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Westward Expansion!!! By Me!!!! ==

== Why Travel West? (It was a bad idea) === There were lots and lots of reasons why the pioneers traveled west. They wanted more freedom in their life. It was an opportunity to start a new life. Others went in search of a break and to start a new life, and to get away from hard times back in the crowded east. In the 1840‘s married settlers could claim a square mile of land and there was no cost if they could better the land. There was good and fertile land for farming. Oregon was free of disease. That made the Oregon land more attractive. People were saying Oregon was a “magical place.” Some did not go to Oregon, but they went to California for the gold rush. There were also vast forests with big trees and streams and rivers filled with fish. America wanted Oregon and England wanted it also and whoever got more people there first would get it! Lots of pioneers got there but lots died on the way. The pioneers thought the west would be a brighter future for their family and friends. Lillian M. ===