Oregon Trail

Tuesday, 04 December 2012

The Oregon Trail Gameplay and Commentary

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Oregon Trail (Part 1): Let's go Hunting!

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Acapulco, Mexico
Acapulco (officially known as Acapulco de Juárez) is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 300 kilometres (190 mi) southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history. It is a port of call for shipping and cruising lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States. The city of Acapulco is the largest in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo. Acapulco is also Mexico's largest beach and balneario resorted city.
The city is best known as one of Mexico’s oldest and most well-known beach resorts, which came into prominence by the 1950s as a getaway for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Acapulco is still famous for its nightlife and still attracts many vacationers, although most are now from Mexico itself. The resort area is divided into two: The north end of the bay is the "traditional" area, where the famous in the mid 20th century vacationed and the south end is dominated by newer luxury high rise hotels.

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Albany, Oregon
Albany is the 11th largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon, and is the county seat of Linn County. It is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just east of Corvallis and south of Salem. It is largely a farming and manufacturing city. Settlers founded the community in 1848. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population of Albany was 50,158.
Albany has a home rule charter, a council–manager government, and a full-time unelected city manager. The city provides the population with access to over 30 parks and trails, a senior center, and many cultural events such as River Rhythms and Mondays at Monteith. In addition to farming and manufacturing, the city's economy depends on retail trade, health care, and social assistance. In recent years the city has worked to revive the downtown shopping area, with help from The Central Albany Revitalization Area (CARA).
Prior to the arrival of the first European settlers to the area of the Willamette Valley that makes up modern day Albany was inhabited by one of the tribes of the Kalapuya, a Penutian-speaking,Native American people. The Kalapuya had named the area Takenah. a Kalapuyan word used to describe the deep pool where the Calapooia River meets the Willamette River. A variation of the place name can also be written as Tekenah.

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Albina, Oregon
Albina is a historical city which was consolidated into Portland, Oregon in 1891.
Albina was laid out in 1872 with a plat for the new town filed in April 1873 by Edwin Russell, William Page, and George Williams. Albina was named after Mrs. Albina Page, the wife of William Page. Settlement began in 1874 and the "City of Albina" was formally incorporated in 1887. The original dimensions of Albina were modest: from Halsey Street north to Morris Street, and from the Willamette River to Margareta Avenue (later Union Avenue, and now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). In 1889, Albina annexed the land north to Killingsworth Street and east to 24th. In 1891, Albina annexed everything north to Columbia Boulevard and west to the Portsmouth area. On July 6, 1891, Portland, East Portland, and Albina were consolidated into one city.
Coordinates: 45°32′38″N 122°40′26″W / 45.54389°N 122.67389°W / 45.54389; -122.67389

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American River
The American River (Río de los Americanos during the Mexican-ruled period before 1846) is a California watercourse noted as the site of Sutter's Mill, northwest of Placerville, California, where gold was found in 1848, leading to the California Gold Rush. This river runs from the Sierra Nevada mountain range, through the Sacramento metropolitan area, where it enters into the Sacramento River on its way to the San Francisco Bay. Today the American River is known for its whitewater rapids.
The American River is divided into the North, Middle, and South forks that contain recreational havens for well over one million visitors per year in El Dorado County, Placer County, and Sacramento County in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of northern California. The river originates in the Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests. From the confluence at Auburn, the combined North and Middle Forks river flows at an elevation of 600 feet (180 m) in a forested canyon 800 feet (240 m) deep and is called the North Fork. It meanders through additional wilderness recreational canyons past the site of the abandoned Auburn Dam, and back into wilderness, onward to where it meets the South Fork at Folsom Lake. All three forks are known for their verdant canyons, forested ridges, massive rock formations, trails, backcountry winter adventuring among snowy peaks, fishing and white water rafting.

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Antarctica
Antarctica

This map uses an orthographic projection, near-polar aspect. The South Pole is near the center, where longitudinal lines converge.
Antarctica (ⁱ/æntˈɑrtɨkə/ or /ænˈtɑːktɨkə/) is Earth's southernmost continent, containing the geographic South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km² (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages at least 1 mile (1.6 km) in thickness.
Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 inches) along the coast and far less inland. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89 °C (−129 °F). There are no permanent human residents, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Only cold-adapted organisms survive there, including many types of algae, animals (for example mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades), bacteria, fungi, plants, and protista. Vegetation where it occurs is tundra.

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Arco, Idaho
Arco is a city in Butte County, Idaho, United States. The population was 995 at the 2010 census. Arco is the county seat and largest city in Butte County.
Arco is located along the Big Lost River and is a gateway to the Lost River Range from the Snake River Plain. Craters of the Moon National Monument is located along U.S. Route 20, southwest of the city. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is located east of Arco.
Originally known as Root Hog, the original town site was five miles (8 km) south at the junction of two stagecoach lines (Blackfoot-Wood River and Blackfoot-Salmon). A suspension bridge that crossed the Big Lost River funnelled traffic through the settlement. The town leaders applied to the U.S. Post Office for the town name of "Junction."
The Postmaster General thought the name too common and suggested that the place be named Arco for Georg von Arco (1869–1940) of Germany who was visiting Washington, D.C. at the time. Georg von Arco was an inventor and a pioneer in the field of radio transmission and would become the lead engineer of Telefunken, a German company founded in 1903 that produced radio vacuum tubes. The town later moved four miles southeast when the stage station was moved to Webb Springs at Big Southern Butte. When the Oregon Short Line railroad arrived from Blackfoot in 1901 the stage lines became obsolete and the town of Arco moved northwest to its present site.

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Arizona Trail
The Arizona National Scenic Trail is a National Scenic Trail from Mexico to Utah that traverses the whole north-south length of the U.S. state of Arizona. The trail begins at the Coronado National Memorial near the US-Mexico border and moves north through parts of the Huachuca, Santa Rita, and Rincon Mountains. The trail continues through the Santa Catalina north of Tucson and the Mazatzal Mountains before ascending the Mogollon Rim north of Payson, eventually leading to the higher elevations of Northern Arizona and the San Francisco Peaks. The trail then continues across the Coconino Plateau to the Grand Canyon. The Arizona Trail terminates near the Arizona-Utah border in the Kaibab Plateau region. The 800-mile (1,300 km) long Arizona Trail was completed on December 16, 2011. The trail is designed as a primitive trail for hiking, equestrians, mountain biking, and even cross country skiing, showcasing the wide variety of mountain ranges and ecosystems of Arizona.
The idea for the trail was originally developed and promoted in 1985 by Dale Shewalter, a Flagstaff, Arizona teacher. The Arizona Trail was designated as a National Scenic Trail on on March 30, 2009 by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

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Arkansas
Arkansas (ⁱ/ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw) is a state located in the Southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states (N: Missouri; E: Tennessee, Mississippi; S: Louisiana; SW: Texas; W: Oklahoma), and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.
The name “Arkansas” derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word “Arkansas” itself is a French pronunciation (“Arcansas”) of a Quapaw (a related “Kaw” tribe) word, akakaze, meaning “land of downriver people” or the Sioux word akakaze meaning “people of the south wind”. The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881, after a dispute between two U.S. Senators from Arkansas. One wanted to pronounce the name /ɑrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zəs and the other wanted /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw.

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Arrow Rock, Missouri
Arrow Rock is a village in Saline County, Missouri, United States. The population was 79 as of the 2000 Census (56 as of the 2010 Census). The musical films Tom Sawyer (1973) and Huckleberry Finn (1974), both based on novels by Mark Twain, were partially shot here. Arrow Rock Historic District has significant properties and the George Caleb Bingham House has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
Arrow Rock is located at 39°4′12″N 92°56′51″W / 39.07°N 92.9475°W / 39.07; -92.9475 (39.070117, -92.947364). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²), all land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 79 people, 39 households, and 24 families residing in the town. The population density was 592.5 people per square mile (234.6/km²). There were 62 housing units at an average density of 465.0 per square mile (184.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 100.00% White.
There were 39 households out of which 17.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.03 and the average family size was 2.52.

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Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other founders had family connections. It officially became a town with the name Ashland Mills in 1855. As of July 1, 2011, the city had a total population of 20,255. It is the home of Southern Oregon University and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Prior to the arrival of settlers in mid-19th century, Shasta Indians lived in the valley along the creek approximately where Ashland is located. Early Hudson's Bay Company hunters and trappers, following the Siskiyou Trail, passed through the site in the 1820s. In the late 1840s, settlers (mostly American) following the Applegate Trail began passing through the area. By the early 1850s, the Donation Land Act brought many white settlers into the Rogue Valley and in conflict with its native people. These often violent clashes continued until 1856.

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Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811. Astoria was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 20, 1876.
Located on the south shore of the Columbia, the city is served by the Port of Astoria with a deep-water port. Transportation includes the Astoria Regional Airport with U.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 101 as the main highways, and the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Astoria – Megler Bridge connecting to neighboring Washington across the river. The population was 9,477 at the 2010 census.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the winter of 1805–1806 at Fort Clatsop, a small log structure south and west of modern day Astoria. The expedition had hoped a ship would come by to take them back east, but instead endured a torturous winter of rain and cold, then returned east the way they came. Today the fort has been recreated and is now a national monument.

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Atchison, Kansas
Atchison is a city situated along the Missouri River in the eastern part of Atchison County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Atchison County. The city is named in honor of David Rice Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, and was the original eastern terminus of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.^{[citation needed]}
Atchison was the birthplace of aviatrix Amelia Earhart and the Amelia Earhart Festival is held annually in July. Atchison is also home of Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal-arts college. Atchison is often called one of the most haunted places in America, due to the city's ghost-story heritage.

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Auburn, Wyoming
Auburn is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lincoln County, Wyoming, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 276.
Auburn is located at 42°47′40″N 111°0′18″W / 42.79444°N 111.005°W / 42.79444; -111.005 (42.794401, -111.004929). It located in Star Valley, a grassland valley surrounded by forested mountains.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.1 square miles (5.5 km²), all of it land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 276 people, 85 households, and 74 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 128.8 people per square mile (49.8/km²). There were 94 housing units at an average density of 43.9/sq mi (17.0/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 98.19% White, 0.36% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.72% of the population.
There were 85 households out of which 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 77.6% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.8% were non-families. 9.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.25 and the average family size was 3.45.

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Baker City, Oregon
Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 9,828 at the 2010 census.
Platted in 1865, Baker City grew slowly in the beginning. A post office was established on March 27, 1866, but Baker City was not incorporated until 1874. Even so, it supplanted Auburn as the county seat in 1868. The city and county were named in honor of U.S. Senator Edward D. Baker, the only sitting senator to be killed in a military engagement. He died in 1861 while leading a charge of 1,700 Union Army soldiers up a ridge at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, during the American Civil War.
The Oregon Short Line Railroad came to Baker City in 1884, prompting growth; by 1900 it was the largest city between Salt Lake City and Portland and a trading center for a broad region. In 1911 the city dropped "City" from its name, but restored it in 1989.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker City was established on June 19, 1903, after which the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales was built in Baker City. In 1918, Baker was the subject of national interest when the 1918 solar eclipse took place and the U.S. Naval Observatory based its observations there. The path of totality of the upcoming solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 includes Baker City as well.

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Baker County, Oregon
Baker County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. It is named for Edward Dickinson Baker, a senator from Oregon who was killed at Ball's Bluff, a battle of the Civil War in Virginia in 1861. It was split from the eastern part of Wasco County. Union County and Malheur County were set off from Baker County in 1864 and 1887 respectively. In 2010, its population was 16,134. The largest city and seat is Baker City.
The first groups from the eastern U.S. following the Oregon Trail passed through the area on their way to the Willamette Valley, unaware of the potential wealth they passed over. At Flagstaff Hill, near Baker City, 15 miles (24 km) of wagon ruts left by immigrants can still be seen.
In 1861 gold was discovered and Baker County became one of the Northwest's largest gold producers.
On September 22 of the following year, the state assembly created Baker County from the eastern part of Wasco County. Later, Union County and Malheur County were created from this county. The boundaries were adjusted for the last time in 1901, when the area between the Powder River and the Wallowa Mountains was returned to Baker County.

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Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, seven miles (11 km) west of Portland in the Tualatin River Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population is 89,803. This makes it the second-largest city in the county and Oregon's sixth-largest city. In 2010, Beaverton was named by Money magazine as one of the 100 "best places to live", among smaller cities, in the country.
According to Oregon Geographic Names, Beaverton got its name because of the settlement's proximity to a large body of water resulting from beaver dams.
The area of Tualatin Valley which became Beaverton was originally the home of a Native American tribe known as the Atfalati which settlers mispronounced as Tualatin. The Atfalati population dwindled in the latter part of the 18th century, and the prosperous tribe was no longer dominant in the area by the 19th century when settlers arrived.
The natives had a village called Chakeipi, meaning Place of the Beaver, and early settlers referred to it as "Beaverdam". Early settlers include the Hall Family from Kentucky, the Denneys who lived on their claim near present-day Scholls Ferry Road and Hall Blvd, and Orin S. Allen, from western New York. Lawrence Hall purchased 640 acres (2.6 km²) in Beaverdam in 1847 and built a grist mill with his brother near present-day Walker Road. His was the first land claim in the area. He was soon followed by Thomas Denney in 1848, who came to the area and built its first sawmill. In 1860, a toll plank road from Portland to Beaverton was completed over a trail called Canyon Road.

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Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population density of that area. With a population of 76,693 at the time of the 2010 US Census., up from 52,029 in recorded during the 2000 census.
Bend's metro population was estimated at 170,705 as of July 1, 2009. The Bend MSA is the 5th largest metropolitan area in Oregon.
Bend is located on the eastern edge of the Cascade Range along the Deschutes River. Here the Ponderosa Pine forest transitions into the high desert, characterized by arid land, junipers, sagebrush, and bitter-brush. Originally a crossing point on the river, settlement began in the early 1900s. Bend was incorporated as a city in 1905. Economically, it started as a logging town but is now identified as a gateway for many outdoor sports, including mountain biking, fishing, hiking, camping, rock climbing, white-water rafting, skiing, and golf.

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Big Piney, Wyoming
Big Piney is a town in Sublette County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 408 at the 2000 census.
Big Piney is the oldest settlement in Sublette County. It was founded in 1879, when rancher Daniel B. Budd and his partner Hugh McKay came with a thousand head of cattle from Nevada hoping to ship them, but got caught instead in severe winter weather in the Green River Valley. The following year, Dan Budd relocated his family to what is now known as Big Piney.
Cattle and oil have traditionally been its two primary industries.
In 1987, actress Glenn Close co-produced a documentary about the vanishing cowboy of the American West, entitled, "Do You Mean There Are Still Real Cowboys?" The film focused on several generations of cattle ranching families in Big Piney, originally shown as part of the PBS television series, "The American Experience." It was narrated by actor Robert Redford.
The Wardell Buffalo Trap, a canyon used by Native Americans to trap bison, is in the vicinity of Big Piney. Its potential archeological value led to its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

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Brookings, Oregon
Brookings is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It was named after John E. Brookings, president of the Brookings Lumber and Box Company, which founded the city in 1908. As of the 2010 census the population was 6,336. The total population of the Brookings area is over 13,000, which includes Harbor (a census-designated place), and others. There have been numerous proposals to annex the nearby unincorporated areas into Brookings; while most attempts failed over the years, one large area north of town owned by Borax has succeeded. This development has the potential to add approximately 1000 homes over the next 20 years, although developers expect many of them to be occupied only seasonally.
Due to its location, Brookings is subject to winter (and less frequently summer) temperatures considered unusually warm for the Oregon Coast. Temperatures can reach 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (21 to 27 degrees Celsius) throughout the year. This is due in part to the marine influences from its location on the Pacific Ocean, but mostly from its situation at the foot of the Klamath Mountains, whose winds compress and warm the air flowing onto Brookings. This is called the Brookings effect or Chetco effect. Heavy rain is common in the winter. Heavy fog is common in the summer.

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Burley, Idaho
Burley is a city in Cassia and Minidoka counties in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 10,345 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Cassia County.
Burley is the second-largest city in Idaho's Magic Valley region after Twin Falls. Along with nearby Rupert it forms the bulk of the "Mini-Cassia" area of southern Idaho.
Burley is the principal city of the Burley, ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cassia and Minidoka Counties.
Burley is home to the famed "Spudman" Triathlon.
Burley is located at 42°32′10″N 113°47′34″W / 42.53611°N 113.79278°W / 42.53611; -113.79278 (42.536136, -113.792653), at 4,150 feet (1,260 m) in elevation. Most of the city lies in Cassia County, with only a small portion extending into Minidoka County.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.2 square miles (11 km²), of which, 4.1 square miles (11 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) of it (2.83%) is water.
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,316 people, 3,288 households, and 2,373 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,262.0 people per square mile (873.0/km²). There were 3,633 housing units at an average density of 882.1 per square mile (340.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 77.96% White, 0.21% African American, 1.30% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 17.15% from other races, and 2.83% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26.71% of the population.

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Camp Floyd
Camp Floyd was a short-lived U.S. Army post near Fairfield, Utah, United States. The site is now a Utah state park known as Camp Floyd / Stagecoach Inn State Park and Museum.
Established in July 1858 by a US Army detachment under the command of Brevet Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston, Camp Floyd was named for then Secretary of War John B. Floyd. The detachment consisted of more than 3,500 military and civilian employees, including cavalry, artillery, infantry, and support units. This unit, the largest single troop concentration then in the United States, was sent by President James Buchanan to stop a perceived Mormon rebellion, which came to be known as the Utah War.
From Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the army marched to Fort Bridger, Wyoming where it spent the winter of 1857. Troops arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah in June 1858. Soon after their arrival, troops settled in the Cedar Valley area and eventually Fairfield, where 400 buildings were constructed by November 1858. A series of photographs of Camp Floyd, taken by Samuel C. Mills in January 1859, show the post as a cluster of adobe buildings including barracks, officers quarters, warehouses and other sundry structures. Enough civilians soon followed to increase the town size to 7000, almost half that of Salt Lake City. The rebellion never took place, leaving the army with routine garrison duty that included protecting the stagecoach and Pony Express routes, preventing Indian marauding, and mapping and surveying responsibilities.

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Cape Horn
Coordinates: 55°58′47″S 067°16′18″W / 55.97972°S 67.27167°W / -55.97972; -67.27167
Cape Horn (Dutch: Kaap Hoorn (help·info), Spanish: Cabo de Hornos; named after the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America, (which are the Diego Ramírez Islands) Cape Horn marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage; for many years it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. However, the waters around the Cape are particularly hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs; these dangers have made it notorious as a sailors' graveyard.
The need for ships to round the Cape Horn was greatly reduced by the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. However, sailing around the Horn is widely regarded as one of the major challenges in yachting. Thus, a few recreational sailors continue to sail this route, sometimes as part of a circumnavigation of the globe, and almost all of these choosing routes through the channels to the north of the actual Cape (though many take a detour through the islands and anchor to wait for fair weather to actually visit Horn Island or even sail around it to replicate a rounding of this historic point). Several prominent ocean yacht races, notably the Volvo Ocean Race, the VELUX 5 Oceans and the Vendée Globe, sail around the world via the Horn, and speed records for round-the-world sailing are recognized for following this route.

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Carey, Idaho
Carey is a city in Blaine County, Idaho, United States. The population was 513 at the 2000 census. Carey is primarily an agricultural city and is the location of the Blaine County Fairgrounds. Nearby recreational destinations include the Craters of the Moon National Monument, Carey Lake, Silver Creek and the Little Wood River. Further west is the Big Wood River Valley, leading to the Sun Valley resort. In recent years, the city of Carey has experienced significant growth.
Carey is located at 43°18′34″N 113°56′43″W / 43.30944°N 113.94528°W / 43.30944; -113.94528 (43.309319, -113.945293), at an elevation of 4783 feet (1458 m) above sea level.
According to the U.S. Census, the city has a total area of 3.4 sq mi (8.8 km²), all of it land.
Carey is located at the junctions of U.S. Routes 26/93 and 20 and is the commercial center of the Little Wood River Valley. It was founded by a group of Mormon colonists led by Cyrus Joseph Stanford in 1883 who named the town "Marysville." It was renamed "Carey" with the arrival of his younger brother, Thomas C. Stanford in 1884.

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Carson City, Nevada
Carson City, officially the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, is an independent city and the capital of the state of Nevada. The majority of the population of the town lives in Eagle Valley, on the eastern edge of the Carson Range, a branch of the Sierra Nevada. The town is about 30 miles (48 km) south of Reno. The town originated as a stopover for California bound emigrants, but began to develop as a city with the Comstock Lode, a silver strike in the mountains northeast of the town. The city has served as the capital of Nevada since the state was formed in 1864. For much of Carson's history the town served as a hub for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, although the tracks were removed in the 1950s. Prior to 1969, Carson City was also the county seat of Ormsby County. In 1969, the county was abolished and Carson City and a few small surrounding settlements within the former county were merged into a newly formed independent city called Carson City Consolidated Municipality. With the consolidation, the city limits today extend west across the Sierra Nevada to the California state line in the middle of Lake Tahoe. The population was 55,274 at the 2010 census.

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Casper, Wyoming
Casper is the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-largest city in Wyoming (only Cheyenne, the state capital, is larger), according to the 2010 census, with a population of 55,316. Casper is nicknamed "The Oil City" and has a long history of oil boomtown and cowboy culture, dating back to development of the nearby Salt Creek Oil Field.
Casper is located in east-central Wyoming at the foot of Casper Mountain, the north end of the Laramie Mountain Range, along the North Platte River. Interstate 25 approaches Casper from the North and East and is the main avenue of transportation to and from the city. The towns immediately adjacent to Casper are Mills, Evansville, Bar Nunn, and Mountain View. Unincorporated areas include Allendale, Dempsey Acres, Red Buttes, Indian Springs, and several others.
The city was established east of the former site of Fort Caspar, which was built during the mid-19th century mass migration of land seekers along the Oregon, California and Mormon trails. . The area was the location of several ferries that offered passage across the North Platte River in the early 1840s. In 1859, Louis Guinard built a bridge and trading post near the original ferry locations.

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Central Oregon
Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards the Columbia River, eastward towards Burns, or south towards Klamath Falls. These three counties have a combined population of 153,558 as of the 2000 census, with Deschutes the largest of the three counties, having approximately four times the population of the other two counties combined. As of 2008, the most populous city in the region is Bend, with an estimated 80,995 residents. As defined by the three county definition, Central Oregon covers 7,833 square miles (20,290 km²) of land.
The region is located in the middle of the state with the Cascade Range to the west dividing the state from north to south, and the smaller Ochoco Mountains to the east. Portions of the region are part of a basalt plateau formed by the Columbia River Basalt Group, others are part of the slopes of the Cascades, and others part of the Basin and Range. The climate of the area is primarily arid due to the rain shadow effect of the Cascades on the western boundary of the region. Outdoor recreational activities, timber, and ranching are the primary economic activities.

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Champoeg, Oregon
Champoeg ( /ʃæmˈpuːiː/ sham-POO-ee, historically /ʃæmˈpuːɛɡ/ sham-POO-eg) is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the Willamette Valley in the early 1840s. Located halfway between Oregon City and Salem, it was the site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Country.
The town site is on the south bank of the Willamette River in northern Marion County, approximately 5 mi (8 km) southeast of Newberg. The town is now part of Champoeg State Heritage Area, an Oregon state park. The Champoeg State Park Historic Archeological District is within the heritage area.
The name "Champoeg" comes from the Kalapuyan word [čʰámpuik], which might be an abbreviation of [čʰa-čʰíma-púičuk], referring to the edible root [púičuk], or yampa.
Champoeg is best known as the site of a series of meetings held in the town during the 1840s. On February 7, 1841, Willamette Valley settlers convened there for the first time. They selected Oregon missionary Jason Lee as their chairman and considered measures to deal with problem of wolves menacing their settlements. It was to be the first in a series of "Wolf meetings" at the town site that would establish the basis of civil codes.

