Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail was the 2000 mile overland route by which people walked for six months from the Midwest to Oregon and the northern West Coast before the railroad opened in 1869. It was one of the great routes used to open the American frontier—people wanted the cheap rich farmlands, as well as the adventure and the self-determination involved in creating new communities. The route was the most efficient way to travel, but involved crossing wide rivers and high mountains; there were many attacks by Indians, so settlers normally went in groups of 100 to 500 people in wagon trains. 

Origins

The most efficient route from the Missouri River to the Columbia River was discovered by explorers and fur traders. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition mapped one difficult part through the mountains of Idaho. In (1808) fur trappers from the Missouri Fur Company discovered the South Pass in Wyoming. In 1812 fur traders from Astoria, Oregon, led by Robert Stuart came east largely following the route. The first great organized trip came in 1832 under Nathaniel Wyeth. His party made it overland in good shape, but the ship Wyeth sent ahead via the southern tip of South America was lost at sea, along with all the trade goods he planned to sell. So he sailed back to Boston, sent another ship ahead and made a second overland trek in 1834. Wyeth’s journal made the trail very well known. Methodist missionaries soon followed, most notably Marcus Whitman, making Oregon an outpost in an otherwise dechristianized region.

By 1842 the trail had become a deeply rutted dirt road used by the pioneers in their covered wagons. Knowledge of the trail became common property. Wagon trains obtained this knowledge from guides who knew it well; there were also printed guidebooks, but those were mostly useful for reassuring people it was reasonable to make the arduous six-months journey. One early guidebook shows the distances involved. His waypoints included conspicuous landmarks, difficult streams to ford, and supply posts where food and supplies could be purchased. From the Missouri River to the mouth of the Columbia River as follows:

1. From Independence to the Crossings of Kansas 102 miles
2. Crossings of Blue 83
3. Platte River 119
4. Crossings of South Platte 163
5. To North Fork 20
6. To Fort Laramie 153
7. From Fort Laramie to Crossing of North Fork of the Platte 140
8. To Independence Rock on Sweet Water 50
9. To Fort Bridger 229
10. To Bear River 68
11. To Soda Springs 94
12. To Fort Hall 57
13. To Salmon Falls 160
14. To Crossings of Snake River 22
15. To Crossings of Boise River 69
16. To Fort Boise 45
17. To Dr. Whitman's Mission 190
18. To Fort Walawala [Walla Walla] 25
19. To Dallis Mission [The Dalles] 120
20. To Cascade Falls, on the Columbia 50
21. To Fort Vancouver 41

The rich farmlands of Oregon’s Willamette Valley drew most of the travelers, but others remained in good lands along the way, or split off to go to California.

Emigrating societies

Excitement about Oregon grew in the 1840s after the boundary dispute with Britain had been settled. People back east formed emigrating societies to plan, finance and recruit. By lectures, letters, and personal visits, members of these societies secured recruits.

Start

The town of Independence, Missouri, was the usual jumping off point. As they moved out the wagon party organized a self-government by electing officers and adopting rules of conduct. The emigrants gathered in time to leave in the early spring, so as to take advantage of the fresh pasturage for their oxen, horses and cattle. From Independence they followed the old Santa Fe Trail across flat grasslands (now in Nebraska). At Fort Laramie (now in Wyoming), the base of the mountains, they trains stopped for repairs and resupply The trail used South Pass to cross the Rocky Mountains at a relatively low elevation of “only” 7,500 feet. Travel now became much harder. Much of the land was barren with poor pasturage, or involved steep climbs and descents, wearing out the already exhausted horses and oxen. There was no alternative but to throw away excess baggage and furniture. Carcasses of the innumerable dead cattle and horses were left along the trail while the bodies of the human dead were buried in shallow graves with simple markers. The Grande Ronde Valley, in northeast Oregon, had good pasturage, a breather before they had to cross the difficult Blue Mountains. Coming down on the other side the trains followed the Umatilla River to the Columbia River, which they followed to Fort Vancouver.

The wagon traffic during the 1840s and 1850s was so heavy that the road was a clearly defined and deeply rutted way across the country. When the ruts became too deep for travel, parallel roads were broken. The 2,000 mile trek tested the outer limits of human endurance and organizational skill. The many surviving diaries of the overland journey invariable mention the graves passed each day. Cholera was the most serious medical problem. After 1850 the wagon trains used better-adapted equipment. Specially constructed wagons became available; oxen largely replaced horses; and supplies were selected more wisely. The route was now easy to follow and even included crude ferries at some of the most difficult river crossings.

Bibliography

• David Lavender, Westward Vision: The Story of the Oregon Trail. (1961)