Bill Gates and the Oregon Trail Commemorative Coins

Imagine being laid off and you can't find a job where you live. To make matters worse, you also have a wife and kids to take care of. Or maybe you already have a job, but it doesn't pay enough for you to feed and house your family.

Then you hear that Bill Gates (the richest man in America) and his company, Microsoft, need a lot of individuals to work. But the job requires you to move 2,000 miles away from where you currently reside. Before you even go there, you are warned that there's no guarantee that you will get a job and there's also no guarantee that you will earn enough money to make a decent living for you and your family.

Some brave individuals might not have a choice but to take that 2,000 mile journey, knowing there is no guarantee of getting a job or good pay. Others would not take that trip as they felt it was just too risky. While this is not necessarily taking place today, something very similar did take place in the early 1800s.

In 1811, John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in America at the time (just like Bill Gates today), orchestrated one of the most significant explorations of new lands in the West without knowing what was there. Astor arranged for two groups of men to travel from St. Louis to the West in hopes of expanding his successful fur-trading business westward.

One of the groups, led by Robert Stuart, stumbled upon a large passage through the Rocky Mountains. This passage permitted sizable wagons to pass through it, something that was previously believed to be almost impossible. As a result, this exploration gave way to the historical path to the West, allowing passage for well over a half-million settlers. Most of the settlers who traveled this 2,000 mile path consisted of very brave women and children, as can be seen on the obverse of the Oregon Trail Commemorative coins.

These families were all in search of a better life in the West, where it was believed there were new lands with bountiful harvest. Several years later, many more families would travel further west, hoping to prosper from the California Gold Rush.

The Oregon Trail Commemorative design was introduced to commemorate the brave women, children and men who took this extremely difficult and life-threatening journey. In fact, many of them lost their lives on this trail, including young children who had no choice but to take that journey. These brave individuals have not been forgotten as they paved a significant path that helped enable the expansion of America further west. Thanks to the Oregon Trail Commemorative coins, today coin collectors and dealers can remember to appreciate the brave children, women and men who took this life-risking but unforgettable journey.