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Cokeville, Wyoming
Cokeville is a town in Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 506 at the 2000 census.
Cokeville is located at 42°5′6″N 110°57′20″W / 42.085°N 110.95556°W / 42.085; -110.95556 (42.084940, -110.955684).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.7 square mile (1.9 km²), all land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 506 people, 166 households, and 125 families residing in the town. The population density was 693.2 people per square mile (267.6/km²). There were 195 housing units at an average density of 267.2 per square mile (103.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.83% White, 0.40% African American, 2.0% Pacific Islander, 0.99% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.37% of the population.
There were 166 households out of which 37.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.3% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.05 and the average family size was 3.66.

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Colorado
Colorado (ⁱ/kɒləˈrædoʊ/ or /kɒləˈrɒdoʊ/) is the US state that encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, and the Mountain States. Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 22nd most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,116,796 on July 1, 2011, an increase of +1.74% since the 2010 United States Census.
The state was named for the Colorado River, which early Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado for the red colored (Spanish: colorado) silt the river carried from the mountains. On August 1, 1876, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it was admitted to the Union in 1876, the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence.

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Columbia Plateau
The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbia River. In one of various usages, the term "Columbia Basin" refers to more or less the same area as the Columbia Plateau.
During late Miocene and early Pliocene times, one of the largest flood basalts ever to appear on the earth's surface engulfed about 63,000 square miles (160,000 km²) of the Pacific Northwest, forming a large igneous province. Over a period of perhaps 10 to 15 million years, lava flow after lava flow poured out, ultimately accumulating to a thickness of more than 6,000 feet (1.8 km). As the molten rock came to the surface, the Earth's crust gradually sank into the space left by the rising lava.
The subsidence of the crust produced the large plateau—a large, slightly depressed lava plain sometimes also known as the Columbia Basin. The ancient Columbia River was forced into its present course by the northwesterly advancing lava. The lava, as it flowed over the area, first filled the stream valleys, forming dams that in turn caused impoundments or lakes. Entities found in these lake beds include fossil leaf impressions, petrified wood, fossil insects, and bones of vertebrate animals.

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Columbia River Gorge
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) deep, the canyon stretches for over 80 miles (130 km) as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south. Extending roughly from the confluence of the Columbia with the Deschutes River down to eastern reaches of the Portland metropolitan area, the gorge furnishes the only navigable route through the Cascades and the only water connection between the Columbia River Plateau and the Pacific Ocean.
The gorge holds federally protected status as a National Scenic Area called the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area and is managed by the United States Forest Service. The gorge is a popular recreational destination.
The main trees in the gorge are conifers, Bigleaf Maple, cottonwood, Oregon Ash, Vine Maple,^{[citation needed]} and Garry Oak. The wide range of elevation and precipitation in the gorge creates a diverse collection of ecosystems from the temperate rain forest at Oneonta Gorge (with an average annual precipitation of 75 inches (1,900 mm)) to the Celilo grasslands (with average annual precipitation 12 inches (300 mm), with a transitional dry woodland between Hood River and The Dalles.^{[citation needed]} A large variety of endemic wildflowers thrives throughout the gorge.^{[citation needed]}

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Colón, Panama
Colón is a sea port on the Caribbean Sea coast of Panama. The city lies near the Caribbean Sea entrance to the Panama Canal. It is capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city. Colón was originally located entirely on Manzanillo Island, surrounded by Limon Bay, Manzanillo Bay and the Folks River. Since the disestablishment of the Canal Zone, the city's limits have been redefined to include the former Canal Zone towns of Cristobal, Rainbow City, Margarita, and Coco Solo, as well as the former U.S. Army base of Fort Gulick.
The city was founded by Americans in 1850 as the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railroad, then under construction to meet the gold rush demand for a fast route to California. For a number of years early in its history, the sizable United States émigré community called the town Aspinwall after Panama Railroad promoter William Henry Aspinwall, while the city's Hispanic community called it Colón, in honor of Christopher Columbus. The city was founded on the western end of a treacherously marshy islet known as Manzanillo Island. As part of the Panama Railroad's construction, the island was connected to the Panamanian mainland by a causeway and part of the island was drained to allow the erection of permanent buildings.

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Coos Bay, Oregon
Coos Bay is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The city borders the city of North Bend, and together they are often referred to as one entity called either Coos Bay-North Bend or the Bay Area. Coos Bay's population as of the 2010 census was 15,967 residents, which is the largest city on the Oregon Coast.
Prior to Europeans first visiting the Oregon coast, Native American tribes claimed the Coos Bay region as their homeland for thousands of years. Members of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, Siuslaw and Coquille tribes lived, fished, hunted and gathered along Coos Bay and its estuaries, along rivers, and in meadows and forests. Approximately 400 years ago, British and Spanish explorers first approached the South Coast. In 1579 Sir Francis Drake is purported to have sought shelter for his ship, the Golden Hinde, around Cape Arago. Trader and explorer Jedediah Smith was in the region seeking furs and the Hudson's Bay Company sent Alexander McLeod to search for an inland passage.

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Coos County, Oregon
Coos County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 2010, its population was 63,043. It is named after a tribe of Native Americans who lived in the region. The county was formed from the western parts of Umpqua and Jackson counties. The county seat is Coquille.
It's unclear where the name Coos originated. Lewis and Clark noted Cook-koo-oose.^{[citation needed]} Early maps and documents spelled it Kowes, Cowes, Coose, Koos, among others.^{[citation needed]}
Although exploration and trapping in the area occurred as early as 1828, the first settlement was established at Empire City in 1853, now part of Coos Bay, Oregon, by members of the Coos Bay Company.
Coos County was created by the Territorial Legislature from parts of Umpqua County, Oregon and Jackson County, Oregon Counties on December 22, 1853. Curry County, Oregon was created from the southern part in 1855. The county seat was originally at Empire City. In 1895 the legislature permitted the citizens of the county to choose a new county seat. The 1896 vote resulted in moving the seat to Coquille.

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Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis ( /kɔrˈvælɨs/) is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462. Corvallis is the location of Oregon State University.
Joseph C. Avery settled a land claim at the mouth of Marys River where it flows into the Willamette River in 1845. In 1849, Avery opened a store at the site, platted the land, and surveyed a town site on his land claim, naming the community Marysville. It is possible that the city was named after early settler Mary Lloyd, but now the name is thought to be derived from French fur trappers' naming of Marys Peak after the Virgin Mary.
In 1853, the legislative assembly changed the city's name to Corvallis, from the Latin phrase cor vallis, meaning "heart of the valley." Corvallis was incorporated as a city on January 29, 1857. The town served briefly as the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1855 before Salem was eventually selected as the permanent seat of state government.

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Council Bluffs
Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowa — the historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trails — is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across from what is now the much larger city of Omaha, Nebraska. Settlers departing west into the sparsely settled unorganized parts of the Territory of Missouri to the Oregon Country and the newly conquered California Territory through the (eventual) Nebraska Territory from Kanesville traveled by wagon trains along the much storied Oregon, Mormon, or California Trails into the newly expanded United States western lands — after the first large organized wagon trains left Missouri in 1841, the annual migration waves began in earnest by spring of 1843 and built up thereafter with the opening of the Mormon Trail (1846) until peaking in the later 1860s when news of railroad progress had a braking effect. By the 1860s virtually all migration wagon trains were passing near the renamed town. The wagon train trails became less important with the advent of the first complete transcontinental railway in 1869 but while trail use diminished after that, their use continued on at lesser rates until late in the nineteenth century.

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Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowa — the historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trails — is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across from what is now the much larger city of Omaha, Nebraska. Settlers departing west into the sparsely settled unorganized parts of the Territory of Missouri to the Oregon Country and the newly conquered California Territory through the (eventual) Nebraska Territory from Kanesville traveled by wagon trains along the much storied Oregon, Mormon, or California Trails into the newly expanded United States western lands — after the first large organized wagon trains left Missouri in 1841, the annual migration waves began in earnest by spring of 1843 and built up thereafter with the opening of the Mormon Trail (1846) until peaking in the later 1860s when news of railroad progress had a braking effect. By the 1860s virtually all migration wagon trains were passing near the renamed town. The wagon train trails became less important with the advent of the first complete transcontinental railway in 1869 but while trail use diminished after that, their use continued on at lesser rates until late in the nineteenth century.

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Crook County, Oregon
Crook County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 2010, its population was 20,978. It is named after George Crook, a U.S. Army officer who served in the American Civil War and various Indian Wars. The seat of the county is Prineville.
Access into the region at first was difficult, which discouraged settlement. The first effort to develop routes into the area was in 1862 when a supply train with cattle crossed the Scott Trail. This was also the first group of non-natives to spend the winter in central Oregon. The discovery and development of the Santiam Pass in the 1860s improved access into the area.
Crook County was formed from the southern part of Wasco County on October 24, 1882, and established Prineville as the county seat. The voters confirmed the choice of Prineville, the only incorporated town in the county, in the 1884 general election.
Logging in the Ochoco Mountains and the timber mills that accompanied it contributed to the economic and population growth of the county. The first recorded mention of a sawmill was made by George Barnes, speaking about the Swartz sawmill on Mill Creek, circa 1867.

wn.com/Crook_County,_Oregon
DuPont, Washington
DuPont is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 8,199 at the 2010 census.
The Nisqually tribe arrived in the area at least 5700 years ago, subsisting on shellfish from the beaches and salmon from Sequalitchew Creek. Captain George Vancouver mapped the area in 1792, and in 1833, the Hudson's Bay Company established a fur trading post at Fort Nisqually. The fort was relocated upstream in 1843.
The first school in the area was the Nisqually Methodist Mission school, which operated from 1840 through 1842. Chloe A. Clarke was appointed teacher at the mission school. The first public school was established in 1852, and in 1869, the federal government auctioned the site off to settlers. In 1906, DuPont purchased a 5-square-mile (13 km²) area for construction of an explosives plant. By 1909, the company town had more than 100 houses.
DuPont was officially incorporated on March 26, 1912, and was re-incorporated in 1951. DuPont has recently undergone a modern transformation as the modern planned communities such as "Northwest Landing" has been realized. The city is expected to have a built out population of 12,000+.

wn.com/DuPont,_Washington
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene ( /juːˈdʒiːn/) is a major city in the state of Oregon. It is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the county seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) east of the Oregon Coast.
As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Eugene has a population of 156,185, and Lane County (co-located with the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area) (MSA) has a population of 351,715. While Eugene has long been the second largest city in Oregon, it was briefly surpassed by Salem between 2005 and 2007. The Eugene-Springfield, Oregon MSA is the 144th largest metropolitan statistical area of the U.S, and the third largest in the state, behind the Portland Metropolitan Area and the Salem Metropolitan Area.
Eugene is home to the University of Oregon. The city is also noted for its natural beauty, recreational opportunities (especially bicycling, running/jogging, rafting, kayaking), focus on the arts, activist political leanings, and residents with "alternative" lifestyles. Eugene's slogan is "A Great City for the Arts and Outdoors." It is also referred to as the "Emerald City", and as "Track Town, USA." The Nike corporation had its beginnings in Eugene.

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Florence, Oregon
Florence is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 8,466.
The Florence area was originally inhabited by the Siuslaw tribe of Native Americans. Some state that the city was named for state senator A. B. Florence, who represented Lane County from 1858–1860; another notion is that Florence was named for a French vessel that was wrecked at the mouth of the Siuslaw River on February 17, 1875.
On November 12, 1970, a dead sperm whale that had washed up on the beach was destroyed with dynamite, the theory being that scavengers such as seagulls and crabs would consume the smaller pieces. Decades later, the resulting debacle became widely known via the Internet as the exploding whale story.
Florence is located on the Oregon Coast at the mouth of the Siuslaw River about the same latitude as Eugene, Oregon, and is approximately midway between the other major central Oregon coastal cities of Newport and Coos Bay. The community of Glenada lies just across the Siuslaw on U.S. Route 101 to the south of Florence, and the city of Yachats is 26 miles (42 km) to the north.

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Fort Hall
Fort Hall was established by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, an inventor and businessman from Boston, Massachusetts, as a trading post on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, part of southeastern Idaho in the present-day United States. He also established a post at Fort William, in present-day Portland, Oregon, as part of a plan for a new trading and fisheries company. Unable to compete with the powerful British Hudson's Bay Company, based at Fort Vancouver, in 1837 Wyeth sold both posts to it. Great Britain and the United States both operated in the Oregon Country in these years.
After being included in United States territory in 1846 upon settlement of the northern boundary with Canada, Fort Hall developed as an important station for emigrants through the 1850s on the Oregon Trail; it was located at the end of the common 500-mile stretch from the East shared by the three far west emigrant trails. Soon after Fort Hall, the Oregon and California trails diverged in northwesterly and southwesterly directions. An estimated 270,000 emigrants reached Fort Hall on their way west. The town of Fort Hall, Idaho later developed 11 miles to the west, and Pocatello developed about 30 miles south on the Snake River.

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Fort Hall, Idaho
Fort Hall is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho, split between northern Bannock County and southern Bingham County. It is located on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation along the Snake River north of Pocatello, near the site of the original Fort Hall in the Oregon Country. The population was 3,201 at the 2010 census.
The Bannock County portion of Fort Hall is part of the 'Pocatello, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area', while the Bingham County portion is part of the 'Blackfoot, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area'.
Fort Hall is located at 43°1′7″N 112°26′54″W / 43.01861°N 112.44833°W / 43.01861; -112.44833 (43.018506, -112.448301).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 35.2 square miles (91 km²), all of it land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,193 people, 969 households, and 781 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 90.8 people per square mile (35.1/km²). There were 1,088 housing units at an average density of 30.9/sq mi (11.9/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 30.22% White, 0.03% African American, 65.39% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 2.25% from other races, and 1.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.61% of the population.

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Fort Kearny
Fort Kearny was a historic outpost of the United States Army founded in 1848 in the western U.S. during the middle and late 19th century. The outpost was located along the Oregon Trail near present-day Kearney, Nebraska, which took its name from the fort (with a modification of spelling).
The fort was built in response to the growth of overland emigration to Oregon after 1842. The first post, Fort Kearny, was established in the spring of 1848 "near the head of the Grand Island" along the Platte River by Lieutenant Daniel P. Woodbury. It was first called Fort Childs, but in 1848 the post was renamed Fort Kearny in honor of General Stephen Watts Kearny.
Despite its lack of fortifications, Fort Kearny served as way station, sentinel post, supply depot, and message center for 49'ers bound for California and homeseekers traveling to California, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The earliest surviving photograph of the post, taken in 1858 by Samuel C. Mills, shows the post as a collection of adobe buildings without any wall or fortifications. By the 1860s the fort had become a significant state and freighting station and home station of the Pony Express. During the Indian Wars of 1864-1865 a small stockade was apparently built upon the earth embankment still visible. Although never under attack, the post did serve as an outfitting depot for several Indian campaigns.

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Fort Nez Perce
Fort Nez Percés, sometimes also spelled Fort Nez Percé (with or without the accent), named after the Nez Perce people and later known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla, was a fortified British fur trading post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington. It was in operation from 1818 until 1857.
During David Thompson's 1811 voyage down the Columbia River he camped at the junction with the Snake River on July 9, 1811, and erected a pole and a notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site.
The fort was founded several years later, in July 1818 by the North West Company under the direction of traders Donald MacKenzie and Alexander Ross. They constructed the fort on the east bank of the Columbia River, half a mile north of the mouth of the Walla Walla River and a few miles below the mouth of the Snake River.
The location was chosen for its strategic geographic value. The nearby Walla Walla Valley had long been an important rendezvous point for parties working several peripheral fur districts. The 1815 decision to refocus the entire New Caledonia region southward to the Columbia River meant greatly increased traffic on the river. Furthermore, Donald MacKenzie intended to open up the Snake River country, adding another operation converging on the area where Fort Nez Percés was built. Essentially all company exports and supplies passed through the Columbia Gorge. The location of Fort Nez Percés at the eastern end of this trunk line to the ocean made it the most important post in the interior. In addition, increasing tensions from occupying the homelands of the local Native Americans necessitated a permanent fortified post. Finally, the area was significant to the Indians themselves. Not only was it a major meeting and trading ground, but it was where Lewis and Clark had first met the Columbia River indigenous peoples and had made an informal treaty of friendship.

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Fort Nez Perces
Fort Nez Percés, sometimes also spelled Fort Nez Percé (with or without the accent), named after the Nez Perce people and later known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla, was a fortified British fur trading post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington. It was in operation from 1818 until 1857.
During David Thompson's 1811 voyage down the Columbia River he camped at the junction with the Snake River on July 9, 1811, and erected a pole and a notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site.
The fort was founded several years later, in July 1818 by the North West Company under the direction of traders Donald MacKenzie and Alexander Ross. They constructed the fort on the east bank of the Columbia River, half a mile north of the mouth of the Walla Walla River and a few miles below the mouth of the Snake River.
The location was chosen for its strategic geographic value. The nearby Walla Walla Valley had long been an important rendezvous point for parties working several peripheral fur districts. The 1815 decision to refocus the entire New Caledonia region southward to the Columbia River meant greatly increased traffic on the river. Furthermore, Donald MacKenzie intended to open up the Snake River country, adding another operation converging on the area where Fort Nez Percés was built. Essentially all company exports and supplies passed through the Columbia Gorge. The location of Fort Nez Percés at the eastern end of this trunk line to the ocean made it the most important post in the interior. In addition, increasing tensions from occupying the homelands of the local Native Americans necessitated a permanent fortified post. Finally, the area was significant to the Indians themselves. Not only was it a major meeting and trading ground, but it was where Lewis and Clark had first met the Columbia River indigenous peoples and had made an informal treaty of friendship.

wn.com/Fort_Nez_Perces
Glenns Ferry, Idaho
Glenns Ferry is a city in Elmore County, Idaho, United States. The population was 1,611 at the 2000 census. The city is adjacent to Interstate 84 and the Snake River.
Glenns Ferry was one of the most famous river crossings on the Oregon Trail. Pioneers forded the Snake River at the Three Island Crossing until 1869, when Gustavus "Gus" Glenn constructed a ferry about two miles upstream, primarily to expedite freight but also for emigrants. His boat, which could hold two wagons, cut nearly twenty miles from the former route.
Three Island Crossing State Park, opened in 1971, is home to The Oregon Trail History and Education Center, where visitors can learn about pioneer emigrants and Native American history. The Glenns Ferry community sponsors a crossing commemoration the second Saturday of each August.
The townsite was platted in 1871, just downstream from the ferry site, and the first bridge across the Snake River was built here in 1908.
Glenns Ferry is located at 42°57′7″N 115°18′4″W / 42.95194°N 115.30111°W / 42.95194; -115.30111 (42.951954, -115.301132), at an altitude of 2569 feet (783 m).

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Grant County, Oregon
Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. In 2010, its population was 7,445. It is named for President Ulysses S. Grant, who served as an army officer in the Oregon Territory, and at the time of the county's creation was a Union general in the American Civil War. The seat of the county is Canyon City.
Grant County was established on October 14, 1864, from parts of old Wasco and old Umatilla counties. Prior to its creation, cases brought to court were tried in The Dalles, county seat of the vast Wasco County. The great distance to The Dalles made law enforcement a difficult problem, and imposed a heavy burden on citizens who had a need to transact business at the courthouse. In 1889, more than half of the southern part of the original Grant County was taken to form Harney County. Also in 1899, a small part of northwestern Grant County was taken (along with parts of Crook and Gilliam counties) to form Wheeler County.

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Grants Pass, Oregon
Grants Pass is a city in, and the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5, northwest of Medford. Attractions include the Rogue River, famous for its rafting, and the nearby Oregon Caves National Monument located 30 miles (48 km) south of the city. The population was 34,533 at the 2010 United States Census.
Early Hudson's Bay Company hunters and trappers, following the Siskiyou Trail, passed through the site beginning in the 1820s. In the late 1840s, settlers (mostly American) following the Applegate Trail began traveling through the area on their way to the Willamette Valley. The city states that the name was selected to honor General Ulysses S. Grant's success at Vicksburg, however no evidence has been offered to support this claim. Grants Pass post office was established on March 22, 1865. The city of Grants Pass was incorporated in 1887, a year after it had become the county seat.^{[citation needed]}
The Oregon-Utah Sugar Company, financed by Charles W. Nibley was created, leading to a sugar beet factory being built in Grants Pass in 1916. Before the factory opened, Oregon-Utah Sugar was merged into the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. Due to labor shortages and low acreage planted in sugar beets, the processing machinery was moved to Toppenish, Washington in 1918 or 1919.

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Green River, Utah
Green River is a city in Emery County, Utah, United States. The population was 973 at the 2000 census.
Green River is located on the banks of the Green River, after which the city is named. The San Rafael Swell region is to the west of Green River, while Canyonlands National Park lies to the south. Today located exclusively in Emery County, it was split between Emery and Grand counties until January 6, 2003, when Emery County's boundaries were expanded.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.6 square miles (32.7 km²), of which, 12.5 square miles (32.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (1.03%) is water.
Crystal Geyser, a cold water "geyser"---actually a carbon-dioxide driven, erupting well---is located about nine miles southeast of town (Glennon, J.A. and Pfaff R.M. 2005).
Green River City started as a river crossing for the U.S. Mail. In 1876, a Mr. Blake set up a ferry on the East side of the river and a way station. It became a stopover for travelers with a ferry for transporting people and animals across the river.

wn.com/Green_River,_Utah
Gresham, Oregon
Gresham ( /ˈɡrɛʃəm/) is a city located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States immediately east of Portland. It was named for the American Civil War general, and Postmaster General, Walter Quinton Gresham. The population was 105,594 at the 2010 census. This makes Gresham the fourth largest city in Oregon.
Gresham could not establish itself as a city unless given a post office and postal code. A local storeowner offered to use his store as a post office and offered to name the city after Postmaster General Walter Q. Gresham if a post office was granted. Until that time, the city had simply been known as Campground because this forested site was where pioneers often stopped to spend the night and compose themselves before moving on to Portland and the Willamette Valley. Although a post office was established in May 1884, Gresham was not incorporated as a city until 1905. Lewis Shattuck, son of a pioneer family, was the first mayor.^{[citation needed]}
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.2 square miles (57 km²), of which 22.1 square miles (57 km²) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) is water. The total area is 0.40% water, which includes parts of Fairview Creek and Johnson Creek.

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Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology (high-tech) companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the Silicon Forest. As of the 2010 Census, the city's population was 91,611.
For thousands of years before the arrival of European-American settlers, the Atfalati tribe of the Kalapuya lived in the Tualatin Valley near the later site of Hillsboro. The climate, moderated by marine influence from the Pacific Ocean, helped make the region suitable for fishing, hunting, food gathering, and agriculture. Settlers founded a community here in 1842, later named after David Hill, an Oregon politician. Transportation by riverboat on the Tualatin River was part of Hillsboro's settler economy. A railroad reached the area in the early 1870s and an interurban electric railway about four decades later. These railways, as well as highways, aided the slow growth of the city to about 2,000 people by 1910 and about 5,000 by 1950, before the arrival of high-tech companies in the 1980s.

