In the mid-1800s, traveling the Oregon Trail was akin to living in a post-apocalyptic world. The long, arduous journey from the Midwest to the Western frontier shaped a daily existence for pioneers that has many parallels to the imagined life of survivors in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
The Oregon Trail was fraught with danger and uncertainty. Accidents, storms, disease, starvation, and attacks from bandits and natives were common lethal threats along the trail. Any day could bring disaster or death. This resembles many works of post-apocalyptic fiction, which depict hazardous worlds filled with threats from the environment, illness, violence, and more. Simple mistakes or just plain bad luck could spell doom for those making their way west in covered wagons just as they could for characters navigating a ravaged, dangerous wasteland.
Resource scarcity was a harsh reality along the trail. Food, water, tools, and various supplies had to be rationed and scavenged. Overhunting along the trail severely depleted the numbers of bison and other wildlife. This forced real innovation and improvisation, much like survivors in post-apocalyptic tales who have to learn to make do and repurpose anything they can find in order to survive. Careful maintenance and jury-rigging of equipment and technology is often a necessity both on the trail and in the remnants of civilization.
Shelter along the Oregon Trail was makeshift and temporary. Travelers camped in tents or barebones structures along the way, moving from place to place. Even when settlements began to form in the West, buildings were often simple cabins or ramshackle affairs built from available natural materials. Much post-apocalyptic fiction also commonly depicts the need for nomadic lifestyles or otherwise improvised, transient housing options in the dangerous ruins of the world.
Despite all of these challenges and deprivations, those undertaking the Oregon Trail persevered in hopes of better lives ahead. They banded together for mutual aid and protection and helped encourage each other onwards. Even when things looked bleak, hope drove them forward. This dogged determination and maintenance of hope features prominently in a great deal of post-apocalyptic media. Even under the direst of circumstances, protagonists cling to the promise of the future.
The parallels between the Oregon Trail and imagined post-apocalyptic scenarios are clear. From the unpredictable threats to the scraped-together supplies and shelters, the experience of making a life in an unfamiliar land was not so different from what writers and creators have envisioned for life after a world-changing disaster. The human spirit persevered on the trail just as it does in even the grimmest fictional dystopias. Life was 10 percent what happened and 90 percent how people responded to it. That has remained true from the journey of the pioneers to the pages of post-apocalyptic novels and films all these years later.
This is what makes the Reluctant Wagon Train Bride Series a form of Romantic Suspense. The couples in each story are overcoming nature and other obstacles as they continue the trip to a place of hope and safety. If you’re interested in reading, I wrote the first book in the series, A Journey for Lily. You can find out more about my story and the rest of the series here:
