#1 they got free land if they were american(about 160 acres)
#2 theirs a lot but the (Oregon trail) is the most famous
#3 there were (paddle boats) on the river and )horse/ox carts) and foot
#4 they had to deal with wild animals like poison snakes,weather,wolfs,lynx(basically wild animals and weather mainly)
#5 gold miners mainly cause of the gold rush was going on at the time
#6 the west was hot, dry, ruff and not as easy unlike the north and east were there was rain, plants, and good farmland; there was nothing out west but dry unfertilized land and lots of wild animals.
hope this is what your looking for.<3
^o^