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Hood River, Oregon
The city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 5,831. In 2010, the population is estimated to have reached 7,167.
Hood River post office was established at the site of the present city on September 30, 1858, and the city itself was incorporated in 1895.
Hood River is located on the Columbia River directly opposite White Salmon, Washington.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km²), of which 2.0 square miles (5.2 km²) is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²) (28.97%) is water.
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,831 people, 2,429 households, and 1,442 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,839.4 people per square mile (1,098.2 per km²). There were 2,645 housing units at an average density of 1,288.0 per square mile (498.2 per km²). The racial makeup of the city was:

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Idaho
Idaho (ⁱ/ˈaɪdəhoʊ/) is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. Idaho is the 14th most expansive, the 39th most populous, and the 7th least densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state.
Idaho is a mountainous state with an area larger than that of all of New England. It is landlocked, surrounded by the states of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and the Canadian province of British Columbia. However, the network of dams and locks on the Columbia River and Snake River make the city of Lewiston the farthest inland seaport on the Pacific coast of the contiguous United States.
Idaho's nickname is the Gem State, because nearly every known type of gemstone has been found there. In addition, Idaho is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found (the other is the Himalaya Mountains, in India)^{[citation needed]}, and is the only place six-pointed star garnets have been found^{[citation needed]}. Additionally Idaho is sometimes called the Potato State owing to its popular crop. The state motto is Esto Perpetua (Latin for "Let it be forever").

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Illinois
Illinois (ⁱ/ˌɪlɨˈnɔɪ/ IL-i-NOY) is the 25th most extensive and the 5th most populous of the 50 United States, and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a broad economic base. Illinois is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean; as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics.
Although the state's largest population centers today are in northern Illinois, originally the state's population grew from south to north, with settlers arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s. In 1818, Illinois achieved statehood. Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, one of the few natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan. Railroads and John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars. The Great Migration established a large community of African Americans in Chicago that created the city's famous jazz and blues cultures.

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Independence, Oregon
Independence is a city in Polk County, Oregon, United States, on the west bank of the Willamette River along Oregon Route 51, and east of nearby Monmouth. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thirty square blocks of the oldest part of Independence form the National Register of Historic Places-listed Independence Historic District.
The population was 9,510 at the 2010 census.
Independence was founded by pioneers who migrated from Independence, Missouri.^{[citation needed]} Elvin A. Thorp arrived in the Independence area in 1845 and staked a claim north of Ash Creek in June of that year. He platted a small townsite that later became known as "Thorp's Town of Independence" or the "Original Town of Independence", now known as "Old Town". It was named by Mrs. Thomas Burbank,^{[citation needed]} wife of one of the earliest pioneers, who settled 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the city.
In 1847, Henry Hill came across the plains looking for a level piece of ground on which to raise stock.^{[citation needed]} On November 14, 1847, he found his location on the west bank of the Willamette River (south of Ash Street) and marked off his donation land claim, which was 1 mile (1.6 km) square. In 1867, after returning from the California gold mines, Hill platted 40 acres (160,000 m²) for a townsite, thereafter to be referred to as Henry Hill's Town of Independence. The city charter bill of February 26, 1885, incorporated E.A. Thorp's Independence and Henry Hill's Independence. Henry Hill Elementary School was named in honor of the latter.

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Iowa
Iowa (ⁱ/ˈaɪ.əwə/) is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is often known as the "Food Capital of the World".
In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states to live in.
Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east; the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west; the northern boundary is a line along 43 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. The southern border is the Des Moines River and a not-quite-straight line along approximately 40 degrees 35 minutes north, as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Missouri v. Iowa after a standoff between Missouri and Iowa known as the Honey War.

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Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal. Like many isthmuses, it is a location of great strategic value.
The Isthmus was formed some three million years ago during the Pliocene epoch. This major geological event separated the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and caused the creation of the Gulf Stream.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa heard of the South Sea from the natives while sailing along the Caribbean coast. On 25 September 1513 he saw the Pacific. In 1519 the town of Panamá was founded near a small indigenous settlement on the Pacific coast. After the discovery of Peru it developed into an important port of trade and became an administrative centre. 1671 the Welsh pirate Henry Morgan crossed the Isthmus of Panamá coming from the Caribbean and destroyed the city. Afterwards the town was relocated some kilometers to the west at a small peninsula. The ruins of the old town Panamá la Vieja are preserved, and were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

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Julesburg, Colorado
The historic town of Julesburg is a statutory town that is the county seat of Sedgwick County, Colorado, United States. The town is located on the north side of the South Platte River. The population was 1,467 at the U.S. Census 2000. It is the northernmost town in the state, located less than a mile south of the Nebraska border.
According to the Colorado Historical Society, the original trading post was named for Jules Beni. Julesburg was featured in the 1960 episode "The Story of Julesburg" of the syndicated television series Pony Express (1959–1960). James Best and Sebastian Cabot guest starred in the segment. Julesburg was on the Pony Express (1860–1861) route from Missouri to California.
The second episode (1955) of the ABC western Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker, is entitled "Julesburg". In the story line, Julesburg is depicted as under the control of a ruthless cattle baron played by Ray Teal, later cast as the sheriff in the NBC series Bonanza.
Julesburg is located at 40°59′18″N 102°16′0″W / 40.98833°N 102.266667°W / 40.98833; -102.266667 (40.988422, -102.266677).

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Kansas
Kansas (ⁱ/ˈkænzəs/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."
For thousands of years what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the Eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the Western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly, when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum and sunflowers. Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States.

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Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas, the county seat of Wyandotte County, and the third-largest city of the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area. It is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified Government" which also includes the cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 145,786. It is situated at Kaw Point, which is the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. It is commonly referred to as "KCK" to differentiate it from Kansas City, Missouri (which is often referred to as "KCMO"). It is the location of the Kansas Speedway and the home field of Sporting Kansas City, the metro area's only major-league soccer team.
Kansas City, Kansas formed in 1868 and incorporated in October 1872. The first city election was held October 22, 1872, by order of Judge Hiram Stevens of the Tenth Judicial District, and resulted in the election of Mayor James Boyle. The mayors of the city after its organization have been James Boyle, C. A. Eidemiller, A. S. Orbison, Eli Teed and Samuel McConnell. John Sheehan was appointed Marshal in 1875, by Mayor Eli Teed. He was also Chief of Police, having a force of five men. In June 1880, the Governor of Kansas proclaimed the city of Kansas City a city of the second class with the Mayor Samuel McConnell present. James E. Porter was Mayor in 1910. It was one of the nation's 100 largest cities for many US Census counts, from 1890 to 1960, including 1920, when it had over 100,000 residents for the first time. In 1997, voters approved a proposition to unify the city and county governments creating the Unified Government of Wyandotte County.

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Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas.
The territory extended from the Missouri border west to the summit of the Rocky Mountains and from the 37th parallel north north to the 40th parallel north. Much of the eastern region of what is now the State of Colorado was part of Kansas Territory. The Territory of Colorado was created to govern this western region of the former Kansas Territory on February 28, 1861.
Kansas Territory was established by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing the Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory. The most momentous provision of the Act in effect repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed the settlers of Kansas Territory to determine by popular sovereignty whether Kansas would be a free state or a slave state.
The Act contained thirty-seven sections. The provisions relating to Kansas Territory were embodied in the last eighteen sections. Some of the more notable sections were:

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Keizer, Oregon
Keizer ( /ˈkaɪzər/) is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States, along the 45th parallel. It was named for Thomas Dove and John Brooks Keizer, two pioneers who arrived in the Wagon Train of 1843, and later filed donation land claims. The population was 36,278 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The original settlement was at Keizer Bottom, near the banks of the Willamette River. The community was named after Thomas Dove Keizur, one of its first settlers. Somewhere in the translation of donation land claim records, his name was misspelled. The settlement suffered in the flood of 1861, and the inhabitants rebuilt their homes on higher ground. Further floods in 1943, 1945, 1946 and 1948 hampered the growth of the community, and it was not until dams were built in the 1950s to regulate the flow of the Willamette that Keizer began to flourish.
Many times the City of Salem tried to annex the growing community adjacent to its city limits. Beginning in 1964, a number of Keizer residents tried to convince the people of Keizer that it would be cheaper and better to form their own city. It was not until November 2, 1982, when, with the support of the nearby unincorporated community of Clear Lake, residents voted to make Keizer a city.

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Kelton, Utah
Kelton is a ghost town, just north of the Great Salt Lake, in the Park Valley area of Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The town was inhabited during the period 1869–1942. Once an important section station on the First Transcontinental Railroad, Kelton was dependent on the railroad throughout its history. The town suffered serious setbacks in the 1880s when its busy stagecoach route to Boise, Idaho was discontinued, and in the 1900s when the Lucin Cutoff left it off the main rail line. The strongest earthquake in Utah history caused severe damage in 1934, but Kelton ceased to exist only when the rails were completely removed during World War II.
The site was first settled under the name of Indian Creek, when the mostly-Chinese work crew of the Central Pacific Railroad arrived on April 12, 1869, less than a month before the driving of the golden spike. When the post office was established here on December 16, 1869, it was named Kelton after an early stockman. It quickly grew into a prosperous town, soon including several fine hotels, stores, homes, a whole row of saloons and gambling halls, and even a telephone exchange.

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Kettle Falls
Coordinates: 48°38′22″N 118°06′34″W / 48.6393460°N 118.1094364°W / 48.6393460; -118.1094364
Kettle Falls (Salish: Shonitkwu, meaning "roaring or noisy waters", also Schwenetekoo translated as “Keep Sounding Water”) was an ancient and important salmon fishing site on the upper reaches of the Columbia River, in what is today the U.S. state of Washington, near the Canadian border. The falls consisted of a series of rapids and cascades where the river passed through quartzite rocks deposited by prehistoric floods on a substrate of Columbia River basalt. The river dropped nearly 50 feet (15 m), and the sound of the falls could be heard for miles away. Kettle Falls was inundated in 1940, as the waters of the reservoir Lake Roosevelt rose behind Grand Coulee Dam, permanently flooding the site.
About nine thousand years ago Paleo-Indian cultures first gathered at Kettle Falls to fish and gather foods. Salish speaking people arrived about two thousand years ago, and gradually the falls became the center of an extensive network of Native American trade based on a salmon economy. Native peoples came from coastal areas in the west and from the Great Plains in the east to fish, trade, and socialize with the bands of the Columbia River Plateau. Up to fourteen tribes met regularly at Kettle Falls during the salmon spawning season from June to October. They stood on rocks near the shore or on Indian Island in the middle of the falls, fishing with spears and distinctive J-shaped baskets. In his memoir White Grizzly Bear's Legacy: Learning to be Indian, Lawney Reyes described the cultural and economic significance of the falls for his people, the Sinixt, and explained the role of subsistence fishing in maintaining salmon populations: "The bands moved to the banks of the river and caught the salmon that were not strong enough to clear the falls. This method of fishing made sure that only the strongest fish went on to spawn."

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La Barge, Wyoming
La Barge is a town in Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 431 at the 2000 census. It is about 20 miles from Big Piney, Wyoming. The area around La Barge is rich in oil fields, and the town has three bars and four churches.
The town is named for Joseph Marie La Barge, a French-Canadian voyageur turned fur trapper, mountain man, and steamboat operator. He was born in L'Assomption, Quebec, on 4 July 1787, and came to the U.S. in 1808 canoeing to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met married a woman of Spanish and French descent, Eulalie Becquette Alvarez-Hortiz. His trapping days began at Cabanne's Trading Post in Nebraska Territory, and continued throughout the West during the 1830s and 1840s after his children were born.
La Barge was granted U.S. citizenship for his service during the war of 1812. He lived a long life until 20 January 1860 when he slipped on some ice and died from his injuries a few days later.
La Barge is located at 42°15′40″N 110°11′49″W / 42.26111°N 110.19694°W / 42.26111; -110.19694 (42.261139, -110.196974).

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La Grande, Oregon
La Grande ( /ləˈɡrænd/) is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. Originally named "Brownsville," it was forced to change its name due to that name already being used for a city in Linn County. Its current name comes from an early French settler, Charles Dause, who often used the phrase "La Grande" to describe the area's beauty. The population was 13,082 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Union County. La Grande lies east of the Blue Mountains and southeast of Pendleton.
The Grande Ronde Valley had long been a waypoint along the Oregon Trail. The first permanent settler in the La Grande area was Benjamin Brown in 1861. Not long after, the Leasey family and about twenty others settled there. The settlement was originally named after Ben Brown as Brown's Fort, Brown's Town, or Brownsville. There was already a Brownsville in Linn County, so when the post office was established in 1863, a more distinctive name was needed. It was decided to use "La Grande", a phrase used by a Frenchman, Charles Dause, to describe the area's scenic splendor. Before the post office was established, William Carter charged 50 cents a letter to carry the mail on horseback from the nearest post office, in Walla Walla, Washington. La Grande was incorporated as a city in 1865, and platted in 1868.

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Lake County, Oregon
Lake County is a county in the high desert south central region of the U.S. state of Oregon, so named for the many lakes found within its boundaries, including Lake Abert, Hart Lake Reservoir, and Goose Lake. While Lake is among Oregon's largest counties, it is sparsely populated with 7,895 residents in 2010. Its seat is at Lakeview
Lake County is in a high desert region known as Oregon's Outback, on the northwestern edge of the Great Basin. The county is generally divided between the communities around Lakeview and Paisley to the south and the communities around Christmas Valley, Fort Rock, and Silver Lake to the north.^{[citation needed]}
Its economy consists largely of agriculture and natural resource management and extraction.^{[citation needed]} It is home to many large cattle ranches, hay farms, and timber holdings (both public and private), as well as several frontier towns and early 20th century homesteads.^{[citation needed]} Although lumber was once a primary economic driver in Lake County, today only one mill remains, at Lakeview.^{[citation needed]}

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Lake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego ( /ɒsˈwiːɡoʊ/) is a city located primarily in Clackamas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Small portions of the city are also located in neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located south of Portland surrounding the 405-acre (1.64 km²) Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in 1910. The city was the hub of Oregon's brief iron industry in the late 19th century and is today an affluent suburb of Portland. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 36,619, a 3.8% increase over the 2000 population of 35,278.
The Clackamas Indians once occupied the land that later became Lake Oswego, but diseases transmitted by European explorers and traders killed most of the natives. Before the influx of non-native people via the Oregon Trail, the area between the Willamette River and Tualatin River had a scattering of early pioneer homesteads and farms.
As settlers arrived, encouraged by the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and the subsequent Homestead Act, they found the land under-occupied.

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Lakeview, Oregon
Lakeview is a city in Lake County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,294 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Lake County. Although it is an incorporated city, the municipal government refers to the community as "The Town of Lakeview", and bills itself as "Tallest Town in Oregon" because of its elevation. Lakeview is situated in the Goose Lake Valley at the foot of the Warner Mountains and at the edge of the Southeastern Oregon high desert.
Native American artifacts in Lake County have been dated back to 9,000 years ago. White traders, explorers and military expeditions arrived in the 1800s. The first white outpost in Lake County was Fort Warner on August 10, 1866, built in the area where the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge is located. The main reason for establishing the fort was to protect white settlers from the native people of the region. General George Crook was active in the area and established camps in the area and fought native Americans. The area around Lakeview was also home to Irish and some Basque sheepherders who were later displaced by cattle ranchers.

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Lane County, Oregon
Lane County is a county in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is named in honor of Joseph Lane, Oregon's first territorial governor. The seat of the county is Eugene. According to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data, Lane County has a population of 351,715.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) encompasses the entire Lane County. It is the third largest MSA in Oregon, and the 144th largest in the country.
Although 90% of Lane County is forested, the county also contains the second largest urban area in Oregon, centered around Eugene and Springfield.
The US Forest Service is landlord of 48% of the lands within the county boundaries, a fact which has contributed to the county's inability to fund basic government services. The federal land, which can not be taxed, previously generated hundreds of millions of dollars in logging-derived support for government, but that support was sharply reduced when various environmental regulations curtailed logging by approximately 78%. Although Congress subsequently passed a series of revenue replacing bills culminating in the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act (SRSCSDA) of 2000, the federal subsidies have not been adequate to fully replace logging as a means of supporting basic government services. Today, according to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission Report of 2009, Lane County crime rates are bad and continuing to worsen, but county law enforcement programs and services, from investigation to jail capacity, have been reduced to as little as 15% of state and national average capacity for a jurisdiction of similar size.

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Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County. Located 25 miles east of Topeka, Kansas, and 41 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, it is situated along the banks of the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 87,643. Lawrence is a college town and is the home to the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University.
Lawrence was founded by the New England Emigrant Aid Company and was named for Amos Adams Lawrence who offered financial aid and support for the settlement. Lawrence was central to the Bleeding Kansas era and was the site of the Wakarusa War, the sacking of Lawrence and Quantrill’s Raid.
Early in its existence, Lawrence transitioned from being a political city to a varied one focusing on many industries including agriculture, manufacturing and education when the University of Kansas was founded in 1866 and Haskell Indian Nations University opened in 1884.

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Linn City, Oregon
Linn City was a community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, that existed from 1843-1861. The former site of Linn City was incorporated into the city of West Linn.
Robert Moore founded Linn City in 1843, near the banks of the Willamette River. Originally, the town was platted on about 50 acres (200,000 m²) of land. By 1845 the town had two log houses and a number of tents. Later, by 1846, the town's citizens had constructed fifteen homes. In addition, Linn City was home to a tavern, a chair manufacturer, a cabinet shop, a gunsmith shop, and a wagon shop.
Over the next few years Linn City grew. In 1849 the town held a hotel and two general stores among its businesses. The same year, James Moore, Robert's son, built a lumber mill and a gristmill. The mills provided at least twenty jobs to the people of Linn City. The mill complexes sprawled over the landscape. Many of the mill buildings were connected by docks nearly one mile in length. The town's post office opened in 1850, the same year that Robert Moore founded the local newspaper, the Spectator.

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Linn County, Oregon
Linn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is named in honor of Lewis F. Linn, a U.S. Senator from Missouri who advocated the American occupation of the Oregon Country. By the 2010 US census the population of Linn county was 116,672 showing a 13.2% growth since the 2000 census.Albany has been the county seat since 1851.
Principal industries are wood products, agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. Linn County's economy relies heavily on the lumber and wood products industry; in 1990, this industry accounted for 40% of the county's manufacturing jobs. The climate and soil conditions provide one of Oregon's most diversified agriculture areas, allowing a wide variety of specialty crops such as common and perennial ryegrass. Linn County is also home to the only emery mine in the United States, and the production of manufactured and motor homes.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,310 square miles (6,000 km²), of which 2,292 square miles (5,940 km²) is land and 18 square miles (47 km²) (0.78%) is water.

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Madras, Oregon
Madras ( /ˈmædrəs/ MAD-res) is a city in Jefferson County, Oregon, United States. Originally called "The Basin" after the circular valley the city is located in, it is unclear as to whether Madras was named in 1903 for the cotton fabric called "Madras" that originated in the Madras (now Chennai) area in India, or from the city of Chennai, then known as "Madras". The population was 6,046 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Jefferson County.
Madras was incorporated as a city in 1911. An Army Air Corps base was built nearby during World War II. This airfield now serves as City-County Airport. Homesteads about 5 miles (8 km) north of the city on Agency Plains were based on dryland wheat.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.02 square miles (13.0 km²), all land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,078 people, 1,801 households, and 1,251 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,326.9 people per square mile (899.4/km²). There were 1,952 housing units at an average density of 894.5 per square mile (345.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 63.55% White, 0.59% African American, 6.14% Native American, 0.55% Asian, 0.35% Pacific Islander, 24.56% from other races, and 4.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 35.74% of the population.

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McMinnville, Oregon
McMinnville is the county seat and largest city of Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. According to Oregon Geographic Names, it was named by its founder, William T. Newby (1820–1884), an early immigrant on the Oregon Trail, for his hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 32,187.
McMinnville is located at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Yamhill River in the Willamette Valley. Part of the Portland metropolitan area, it lies 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Portland. The city is home to Linfield College and the Evergreen Aviation Museum.
Town founder William T. Newby named the town after his home town of McMinnville, Tennessee. McMinnville was incorporated as a town in 1876 and became a city in 1882. County residents voted to move the county seat of Yamhill County from Lafayette to McMinnville in 1886.

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Meek Cutoff
The Meek Cutoff was a covered wagon road that branched off the Oregon Trail in northeastern Oregon. First used in 1845, it left the main trail at Vale, Oregon and followed the Malheur River to head into the Harney Basin. It then turned west towards Wagontire Mountain, and north to the south fork of the Crooked River where it split into two routes. Each path led to the Deschutes River. The two routes reunited north of where the Crooked River empties into the Deschutes and then continued to The Dalles, Oregon.
The road is named for frontiersman Stephen Meek, who was hired to lead the first wagon train along it. The journey was a particularly hard one, and many of the pioneers lost their lives.
In 1845 there were rumors circulating among the emigrants on the Oregon Trail that the Walla Walla and Cayuse Indians might possibly attack the settlers in the Blue Mountains of Oregon or along the Columbia River. Reports of threats came in conjunction with the murder of two Frenchmen in the area.Stephen Meek, the older brother of Joe Meek, was an experienced fur trapper and explorer who made his living as a wagon train guide. Meek was unemployed at the time but was considered to be someone who was familiar with eastern Oregon. When he offered the emigrants an alternate route to avoid the Blue Mountains many decided to follow him. Some 200 wagons and 1,000 people turned off the primary Oregon Trail at Vale and followed Meek into the Oregon desert where no wagons had traveled before.

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Milwaukie, Oregon
Milwaukie ( /mɪlˈwɔːkiː/) is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A very small portion of the city extends into Multnomah County. The population was 20,291 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1848 on the banks of the Willamette River, the city, known as the Dogwood City of the West, was incorporated in 1903 and is noted as the birthplace of the Bing cherry. The city is now a suburb of Portland and also adjoins the unincorporated areas of Clackamas and Oak Grove.
Milwaukie was founded in 1848 as a rival to the upriver Oregon City by Lot Whitcomb, who named it for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time, the Wisconsin city was also frequently spelled "Milwaukie" before the current spelling was adopted. Some accounts also state that the Oregon city used an alternate spelling to prevent confusion at the post office.
Whitcomb arrived in Oregon in 1847 and settled on a donation land claim, where he built a sawmill and a gristmill. Milwaukie rivaled Portland and Oregon City for a time, but Portland eventually became the bigger city because it had a deeper port. Milwaukie post office was established in 1850, with Whitcomb as the first postmaster. The community was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 4, 1903, originally as the Town of Milwaukie.

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Mississippi
Mississippi (ⁱ/ˌmɪsɨˈsɪpi/) is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 31st most populous of the 50 United States. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, which was cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. Today, its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree.
Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.
In addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake. The largest lake in Mississippi is Grenada Lake.

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Missouri
Missouri (ⁱ/mɨˈzʊəri/) (nickname The Show Me State) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 21st most extensive and the 18th most populous of the 50 United States. Missouri comprises 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. The four largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The land that is now Missouri was acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became known as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.
Missouri generally mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of America and has long been considered a political bellwether state. With the exceptions of the Presidential elections of 1956 and 2008, Missouri's results have accurately predicted the next President of the United States in every election since 1904. It has both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state. It is also a transition between the Eastern and Western United States, as St. Louis is often called the "western-most Eastern city" and Kansas City the "eastern-most Western city". Missouri's geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains while the southern part lies in the Ozark Mountains (a dissected plateau), with the Missouri River dividing the two. The state lies at the intersection of the three greatest rivers of North America, with the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis, and the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi north of the Bootheel. The starting points of the Pony Express Trail and Oregon Trail were both in Missouri. The mean center of United States population as of the 2010 Census is at the town of Plato in Texas County, Missouri.

