Oregon Trail Map
“When you start over these wide plains, let no one leave dependent on his best friend for anything; for if you do, you will certainly, have a blow-out before you get far.”
— John Shivley, 1846
Events & Stories:
The Cayuse War – Revenge for the Measles
Crime and Punishment on the Overland Trails
Danger and Hardship on the Oregon Trail
Disease and Death on the Overland Trails
A Ghost Story on the Oregon Trail
Ezra Meeker – Oregon Trail Pioneer
Oregon-California Trail Timeline
Sager Orphans on the Oregon Trail
Eye Witness Accounts:
Crossing the Great Plains in Ox-Wagons
People:
Benjamin Bonneville – Exploring & Defending the American West
Ephraim Brown – Murdered on the Oregon Trail
Jim Bridger – Quintessential Guide of the Rocky Mountains
Corps of Discovery – The Lewis & Clark Expedition
George Donner – Leading the Infamous Donner Party
John C. Fremont – The Pathfinder
Hall Jackson Kelley – Promoting the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail Historic Sites:
Landmarks Along the Oregon Trail
Independence, Missouri – Queen City of the Trails
Minor Park/Red Bridge Crossing – Kansas City, Missouri
Alcove Spring – Blue Rapids, Kansas
Rock Creek Station, Nebraska
Fort McPherson, Nebraska
Fort Kearny – Kearney, Nebraska
California Hill/Upper Crossing, Nebraska
Oregon Trail Through the Platte River Valley, Nebraska
Scotts Bluff, Nebraska
Oregon-California Trail Across Wyoming
Fort Laramie, Wyoming
Register Cliff, Guernsey, Wyoming
Guernsey Ruts (Deep Rut Hill) – Guernsey, Wyoming
South Pass – Gateway to the West, Wyoming
South Pass City, Wyoming
Soda Springs Complex – Soda Springs, Idaho
Fort Hall, Idaho
Three Island Crossing – Glenns Ferry, Idaho
Oregon Trail Interpretive Center – Baker City, Oregon
Oregon Trail, Albert Bierstadt, 1869
The Oregon Trail became one of the key migration routes that pioneers crossed on their way to the vast west. Spanning over half the continent the trail proceeded over 2,170 miles west through territories that would later become Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. The long journey through endless plains, rolling hills, and mountain passes, began in Independence, Missouri and ended at the Columbia River in Oregon.
The route of the Oregon Trail began to be scouted as early as 1823 by fur traders and explorers. By the 1830s, it was used regularly by mountain men, traders, missionaries, and military expeditions.
At the same time, small groups of individuals and the occasional family attempted to follow the trail, with some succeeding in arriving at Fort Vancouver, Washington.
On May 16, 1842, the first organized wagon train on the Oregon Trail set out from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers. On May 22, 1843, what is known as the Great Migration, with up to a 1,000 settlers, livestock and more, in a massive wagon train, departed to follow the same route from Independence Missouri, arriving in the Willamette Valley. Hundreds of thousands more would follow, especially after gold was discovered in California in 1849.
While the first few parties organized and departed from Elm Grove, Missouri, the Oregon Trail’s generally designated starting point was Independence or Westport, Missouri. The trail ended at Oregon City, Oregon, which was the proposed capital of the Oregon Territory at the time. However, many settlers branched off or grew exhausted short of this goal and settled at convenient or promising locations along the way.
At many places along the trail, alternate routes called “cutoffs” were established, either to shorten the trail or to get around difficult terrain. The Lander and Sublette cutoffs provided shorter routes through the mountains than the main route, bypassing Fort Bridger, Wyoming. In later years, the Salt Lake cutoff provided a route to Salt Lake City.