I believe the context is the old "Oregon Trail" game that was ubiquitous on Apple IIe computers in many gradeschools back in the day. (The rollover title of the image is "A century later, the harrowing flight of the survivors from Oregon was dramatized in a popular video game.") I vividly recall how terrible I felt when all of my "family" in the game (named after members of my real family) began dying off from dysentary...
Thanks. I was hoping someone from Oregon could explain it to me. Althought I just needed someone familiar to the game.
I'll be darned. I had completely forgotten that game, I tried to start playing it twice in school but never had enough lab time to make it worth playing. Thanks, TT!