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Monmouth, Oregon
Monmouth ( /ˈmɒnməθ/ is a city in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It was named for Monmouth, Illinois, the origin of its earliest settlers. The population has reached 9,726 as of the 2010 census, It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Monmouth was settled in 1853 by a group of pioneers who made a point of allocating 640 acres (2.6 km²) to build both a city and a "college under the auspices of the Christian Church" and proceeds from the sale of these lands were used to found Monmouth University. By the early 1880s the college fell on hard times. In 1882, ownership was transferred to the State of Oregon and it was renamed Oregon State Normal School at Monmouth, and later the Oregon College of Education. It is now known as Western Oregon University.
For decades, Monmouth was a dry town that banned the sale of alcoholic beverages in supermarkets, restaurants and bars. Monmouth's status as the last dry town in Oregon was ended by a popular vote in the November 2002 election. Spurred on by the closure of Monmouth's last grocery store, and a general decline of its retail sector, three local men (John Oberst, Paul Sieber, and Chuck Sheffield) led a referendum campaign to allow the sale of beer and wine. The measure passed 57-43%. In the May election of 2010, resident Cecelia Koontz placed a second referendum on the ballot calling for the repeal of the last vestiges of prohibition. That measure passed by a nearly identical margin, and Monmouth now allows the sale of hard liquor in addition to beer and wine. Subsequently, John Oberst was elected Mayor in 2006, and Cecelia Koontz became a City Councilor in 2010.

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Montana
Montana (ⁱ/mɒnˈtænə/) is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges that are part of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain). Montana has several nicknames, none official, including: "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently, "The Last Best Place". Montana is the 4th-most extensive, but the 7th-least populous and the 3rd-least densely populated of the 50 United States. The economy is primarily based on services, with ranching, wheat farming, oil and coal mining in the east, and lumber, tourism, and hard rock mining in the west. Millions of tourists annually visit Glacier National Park, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and three of the five entrances to Yellowstone National Park.

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Montpelier, Idaho
Montpelier is a city in Bear Lake County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,785 at the 2000 census. The city is the largest community in the Bear Lake Valley, a farming region north of Bear Lake in southeastern Idaho along the Utah border. It was settled in 1863 by Mormon pioneers on the route of the Oregon Trail.
Like most western towns, the name has been changed numerous times. First it was known as Clover Creek by Oregon Trail travelers, later it became Belmont and finally was given the name Montpelier by Brigham Young, one of the founding fathers of Mormonism, after a town in his birth state of Vermont. The city was first settled in 1864.
In 1892 the railroad was extended to Montpelier, with a terminal being located here until 1972. The railroad brought a population that made Montpelier the county's "Gentile Town" as opposed to nearby Mormon-run Paris that was the county seat. Both cities would have tabernacles built in their city limits.
U.S. Routes 89 and 30 intersect in Montpelier.

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Mount Hood Corridor
The Mount Hood Corridor is a part of Oregon between Sandy and Government Camp. It is named after Mount Hood and has served travelers going in both directions since the days of Native Americans and Oregon Trail migrants.
It includes the following unincorporated communities (from east to west):
And the incorporated city of:
The modern-day corridor includes part of the historic Barlow Road and a good-sized portion of the Mount Hood Scenic Byway. U.S. Route 26 runs through the corridor, sometimes alongside the Sandy River.
For the United States 2000 Census, much of the corridor was consolidated into a single Mount Hood Village CDP. In December 2005, the communities from Rhododendron to Marmot applied to Clackamas County seeking to form a village called the Villages at Mount Hood.
Coordinates: 45°21′N 122°00′W / 45.35°N 122.00°W / 45.35; -122.00

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Mount Oread
Mount Oread (pronounced /ˈɔri.æd/) is a hill located in Lawrence, Kansas, at approximately 38°57'47.32"N, 95°15'25.51"W. It sits on the water divide between the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers. It was named after the Oread Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. The hill was originally called "Hogback Ridge" by many Lawrence residents until the Oread name was officially adopted in 1866.
For emigrants going westward by wagon train on the Oregon Trail, "The Hill", as Mount Oread is now commonly referred to by residents of Lawrence, was the next big topographical challenge after crossing the Wakarusa River near today's Haskell Indian Nations University.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Mount Oread is located approximately 1,037 feet (316 m) above sea level. By way of comparison, downtown Lawrence is about 846 feet (258 m) above sea level. Mount Oread is perhaps best known for being the staging area of William Quantrill's raid into Lawrence on August 21, 1863, during the American Civil War. Presently, the campus of the University of Kansas rests on Mount Oread.

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Mullan Road
Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by US Army Lieut. John Mullan between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Benton, Montana, the navigational head of the Missouri River (and once farthest inland port in the world) to Fort Walla Walla, Washington Territory, near the Columbia River. The road previewed the route approximately followed of modern-day Interstate 15 and Interstate 90 through what are now Montana, Idaho and Washington.
Parts of the Mullan Road can still be traveled. One such section is near Washtucna, Washington.
A segment of the Mullan Road in the vicinity of Benton Lake was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and the American Society of Civil Engineers designated it a historic civil engineering landmark in 1977. Three segments of the road in Idaho were also listed on the National Register in 1990. In 2009, the Point of Rocks segment in Montana was also listed on the National Register as part of the Point of Rocks Historic Transportation Corridor.

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Natchez Trace Trail
Coordinates: 34°40′3.81″N 88°5′17.93″W / 34.667725°N 88.0883139°W / 34.667725; -88.0883139
The Natchez Trace Trail is a designated National Scenic Trail in the United States whose route generally follows sections of the 444-mile (715 km) Natchez Trace Parkway through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. Unlike other national scenic trails, however, the trail is not envisioned as a long, continuous footpath, as is the case with other national scenic trails including, notably, the Appalachian Trail. Rather, only a limited number of trail segments along the route, currently over 60 miles (97 km) of trail, have been developed for hiking and horseback riding. Unlike many other trails that rely heavily on volunteers for trail construction and maintenance, these segments are managed by the National Park Service. Sections of the trail follow along the Parkway road shoulder and cross county and state roads.
The Parkway and National Scenic Trail commemorate the historic Natchez Trace, an ancient path that began as a Native American trail and has a rich history of use by explorers, "Kaintuck" boatmen, post riders, and military men.

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Nebraska
Nebraska (ⁱ/nəˈbræskə/) is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. Its state capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River.
The state is crossed by many historic trails, but it was the California Gold Rush that first brought large numbers here, and it became a state in 1867. Certain landmarks still compete for the notional distinction 'Where the West Begins'.
There are wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, and violent thunderstorms and tornadoes are common. The state is characterized by treeless prairie, ideal for cattle-grazing, and it is a major producer of beef, as well as pork, maize and soybeans. Nebraska is overwhelmingly rural, as the 8th least-densely populated state of the United States.
Ethnically, the largest group are German-Americans, and the state has the biggest Czech-American population per head. During the Great Migration, many African Americans came to Omaha, and they continue to campaign for improved conditions. More recently, Native American activism has increased, with a drive for self-determination in a climate of co-operation with state officials on regional issues. It is traditionally a Republican-voting state.

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Nebraska Territory
The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. The territorial capital was Omaha.
An enabling act was passed by Congress in 1864. Delegates for a constitutional convention were elected; this convention did not produce a constitution. Two years later, in 1866, a constitution was drafted and voted upon. It was approved by 100 votes. However, a clause in this constitution that limited suffrage to "free white males" delayed Nebraska's entry into the Union for almost a year. The 1866 enabling act for the state was subject to a pocket veto by President Andrew Johnson. When Congress reconvened in 1867, it passed another bill to create the state of Nebraska, on the condition that Nebraska's constitution be amended to remove the suffrage clause. This bill was also vetoed by President Johnson. Congress then overrode his veto.

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New Orleans
New Orleans ( /nuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally /nuː ˈɔrlənz/ or /ˈnɔrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city proper was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,214,932.
The city is named after Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France, and is well known for its distinct French Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in America.

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Newberg, Oregon
Newberg is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to George Fox University. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 22,110,^{[citation needed]} making it the second most populous city in the county.
Ewing Young, after leading pioneering fur brigades in California, came to Portland in 1834 and settled on the west bank of the Willamette River near the mouth of Chehalem Creek, opposite of Champoeg. Young's home is believed to be the first house built by European-Americans on that side of the river. Later, Joseph Rogers settled near the Willamette River at what is now Newberg in 1848. The community was known early on as Chehalem, and later as Roger's Landing for Rogers who founded the settlement, and who died in 1855. In 1883, the community was platted. Incorporated in 1889, tradition holds^[who?] that this town was named by its first postmaster, Sebastian Brutscher, for his former hometown of Neuberg in Germany. One of the current streets, Brutscher Street, is named after him.

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Newport, Oregon
Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 9,989, an increase of nearly 13% over its 2000 population; an unofficial 2006 estimate listed Newport's population at 10,240 residents.
Newport is the county seat of Lincoln County. It is also the home of the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Nye Beach, Yaquina Head Lighthouse, and Rogue Ales.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.4 square miles (27 km²), of which 8.9 square miles (23 km²) is land and 4.0 km² (1.6 sq mi or 14.94%) is water.
Newport has mild, wet weather throughout the year with the heaviest precipitation falling during the winter months. Annually, there is only 0.4 day with maximum temperatures of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher. There are 20.5 days with minimum temperatures of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The record high temperature was 100 °F (38 °C) on June 24, 1925, and July 11, 1961. The record low temperature was 1 °F (−17 °C) on December 8, 1972.

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Nicaragua
Nicaragua (ⁱ/ˌnɪkəˈrɑːɡwə/ nik-ə-RAH-gwə), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish: República de Nicaragua [reˈpuβlika ðe nikaˈɾaɣwa] ( listen)), is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. The country's physical geography divides it into three major zones: Pacific lowlands; wet, cooler central highlands; and the Caribbean lowlands. On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America—Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains, with soil highly enriched by ash from nearby volcanoes of the central highlands. Nicaragua's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot.

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North Bend, Oregon
North Bend is a city in Coos County, Oregon, in the United States with a population of 9,695 as of the 2010 census. North Bend is surrounded on three sides by Coos Bay, an S-shaped water inlet and estuary where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean, and borders the city of Coos Bay, Oregon to the south. North Bend became an incorporated city in 1903.
According to the United States Census Bureau, North Bend's total geographic area is 5.1 square miles (13 km²), with 3.9 square miles (10 km²) of land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²), (23.08%) of water.
The climate in North Bend and surrounds can be described as a very humid version of the Mediterranean climate or a dry-summer version of a oceanic climate. Typically winter temperatures range from 35 to 55 °F (2 to 13 °C) and summer ranges from 52 to 70 °F (11 to 21 °C), though on the rare occasions continental air masses penetrate they can be much more extreme, with the lowest on record being 0 °F (−18 °C) on December 19, 1990. Cool breezes off the Pacific moderate the city's climate year round. Rain is abundant in winter, due to moist low pressure troughs from the Pacific Ocean. The city's annual rainfall is about 63.3 inches (1,608 mm), but totals are less than an inch in July and August. Fog often blankets the coastal fringe in summer due to the temperature gradient between the cool Pacific Ocean and the warm inland, which serves to keep temperatures markedly cooler than in Eugene or even Seattle. Snow almost never falls in the city, but can be heavy in the adjacent Oregon Coast Range. Nearby Cape Blanco is one of the windiest places on Earth, with gusts of 125 miles per hour (200 km/h) or more achieved during severe winter storms.

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North Country Trail
The North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT), which stretches approximately 4,600 miles (7,400 km) from Crown Point in eastern New York to Lake Sakakawea in central North Dakota in the United States, is the longest of the eleven National Scenic Trails authorized by Congress. Like its sister trails, it was designed to provide peaceful recreational opportunities in some of the America's outstanding landscapes. As of 2010, over 2,100 miles (3,400 km) have been certified.
The NCT is administered by the National Park Service, managed by federal, state, and local agencies, and built and maintained primarily by the volunteers of the North Country Trail Association (NCTA) and its partners. The 28 chapters of the NCTA, its 3,200+ members and each affiliate organization have assumed responsibility for trail construction and maintenance of a specific section of the NCT.
Passing through the seven states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan (where it traverses the Lower Peninsula from the Ohio border to Mackinaw City and the Upper Peninsula from St. Ignace to Ironwood),Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, the NCT connects more than 160 public land units, including parks, forests, scenic attractions, wildlife refuges, game areas, and historic sites. The list includes:

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Ogallala Aquifer
The Ogallala Aquifer, part of the High Plains Aquifer System, is a vast yet shallow underground water table aquifer located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. One of the world's largest aquifers, it covers an area of approximately 174,000 mi² (450,000 km²) in portions of the eight states of South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. It was named in 1898 by N.H. Darton from its type locality near the town of Ogallala, Nebraska.
About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies this aquifer system, which yields about 30 percent of the nation's ground water used for irrigation. In addition, the aquifer system provides drinking water to 82 percent of the people who live within the aquifer boundary.
The deposition of the aquifer material dates back 2 to 6 million years to late Miocene to early Pliocene age when the southern Rocky Mountains were still tectonically active. From the uplands to the west, rivers and streams cut channels in a generally west to east or southeast direction. Erosion of the Rockies provided alluvial and aeolian sediment that filled the ancient channels and eventually covered the entire area of the present-day aquifer, forming the water-bearing Ogallala Formation. In that respect, the process is little different from that currently prevailing in other modern rivers of the area, such as the Kansas River and its tributaries. The major differences are time and depth.

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Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha /ˈoʊməhɑː/ is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles (30 km) north of the mouth of the Platte River. Omaha is the anchor of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, which includes Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha.
According to the 2010 Census, Omaha's population was 408,958, making it the nation's 42nd-largest city. Including its suburbs, Omaha formed the 60th-largest metropolitan area in the United States in 2010, with an estimated population of 877,110 residing in eight counties. There are more than 1.2 million residents within a 50-mile (80-km) radius of the city's center, forming the Greater Omaha area.
Omaha's pioneer period began in 1854 when the city was founded by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. The city was founded along the Missouri River, and a crossing called Lone Tree Ferry earned the city its nickname, the "Gateway to the West." It introduced this new West to the world when in 1898 it played host to the World's Fair, dubbed the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. During the 19th century, Omaha's central location in the United States spurred the city to become an important national transportation hub. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the transportation and jobbing sectors were important in the city, along with its railroads and breweries. In the 20th century, the Omaha Stockyards, once the world's largest, and its meatpacking plants, gained international prominence.

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Ontario, Oregon
Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 11,366 at the 2010 census. The city is the largest community in the region of far eastern Oregon, also known as the Western Treasure Valley.
Ontario is the principal city of the Ontario, OR-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Malheur County in Oregon and Payette County in Idaho.
Ontario is approximately halfway between Portland and Salt Lake City. It is the closest city to the Idaho border along Interstate 84. The city's slogan is "Where Oregon Begins".
Ontario was founded on June 11, 1883, by developers William Morfitt, Mary Richardson, Daniel Smith, and James Virtue, in anticipation of a railroad planned to go through that part of the state. It was named after Virtue's home province of Ontario in Canada.
Ontario was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 11, 1899.
On June 10, 1903, the very first automobile to travel coast to coast (Horatio Nelson Jackson's Winton Vermont) passed through Ontario on its trip from San Francisco to New York City.

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Oregon
Oregon (ⁱ/ˈɔrɨɡən/ ORR-ə-gən) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843. The Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859.
Oregon is the 9th most extensive and the 27th most populous of the 50 United States. Salem is the state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 29th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 583,776 (2010 US Census) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area. The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the state's most densely populated area and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities.

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Oregon City, Oregon
Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, located on the Willamette River near the southern limits of the Portland metropolitan area. Established in 1829 by the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1845 it became the first U.S. city west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 31,859.
Known in recent decades as the site of several large paper mills on the Willamette River, the city played a significant role in the early history of the Oregon Country. It was established by Hudson's Bay Company's Dr. John McLoughlin in 1829 near the confluence of the Clackamas River with the Willamette to take advantage of the power of Willamette Falls to run a lumber mill. During the 1840s and 1850s it was the destination for those wanting to file land claims after traveling the Oregon Trail as the last stop on the trail. It was the capital of the Oregon Territory from its establishment in 1848 until 1851, and rivaled Portland for early supremacy in the area. In 1846, the city's newspaper, the Oregon Spectator, was the first American newspaper to be published west of the Rocky Mountains. The center of the city retains part of its historic character through the preservation of houses and other buildings from the era of the city's founding.

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Oregon Coast
The Oregon Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It runs generally north-south along the Pacific Ocean, forming the western border of the state; the region is bounded to the east by the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon Coast stretches approximately 363 miles (584 km) from the Columbia River in the north to the Oregon–California state border in the south. The Oregon Coast is not a specific geological, environmental, or political entity, but instead includes the entire coastline of Oregon, including the Columbia River Estuary.
1967's Oregon Beach Bill allows free beach access to everyone. This Bill allows private beach landowners to retain certain beach land rights, but it removes the property tax obligation of the beach landowner. In exchange, the beach landowner grants an easement passage to pedestrians. The Beach Bill grants a public access easement on the beach that cannot be taken away by the landowner nor can the landowner build on the beach.
Traditionally, the Oregon Coast is regarded as three distinct sub-regions, each with its own local features and regional history. While there are no legal or objective boundaries, most Oregonians consider the three regions to be:

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Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from the Columbia River frequented by ships from all nations engaged in the maritime fur trade, most of these from the 1790s through 1810s being Boston-based. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 ended disputed joint occupancy pursuant to the Treaty of 1818 and established the British-American boundary at the 49th parallel.
Oregon was a distinctly American term for the region. The British used the term Columbia District instead. The Oregon Country consisted of the land north of 42°N latitude, south of 54°40′N latitude, and west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The area now forms part of the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, all of the US states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. The British presence in the region was generally administered by the Hudson's Bay Company, whose Columbia Department comprised most of the Oregon Country and extended considerably north into New Caledonia and beyond 54°40′N, with operations reaching tributaries of the Yukon River.

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Oregon State Fair
The Oregon State Fair is the official state fair of the U.S. state of Oregon. It takes place every August–September at the 185-acre (0.75 km²) Oregon State Fairgrounds located in north Salem, the state capital, as it has almost every year since 1862. In 2006, responsibility for running the fair was delegated to the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department, and the division is now known as the Oregon State Fair & Exposition Center (OSFEC), which holds events on the fairgrounds year-round.
As Oregon agriculture expanded in the early 19th century many communities formed agricultural associations for the purpose of sharing information on farming practices and resources. These groups began to organize county fairs such as the Yamhill County Fair (1850). Shortly thereafter the Oregon Farmer newspaper began calling for a statewide fair. A group of farmers known as the Oregon Fruitgrowers Association organized the first unofficial state fair in 1858. That year is recognized as the official anniversary year of the fair.

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Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries (See Oregon Country), the region was divided between the U.S. and Great Britain in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an area that included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. The capital of the territory was first Oregon City, then Salem, followed briefly by Corvallis, and lastly as Salem, the seat of government for the State of Oregon.
Originally inhabited by Native Americans, the region that became the Oregon Territory was explored by Europeans first by sea. The first documented exploration came in 1776 by the Spanish, with British and American vessels visiting the region within a few years. Later, land based exploration by Alexander Mackenzie and the Lewis and Clark Expedition along with the establishment of the fur trade in the region set up a variety of conflicting territorial claims by European powers and the United States.

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Palouse
The Palouse is a region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of southeastern Washington, north central Idaho and, in some definitions, extending south into northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primarily producing wheat and legumes. Situated about 160 miles (260 km) north of the Oregon Trail, the region experienced rapid growth in the late 19th century, and for a brief time surpassed the population of the Puget Sound region of Washington. The region is home to two land grant universities, the University of Idaho in Moscow and Washington State University in Pullman. Located just eight miles (13 km) apart, both schools opened in the early 1890s.
The origin of the name "Palouse" is unclear. One theory is that the name of the Palus tribe (spelled in early accounts variously Palus, Palloatpallah, Pelusha, et cetera) was converted by French-Canadian fur traders to the more familiar French word pelouse, meaning "land with short and thick grass" or "lawn." Over time, the spelling changed to Palouse. Another theory is that the name was in the first place a French word, describing the area which was then applied to the indigenous people inhabiting it.

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Panama
Panama (ⁱ/ˈpænəmɑː/ PAN-ə-mah; Spanish: Panamá), officially the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá [reˈpuβlika ðe panaˈma]), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City. Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela, named the Republic of Gran Colombia.When Gran Colombia the dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined. Nueva Granada later became the Republic of Colombia.
With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the century.

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Panama City, Panama
Panama City (Spanish: Ciudad de Panamá) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of Panama. The city is the political and administrative center of the country, and a hub for international banking and commerce. It is considered a Beta World City.
With an average GDP per capita of $11,700, Panama has been among the top five places for retirement in the world, according to International Living magazine.^{[citation needed]} Panama City has a dense skyline of mostly highrise buildings, and it is surrounded by a large belt of tropical rainforest. Panama's Tocumen International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Central America, offers daily flights to major international destinations.
Panama City was chosen to be the American Capital of Culture for 2003 (jointly, with Curitiba, Brazil).^{[citation needed]}
Panama was founded on August 15, 1519 by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila. The city was the starting point of expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire in Peru. It was a stopover point of one of the most important trade routes in the history of the American continent leading to the fairs of Nombre de Dios and Portobelo, where most of the gold and silver that Spain took from the Americas passed through. The city was destroyed by a devastating fire, when the pirate Henry Morgan sacked it on January 28, 1671. It was rebuilt and formally established on January 21, 1673 in a peninsula located 8 km from the original settlement. The place where the previously devastated city was located is still in ruins, and has become a tourist attraction known as "Panama Viejo".

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Panama Railroad
The Panama Canal Railway Company (reporting mark PCRC) is a railway line that links the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across Panama in Central America. It is jointly owned by the Kansas City Southern Railway and Mi-Jack Products. The route stretches 47.6 miles (76.6 km) across the Isthmus of Panama from Aspinwall (now called Colón) to Panama City (by way of Gatun lake, Bujio, Barbacoas, Matachin, and Summit).
The infrastructure of this still-functioning railroad (formerly the Panama Railway or Panama Rail Road) was of vital importance for construction of the Panama Canal over a parallel route half a century later. The principal incentive for the building of the rail line was the vast increase in traffic to California owing to the 1849 California Gold Rush. Construction on the Panama Railroad began in 1850 and the first revenue train ran over the full length on January 28, 1855. Referred to as being an inter-oceanic railroad when it opened, it was later also described by some as representing a "transcontinental" railroad despite only transversing the narrow isthmus connecting the North and South American continents.

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Pendleton, Oregon
Pendleton ( /ˈpɛnəltən/) is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Pendleton was named in 1868 by the county commissioners for George H. Pendleton, Democratic candidate for Vice-President in the 1864 presidential campaign. The population was 16,612 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Umatilla County.
Pendleton is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Pendleton-Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Morrow and Umatilla counties and had a combined population of 87,062 at the 2010 census.
A commercial center in the locality of Pendleton began as early as 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay established a trading post at the mouth of McKay Creek. A Post Office with the name of Marshall (named for the owner of another local store, and sometime gambler) was established April 21, 1865, and later renamed Pendleton. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1880.
By 1900, Pendleton had a population of 4,406 and was the fourth-largest city in Oregon. Like many cities in Eastern Oregon, it had a flourishing Chinatown. The sector is supposed to have been underlain by a network of tunnels which are now a tourist attraction, although its authenticity as a tunnel system has been questioned.

