WESTWARD MIGRATION 
The Oregon Trail

Wikipedia tells us that, “the Oregon Trail was a 2,200-mile historic east–west large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of the future state of Kansas and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the future states of Idaho and Oregon.

image: NARA

“The Oregon Trail was laid by fur trappers and traders from about 1811 to 1840 and was only passable on foot or by horseback. By 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall, Idaho. Wagon trails were cleared further and further west, eventually reaching all the way to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. What came to be called the Oregon Trail was complete, even as improved roads, cutoffs, ferries and bridges made the trip faster and safer almost every year. From various starting points in Missouri, Iowa or Nebraska Territory, the routes converged along the lower Platte River Valley near Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory and led to rich farmlands west of the Rocky Mountains.

“From the early to mid-1830s (and particularly through the epoch years, 1846–1869) the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers, ranchers, farmers, miners, and businessmen and their families. The eastern half of the trail was also used by travelers on the California Trail (from 1843), Bozeman Trail (from 1863), and Mormon Trail (from 1847) before turning off to their separate destinations. Use of the trail declined as the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, making the trip west substantially faster, cheaper, and safer. Today, modern highways such as Interstate 80 follow parts of the same course westward and pass through towns originally established to serve those using the Oregon Trail.”

If your ancestors migrated westward on the Oregon Trail, be sure to access Wikipedia’s entire article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail.

RESEARCH TIP: The Oregon Trail is one of the best known routes to Oregon and, thence, to California and Washington; but, there were many other trails followed by our relatives. An excellent place to begin researching your ancestors’ routes west is the American Migration Patterns website at 

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gentutor/migration.html. This site has charts, links to many other webpages devoted to particular routes and trails, and important information from the National Park Service.