Oregon
by Jeff
Image meta text: A century later, the harrowing flight of the survivors from Oregon was dramatized in a popular video game.
This cartoon references the Oregon Trail computer game which every kid who went to elementary school in the 80s played in computer class. The best and most exciting part of this game for the kids was the hunting part.
This cartoon is speculating that if all these kids really travelled the trail, no one would have food because of the massive overhunting. Frequently, in the game, you would kill a 1000 pound buffalo, but you would only be able to carry 200 pounds back to your wagon, leaving the other 800 pounds to rot. I always thought that was odd.
And lastly, the cartoon recognized all the odd ways you and other members of your wagon could die in the game (often suddenly): dystentry, typhoid, measles, cholera. Unless you were a doctor in the game, but everyone knows being a doctor or banker is practically cheating.
August 14th, 2009
Thank you for explaining this! I had no idea what they were talking about in this one. I admit that some of the math gets lost on me, but I expect that. However, I didn’t expect to be blindsided by references to Oregon, where most of my family is from.
December 25th, 2011
The part about leaving all that meat to rot is, sadly, historically accurate. It got even worse when railroad lines started reaching into the Plains areas – people riding in trains acted like passing buffalo herds were targets in an arcade game.