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Pocatello, Idaho
Pocatello ( /ˌpoʊkəˈtɛloʊ/) is the county seat and largest city of Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the US state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Bannock and Power counties. As of the 2010 census the population of Pocatello was 54,255.
Pocatello is the fifth largest city in the state, just behind Idaho Falls (population of 56,813). In 2007, Pocatello was ranked twentieth on Forbes list of Best Small Places for Business and Careers. Pocatello is the home of Idaho State University and the manufacturing facility of ON Semiconductor. The city is at an elevation of 4,462 feet (1,360 m) above sea level and is served by the Pocatello Regional Airport.
Founded as an important stop on the first railroad in Idaho during the gold rush, the city later became an important center for agriculture. It is located along the Portneuf River where it emerges from the mountains onto the Snake River Plain, along the route of the Oregon Trail. The city is named after Chief Pocatello of the Shoshoni tribe, who granted the right-of-way for the railroad across the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

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Polk County, Oregon
Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county is named for James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States. In 2010, its population was 75,403. The seat of the county is Dallas.
Polk County is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The major industries of the county are agriculture, forest products, manufacturing, and education. Polk County has the second-largest area devoted to viticulture in Oregon, at 1,322 acres (5.35 km²). Western Oregon University in Monmouth is a major employer.
Though Polk County is located in western Oregon, politically it falls in line with the eastern side of the state. The majority of registered voters who are part of a political party in Polk County, as well as most rural counties in Oregon, are members of the Republican Party. In the 2008 presidential election, 48.92% of Polk County voters voted for Republican John McCain, while 48.43% voted for Democrat Barack Obama and 2.64% of voters either voted for a Third Party candidate or wrote in a candidate. These numbers show a small shift toward the Democratic candidate when compared to the 2004 presidential election, in which 55% of Polk Country voters voted for George W. Bush, while 43.6% voted for John Kerry, and 1.4% of voters either voted for a Third Party candidate or wrote in a candidate.

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Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the U.S. state of Oregon, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States. Portland is Oregon's most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region, after Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. Approximately 2,260,000 people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 23rd most populous in the United States.
Portland was incorporated in 1851 and is the county seat of Multnomah County. The city extends west into the Cedar Mill neighborhood in Washington County and south towards Lake Oswego in Clackamas County. With a commission-based government headed by a mayor and four other commissioners, the city and region are noted for strong land-use planning and investment in light rail, supported by Metro, a distinctive regional government. Because of its public transportation networks and efficient land use planning, Portland has been referred to as one of the most environmentally friendly, or "green", cities in the world.

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Prineville, Oregon
Prineville is a city in and the county seat of Crook County, Oregon, United States. It was named for the first merchant located in the present location, Barney Prine. The population was 9,253 at the 2010 census.
Prineville was founded in 1877 when Monroe Hodges filed the original plat for the city. The post office for the community had been established with the name of Prine on April 13, 1871, but changed to Prineville on December 23, 1872. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 23, 1880, and obtained its first high school in 1902.
Long the major town in central Oregon, Prineville was snubbed in 1911 when the railroad tycoons James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman bypassed the city as they laid track south from The Dalles. In a period when the presence of a railroad meant the difference between prosperity and the eventual fate as a ghost town, in a 1917 election, Prineville residents voted 355 to 1 to build their own railway, and raised the money to connect their town to the main line 19 miles (31 km) away.

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Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( /ˈpjuːdʒɪt/) is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington and part of the Salish Sea. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass being the minor. Flow through Deception Pass accounts for about 2% of the total tidal exchange between Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Puget Sound extends approximately 100 miles (160 km) from Deception Pass in the north to Olympia, Washington in the south. Its average depth is 205 feet (62 m) and its maximum depth, off Point Jefferson between Indianola and Kingston, is 930 feet (280 m). The depth of the main basin, between the southern tip of Whidbey Island and Tacoma, Washington, is approximately 600 feet (180 m).
The term "Puget Sound" is used not just for the body of water but also the general region centered on the sound.
There are various definitions of the extent and boundaries of Puget Sound.

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Red River Colony
The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement) was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on 300,000 square kilometres (120,000 sq mi) of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company under what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession. The colony along the Red River of the North was never very successful. Changes during the development of Canada in the 19th century led to the colony's forming the basis of what is today Manitoba, although much of its original territory is now part of the United States.
The Selkirk Concession, also known as Selkirk's Grant, included the portions of Rupert's Land, or the watershed of Hudson Bay, bounded on the north by the line of 52° N latitude roughly from the Assiniboine River west to Lake Winnipegosis, then by the line of 52° 30′ N latitude from Lake Winnipegosis to Lake Winnipeg, and then by the Winnipeg River, Lake of the Woods and Rainy River; on the west roughly by the current boundary between Saskatchewan and Manitoba; and on the south by the (mostly very slight) rise of land marking the extent of the watershed. This covered portions of present-day southern Manitoba, northern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, in addition to small parts of eastern Saskatchewan, northwestern Ontario and northeastern South Dakota.

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Redmond, Oregon
Redmond is a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. Incorporated on July 6, 1910, the city is on the eastern side of Oregon's Cascade Range, in the High Desert, and is the geographical heart of Central Oregon.^{[citation needed]} From Redmond there is access to recreational opportunities, including mountain biking, fishing, hiking, camping, rock climbing, white-water rafting, skiing, and golf. Redmond is a full-service municipality and one of the fastest-growing industrial and residential communities in Oregon. Redmond had a population of 26,215 in 2010, and the population continues to grow at a rate of about 8% each year.
The city encompasses 15.5 square miles (40 km²) and is on a plateau, at an elevation of 3,077 feet (938 m). Redmond is 15 miles (24 km) north of Bend—the county seat of Deschutes County—144 miles (232 km) from Portland, 129 miles (208 km) from Salem—the capital of Oregon—and 126 miles (203 km) from Eugene.
Oregon had been a state for 45 years by the time Redmond came into existence. It was named after Frank T. Redmond and platted by an irrigation company building a canal. Electrification and the Oregon Trunk Railway reached Redmond in 1911. The rail link opened markets for farmers and merchants. By 1930, the town had grown to 1,000 and by 1940 had nearly doubled. In the 1940s, Redmond was a U.S. Army Air base and commercial air service was established at Roberts Field after World War II. In the 1950s, 60s, 70s) and most of the 80s, the population remained relatively static, growing slowly around a small commercial/retail center and manufacturing industry. However, during the 1990s, the population began to grow along with most of Deschutes County. Between 2000 and 2006, Redmond's population grew 74.3%, making it among Oregon's fastest-growing cities each year. This growth continued through 2006, increasing the population to 23,500. Its growth is fueled by employment and a lower cost of living.

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Rogue Valley
The Rogue Valley is a farming and timber-producing region in southwestern Oregon in the United States. Located along the middle Rogue River and its tributaries in Josephine and Jackson counties, the valley forms the cultural and economic heart of Southern Oregon near the California border. The largest communities in the Rogue Valley include Medford, Ashland, and Grants Pass. The most populated part of the Rogue Valley is not along the Rogue proper, but along the smaller Bear Creek tributary.
The valley forms a relatively isolated enclave west of the Cascade Range along the north side of the Siskiyou Mountains. It is separated from the nearby coast by a high section of the Coast Range. The valley is characterized by a mild climate that allows a long growing season, especially for many varieties of fruits and nuts. A regional manufacturing industry is centered in Medford, the most highly populated area of the valley. In recent years the valley has emerged as a wine-growing region and it is the location of the Rogue Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). The mild climate and relative isolation had made the valley a popular retirement destination. The community of Ashland is famous for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Interstate 5 follows the valley through Ashland and Medford.

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Roseburg, Oregon
Roseburg is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the county seat of Douglas County. The population was 21,181 at the 2010 census.
The city was named for Aaron Rose, who settled within the current city limits September 23, 1851. Rose, who came from German Jewish ancestry, was born in 1813 in Ulster County, New York. In 1851, he came to Oregon from Coldwater, Michigan, where he had lived since 1837. His house in Roseburg served as a tavern for many years, and was the first roadside inn in the area. Rose died in 1899.
Roseburg was first known as Deer Creek because it was at the confluence of Deer Creek and the South Umpqua River. In 1854, voters chose Roseburg as the county seat over rival town Winchester. Rose donated 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land and $1,000 for the building of the courthouse, and the important buildings of Winchester were moved to Roseburg before 1860.
Deer Creek post office was established in 1852, and the name changed to "Roseburgh" in 1857. The spelling was changed to "Roseburg" in 1894. Roseburg was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 3, 1872.

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Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting mostly of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the sovereignty of the area. The area once known as Rupert's Land is now mainly a part of Canada, but a small portion is now in the United States of America. It was named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a nephew of Charles I and the first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. In December 1821 the HBC monopoly was extended from Rupert's Land to the Pacific coast.
Areas once belonging to Rupert's Land include all of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, southern Nunavut, northern parts of Ontario and Quebec, as well as parts of Minnesota and North Dakota and very small parts of Montana and South Dakota.
In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was granted a charter by King Charles II, giving it a trading monopoly over the watershed of all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay, thereby making the HBC owners of the whole of Rupert's Land (named in honour of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the king's cousin and the company's first governor). This covered an area of 3.9 million square kilometres (1.5 million sq mi), over one-third the area of Canada today.

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Salem, Oregon
Salem ( /ˈseɪləm/) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.
Salem had a population of 154,637 at the 2010 census, making it the third largest city in the state after Portland and Eugene. Salem is less than an hour driving distance away from Portland. Salem is the principal city of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Marion and Polk counties and had a combined population of 347,214 at the 2000 census. A 2009 estimate placed the metropolitan population at 396,103, the state's second largest.
The city is home to Willamette University and Corban University. The State of Oregon is the largest public employer in the city, and Salem Hospital is the largest private employer. Transportation includes public transit from Salem-Keizer Transit, Amtrak service, and non-commercial air travel at McNary Field. Major roads include Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99E, and Oregon Route 22 which connects West Salem across the Willamette River via the Marion Street and Center Street bridges.

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Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,145,905. Salt Lake City is further situated in a larger urban area known as the Wasatch Front, which has a population of 2,328,299. It is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin (the other being Reno, Nevada), and the largest in the Intermountain West.
The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young and his Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named "Great Salt Lake City"—the word "great" was dropped from the official name in 1868. Although Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church today.

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Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a 500-square-mile (1,300 km²) valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably West Valley City, Murray, Sandy, and West Jordan; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010. Brigham Young nicknamed it the place, when he and his fellow settlers moved into Utah after being driven out of several states.
The valley is surrounded in every direction except the northwest by steep mountains that at some points rise 7,100 feet (2,200 m) from the valley floor's base elevation. It lies nearly encircled by the Wasatch Mountains on the east, the Oquirrh Mountains on the west, Traverse Ridge to the south and the Great Salt Lake on the northwest, with the peaks of Antelope Island visible.
Every entrance into the valley is extremely narrow and often congested. They include the Point of the Mountain to the south via the Jordan Narrows, a gap in the Traverse Mountains, narrow entrances between the Great Salt Lake and Oquirrh Mountains to the northwest and the Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch Mountains to the north, and several canyons to the east including Parley's Canyon and Emigration Canyon.

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Salt River Range
The Salt River Range is a mountain range in western Wyoming. The 56 mile long range forms the eastern boundary of Star Valley as well as the western boundary of the Greys River valley. The highest point is Mount Fitzpatrick at 10,907 feet (3,324 m).

Coordinates: 42°46′N 110°51′W / 42.767°N 110.85°W / 42.767; -110.85

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Sandy, Oregon
Sandy is a city located in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, and named after the nearby Sandy River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 9,570.
The city serves as the western gateway to the Mount Hood Corridor.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²), all land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,385 people, 1,956 households, and 1,431 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,044.9 people per square mile (790.6/km²). There were 2,080 housing units at an average density of 789.8 per square mile (305.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.91% White, 1.15% African American, 0.74% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 1.65% from other races, and 2.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.09% of the population.
There were 1,956 households out of which 42.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.8% were non-families. 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.18.

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Santiam Wagon Road
The Santiam Wagon Road was a freight route in the U.S. state of Oregon between the Willamette Valley and Central Oregon regions from 1865 to the 1930s. It is considered one of the most important historical routes in the state. Officially known as the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road, the Santiam Wagon Road was built between 1861 and 1868 and operated as a toll road until 1915. In 1925, the toll road was turned over to the State of Oregon for use as a highway. U.S. Route 20 closely follows the original route of the wagon road.
Media related to Santiam Wagon Road at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 44°25′29″N 121°50′44″W / 44.42471°N 121.84559°W / 44.42471; -121.84559

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Smoot, Wyoming
Smoot is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 182 at the 2000 census.
Smoot is located at 42°37′15″N 110°54′45″W / 42.62083°N 110.9125°W / 42.62083; -110.9125 (42.620784, -110.912454). It located in Star Valley, a grassland valley surrounded by forested mountains.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²), all of it land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 182 people, 55 households, and 44 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 106.4 people per square mile (41.1/km²). There were 63 housing units at an average density of 36.8/sq mi (14.2/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.60% White, 0.55% Native American, 1.10% from other races, and 2.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.95% of the population.
There were 55 households out of which 43.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.5% were married couples living together, 1.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.0% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.31 and the average family size was 3.84.

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Soda Springs, Idaho
Soda Springs is a city in Caribou County, Idaho, United States. The population was 3,058 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Caribou County.
The city is named for the thousands of natural springs of carbonated water that are located in and around the city. The springs were well known to Native Americans and were a famous landmark along the Oregon Trail in the middle 19th century. Today the city is also known as the location of the Soda Springs Geyser, a man-made carbon dioxide generated cold water geyser.
Soda Springs has been county seat of Caribou County since the county was organized in 1919. In the 1860s Soda Springs served as the seat of Oneida County.
Soda Springs is located at 42°39′29″N 111°35′46″W / 42.65806°N 111.59611°W / 42.65806; -111.59611 (42.658011, -111.596107).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.6 square miles (12 km²), of which, 4.5 square miles (12 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) of it (0.88%) is water.

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Sonora Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which covers large parts of the Southwestern United States in Arizona, California, Northwest Mexico in Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest deserts in North America, with an area of 311,000 square kilometers (120,000 sq mi). The western portion of the United States-Mexico border passes through the Sonoran Desert.
In phytogeography, the Sonoran Desert is within the Sonoran Floristic Province of the Madrean Region in southwestern North America, part of the Holarctic Kingdom of the northern Western Hemisphere. The desert contains a variety of unique and endemic plants and animals, such as the Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) and Organ Pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi).
The Sonoran desert wraps around the northern end of the Gulf of California, from Baja California Sur (El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve in central and Pacific west coast, Central Gulf Coast subregion on east to southern tip), north through much of Baja California, excluding the central northwest mountains and Pacific west coast, through southeastern California and southwestern and southern Arizona to western and central parts of Sonora.

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Southern Oregon
Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oregon American Viticultural Area, which consists of the Umpqua and Rogue River drainages. As of 2007, the population in the four counties is approx. 455,000.
Coordinates: 42°48′N 122°54′W / 42.8°N 122.9°W / 42.8; -122.9

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Springfield, Oregon
Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield is the second-most populous city in the metropolitan area after Eugene. As of the 2010 census, the city has a total population of 59,403.
The Briggs family first settled the Springfield area, arriving in 1848. The community was incorporated as a city in 1885. The city was named after a natural spring located in a field or prairie within the current city boundaries. Traditionally the economy of the community was resource dependent, but since the 1990s the economy has diversified with PeaceHealth now the largest employer in the city. Public education in the city is provided by the Springfield School District.
Springfield was settled when Elias and Mary Briggs and their family arrived in 1848. They were among the first party to travel to the region via the "Southern Route" by Klamath Lake, over the Cascades, into the Rogue Valley, then north to the Willamette Valley. Elias Briggs along with William Stevens ran a ferry on the nearby Willamette River.

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St. Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph (informally St. Joe) is the county seat of Buchanan County and chief city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Buchanan, Andrew, and DeKalb counties in Missouri and Doniphan County, Kansas. As of the 2010 census, Saint Joseph had a total population of 76,780, making it the eighth largest city in the state, third largest in Northwest Missouri. The metropolitan area had a population of 127,329 in 2010. St. Joseph is located on the Missouri River, but is perhaps best known as the starting point of the Pony Express and the death place of Jesse James. Saint Joseph is also home to Missouri Western State University.
Saint Joseph was founded on the Missouri River by Joseph Robidoux, a local fur trader, and officially incorporated in 1843. In its early days, it was a bustling outpost and rough frontier town, serving as a last supply point and jumping-off point on the Missouri River toward the "Wild West". It was the westernmost point in the United States accessible by rail until after the American Civil War.

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St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis /seɪnt ˈluːɪs/ (French: Saint-Louis or St-Louis, [sɛ̃ lwi] ( listen)) is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States, and is the second-largest city in the state. With a population of 318,069 in July 2011, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population of 2,812,896 is the 18th-largest in the country. The Greater St. Louis combined statistical area's (CSA) population of 2,878,255 is the 16th-largest CSA in the country, the fourth-largest in the Midwest. The Greater St. Louis area is the largest metropolitan area in Missouri.
The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, and after the Louisiana Purchase, it became a major port on the Mississippi River. Its population expanded after the American Civil War, and it became the fourth-largest city in the United States in the late 19th century. It seceded from St. Louis County in March 1877, allowing it to become an independent city and limiting its political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the 1904 World's Fair and the 1904 Olympic Games. The city's population peaked in 1950, then began a long decline that reversed only at the beginning of the 21st century.

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Teton Pass
Teton Pass is a high mountain pass in the western United States, located at the southern end of the Teton Range of western Wyoming, between the towns of Wilson, Wyoming and Victor, Idaho. The pass provides access from the Jackson Hole valley to the Teton Valley of eastern Idaho, which includes the access route to Grand Targhee Resort through Driggs, Idaho. To the south of the pass, lies the Snake River Range.
Wyoming Highway 22 crosses the pass and becomes Idaho State Highway 33 at the Idaho border, which continues northwest to Victor, then north to Driggs. The pinnacle of the pass is 8,431 feet (2,570 m) above sea level and is approximately 11 miles (18 km) west of Jackson. The maximum grade on the road is 10% and several avalanche slide paths traverse the road along its length, including Glory Bowl slide area. During the winter months, the road is often closed in the early mornings for avalanche control by the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The area is popular for backcountry skiing, snowboarding, and mountain biking.

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Teton Range
Coordinates: 43°45′N 110°50′W / 43.75°N 110.833°W / 43.75; -110.833
The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. A north-south range, it is on the Wyoming side of the state's border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. Most of the range is in Grand Teton National Park.
Early French Voyageurs used the name "les Trois Tétons" (the three breasts). It is likely that the Shoshone people once called the whole range Teewinot, meaning "many pinnacles".
The principal summits of the central massif, sometimes referred to as the Cathedral Group, are Grand Teton (13,770 feet (4,200 m)), Mount Owen (12,928 feet (3,940 m)), Teewinot (12,325 feet (3,757 m)), Middle Teton (12,804 feet (3,903 m)) and South Teton (12,514 feet (3,814 m)). Other peaks in the range include Mount Moran (12,605 feet (3,842 m)), Mount Wister (11,490 feet (3,500 m)), Buck Mountain (11,938 feet (3,639 m)) and Static Peak (11,303 feet (3,445 m)).

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The Dalles, Oregon
The Dalles ( /ˈdælz/) is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle (meaning either "sluice" or "flagstone" and referring to the columnar basalt rocks carved by the river, what the French-Canadian employees of the North West Company called the rapids of the Columbia River between the present-day city and Celilo Falls. The population was 12,156 at the 2000 census and was estimated at 12,314 in 2009. Also in the same area was the Petite Dalles or Little Dalles, or Short Narrows.
The site of what is now the city of The Dalles was a major Native American trading center for at least 10,000 years. The general area is one of the continent's most significant archaeological regions.
Lewis and Clark camped near Mill Creek on October 25–27, 1805, and recorded the Native American name for the creek as Quenett. The first use of the name Dalles, according to Oregon Geographic Names, appears in fur trader Gabriel Franchère's Narrative, on April 12, 1814, referring to the long series of major rapids in the river. By 1814 several overland groups of the land components of the Astor Expedition of 1810-1812 would have passed by and explored the vicinity of the rapids. In 1811 British fur trader of the Montreal-based North West Company (NWC) began traveling through The Dalles area. In July 1811 David Thompson of the NWC voyaged down the Columbia River, reaching the partially constructed Fort Astoria of the American rival Pacific Fur Company. When Thompson's party returned upriver a small Astorian party accompanied him as far as the rapids at The Dalles. The Astorian party went on to found Fort Okanogan. The War of 1812 led to the 1813 sale of Fort Astoria and the entire Pacific Fur Company to the North West Company.

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Tigard, Oregon
Tigard ( /ˈtaɪɡərd/) is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 48,035 at the 2010 census. As of 2007, Tigard was the state's 12th largest city. Incorporated in 1961, the city is located south of Beaverton and north of Tualatin, and is part of the Portland metropolitan area. Interstate 5 and Oregon Route 217 are the main freeways in the city, with Oregon Route 99W and Oregon Route 210 serving as other major highways, with rail service provided by the TriMet operated Westside Express Service.
Like many towns in the Willamette Valley, Tigard was originally settled by several families, the most noteworthy of which was the Tigard family, headed by Wilson M. Tigard. Arriving in the area known as "East Butte" in 1852, the family settled and became involved in organizing and building the East Butte School, a general store (which starting in 1886 housed the area's post office) and a meeting hall, and renamed East Butte to "Tigardville" in 1886. The Evangelical organization built the Emanuel Evangelical Church at the foot of Bull Mountain, south of the Tigard store in 1886. A blacksmith shop was opened in the 1890s by John Gaarde across from the Tigard Store, and in 1896 a new E. Butte school was opened to handle the growth the community was experiencing from an incoming wave of German settlers.

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Tillamook, Oregon
The city of Tillamook /ˈtɪləmʊk/ is the county seat of Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on the southeast end of Tillamook Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The population was 4,352 at the 2000 census. The 2006 estimate is 4,675 residents.
The city is named for the Tillamook people, a Native American tribe speaking a Salishan language who lived in this area until the early nineteenth century.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), all of it land.
Tillamook has a typical Pacific Northwest climate, receiving rainy winters and warm summers. Every winter residents prepare for the rain and storms, which almost every year flood the dairy fields and downtown. The Tillamook area is also home to five rivers, the Tillamook, Trask, Wilson, Kilchis, and the Miami just north of the city.
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,352 people, 1,758 households, and 1,105 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,818.8 people per square mile (1,091.1/km²). There were 1,898 housing units at an average density of 1,229.3 per square mile (475.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.56% White, 0.16% African American, 1.22% Native American, 0.71% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 3.42% from other races, and 1.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.12% of the population.

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Topeka, Kansas
Topeka (/tɵˈpiːkə/; Kansa: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 127,473. The Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee counties, had an estimated population of 230,824 in the year 2009. The city is well known for the landmark United States Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson and declared segregation in public schools on account of race to be unconstitutional. Three ships of the US Navy have been named USS Topeka in honor of the city.
Topeka means "to dig good potatoes" in the languages of the Kansa and the Ioway. The potato referred to is the prairie potato (Psoralea esculenta), a perennial herb which is an important food for many Native Americans. As a placename, Topeka was first recorded in 1826 as the Kansa name for what is now called the Kansas River. Topeka's founders chose the name in 1855 because it "was novel, of Indian origin and euphonious of sound." The mixed-blood Kansa Indian, Joseph James, called Jojim, is credited with suggesting the name of Topeka. The city, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city.

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Tualatin, Oregon
Tualatin ( /tuːˈɔːlətɨn/) is a city located primarily in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. A small portion of the city is also located in neighboring Clackamas County. It is a southwestern suburb in the Portland Metropolitan Area that is located south of Tigard. The population was 26,054 at the 2010 census.
The name of the city is taken from the Tualatin River, which flows along most of the city's northern boundary. According to Oregon Geographic Names, a post office with the spelling "Tualitin" was established November 5, 1869, and the spelling changed to "Tualatin" in 1915.
In the 1850s, the settlement was first called Galbreath after its founder Samuel Galbreath. In 1853, Galbreath built the first bridge over the Tualatin river, and the town became known as Bridgeport. In the 1880s, John Sweek platted a town around the new railroad depot, and named the town Tualatin. It was incorporated as the City of Tualatin in 1913.
In 1962, a fossilized mastodon was excavated in what is now the Fred Meyer parking lot.

