride in the wagons

Hardly anyone chose to ride in the wagons, which had no springs and were too dusty and rough. Staying out also spared the tired teams the extra weight...

Q 03/05

Which dried fuel, often gathered by children, cooked pioneers' meals on the treeless Great Plains?

A) Sagebrush roots

B) Buffalo chips

C) Peat bricks

D) Pine knots

Answer · why

B) Buffalo chips

Buffalo chips were dried bison dung, which looked like rotten wood and gave a clear, hot fire. Travelers fell back on them wherever there was no timbe...

Q 04/05

Which folk hero roamed the Ohio frontier planting tree nurseries for settlers?

A) Paul Bunyan

B) Pecos Bill

C) Wild Bill Hickok

D) Johnny Appleseed

Answer · why

D) Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed grew his trees from seed, which gives sour fruit that was fine for the hard cider settlers drank. He fenced each nursery and left a n...

Q 05/05

What killed more emigrants on the Oregon and California trails than any other cause?

A) Disease

B) Indian raids

C) Starvation

D) Drowning

Answer · why

A) Disease

Disease, above all cholera caught from fouled water at crowded campsites, was the main killer on the trails. In the worst years it took up to 3 percen...