In the early 19th century an amazing thing happened in America. Nearly half a million people left their homes and headed West along what was called 'the Oregon Trail', a path across the country to California and Oregon. The men and women (1) ... from poverty and hardship in the East. How did they find out about the opportunities that existed in the West? It seems that travellers who (2) ... there on trading expeditions brought back stories of warmer winters and of good farming land that was being given away by the government. Then, in 1849, news (3) ... that men (4) ... gold in California. In the early 1850s, people (5) ... to reach the West. On the journey, they met many dangers. Many settlers didn't reach the West alive. But change (6) ... to the American West. By 1870, a new railway (7) ... and the Oregon Trail had become a part of history.