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Twin Falls, Idaho
Twin Falls is the county seat and largest city of Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The city had a population of 44,125 as of the 2010 census.
Twin Falls is the largest city of Idaho's Magic Valley region. As the largest city in a 100-mile (166-kilometer) radius, Twin Falls serves as a regional commercial center for both south-central Idaho and northeastern Nevada.
Twin Falls is the principal city of the Twin Falls, ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, which officially includes Jerome and Twin Falls Counties. The resort community of Jackpot, Nevada, in Elko County is unofficially considered part of the greater Twin Falls area.
Excavations at Wilson Butte Cave near Twin Falls in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads, that rank among the oldest dated artifacts in North America. Later native American tribes predominant in the area included the Northern Shoshone and Bannock.
The first people of European ancestry to visit the Twin Falls area are believed to be members of a group led by Wilson Price Hunt, which attempted to blaze an all-water trail westward from St. Louis, Missouri, to Astoria, Oregon, in 1811 and 1812. Hunt's expedition met with disaster when much of his expedition was destroyed and one man was killed in rapids on the Snake River known as Caldron Linn near present-day Murtaugh. Hunt and the surviving members of his expedition completed the journey to Astoria by land.

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Umatilla, Oregon
Umatilla ( /ˌjuːməˈtɪlə/) is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. It is named for the Umatilla River, which enters the Columbia River on the side of the city. The river is named after the Umatilla Tribe. The city is located on the south side of the Columbia River, and is located on U.S. Route 730 and I-82.
The Umatilla Chemical Depot, and the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, is located four miles (6 km) southwest of the city, northwest of the intersection of I-84 and I-82. The population was 6,980 in 2011 [1].
Umatilla is part of the Pendleton–Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The first post office for Umatilla was established September 26, 1851. The present town was surveyed by Timothy K. Davenport in 1863, and the town incorporated as Umatilla Landing in 1864.
Umatilla's earliest importance was as a trade and distribution center on the Columbia River, during the gold rush of the 1860s and 1870s in eastern Oregon. It remained a major commercial center until the 1880s when it withered before the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.

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Union County, Oregon
Coordinates: 45°19′38″N 118°5′36″W / 45.32722°N 118.09333°W / 45.32722; -118.09333
Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is one of the eight counties of eastern Oregon. Its county seat is La Grande; in 2010, the county population was 25,748.
The initial economic interest in Union County was mining, but most of the mines were in the area annexed by Baker County in 1901.^{[citation needed]} The local economy continues to be based on natural resources, including farming (wheat, fruit, vegetables, mint, and grass seed), ranching (cattle and sheep), and timber. The ridges of Pyles Canyon are the site of the Elkhorn Valley Wind Farm, owned and operated by Horizon Wind Energy and whose power is sold to Idaho Power. Since October 2010, the county board of commissioners has supported a "strategic investment program" for another wind power project in Oregon, Horizon Wind Energy's proposed Antelope Ridge Wind Farm; after delays due to concerns about the project's impact on wildlife, the project has received support from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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Utah
Utah (/ˈjuːtɔː/ or ⁱ/ˈjuːtɑː/) (Arapaho: Wo'tééneihí' ) is a state in the Western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-most extensive, the 34th-most populous, and the 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,817,222 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. The name "Utah" is derived from the name of the Ute tribe and means "people of the mountains" in the Ute language. Utah is bordered by Arizona on the south, Colorado on the east, Wyoming on the northeast, Idaho on the north and Nevada on the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico.
Utah is the most religiously homogeneous state in the Union. It is home to the Salt Lake Temple, and approximately 60% of Utahns are reported to be members of LDS Church which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life.

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Wasco County, Oregon
Wasco County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county is named for a local tribe of Native Americans, the Wasco, a Chinook tribe who lived on the south side of the Columbia River. In 2010, its population was 25,213. Its county seat is The Dalles.
The county's economy is based upon agriculture (orchards, wheat farming, livestock ranching), lumber, manufacturing, electric power, transportation, and tourism. Aluminum production was previously a major support of the local economy, but electrical price fluctuations and a slump in global aluminum prices has forced the closing of a number of local aluminum foundries.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,395 square miles (6,200 km²), of which 2,381 square miles (6,170 km²) is land and 14 square miles (36 km²) (0.60%) is water. The northern boundary is the Columbia River (the state line).
Celilo Falls on the Columbia River served as a gathering place and major trading center for the local Native Americans, including the Wasco, Paiute, and Warm Springs tribes, for thousands of years. These rapids came to be named Les Grandes Dalles de la Columbia or "The Great Falls of the Columbia" by the French Canadian fur traders.

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Washington (state)
Washington (ⁱ/ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States located north of Oregon, west of Idaho and south of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889.
Washington is the 18th most extensive and the 13th most populous of the 50 United States. Approximately 60 percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry along the Puget Sound region of the Salish Sea, an inlet of the Pacific consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords, and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep rainforests in the west, mountain ranges in the west, center, northeast and far southeast, and a semi-arid eastern basin given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the west coast and in the western United States after California.

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Weber River
The Weber River ( /ˈwiːbər/) is a c. 125-mile (201 km) long river of northern Utah, USA. It begins in the northwest of the Uinta Mountains and empties into the Great Salt Lake. The Weber River was named for American fur trapper John Henry Weber.
The Weber River rises in the northwest of the Uinta Mountains, at the foot of peaks including Bald Mountain, Notch Mountain, and Mount Watson. It passes by Oakley, and fills the reservoir of Rockport Lake, then turns north, receiving the flow of major tributaries Silver Creek and at Coalville, Chalk Creek. Coalville is also at the upper end of Echo Reservoir; Below the reservoir, the river passes Henefer, turns more westerly, and then passes Morgan, where it receives East Canyon Creek. Issuing out of the mountains at Uintah at the mouth of Weber Canyon, it turns north again where it is joined by the Ogden River west of Ogden. The combined stream meanders across mostly-flat land, entering mud flats near where it empties into the Great Salt Lake, contributing about 25 percent of the total water entering the lake.

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Wells, Nevada
Wells is a city in Elko County, in northeast Nevada in the western United States. The population was 1,346 at the 2000 census. Wells is located at the junction of U.S. Route 93 and Interstate 80, approximately 50 miles (80 km) east of Elko and is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The site of Wells began as a place called Humboldt Wells along the trail to California. It was subsequently founded as a railroad town along the original Transcontinental Railroad, and was once a stopover for passenger trains. The Humboldt River has its source in springs and a swampy area just west of the city that today is called Humboldt Wells. In the late 19th century, Humboldt Wells was burning down, and in a frantic plea for help, a telegraph was sent that said, "Wells is burning". After this the town was rebuilt and simply referred to as 'Wells'.
The Lone Star Motel located in Wells was used in the 2001 film Joy Ride for a critical scene.
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A 6.0 earthquake occurred near Wells at 6:16 am on February 21, 2008. Because of its proximity of the epicenter, Wells experienced significant damage. The earthquake originated 9 km below the surface, with its epicenter only 12 miles (19 km) distant from Wells, at 41.077, 114.752.

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West Linn, Oregon
West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. Now a southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn has a history of early development, prompted by the opportunity to harvest energy from nearby Willamette Falls. It was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, who had advocated the American occupation of Oregon as a counterclaim to the British. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 22,261. The 2006 estimate^{[dated info]} is 24,180 residents.
Prior to settlement by Oregon pioneers, the area which became known as West Linn was the home of ancestors of some of the present-day Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon.
Major Robert Moore was an early settler arriving in 1839—before the Champoeg Meetings—having been the senior member of the first attempt to create an American state in Oregon, the Peoria Party. Sometime after journeying around the Willamette Valley and Columbia Basin, Moore bought title to approx. 1,000 acres (400 ha) on the west side of Willamette Falls, across the Willamette River from Oregon City, from a local Native American chief,^[vague] on which he platted a town he called "Robin's Nest" in early 1843.^{[citation needed]} He also filed a provisional claim with the then government of the Oregon Country, not knowing if his transaction would be honored by the eventual governing laws. The Oregon Territorial Legislature voted to rename it Linn City on December 22, 1845 as a memorial to Senator Lewis F. Linn after whom Linn County is also named. Linn was a neighbor and family friend of the Moores from their time as settlers in the early Missouri Territory.^{[citation needed]}

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Western Oregon
Western Oregon is a geographical term that is generally taken to mean the part of Oregon within 120 miles of the Oregon Coast, on the west side of the crest of the Cascade Range. The term is applied somewhat loosely however, and is sometimes taken to exclude the southwestern areas of the state, which are often referred to as "Southern Oregon". In that case, "Western Oregon" means only the counties west of the Cascades and north of and including Lane County.
Western Oregon, being 120 by 250 miles in area, is about the same size as Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire put together. Unlike the climate of Eastern Oregon, which is primarily dry and continental, the climate of Western Oregon is generally a moderate rain forest climate.
Coordinates: 44°12′N 123°18′W / 44.2°N 123.3°W / 44.2; -123.3

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Weston, Missouri
Weston is a city in Platte County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,631 at the 2000 census.
Lewis and Clark Expedition camped out near the location of today's city hall. Weston was the oldest settlement in the Platte Purchase of 1836 and was therefore also the farthest western settlement (thus, "West Town") in the United States until the admission of Texas as a state in 1845. Another suggested origin is related to a story about a discharged US Army dragoon by the name of Joseph Moore. He bought the land and then had First Sergeant Tom Weston of D Company, First Dragoons, stationed at Fort Leavenworth across the Missouri River, lay out a town plan. It is this individual the town is named for.
William Buffalo Bill Cody was at one time a resident of Weston, and the town was a major "jumping off" point for the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon Trail and the California Gold Rush.
Weston was at one time the second largest port on the Missouri river, surpassing both Kansas City and St. Joseph, however a flood in 1881 shifted the river into an old channel some 2 miles away.

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Whitman massacre
The Whitman massacre (also known as the Walla Walla massacre and the Whitman Incident) was the murder in the Oregon Country on November 29, 1847 of U.S. missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others. They were killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians. The incident began the Cayuse War. It took place in present-day southeastern Washington, near the town of Walla Walla, and was one of the most notorious episodes in the U.S. settlement of the Pacific Northwest. The event was the climax of several years of complex interaction between the Whitmans, who had led the first wagon train along the Oregon Trail, and the local Native Americans.
The killings are usually ascribed in part to a clash of cultures and in part to the inability of Dr. Whitman, a physician, to halt the spread of measles among the Native Americans, who then held Whitman responsible for subsequent deaths. The incident remains controversial to this day: the Whitmans are regarded by some as pioneer heroes; others see them as white settlers who attempted to impose their religion on the Native Americans and otherwise unjustly intrude, even allegedly poisoning the natives.

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Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley ( /wɨˈlæmɨt/ is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions. Located centrally inside the large alluvial-deposited soils of the Willamette River drainage basin, the valley spreads far from the river banks to both the east and west barrier ranges as the river proceeds northward from its emergence from the Calapooya Mountains near Eugene to the confluence of the Willamette with the Columbia River at Portland. The valley's waterways and tributary streams and valleys were of great importance for water transport in the development of the Oregon Territory and young state until well past the arrival of modern roads and highways.
The valley holds several of the state's principal cities. A majority of the state's population lives within the basin, where one or more massive Ice Age floods left the valley floor thick with flood-carried sediments, making the valley extremely fertile. A massively productive agricultural area, the valley was widely publicized from the 1820s as a 'promised land' of the 'flowing milk and honey' sort and became, at Oregon City, the destination of choice for the oxen-drawn wagon trains of organized emigrants traveling west on the perilous and rough 1800–2100 miles roadbeds of the Oregon Trail in the 1840s–1880s.

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Wilsonville, Oregon
Wilsonville is a city primarily in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A portion of the northern section of the city is in Washington County. Originally founded as Boones Landing due to the Boones Ferry which crossed the Willamette River at the location, the community became Wilsonville in 1880. The city was incorporated in 1969 with a population of around 1,000. The population was 13,991 at the 2000 census, and grew to 19,509 at the 2010 census. Slightly more than 90% of residents at the 2000 census were White, with Hispanics as the largest minority group.
Located within the Portland metropolitan area, the city also includes the planned community of Charbonneau on the south side of the river. The city is bisected by Interstate 5 and includes I-5's Boone Bridge over the Willamette. Public transportation is provided by the city's South Metro Area Regional Transit, which includes Wilsonville Station on the Westside Express Service operated by TriMet. Students in public schools attend schools in the West Linn-Wilsonville and Canby school districts, including the only traditional high school, Wilsonville High School. Clackamas Community College and Pioneer Pacific College both have campuses in the city.

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Winnipeg, Canada
Winnipeg ⁱ/ˈwɪnɪpɛɡ/ is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers (a point commonly known as The Forks).
The name "Winnipeg" comes from the Cree for "muddy waters". The Winnipeg area was a trading centre for Aboriginal peoples prior to the arrival of Europeans. The first fort was built there in 1738 by French traders. A settlement was later founded by the Selkirk settlers in 1812, the nucleus of which was incorporated as the City of Winnipeg in 1873 with a population of 1,869. Winnipeg is the seventh-largest municipality in Canada, with a population of 663,617 in the Canada 2011 Census.
Winnipeg has a diversified economy, with sectors in finance, manufacturing, food and beverage production, culture, retail and tourism. Winnipeg is a major transportation hub, served by Richardson International Airport. The city has railway connections to the United States and Eastern and Western Canada through three Class I rail carriers.

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Woodburn, Oregon
Woodburn is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. Incorporated in 1889, the community had been platted in 1871 after the arrival of the railroad. The city is located in the northern end of the Willamette Valley along Interstate 5 between Portland and Salem. Oregon routes 211, 214, 219, and 99E also serve the city, as does a freight rail line from Union Pacific.
Woodburn is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, and with a population of 24,080 at the 2010 census, it is the third most populous in that metropolitan area after Salem and Keizer. Those who identify as Hispanic or Latino make up a majority of the population in the city. The Woodburn area also has a significant population of Russian Orthodox Old Believers.
Originally, the area around Woodburn was inhabited by Native Americans of the Kalapuya tribes. After the Provisional Government of Oregon set-up land claims in the Oregon Country, the United States annexed much of the Pacific Northwest and established the Oregon Territory in 1848. Congress then passed the Donation Land Claim Act in 1850, and many earlier land claims became donation land claims.

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Wyoming
Wyoming (ⁱ/waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/) is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. Wyoming is the 10th most extensive, but the least populous and the 2nd least densely populated of the 50 States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city of Wyoming with a population of nearly 60,000 people within its city proper.
As specified in the designating legislation for the Territory of Wyoming, Wyoming's borders are lines of latitude, 41°N and 45°N, and longitude, 104°3'W and 111°3'W (27° W and 34° W of the Washington Meridian), making the shape of the state a latitude-longitude quadrangle. Wyoming is one of only three states (along with Colorado and Utah) to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Due to surveying inaccuracies during the 19th century, Wyoming's legal border deviates from the true latitude and longitude lines by up to half of a mile (.8 km) in some spots, especially in the mountainous region along the 45th parallel. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the ninth largest state in the United States in total area, containing 97,818 square miles (253,350 km²) and is made up of 23 counties. From the north border to the south border it is 276 miles (444 km); and from the east to the west border is 365 miles (587 km) at its south end and 342 miles (550 km) at the north end.

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Wyoming Range
The Wyoming Range is a mountain range located in west-central Wyoming. It is a range of the Rocky Mountains that runs north-south near the western edge of the state. Its highest peak is Wyoming Peak, which stands at 11,363 feet (3,463 m) above sea-level. The range is sometimes referred to as The Wyomings.
The vast majority of the range is public land administered by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and is a popular destination for hiking, camping, fishing, horseback riding, snowmobiling, hunting, and other activities. The range contains numerous lakes and developed campgrounds, in addition to many wild and primitive areas. The closest towns to the range include Big Piney, Marbleton, La Barge, and Kemmerer.
A branch of the Oregon Trail known as the Lander Road traverses the mountain range. The cutoff offered emigrants a shorter travel option. Numerous grave sites and historical markers can be found relating to the trail.
The range is not to be confused with the Salt River Range, which runs closely parallel to the Wyoming Range on its western side. The two ranges are separated by Grey's River.

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York Factory
York Factory was a settlement and factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) south-southeast of Churchill. The settlement was headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department, from 1821 to 1873. It continued to operate as a fur trade post for over 270 years until 1957 when the company closed it down.
The complex has been owned by the Canadian government since 1968 and is now operated by Parks Canada as the York Factory National Historic Site of Canada. Aside from a summer residence for Parks Canada staff and nearby seasonal hunting camps there is currently no one living permanently at York Factory. The wooden structure at the park site dates from 1831 and is the oldest and largest wooden structure in Canada built on permafrost.
York Factory is currently located on the north bank of the Hayes River about 7 miles inland. To the north, across 'Point of Marsh' is the mouth of the Nelson River. Although the Nelson is much larger (it drains Lake Winnipeg), the Hayes is a more practical canoe route. Due to the shallow bottom sea-going ships anchored at Five Fathom Hole 7 miles from the fort and goods were transferred by smaller boats.

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Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter of these scenes for the remainder of the 19th century.
Bierstadt was part of the Hudson River School, not an institution but rather an informal group of like-minded painters. The Hudson River School style involved carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called luminism. An important interpreter of the western landscape, Bierstadt, along with Thomas Moran, is also grouped with the Rocky Mountain School.
Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany. His family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1831. He developed a taste for art early and made clever crayon sketches in his youth. In 1851, he began to paint in oils. He studied painting with the members of the Düsseldorf school of painting in Düsseldorf from 1853 to 1857. He taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself to painting.

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Alfred Jacob Miller
Alfred Jacob Miller (January 2, 1810 – June 26, 1874) was an American painter and sketcher best known for his paintings concerning the northwestern United States.
Miller was born in Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended the local schools and hoped to become a painter. He received his first lessons in art from Thomas Sully. After doing some painting in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in 1833 he went to Europe to perfect his skills, aided by his family. He spent considerable time in Paris but also visited Bologna, Venice and Switzerland. During these times, he became friends with the Danish and American sculptors, Bertel Thorwaldsen and Horatio Greenough, respectively, and the painter Horace Vernet. He studied technique, color and line by copying Old Masters in the museums, as was the practice at the time.
After returning to Baltimore in 1834, Miller opened a small studio, which was not successful. Seeking a change, he relocated to New Orleans in 1837. There he met the Scottish adventurer William Drummond Stewart, who hired Miller to accompany him and record his hunting journey to the Rocky Mountains. That same year, along with representatives of the American Fur Company, they ventured as far as Fort William and Green River.

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Asa Lovejoy
Asa Lawrence Lovejoy (March 14, 1808 – September 10, 1882) was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon. He was an attorney in Boston, Massachusetts before traveling by land to Oregon; he was a legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon, mayor of Oregon City, and a general during the Cayuse War that followed the Whitman massacre in 1847. He was also a candidate for Provisional Governor in 1847, before the Oregon Territory was founded, but lost that election.
Lovejoy continued his political career during territorial period as a member of both chambers of the Oregon Territorial Legislature; he served as the first Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives in 1849. He was also a delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention held in 1857 that paved the way for Oregon's entry into the Union. He was part owner of the Oregon Telegraph newspaper, and worked on railroad development in the Willamette Valley after leaving politics. Lovejoy Street in Northwest Portland and the Lovejoy Fountain in Downtown Portland are named in his honor.

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Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (April 14, 1796 – June 12, 1878) was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West. He is noted for his expeditions to the Oregon Country and the Great Basin, and in particular for blazing portions of the Oregon Trail.
During his lifetime, Bonneville was made famous by an account of his explorations in the west written by Washington Irving.
Benjamin was born in or near Paris, France, the son of the French publisher Nicolas Bonneville and his wife Marguerite Brazier. When he was seven, his family moved to the United States in 1803; their passage was paid by Thomas Paine. He had lodged with the Bonnevilles in France and was godfather to Benjamin and his two brothers, Louis and Thomas. In his will, Paine left the bulk of his estate to Marguerite Bonneville, who had cared for him until he died in 1809. The inheritance included one hundred acres (40.5 ha) of his farm so she could maintain and educate her sons.

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Brigham Young
Brigham Young ( /ˈbrɪɡəm/; June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory, United States. Young also led the foundings of the precursors to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.
Young had a variety of nicknames, among the most popular being "American Moses," (alternatively the "Modern Moses" or the "Mormon Moses") because, like the biblical figure, Young led his followers, the Mormon pioneers, in an exodus through a desert, to what they saw as a promised land. Young was dubbed by his followers the "Lion of the Lord" for his bold personality, and was also commonly called "Brother Brigham" by Latter-day Saints. Young was a polygamist and was involved in controversies regarding black people and the Priesthood, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows massacre.

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Cornelius Gilliam
Cornelius Gilliam (April 13, 1798 – March 24, 1848) was a pioneer of the U.S. state of Oregon who was best known as the commander of the volunteer forces against the Cayuse in the Cayuse War. A native of North Carolina, he served in the Black Hawk War and Seminole Wars before settling in Missouri. There he served in the militia against the Mormons, was a county sheriff, and a member of the Missouri State Senate before immigrating to the Oregon Country.
Cornelius Gilliam was born in North Carolina on April 13, 1798. Born in Buncombe County, he was the son of Epaphroditus and Sarah Ann (née Israel) Gilliam. In North Carolina he married Mary Crawford in 1820, and they had eight children, six of those daughters. He fought in the against the Native Americans in 1832 during the Black Hawk War in the Midwest, and in 1837 in the Seminole Wars in Florida. During the Seminole War he served as a captain. Following the war he settled in Missouri where he continued his military service as a captain in the state militia during the battles with the Mormons in 1838. That year he was elected to the Missouri Senate to represent District 12, and was re-elected in 1842 to represent District 10. In Missouri, Gilliam was also the sheriff of Clay County.

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David Thomas Lenox
David Thomas Lenox (December 8, 1802 – October 18, 1874) was an American pioneer who settled in the Oregon Country where he organized the first Baptist Church west of the Rocky Mountains. A native of New York, he lived in Illinois and Missouri before he was captain of the first wagon train over the Oregon Trail to what became the state of Oregon. He also organized several schools and churches, and served as a judge and justice of the peace. In Oregon, he settled on the Tualatin Plains near what is now Hillsboro and later lived in Eastern Oregon.
David Lenox was born in Catskill, New York, on December 8, 1802. His parents were English of the Scotch Methodist faith. He became an orphan at an early age, and had a limited education in the local schools. At 18 he left New York for Lexington, Kentucky, where he worked on a plantation. There he married the plantation owner’s daughter, Louisa Swan, in 1826. The couple had ten children.
The Lenox family moved to a farm at Rushville, Illinois, in 1829. There David Lenox farmed and served as a school teacher. He also converted to the Baptist sect in Rushville in 1832. In 1840, Lenox sold the farm and moved to Todds Creek in Platte County, where he bought timberland for $5 per acre. In Missouri he served as the clerk at his local church. After a couple years they decided their land would not be productive enough to sustain the family, and they resolved to immigrate to the Oregon Country.

