Last updated: September 24, 2024
Lesson Plan
Riverways: Sustenance and Safety
View of the Arkansas River south of Bent's Fort
NPS/D. Ocheltree
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 3.L.4.a, 4.L.4, 4.L.4.a, 5.L.4, 5.L.4.a, 3.RF.4.c, 4.RF.4.c, 5.RF.4.c, 3.RI.1, 3.RI.2, 4.RI.1, 4.RI.2, 5.RI.1, 3.SL.1, 4.SL.1, 4.SL.1.d, 5.SL.1
- State Standards:
- 4th grade Social Studies. History 1.1.a. Draw inferences about Colorado history from primary sources such as journals, diaries, maps...Geography 2.2.a. Describe how the physical environ. provides opportunities for and places constraints on human activity.
- Thinking Skills:
- Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience.
Essential Question
• Identify four main rivers along the Santa Fe Trail.
• Compare and contrast the Mountain/Bent’s Fort route with the Cimarron route. List two main differences.
Objective
Determine the impact of rivers on migration across the Borderland region during the 1830s and 1840s. Recognize that safety and health depended on intimate knowledge of regional waterways.
Background
Overview Background: The southeastern Colorado trading post known as Bent’s Fort was established in 1833 along the Arkansas River bordering Mexico. As a major stop between Independence, MO and Santa Fe, NM, Bent’s Fort was a multicultural and international commerce hub on the Santa Fe Trail. Built on the homelands of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, deemed unorganized U.S. territory during this period, Bent's Fort traded primarily in buffalo robes procured by the Cheyenne and Arapaho people. Traders and merchants from dozens of other Native American nations and Mexico successfully supplied, traded, and exported items here until 1849.The lessons in this unit are based on and include excerpts taken directly from Josiah Gregg’s 1844 published journal titled The Commerce of the Prairies. As a young man, Josiah first embarked with a caravan on the Santa Fe Trail in 1831. For the next nine years, he detailed the commerce, cultures, customs, ecology, and politics of the time. His insights detail firsthand experiences across the southern Great Plains during the fur trade era giving us a fuller picture of the lives and livelihoods for people at Bent's Fort.
The unit overview is as follows:
Lesson 1 – Geography of the Plains – Navigation Tools and Isolation
Lesson 2 – Riverways – Sustenance and Safety
Lesson 3 – Optical Illusions and Mirage
Lesson 4 – Climate, Drought and Seasons
Lesson 5 – Flora on the Plains – Grasses, Trees, and Agriculture
Lesson 6 – Fauna: Draft Animals, Buffalo and Rattlesnakes
Lesson 7 – Culture: Languages, Food, and Stereotyping
Lesson Background: Traveling west out of western Kansas, the Santa Fe Trail branched into two routes: the northern mountain route (Bent's Fort route) and the southern Cimarron route. These were also referred to as the wet and dry routes due to their relative access to water. The Cimarron was 100 miles shorter, but it crossed several rivers which seasonally could have been completely dry. The Mountain branch took travelers past Bent’s Fort and followed the Arkansas River for many miles. Although it was the longer route, it provided a more continual supply of water and forage for draft animals.
This lesson examines riverways' impact on travel during the fur trade era. Students will evaluate both routes according to their benefits and risks. They will identify the geographical factors that influenced merchants' travel decisions along the Santa Fe Trail.
Prior knowledge of the fur trade era will help give this lesson context. See "Introduction to Bent's Old Fort PowerPoint" in lesson materials.
Preparation
Materials needed:
- copies of Santa Fe Trail - Mountain and Cimarron routes map
- current Google map of the region (online)
- classroom furniture or P.E. equipment such as chairs, desks, cones or hurdles
- copies of Josiah Gregg Lesson 2 Riverways narrative text
- copies of lesson questions
Materials
Companion text for Lesson 2
Download Josiah Gregg Lesson 2 Riverways: Sustenance and Safety narrative text
5 questions to be paired with historic and current maps
Download Josiah Gregg Lesson 2 Riverways lesson questions
Historical and current maps of the region to be compared and used to answer lesson questions.
Download Santa Fe Trail - Mountain and Cimarron Routes map
Guidance to potential answers to Josiah Gregg Lesson 2 Riverways lesson questions
Download Josiah Gregg Lesson 2 Riverways lesson questions answer key
An optional 37-slide introduction to Bent's Old Fort with notes to build prior knowledge of the fur trade era before teaching lesson 2.
Download Introduction to Bent's Old Fort PowerPoint
Lesson Hook/Preview
Design two relay routes of different lengths with the same finish line. For the shorter one, place several obstances such as cones, chairs, and hurdles. Leave the longer route clear of obstacles. Develop two teams of a chosen number of students to run a competitive relay. Before the first race, poll students to predict which route will take the longest.
