Wagons West - Time for Kids Readers Author:Shirley Frederick In the 1830s, Americans were going through hard times. Crops failed. Banks closed. Workers lost their jobs. People told stories about a place called Oregon. They made it sound like a paradise. Oregon was not yet part of the United States, but it held the promise of a better life. So thousands of people -- from Massachusetts, Arkansas, Mis... more »souri, Kentucky, Illinois, New York, Iowa, and Indiana -- gave up their homes, said goodbye to their families, and headed west. Because they were leaving their homeland these people were called emigrants.« less