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Elijah White
Dr. Elijah White (1806–1879) was a missionary and agent for the United States government in Oregon Country during the mid-19th century. A trained physician from New York State, he first traveled to Oregon as part of the Methodist Mission in the Willamette Valley. He would return to the region after a falling-out with mission leader Jason Lee as the leader of one of the first large wagon trains across the Oregon Trail and as a sub-Indian agent of the federal government. In Oregon he used his authority to regulate affairs between the Natives and settlers, and even between settlers. White would leave the region in 1845 as a messenger for the Provisional Government of Oregon to the United States Congress, returning in 1850 before leaving again for California in the early 1860s.
White was born in New York, in 1806. There he received his education, including medical training at a school of medicine in Syracuse, New York. Prior to 1836 he would marry, and the couple would have a son named Jason as well as adopting another son named George. In 1836, White accepted an appointment to join Jason Lee in Oregon Country at the Methodist Church’s mission. White and his family sailed to the Sandwich Islands aboard the vessel Hamilton, arriving in July 1836. Others on the ship bound for the mission included William H. Wilson, Alanson Beers, and Miss Anna Maria Pittman who would become Lee’s second wife. On the islands both White and his wife taught to the Native Islanders until May 1837 when they continued on to Oregon.

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Eliza Hart Spalding
Henry Harmon Spalding (1803–1874), and his wife Eliza Hart Spalding (1807–1851) were prominent Presbyterian missionaries and educators working primarily with the Nez Perce in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The Spaldings and their fellow missionaries were among the earliest Americans to travel across the western plains, through the Rocky Mountains and into the lands of the Pacific Northwest to their religious missions in what would become the states of Idaho and Washington. Their missionary party of five, including Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa and William H. Gray, joined with a group of fur traders to create the first wagon train along the Oregon Trail.
Henry Spalding was born in Bath, New York, in either 1803 or 1804. He graduated from Western Reserve College in 1833, and entered Lane Theological Seminary in the class of 1837. He left, without graduation, upon his appointment in 1836 by the Boston-based American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) as a missionary to the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho.

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Ewing Young
Ewing Young (1799 – February 9, 1841) was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled Mexican southwestern North America and California before settling in the Oregon Country. As a prominent and wealthy citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in what became the state of Oregon. Young traded along the Santa Fe Trail and in Mexican Alta California prior to that province becoming a part of the United States. He later moved north to the Willamette Valley.
Young was born in Tennessee to a farming family in 1799. In the early 1820s he had moved to Missouri where he farmed briefly on the Missouri River at Charitan.
In Missouri, Young was on the far western edge of the American frontier, not far from the border of the Spanish-controlled territories of present day Texas, New Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Under the Spanish colonial system, trade between Americans and the Spanish outpost at Santa Fe was prohibited.
By 1821, the new Republic of Mexico had won the Mexican War of Independence from Spain, and a number of American adventurers living in Missouri were eager to test whether trade with the Mexican authorities in Santa Fe would be allowed. After a first small group of Americans returned successfully in December 1821 from a small trading foray, Young eagerly signed up to join a somewhat larger group going to trade in Santa Fe.

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Francis Parkman
Francis Parkman (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life and his monumental seven-volume France and England in North America. These works are still valued as history and especially as literature, although the biases of his work have met with criticism. He was also a leading horticulturist, briefly a Professor of Horticulture at Harvard University and the first leader of the Arnold Arboretum, and author of several books on the topic.
Parkman was born in Boston, Massachusetts to the Reverend Francis Parkman Sr. (1788–1852), a member of a distinguished Boston family, and Caroline (Hall) Parkman. The senior Parkman was minister of the Unitarian New North Church in Boston from 1813 to 1849. As a young boy, "Frank" Parkman was found to be of poor health, and was sent to live with his maternal grandfather, who owned a 3,000-acre (12 km²) tract of wilderness in nearby Medford, Massachusetts, in the hopes that a more rustic lifestyle would make him more sturdy. In the four years he stayed there, Parkman developed his love of the forests, which would animate his historical research. Indeed, he would later summarize his books as "the history of the American forest." He learned how to sleep and hunt, and could survive in the wilderness like a true pioneer. He later even learned to ride bareback, a skill that would come in handy when he found himself living with the Sioux.

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George Abernethy
George Abernethy (October 7, 1807 – March 2, 1877) was an American pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government in what would become the state of Oregon in the United States. He traveled to Oregon Country as a Methodist missionary where he became involved in politics and helped found the first American newspaper west of the Rocky Mountains.
Abernethy was born on October 7, 1807 in New York City. He was of Scottish descent. He received his education in New York as well as learning the commercial trade. In 1830, Abernethy married Anne Pope. Missionary Jason Lee recruited Abernethy in 1839 to join him at the Methodist Mission in Oregon Country. He, his wife, and two children joined the Great Reinforcements that sailed on the ship Lausanne around Cape Horn to the Pacific Northwest.
Arriving on June 1, 1840, Abernethy was placed in charge of the Mission’s mercantile business in Oregon City. Among his early accomplishments were building the first warehouse in the Oregon Territory, establishing the first newspaper (the Oregon Spectator) in the Oregon Territory, and establishing good business relations with the British Hudson's Bay Company. Abernethy was also a member of the Oregon Lyceum in Oregon City. In 1842 he introduced a resolution there to hold off forming an independent country. This was adopted and counter-acted a resolution introduced by Dr. John McLoughlin of the HBC that had earlier been adopted by the Lyceum.

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George Chorpenning
George W. Chorpenning Jr. (whose last name sometimes appears as "Chorpening") was a pioneer in the transportation of mail, freight, and passengers through the arid and undeveloped western regions of the United States. His efforts in the 1850s were vital to the integration of the then-new state of California with the established government and economy east of the Mississippi River.
George Chorpenning was born in 1820 in Somerset, Pennsylvania, the son of a county judge. In 1850 he traveled to California in search of gold. Disappointed, he realized that there was a critical need for fast and reliable mail service between California and the eastern states, most of which was then being transported by sea.
He teamed up with Abolam Woodward and, in April 1851, received a contract from the U.S. Post Office to provide monthly transport of the mail between Sacramento and Salt Lake City, the most difficult leg of the first "overland" mail service. Within months Woodward had died from an attack along the Humboldt River. Chorpenning persisted with the "Jackass Mail" service, but found that the monthly schedule was difficult to meet, and that their chosen route along the California Trail was difficult to follow, especially in winter, and especially in the Sierra Nevada and the hills of northeastern Nevada.

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Henry A. G. Lee
Henry A. G. Lee (c. 1818-1851) was a soldier and politician in Oregon Country in the 1840s. A member of Virginia’s Lee family, he was part of the Fremont Expedition and commanded troops during the Cayuse War in what became the Oregon Territory. He also was a member of the Oregon Provisional Government and the second editor of the Oregon Spectator.
Lee was born in Virginia, circa 1818. In 1843, Lee was a part of John C. Frémont’s Army expedition through the Western United States, including what is now the state of Oregon. During the expedition he was sent with a note to Kit Carson ordering Carson to catch up to the group, and later when the party split into two Lee remained with Fremont before returning to Oregon on September 22.
After settling in Oregon, Lee was elected to the Provisional Legislature of Oregon in 1845. He represented the Clackamas District and served as Speaker of the body for part of the December session. In 1846, Lee became the second editor of the Oregon Spectator, the first newspaper in the region. He replaced William G. T'Vault and would remain editor for nine issues of the paper before George Law Curry took over the position.

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Henry H. Spalding
Henry Harmon Spalding (1803–1874), and his wife Eliza Hart Spalding (1807–1851) were prominent Presbyterian missionaries and educators working primarily with the Nez Perce in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The Spaldings and their fellow missionaries were among the earliest Americans to travel across the western plains, through the Rocky Mountains and into the lands of the Pacific Northwest to their religious missions in what would become the states of Idaho and Washington. Their missionary party of five, including Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa and William H. Gray, joined with a group of fur traders to create the first wagon train along the Oregon Trail.
Henry Spalding was born in Bath, New York, in either 1803 or 1804. He graduated from Western Reserve College in 1833, and entered Lane Theological Seminary in the class of 1837. He left, without graduation, upon his appointment in 1836 by the Boston-based American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) as a missionary to the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho.

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James H. Simpson
James Hervey Simpson was an officer in the U.S. Army and a member of the United States Topographical Engineers.
He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 9, 1813, the son of John Simpson and Mary Brunson. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1832 and was initially assigned to the Third Artillery. He served in the Second Seminole War and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1837.
In 1838, a separate department known as the U.S. Army's Topographical Engineers was created (not to be confused with the Corps of Engineers with whom they were merged during the Civil War). Lieutenant Simpson was one of the officers transferred to the newly created bureau and assigned as an assistant to Captain W. G. Williams who was in charge of harbor construction on Lake Erie. The following year, he worked on road construction in Florida and then lake surveys in Wisconsin and Ohio. From 1845 to 1847, he was in charge of the harbor of Erie.
In 1849, Lieutenant Simpson surveyed areas in the American Southwest, between Santa Fe and the Navajo tribal lands. He had recruited wilderness artists Edward and Richard Kern to record the expedition in watercolors, oils, drawings and maps. He survey a road from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Sante Fe, New Mexico and then served for a year as the Chief Topographical Engineer for the Department of New Mexico.

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Jesse Applegate
Jesse Applegate (July 5, 1811 – April 22, 1888) was an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. He took part in the early government of Oregon, and helped establish the Applegate Trail as an alternative route to the Oregon Trail.
Jesse Applegate was born in Henry County, Kentucky, on July 5, 1811. In 1821, he moved with his family to Missouri. He attended seminary in Illinois, worked as a schoolteacher, clerk, and deputy surveyor to the Missouri Surveyor General, where he met Jedediah Smith, William Sublette, and David Edward Jackson—men who were instrumental in blazing the Oregon Trail. Applegate married Cynthia Ann Parker in 1832.
Along with his brothers Charles and Lindsay and their families, he joined what became known as the "Great Migration of 1843" on the Oregon Trail. He became one of the leaders of the expedition after it split into two parties over a dispute about whether the large amounts of livestock being driven by some members of the group would slow down their travel. Applegate's party became known as the "cow column" and the other party was called the "light column". After leaving their guide Marcus Whitman at his mission and abandoning their wagons at Fort Walla Walla, the Applegate brothers built boats for traveling down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver. Near The Dalles, a boat capsized and Jesse and Lindsay each lost a son to drowning. Lindsay later wrote, "We resolved if we remained in the country, to find a better way for others who might wish to emigrate."

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Jim Beckwourth
James Pierson Beckwourth (April 6, 1798 Frederick County, Virginia – October 29, 1866, Denver) was an American mountain man, fur trader, and explorer. An African American born into slavery in Virginia, he later moved to the American West. As a fur trapper, he lived with the Crow for years. He is credited with the discovery of Beckwourth Pass through the Sierra Nevada (U.S.) Mountains between present day Reno, Nevada and Portola, California during the California Gold Rush years, and improved the Beckwourth Trail, which thousands of settlers followed to central California.
He narrated his life story to Thomas D. Bonner, an itinerant justice of the peace. The book was published in New York and London in 1856 as The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth: Mountaineer, Scout and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians. A translation was published in France in 1860.
Early historians of the Old West originally considered the book little more than campfire lore. It has since been reassessed as a valuable source of social history, especially for life among the Crow, although not all its details are reliable or accurate. The civil rights movement of the 1960s celebrated Beckwourth as an early African-American pioneer. He has since been featured as a role model in children's literature and textbooks.

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Jim Bridger
James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820-1850, as well as mediating between native tribes and encroaching whites. He was of English ancestry, and his family had been in North America since the early colonial period.
Jim Bridger had a strong constitution that allowed him to survive the extreme conditions he encountered walking the Rocky Mountains from what would become southern Colorado to the Canadian border. He had conversational knowledge of French, Spanish and several native languages. He would come to know many of the major figures of the early west, including Brigham Young, Kit Carson, George Armstrong Custer, John Fremont, Joseph Meek, and John Sutter.
Bridger was born in Richmond, Virginia. He began his colorful career in 1822 at the age of 18, as a member of General William Ashley's Upper Missouri Expedition and had a significant role in the ordeal of Hugh Glass. He was among the first white men to see the geysers and other natural wonders of the Yellowstone region. In the winter of 1824-1825, Bridger gained fame as the first European American to see the Great Salt Lake (though some now dispute that status in favor of Étienne Provost), which he reached traveling in a bull boat. Due to its salinity, he believed it to be an arm of the Pacific Ocean.

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Joel Palmer
General Joel Palmer (October 4, 1810 – June 9, 1881) was an American pioneer of the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. He was born in Canada, and spent his early years in New York and Pennsylvania before serving as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives.
Palmer traveled to the Oregon Country in 1845. He played a central role in blazing the last leg of the Oregon Trail, the Barlow Road, with Sam Barlow and others. Specifically, Palmer is noted for having climbed high on Mount Hood to observe the surrounding area when the party ran into difficulty. He wrote a popular immigrant guidebook, co-founded Dayton, Oregon, and served as a controversial Indian Affairs administrator. After Oregon became a state, Palmer served in both branches of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. He was selected as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives for one session in 1862, and in 1870 lost a bid to become Governor of Oregon.
The Palmer House, his former home in Dayton, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

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John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890), was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder. He is sometimes called The Great Pathfinder. He retired from the military and moved to the new territory California, after leading a fourth expedition which cost ten lives seeking a rail route over the mountains around the 38th parallel in the winter of 1849.
He became one of the first two U.S. Senators elected from the new state in 1850. He was soon bogged down with lawsuits over land claims between the dispossessions of various land owners during the Mexican-American War, and the explosion of Forty-Niners immigrating during the California Gold Rush. He lost the 1856 presidential election to Democrats James Buchanan and John C. Breckenridge when Democrats warned his election would lead to civil war.

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John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor (July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848), born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate, merchant and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States. He was the creator of the first trust in America.
He went to the United States following the American Revolutionary War and built a fur-trading empire that extended to the Great Lakes region and Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific coast. He also got involved in smuggling opium. In the early 19th century he diversified into New York City real estate and later became a famed patron of the arts.
John Jacob Astor's ancestors were Waldensian refugees from Savoy, and Astor remained a member of the Reformed church throughout his life. He was born in Walldorf, near Heidelberg in the old Palatinate which became part of the Duchy of Baden in 1803 (now in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany). His father, Johann Jacob Astor (July 7, 1724-April 18, 1816), was a butcher. The son's career began with working in Germany as assistant in his father's business as a dairy salesman. In 1779 at age 16 he emigrated to London, where he learned English while working for his brother, George Astor, manufacturing musical instruments.

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John McLoughlin
Dr. John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, (October 19, 1784 – September 3, 1857) was the Chief Factor of the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest. In the late 1840s his general store in Oregon City was famous as the last stop on the Oregon Trail.
McLoughlin was born in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, of Irish (his grandfather came from Sharagower in the Inishowen peninsular of County Donegal), Scottish, and French Canadian descent. He lived with his great uncle, Colonel William Fraser, for a while as a child.^{[citation needed]} Though baptized Roman Catholic, he was raised Anglican and in his later life he returned to the Roman Catholic faith. In 1798, he began to study medicine with Sir James Fisher of Quebec. After studying for 4½ years he was granted a license to practice medicine on April 30, 1803. He was hired as a physician at Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay), a fur-gathering post of the North West Company on Lake Superior; there he became a trader and mastered several Indian languages.^{[citation needed]}

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Joseph Gale
Joseph Goff Gale (April 29, 1807 — December 13, 1881) was an American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country. There he assisted in the construction of the first sailing vessel built in what would become the state of Oregon, sailed the ship to California to trade for cattle, and later served as one of three co-executives in the Provisional Government of Oregon. Originally a sailor, he also spent time in the fur trade, as a farmer, and a gold miner in the California Gold Rush.
Joseph Gale was born in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 1807, the son of Mary Gale (née Goff) and Joseph Gale, a sea captain from Pennsylvania. Both of his parents died when Joseph was young, but he did receive an education and some training as a sailor. Gale arrived on the Pacific Coast as early as 1828 with the Bean-Sinclair party that had been shipwrecked off the coast of California. From 1830 until 1839, the heyday of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, he was a well regarded trapper and an associate of western legends such as Ewing Young, Nathaniel Wyeth, Joe Meek, Jim Bridger, and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians.

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Joseph Kellogg
Joseph Kellogg was a well-known steamboat captain and businessman of Portland, Oregon.
Joseph Kellogg was born in Canada on June 12, 1812. His father Orrin Kellogg (9/4/1790-2/14/1872) was born in St. Albans, Vermont and his mother Margaret Miller Kellogg was Canadian. After the war of 1812, his family moved first to New York and then to Ohio. Kellogg was trained as a millwright.
In 1847 the Kellogg family crossed the plains to Oregon. They left Wood county, Ohio, November 24, 1847, with horse-drawn wagons. At Cincinnati, Ohio they shipped by steamer to St. Louis, and from there drove to St. Joseph, Missouri where they wintered.
In May a company of thirty wagons started on journey across the plains. They had covered wagons and were provided with tin stoves and all the arms and provisions needed for such a journey. The emigrant party later exchanged their horses for oxen. They were able to travel nearly twenty-five miles a day, and arrived at Milwaukie, Oregon on September 8, 1848.
On arrival in Oregon, the heads of the families took up adjoining donation land claims of 640 acres (2.6 km²) each, on which they erected cabins. Kellogg built the first commercial flour mill in Oregon. He also built several of the first sawmills. Kellogg's land claim was next to that of Lot Whitcomb, at Milwaukie. Kellogg, Whitcomb and William Torrence laid out the town site of what they hoped would be the principal city in Oregon.

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Joseph L. Meek
Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek (1810–1875) was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A pioneer involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek would play a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843 where he was elected as a sheriff. Later he served in the Provisional Legislature of Oregon before being selected as the United States Marshal for the Oregon Territory.
Joe Meek was born in Washington County, Virginia, United States, near the Cumberland Gap in 1810. At the age of 18 he joined William Sublette and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and roamed the Rocky Mountains for over a decade as a fur trapper. In about 1829, the nineteen-year old Meek traveled with a trapping party along the Yellowstone River. A band of Blackfoot scattered the trappers, leaving Meek to travel into what is today Yellowstone National Park. In a later account included in author Frances Fuller Victor's 1870 biography of Meek, The River of the West, he described the region. The whole country beyond was smoking with the vapor from boiling springs, and burning with gasses, issuing from small craters, each of which was emitting a sharp whistling sound. In Idaho in 1838, he married the daughter of Nez Perce chief Kowesota. Her true name is unknown, but Meek called her "Virginia".

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Joseph Meek
Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek (1810–1875) was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A pioneer involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek would play a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843 where he was elected as a sheriff. Later he served in the Provisional Legislature of Oregon before being selected as the United States Marshal for the Oregon Territory.
Joe Meek was born in Washington County, Virginia, United States, near the Cumberland Gap in 1810. At the age of 18 he joined William Sublette and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and roamed the Rocky Mountains for over a decade as a fur trapper. In about 1829, the nineteen-year old Meek traveled with a trapping party along the Yellowstone River. A band of Blackfoot scattered the trappers, leaving Meek to travel into what is today Yellowstone National Park. In a later account included in author Frances Fuller Victor's 1870 biography of Meek, The River of the West, he described the region. The whole country beyond was smoking with the vapor from boiling springs, and burning with gasses, issuing from small craters, each of which was emitting a sharp whistling sound. In Idaho in 1838, he married the daughter of Nez Perce chief Kowesota. Her true name is unknown, but Meek called her "Virginia".

wn.com/Joseph_Meek
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, which gave rise to Mormonism. At age twenty-four Smith published the Book of Mormon, and in the next fourteen years he gathered thousands of followers, built cities and temples, and created a religious culture that survived his death.
Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont; but by 1817, Smith's family had moved to western New York, an area repeatedly swept by religious revivals during the Second Great Awakening. Smith family members held divergent views about organized religion, but they believed in visions and prophecies and engaged in folk religious practices typical of the era. According to Smith, beginning in the early 1820s he had visions, in one of which an angel directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Christian history of ancient American civilizations. In 1830, he published what he said was an English translation of these plates as the Book of Mormon, and organized the Church of Christ as a restoration of the early Christian church. Church members were later called Latter Day Saints, Saints, or Mormons.

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Kit Carson
Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married into the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes. He was hired by John C. Fremont as a guide, and led 'the Pathfinder' through much of California, Oregon and the Great Basin area. He achieved national fame through Fremont's accounts of his expeditions. He became the hero of many dime novels.
Carson was a courier and scout during the Mexican-American war from 1846 to 1848, celebrated for his rescue mission after the Battle of San Pasqual and his coast-to-coast journey from California to deliver news of the war to the U.S. government in Washington, D.C.. In the 1850s, he was the Agent to the Ute and Jicarilla Apaches. In the Civil War he led a regiment of mostly Hispanic volunteers at the Battle of Valverde in 1862. He led armies to pacify the Navajo, Mescalero Apache, and the Kiowa and Comanche Indians. He is vilified for his conquest of the Navajo and their forced transfer to Bosque Redondo where many of them died. Breveted a general, he is probably the only American to reach such a high military rank without being able to read or write, although he could sign his name.

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Levi Scott (pioneer)
Levi C. Scott (1797–1890) was a politician in the Oregon Territory of the United States in the 1850s. A native of Illinois, he was a captain during the Cayuse War, helped lay the Applegate Trail, served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature, and in 1857 was a member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention. Scott also founded Scottsburg, Oregon, and is the namesake for several natural features in Southern Oregon.
Levi Scott was born on February 8, 1797, in what would become the state of Illinois. He was married and had two children, and by 1844, he had moved to Iowa and was living in Burlington. In May 1844, Levi and his son John Scott (b. 1828) immigrated to what was then Oregon Country and settled near Dallas, Oregon.
In 1846, Scott, along with his son, as well as Jesse Applegate, Lindsay Applegate and others, set off to create a southern route into the Willamette Valley. The route authorized by the Provisional Government of Oregon would travel southwest from Fort Hall and take the Rogue Valley and Umpqua Valley before turning north to the Willamette Valley settlements. This Southern Route has become known as the Applegate Trail.

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Manuel Lisa
Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa (September 8, 1772 in New Orleans, Louisiana – August 12, 1820 in St. Louis, Missouri), was a Spanish fur trader, explorer, and United States Indian agent. He was among the founders in St. Louis of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company. Lisa gained respect through his trading among Native American tribes of the upper Missouri River region, such as the Teton Sioux, Omaha and Ponca.
After being appointed as US Indian agent during the War of 1812, Lisa used his standing among the tribes to encourage their alliance with the United States and their warfare against tribes allied with the United Kingdom. Although he was already married to a European-American woman in St. Louis, where he kept a residence, in 1814 Lisa married Mitain, a daughter of Big Elk, the principal chief of the Omaha people, as part of securing their alliance. They had two children together, whom Lisa provided for equally in his will with his children by his official marriage.

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Marcus Whitman
Marcus Whitman (September 4, 1802 – November 29, 1847) was an American physician and missionary in the Oregon Country. Along with his wife Narcissa Whitman, he started a mission to the Cayuse in what is now southeastern Washington state in 1836. The area later developed as a trading post and stop along the Oregon Trail, and the city of Walla Walla, Washington developed near there.
In 1843 Whitman led the first large party of wagon trains along the Oregon Trail to the West, establishing it as a viable route for the hundreds of thousands of emigrants who used the trail in the following decade. Settlers encroached on the Cayuse near the Whitman mission. Following the deaths of all the Cayuse children and half their adults from a measles epidemic in 1847, in which the Cayuse suspected the Whitmans' responsibility, they killed the Whitmans and 12 other settlers in what became known as the Whitman Massacre. Continuing warfare by settlers reduced the Cayuse numbers further and they eventually joined the Nez Perce tribe to survive.