Procedure
1. When relay is completed, revisit the class's predictions. Did the shorter route seem the obvious winner? How did the addition of obstacles affect relay time?
2. Introduce Josiah Gregg as a traveler in the 1830s along the Santa Fe Trail. Pass out copies of historic map showing the two branched routes and access a modern google map online.
3. Divide students into groups to consider the following question: "If you were traveling from Cimarron, KS to Santa Fe, NM, which route would you choose and why?"
4. As a whole group, ask students to share their decisions and reasons.
5. Before reading Josiah Gregg's narrative "Riverways: Sustenance and Safety," clarify meanings of vocabulary words.
6. Assign reading of text in groups or read aloud.
7. Pass out the lesson questions. Give groups 10-20 minutes to answer.
8. Discuss answers as a whole group.
9. Conclude by polling students regarding which route they would prefer to take by caravan back in the 1830s. Tally responses on the board. Invite students to share the reasons for their preference.
10. Pass out Exit Ticket.
Vocabulary
Borderlands - the broad region that surrounds the territorial boundary of the U.S. and Mexico in the early 1800s.
water-scrape - a prolonged period of time without access to water
Elysian vale - a heavenly, lush place
irrigation - process of delivering water to areas not receiving it by natural means
confine - restrict or limit
exertion - effort or energy
Assessment Materials
Josiah Gregg Lesson 2 Riverways Exit TicketExit ticket with essential questions from lesson.
1. Identify four main rivers along the Santa Fe Trail.
2. Compare and contrast the Mountain/Bent's Fort route with the Cimarron route. List two main differences.
Exit ticket containing lesson's essential questions
Rubric/Answer Key
Josiah Gregg Lesson 2 Riverways Exit TicketPotential answers to exit ticket questions
Identify four main rivers along the Santa Fe Trail.
Kansas, Arkansas, Cimarron, and Canadian
Compare and contrast the Mountain/Bent's Fort route with the Cimarron route. List two main differences.
The Cimarron was 100 miles shorter distance. It crossed several rivers which seasonally could have been dry or flooded. The Mountain branch took travelers past Bent’s Fort, followed the Arkansas River for many miles, and provided a more continual supply of water and forage for draft animals.
Supports for Struggling Learners
For reading text and lesson questions, choose to read aloud, use assistive technology, and/or accept verbal answers.
Enrichment Activities
Geography extension: Direct students to interactive google maps for closer and more detailed observation of the Borderland region. Practice calculating distance, travel times, etc. in order to compare the 1830s trade routes with today's highways.
Science extension: Investigate the four main rivers from the lesson in terms of their current health. Are they threatened in any way? What dangers and benefits to humans, plants, and animals do they present today?
Math extension: Research and compare the length, depth, and average volume of the four rivers in this lesson.
Social Emotional Learning extension: Reflect on the characteristics that cause a person to choose paths of higher risk or higher safety in spite of the cost. Compare migrant traders' level of risk-taking to the risk-taking in your life. Consider how the events of history might be different if leaders and participants always chose risk or always chose safety. Decide if it's best to be one or the other or a combination of both.
Language extension: Write a contemporary or historical five senses poem for rivers: "A river looks like...sounds like...tastes like...smells like...feels like..."
Additional Resources
A digitized version of the 1849 original two volume publication by Josiah Gregg is accessible here:
Commerce Of The Prairies (1849) Josiah Gregg : Victorian Vault : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (Accessed August 14, 2024)
More information on the Santa Fe Trail accessible here:
Santa Fe National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Current news and reports on Arkansas River watershed accessible here:
Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative - Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative (arkcollaborative.org) (Accessed August 20, 2024)
Related Lessons or Education Materials
As a young man, Josiah Gregg embarked with a caravan on the Santa Fe Trail in 1831. For the next nine years, he kept a journal detailing the commerce, cultures, customs, ecology, and politics of the time making eight trips along this trading route. His journal titled The Commerce of the Prairies was published in 1844. All lessons in this unit are based on and include exerpts directly from this text. The unit overview is as follows:
Lesson 1 – Geography of the Plains – Navigation Tools and Isolation
Lesson 2 – Riverways – Sustenance and Safety
Lesson 3 – Optical Illusions and Mirage
Lesson 4 – Climate, Drought and Seasons
Lesson 5 – Flora on the Plains – Grasses, Trees, and Agriculture
Lesson 6 – Fauna: Draft Animals, Buffalo and Rattlesnakes
Lesson 7 – Culture: Languages, Food, and Stereotyping