Some hardships was that they were discriminated based on gender. Men of those times would not take them seriously. Other hardship include having to take care of their children by themselves as there was no male spouse to help out. This including having to find work to bring food on the table for their children and themselves made it very difficult to live. women worked alongside their husbands or fathers and toiled in brutal and harsh environments. even middle class women had to do physical labor. young orphan girls were often used as servants or prostitutes. The vast land of America was mostly unsettled in the 18th and 19th centuries when pioneers headed west. The country was young, and many of its inhabitants desired land and a comfortable farming life with a few acres of land to grow crops and raise animals. Others were swept up with gold fever of the mid 1800s and started out with fame and fortune in mind.
The way west was treacherous, and many people died from diseases such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria and typhoid. There were no doctors or medications available, so pioneers died by the hundreds. The dead were buried along the trail in unmarked graves, and the rest continued on. Scurvy, a debilitating condition caused from a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, was also prevalent.
Crossing rivers was another dangerous undertaking. Often in covered wagons, the unwieldy vehicles broke apart or got swept away. Any accident that caused cuts or broken bones potentially led to death from a lack of antibiotics and basic first aid.
Modern-day movies and stories portray Indian attacks as a main reason for pioneer deaths, but in reality, they were rare. Pioneers had much better weaponry than the Indians of the time.
