There was no medical aid on the trail, so you had to be fit and look after yourself.
As with many adventures, many of the people on the Oregon Trail was young men who intended to stake a claim out west, and then raise a family later.
But there were many families as well. And many children were born during the journey. But also as many as a tenth of the people on the trail never made it, died of disease, and were buried close to where they had been walking.
