Oregon Trail: Difference between revisions

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The Oregon Trail was laid by [[fur trade]]rs and trappers from about 1811 to 1840 and was initially only passable on foot or 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 increasingly farther west and eventually reached the [[Willamette Valley]] in Oregon, at which point what came to be called the Oregon Trail was complete, even as almost annual improvements were made in the form of bridges, cutoffs, ferries, and roads, which made the trip faster and safer. From various starting points in Iowa, Missouri, or [[Nebraska Territory]], the routes converged along the lower [[Platte River Valley]] near [[Fort Kearny]], Nebraska Territory. They led to fertile farmlands west of the [[Rocky Mountains]].