USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Oregon Trail was a roughly 2, 000-mile route from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon, that was used by hundreds of thousands of American pioneers in the mid-1800s to emigrate west. The trail was arduous and snaked through Missouri and present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and finally into Oregon.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Oregon Trail was a wagon road stretching 2170 miles from Missouri to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It was not a road in any modern sense, only parallel ruts leading across endless prairie, sagebrush desert, and mountains.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Oregon Trail developed from the discovery in 1812 of a wagon-safe route over the Continental Divide at South Pass in present-day Wyoming by Robert Stuart, a Pacific Fur Company man returning from Fort Astor.

Detailed explanation-4: -The trail began at the old Independence Landing north of Independence, Missouri. Here emigrants left steamboats after a five or six day journey from St. Louis. The center of activity in the small town of Independence was the bustling square.

Detailed explanation-5: -The trail from Independence to Oregon City crossed portions of six present-day states. The first 16 miles were in Missouri, then the trail crossed into Kansas for 165 miles, Nebraska for 424 miles, Wyoming for 491 miles, Idaho for 510 miles and finally Oregon for 524 miles.