One of the challenges of the disease was that it usually lasted around four weeks that is, if the patient managed to live that long. Typhoid was a rampant killer, especially of children. Mild insanity from the high fever was common as well. Next came a high fever, followed by intestinal hemorrhaging. The first symptoms involved nose bleeds, headaches and a cough. Pioneers most often contracted it through dirty water. Typhoid is fairly contagious, especially in the trail environment of poor hygiene and extremely close quarters, meaning epidemics could rage through whole camps. Mary has typhoid! Another frequent killer on the trail was typhoid, a disease caused by Salmonella Typhi, a bacterium that is usually lurks in contaminated food or drink. There were historic cholera outbreaks along the Oregon Trail. The disease spread like wildfire, not only from the lack of clean water, but from the lack of hygiene: pioneers would unknowingly camp in the waste of parties that came before them, and even improperly buried bodies could help contribute to the pervasiveness of the disease. It's estimated that of all of the people who died on the Oregon Trail, a third of them died of cholera. If you didn't die of dysentery, there's a good chance that cholera would be your untimely end. Cholera was often contracted through contaminated water, and the infected remained highly contagious, even after death. Cholera was infamous for the speed with which it killed: victims who were fine at breakfast could be dead by lunch.įirst came an unnaturally painful stomach ache, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, and the severe dehydration induced by those symptoms. Referred to as the ' unseen destroyer,' cholera was an alarmingly painful, rapidly-striking disease. How do you think you would have fared? Vote up the causes of death you're thankful to have left along the pixelated trail. Here's how people really died on the Oregon Trail: just how the game told you it would happen, and then some. Disease ran rampant, weather was unpredictable and often deadly, and people often dropped dead just from the exhaustion of the trek itself. Unlike the beloved computer game, dangers on the Oregon Trail couldn't be fixed by a reset button.

However, no matter the number, one fact remained: life on the trail was brutal. Pioneers set out in parties numbering from one family to thousands of wagons teamed up together. Stretching about 2,000 miles from the Missouri River to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, the Oregon Trail claimed the lives of one out of every 10 of its travelers.

Johnny has dysentery! Sarah has a snakebite! In a way that somehow mixed gruesome history with the fun of pixelated color, the Oregon Trail computer game taught kids not only how to skillfully buy enough hardtack for a cross-country voyage, but also numerated the many ways to die on the Oregon Trail.

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