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Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren (Dutch: Maarten van Buren; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth President of the United States (1837–1841). Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson (1829–1831).
Van Buren was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president not of British or Irish descent—his family was Dutch. He was the first president to be born an American citizen, his predecessors having been born British subjects before the American Revolution. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch, and the first president from New York.
As Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State and then Vice President, Van Buren was a key figure in building the organizational structure for Jacksonian democracy, particularly in New York State. As president, he did not want the United States to annex Texas, an act which John Tyler would achieve eight years after Van Buren's initial rejection. Between the bloodless Aroostook War and the Caroline Affair, relations with Britain and its colonies in Canada also proved to be strained.

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Matthew Deady
Matthew Paul Deady (May 12, 1824 – March 24, 1893) was a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory and the state of Oregon of the United States. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1853 to 1859, at which time he was appointed to the newly created federal court of the state. He remained on this federal trial level court, the United States District Court for the District of Oregon in Portland, Oregon, as the sole judge until his death in 1893. While on the court he presided over the trial that led to the United States Supreme Court decision of Pennoyer v. Neff concerning personal jurisdiction.
Prior to joining the court, Deady served in the legislature of the Oregon Territory, include time as the President of the Council, and was elected as President of the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857. A native of the state of Maryland, his first profession was as a blacksmith. He would also spend time as a teacher in both Ohio and Oregon. Deady read law in Ohio and practiced law for a time in that state before immigrating to the Oregon Territory via the Oregon Trail. In Oregon, he helped codify the laws of the state and assisted in the foundation of the Multnomah County Library in Portland. He also was president of the University of Oregon's board of regents. The university renamed Deady Hall in his honor after his death.

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Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon territory for the United States before European nations. They also collected scientific data, and information on indigenous nations. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806.
Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in the present-day community of Ivy. He was the son of Lt. William Lewis of Locust Hill (1733 – November 17, 1779), who was of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether (February 4, 1752 – September 8, 1837), daughter of Thomas Meriwether and Elizabeth Thornton who were both of English ancestry. (Thornton was the daughter of Francis Thornton and Mary Taliaferro). After his father died of pneumonia, he moved with his mother and stepfather Captain John Marks to Georgia in May 1780. They settled along the Broad River in the Goosepond Community within the Broad River Valley in Wilkes County (now Oglethorpe County).

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Narcissa Whitman
Narcissa Prentiss Whitman (March 14, 1808 – November 29, 1847) was an American missionary in the Oregon Country of what would become the state of Washington. Along with Eliza Hart Spalding (wife of Henry Spalding), she was the first European-American woman to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1836 on her way to found the Protestant Whitman Mission with husband Dr. Marcus Whitman near modern day Walla Walla, Washington.
Narcissa Prentiss was born in Prattsburgh, New York, in the Genesee Valley on March 14, 1808. She was the third of nine children of Judge Stephen and Clarissa Prentiss. She was the oldest of the five girls, followed by Clarissa, Mary Ann, Jane, and Harriet. She also had four brothers. Like many young women of the era, Narcissa became caught up in the Second Great Awakening. She decided that her true calling was to become a missionary, and was accepted for missionary service in March 1835. Narcissa was educated at the Female Academy at Troy, on the Hudson before her marriage to Dr. Marcus Whitman. The marriage was on February 18, 1836 in Angelica, New York.

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Peter French
Peter French (April 30, 1849 – December 26, 1897) was a rancher in the western United States in the late 19th century. The community of Frenchglen, Oregon was partially named for him.
Peter French was born John William French in Missouri on April 30, 1849. In 1850, his father moved the family to Colusa County, California to begin a small ranch. Finding there wasn't enough room for small ranch operations due to Spanish land grants, French's father uprooted his family once again and traveled north to the Sacramento Valley. French's father began a sheep ranch there, which became very successful; however, as French grew older, he found that the work was not exciting or challenging enough for him.
French moved southward to Jacinto, California where he met and accepted employment as a horse breaker with Dr. Hugh James Glenn, a wealthy stockman and wheat baron. French was a quick learner and good worker, and in a few months he was promoted to foreman. The Spanish-speaking vaqueros liked and respected French, as he learned their language. At some point in his employment with Dr. Glenn, French assumed the name "Peter".

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Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden (alternately Skeene, Skein or Skeen), (baptised 12 February 1790 – September 27, 1854) was a fur trader and a Canadian explorer of what is now British Columbia and the American West. During his many expeditions he explored parts of Oregon, Washington, Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming and despite early confrontations with the Hudson' Bay Company during his time with the North West Company, later became a senior official in the operations of the HBC's Columbia Department, serving as first Chief Trader of Fort Simpson and similar posts.
Ogden was a son of Chief Justice Isaac Ogden of Quebec and his wife Sarah Hanson. After a brief time with the American Fur Company, he joined the North West Company in 1809. His first post was at Île-á-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan in 1810, and by 1814 was in charge of a post at Green Lake, Saskatchewan, 100 miles south.
Ogden had frequent run-ins with the rival Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) employees and engaged in physical violence on several occasions. In 1816, HBC clerks reported that Ogden killed an Indian who had traded with the Hudson's Bay Company. The Indian was "butchered in a most cruel manner," according to HBC officer James Bird. Although many in the North West Company viewed this as a necessary part of living in the Northwest, the HBC viewed Ogden as a dangerous man whose actions were deplorable, especially considering his background as the son of a judge. Ogden was charged with murder, and the North West Company moved him further west to attempt to avoid any further confrontations with the HBC. He served at different posts in modern-day Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia for the next several years.

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Philip Foster
Philip Foster (January 29, 1805 – March 17, 1884) was one of the first settlers in Oregon, United States. The farmstead he established in Eagle Creek in 1847 became the first outpost of civilization after 2,000 miles of travel for pioneers heading west along the Oregon Trail. Approximately 10,000 emigrants are believed to have passed through. The farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Foster was a shrewd businessman from Argyle, Maine. In the early 19th century he, like many others, headed west, recognizing the prospects of business in the Oregon Country. In 1842, the Fosters and Francis William Pettygrove's family (Foster's wife, Mary Charlotte, was Pettygrove's sister) sailed from New York for Oregon on the ship Victoria, an A.G. & A.W. Benson vessel via the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). They were delayed on the Sandwich Islands for six months before heading on to the Willamette Valley, arriving in Oregon City in 1843.
In Oregon City on the Willamette River Pettygrove and Philip Foster established a general store. The two-story building served both as a store and a home for the Foster family. Foster subsequently formed many partnerships, including establishing a flour mill with Dr. John McLoughlin. In 1844, Foster became the second Treasurer of the provisional government in the Oregon Country.

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Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861. It became the west's most direct means of east-west communication before the telegraph and was vital for tying California closely with the Union just before the American Civil War.
The Pony Express was a mail delivery system of the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express Company of 1849 which in 1850 became the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. This firm was founded by William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell all of whom were notable in the freighting business.
Patee House served as the Pony Express headquarters from 1860 to 1861. It is one block away from the home of infamous outlaw Jesse James, where he was shot and killed by Robert Ford.
This original fast mail 'Pony Express' service had messages carried by horseback riders in staged relays to stations (with fresh horses and riders) across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains of the Western United States. During its 18 months of operation, it reduced the time for messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about ten days, with telegraphic communication covering about half the distance across the continent and mounted couriers the rest.

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Rod Taylor
Rodney Sturt "Rod" Taylor (born 11 January 1930) is an Australian actor of film and television. He has appeared in over 50 films, and is well known for his roles in the science fiction film The Time Machine (1960), and in the Alfred Hitchcock horror movie The Birds (1963).
Taylor was Born on 11 January 1930 in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, the only child of William Sturt Taylor, a steel construction contractor and commercial artist, and the former Mona Thompson, a writer of more than a hundred short stories and children's books. His middle name comes from his great-great grand uncle, Captain Charles Sturt, a British explorer of the Australian Outback in the 19th century.
Taylor attended Parramatta High School and later studied at the East Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College. For a time he worked as a commercial artist, but decided to become an actor after seeing Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic touring production in Australia.
Taylor acquired extensive radio and stage experience in Australia where his radio work included a period on Blue Hills and a role as Tarzan. Earlier in his career he had to support himself by working at Sydney's Mark Foys department store designing and painting window and other displays during the day. In 1951 he took part in a re-enactment of Charles Sturt's voyage down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, playing Sturt's offsider, George Macleay. A short documentary, Inland with Sturt (1951), was based on it. Taylor also appeared in a number of theatre productions for Australia's Mercury Theatre.

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Rogue River Wars
The Rogue River Wars was an armed conflict between the US Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area of what today is southern Oregon in 1855–56. While the conflict designation usually includes only the hostilities that took place during the mentioned period of time, numerous skirmishes escalated in the area since 1850, eventually breaking into open warfare.
The interaction the Rogue River Indians and the first settlers who established homesteads in the area was relatively peaceful. However, the situation changed drastically with the opening of the Oregon Trail and the gold rushes in northern California and later in eastern Oregon. Flocks of white settlers and miners soon flooded the area, consuming without restrictions the natural resources upon which the Indians relied on for living, like hunting, fishing and chopping down entire forests of oak trees.
Along these lines hostilities can be traced to American Ewing Young’s travel to Oregon in 1834 when his party murdered several natives and buried their bodies on the island where the party was camped. These bodies were later discovered by the local tribe and led to a retaliation the next year when an American fur trapping party passed through and was attacked by the natives. Four of the eight European-Americans were killed with William J. Bailey and George Gay as two of the survivors. Then in 1837 as part of the Willamette Cattle Company Young, Bailey, and Gay were herding cattle north to the Willamette Valley when Gay shot and killed a native boy for no other reason than the previous attacks years earlier. The locals were unsuccessful in retaliations during the remainder of the cattle drive as only a few animals were lost to attacks.

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Sager orphans
The Sager orphans (sometimes referred to as Sager children) were the children of Naomi and Henry Sager. In April 1844 Henry Sager and his family took part in the great westward migration and started their journey along the Oregon Trail. During their journey both Naomi and Henry Sager lost their lives and left their seven children orphaned. Later adopted by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, missionaries in what is now Washington, the children were orphaned a second time, when both their new parents were killed during the Whitman massacre in November 1847. About 1860 Catherine Sager, the oldest of the Sager girls, wrote a first-hand account of their journey across the plains and their life with the Whitmans. This account today is regarded as one of the most authentic accounts of the American westward migration.
The children's names were (from oldest to youngest):
Henry Sager was described as a restless one by his daughter Catherine. Before 1844 Henry Sager had moved his growing family three times. Starting in Virginia they moved to Ohio, later to Indiana before finally arriving in Platte County, Missouri. There Henry Sager, backed by his two sons John and Francis (Frank) decided to head for Oregon, the fabled territory in the Pacific Northwest. Naomi was reluctant to go, at first, but eventually agreed. In late autumn 1843, the Sagers reached St. Joseph, Missouri, a jump-off point for the Oregon Trail. At this time Naomi was already pregnant for the seventh time. Over the winter the family stayed in St. Joseph, Missouri where in March 1844 Henry Sager joined a group of pioneers who called themselves The Independent Colony.

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Sam Barlow
Samuel Kimbrough Barlow (December 7, 1795 – July 14, 1867) was a pioneer in the area that became the U.S. state of Oregon, and was key in establishing the Barlow Road, the most widely chosen final segment to the Oregon Trail.
Barlow was the son of William Henry Harrison Barlow and Sarah Kimbrough, born in Nicholas County, Kentucky. He trained as a tailor, and in 1818 moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he married and started a family, perhaps in 1822. He and his wife, Susannah Lee, had at least four children: Jane Ellen, James, John, and William.
Barlow was convicted of manslaughter in August 1827, for killing George Matlock with an ax on October 16, 1826. He was sentenced to one year of hard labor. Scores of people, including the victim's brother, pleaded for Barlow's pardon and quashing of his sentence since he did it to prevent harm to his wife and children. Indiana Governor James B. Ray pardoned him on December 6, 1827.
In 1845, when he was 53, Barlow's family arrived in Oregon. His party of seven wagons joined Joel Palmer's group of 23 wagons and explored and, after considerable difficulty, blazed a wagon trail over the Cascade Range, which became the Barlow Road in 1846. They arrived in Oregon City, Oregon on Christmas night.

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Sauk people
The Sacs or Sauks are a group of Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands culture group. Their autonym is (oθaakiiwaki in their own language, and their exonym is Ozaagii(-wag) in Ojibwe. The latter is the source of their names in French and English.
Originally, the Sauk had a patrilineal clan system, in which descent was traced through the father. Clans which continue are: Fish, Ocean/Sea, Thunder, Bear, Fox, Potato, Deer, Beaver, Snow, and Wolf. The tribe was governed by a council of sacred clan chiefs, a war chief, the head of families, and the warriors. Chiefs fell into three categories: civil, war, and ceremonial, but only the civil chief was hereditary. The other two chiefs were determined by demonstrating their ability or their spiritual power.
This traditional manner of selecting historic clan chiefs and governance was replaced in the 19th century by United States appointees of the Sac and Fox Agency. In the 20th century, the tribe adopted a constitutional government patterned after the United States form. They elect their chiefs.^{[citation needed]}

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Tabitha Brown
Tabitha Moffatt Brown (May 1, 1780 – May 4, 1858) was an American pioneer emigrant who traveled the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. There she assisted in the founding of Tualatin Academy, which would grow to become Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Brown was honored in 1987 by the Oregon Legislature as the "Mother of Oregon."
Born on May 1, 1780, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, Tabitha was the daughter of Lois Haynes Moffatt and Dr. Joseph Moffatt. She married the Reverend Clark Brown (1771–1817) on December 1, 1799. The pair raised three boys and one girl together until the reverend died in 1817. He was a Congregational minister, and later became an Episcopalian minister. The eldest son was Orus, followed by Manthano, John Mattacks, and finally Pherne. John died at age six. Prior to John and Clark’s deaths, the family lived in various locales, including Charles County, Maryland, where Clark is buried. Later the family moved to Missouri to follow Tabitha’s brother-in-law Captain John Brown, a sea captain. Prior to this and during this time she supported the family by teaching.

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Thomas J. Farnham
Thomas Jefferson Farnham (1804–1848) was an explorer and author of the American West in the first half of the 19th century. His travels included interaction with missionary Jason Lee, and he later led a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. While in Oregon Country he wrote a petition to federal authorities that requested federal protection of the region from the United States government, which was signed by many of the local settlers who had come from the United States.
In 1804 Thomas Farnham was born in New England, in either Vermont or what would become the state of Maine. He would then receive an education at Phillips Academy, Andover and moved to Peoria, Illinois, where he became a lawyer. Farnham was married in 1836 to Eliza Woodson Burhams, and they would have three children. In 1839 he heard a lecture by Jason Lee on Oregon where Lee had set up a mission to preach to the Native Americans in the Willamette Valley. At the time Lee was recruiting more people for the mission. After this lecture Farnham joined the Peoria Party that was headed for Oregon, and became the captain of the group of 19. The Peoria men called themselves the Oregon Dragoons and carried with them a flag, a gift from Mrs. Farnham, emblazoned with their motto "OREGON or the GRAVE".

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Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris, initially as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) during the administration of President George Washington. Upon resigning his office, with his close friend James Madison he organized the Democratic-Republican Party. Elected Vice-President in 1796, under his opponent John Adams, Jefferson with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

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Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877) following his dominant role in the second half of the Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and effectively ended the war with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox. As president he led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate all vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery; he effectively destroyed the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. His reputation was marred by his repeated defense of corrupt appointees, and by the deep economic depression (called the "Panic of 1873") that dominated his second term. Although his Republican Party split in 1872 with reformers denouncing him, Grant was easily reelected. By 1874 the opposition was gaining strength and as he left the White House in March 1877, conservative white Southerners, as federal troops were withdrawn, regained control of every state in the South and Reconstruction ended on a note of failure as the civil rights of blacks were not secure.

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Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra. Irving also served as the U.S. ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
He made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in 1819. He continued to publish regularly—and almost always successfully—throughout his life, and completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before his death, at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York.

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William Henry Ashley
William Henry Ashley (1778, Powhatan County, Virginia–March 26, 1838, Boonville, Missouri) was a pioneering fur trader, entrepreneur, and politician. Though a native of Virginia, Ashley had already moved to St. Genevieve in what was then called Louisiana, when it was purchased by the United States from France in 1803. That land, later known as Missouri, became Ashley's home for most of his adult life. Ashley moved to St. Louis around 1808 and became a Brigadier General in the Missouri Militia during the War of 1812. Before the war he did some real estate speculation and earned a small fortune manufacturing gunpowder from a lode of saltpeter mined in a cave near the headwaters of Missouri's Current river. When Missouri was admitted to the Union Ashley was elected its first Lieutenant Governor, serving from 1820 to 1824.
In 1822 Ashley and business partner Andrew Henry—a bullet maker whom he met through his gunpowder business—posted famous advertisements in St. Louis newspapers seeking one hundred "enterprising young men . . . to ascend the river Missouri to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years." The men who responded to this call became known as "Ashley's Hundred." Between 1822 and 1825, Ashley and Henry's Rocky Mountain Fur Company, did several large scale fur trapping expeditions in the mountain west. Ashley's men are officially credited with the American discovery of South Pass in the winter of 1824. Ashley devised the rendezvous system in which trappers, Indians and traders would meet annually in a predetermined location to exchange furs, goods and money. His innovations in the fur trade earned Ashley a great deal of money and recognition, and helped open the western part of the continent to American expansion.

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William Sublette
William Lewis Sublette Born near Stamford, Lincoln County, Kentucky on September 21, 1798. Died on July 23, 1845 in Pittsburg. W.L. Sublette was a fur trapper, pioneer and mountain man, who with his brothers after 1823 became an agent of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (and later one of its owners) exploiting the riches of the Oregon Country, which helped settle the best routes later improved into the Oregon Trail.
He was one of five Sublette brothers prominent in the western fur trade: William, Milton, Andrew, Pinkney, and Solomon. Sublette was one of the leaders among the American mountain men pushing hard against the British companies active in the American fur trade in the Pacific Northwest and against the American Fur Company trappers in the high Rockies and other Incorporated territories of the United States.
He retired from high-risk (i.e. venturing near hostile Amerindian peoples) trapping activities after being wounded at the Rendezvous of 1832 in the Battle of Pierre's Hole, which some accounts claim he hot-headedly triggered in his actions prior to the gun battle. After recuperating over a year back in St. Louis, he returned to the uplands and founded Fort William, later Fort Laramie in the foothills east of the South Pass — the fort commanded the last eastern stream crossing at the foot of the last ascent to the floor of South Pass; the only route readily navigable by wagons over the continental divide.

wn.com/William_Sublette
Wilson Price Hunt
William or Wilson Price Hunt (March 20, 1783 – April 13, 1842) was an early pioneer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest of North America. An American and an employee of John Jacob Astor, Hunt used information supplied by the Lewis and Clark Expedition to lead the portion of the Astor Expedition that traveled to Oregon by land. The party reached the mouth of the Columbia River in February 1812, joining the portion of the expedition that had traveled by sea at Fort Astoria, which the latter party had just completed.
Hunt had difficulty finding quality men at Mackinaw and St. Louis, finding most to be "drinking in the morning, drunk at noon and dead drunk at night." Having finally assembled a party, Hunt arrived at Nodaway, Missouri on November 16, 1810, and settled into winter quarters. They departed April 22, 1811.
When the party encountered the Snake River, they abandoned their horses and attempted to travel downstream. After nine days of successful travel they lost a man and two canoes in the rapids, and reconsidered their plan. They divided into four parties, and took different routes to approach the mouth of the Columbia.

wn.com/Wilson_Price_Hunt
Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Jr. (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806–1807, he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River, during which he recorded the discovery of what later was called Pikes Peak. Captured by the Spanish while wandering in present-day Colorado after his party got confused in its travels, Pike and his men were taken to Chihuahua, present-day Mexico and questioned by the governor. They were released later in 1807 at the border of Louisiana.
In 1810 Pike published an account of his expeditions, a book so popular that it was translated into French, German and Dutch for publication in Europe. He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the Army, serving during the War of 1812. He was killed during the Battle of York, which the United States won.
Pike is descended from John Pike, an early English immigrant as a child in 1635 and founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey in 1665. Later in his life, Zebulon had a child named Clarissa Brown Pike.

wn.com/Zebulon_Pike

The Oregon Trail Gameplay and Commentary

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For other uses, see Oregon Trail (disambiguation).

Oregon Trail
The route of the Oregon Trail shown on a map of the western United States from Independence, Missouri (on the eastern end) to Oregon City, Oregon (on the western end)
The Ox Team or the Old Oregon Trail 1852–1906 by Ezra Meeker
Location	Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon
Established	1830s by mountain men of fur trade, widely publicized by 1843
Governing body	National Park Service

The Oregon Trail is a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) historic east-west wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between. 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.

The beginnings of the Oregon Trail were laid by fur trappers and traders from about 1811 to 1840 and were 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 became called the Oregon Trail was complete even as improved roads, "cutouts", ferries and bridges made the trip faster and safer almost every year. From various "jumping off 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) which used of the same eastern trails 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 the same course westward and pass through towns originally established to service the Oregon Trail.

History [link]

Lewis and Clark Expedition [link]

Main article: Lewis and Clark Expedition

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson issued the following instructions to Meriwether Lewis: "The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by its course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado and/or other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce."^[1] Although Lewis and William Clark found a path to the Pacific Ocean, it was not until 1859 that a direct and practicable route, the Mullan Road, connected the Missouri River to the Columbia River.

Oregon Trail reenactment at Scotts Bluff

The first land route across what is now the United States was partially mapped by the Lewis and Clark Expedition between 1804 and 1806. Lewis and Clark initially believed they had found a practical overland route to the west coast; however, the two passes they found going through the Rocky Mountains, Lemhi Pass and Lolo Pass, turned out to be much too difficult for wagons to pass through without considerable road work. On the return trip in 1806 they traveled from the Columbia River to the Snake River and the Clearwater River over Lolo pass again. They then traveled overland up the Blackfoot River and crossed the Continental Divide at Lewis and Clark Pass^[2] and on to the head of the Missouri River. This was ultimately a shorter and faster route than the one they followed west. This route had the disadvantages of being much too rough for wagons and controlled by the Blackfoot Indians. Even though Lewis and Clark had only traveled a narrow portion of the upper Missouri River drainage and part of the Columbia River drainage, these were considered the two major rivers draining most of the Rocky Mountains, and the expedition confirmed that there was no "easy" route through the northern Rocky Mountains as Jefferson had hoped. Nonetheless, this famous expedition had mapped both the eastern and western river valleys (Platte and Snake Rivers) that bookend the route of the Oregon Trail (and other emigrant trails) across the continental divide — they just had not located the South Pass or some of the interconnecting valleys later used in the high country. They did show the way for the mountain men, who within a decade would find a better way across, even if it was not to be an easy way.

Astorians [link]

Main article: Astor Expedition

In 1810, fur trader, entrepreneur, and one of the wealthiest men in the U.S., John Jacob Astor of the American Fur Company, outfitted an expedition (known as the Astor Expedition or Astorians) under Wilson Price Hunt to find a possible overland supply route and trapping territory for fur trading posts. Fearing attack by the Blackfoot Indians, the overland expedition veered south of Lewis and Clark's route into what is now Wyoming and in the process passed across Union Pass and into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. From there they went over the Teton Range via Teton Pass and then down to the Snake River in Idaho. They abandoned their horses at the Snake River, made dugout canoes, and attempted to use the river for transport. After a few days' travel they soon discovered that steep canyons, waterfalls and impassable rapids made travel by river impossible. Too far from their horses to retrieve them, they had to cache most of their goods and walk the rest of the way to the Columbia River where they made new boats and traveled to the newly established Fort Astoria. The expedition demonstrated that much of the route along the Snake River plain and across to the Columbia was passable by pack train or with minimal improvements, even wagons.^[3] This knowledge would be incorporated into the concatenated trail segments as the Oregon Trail took its early shape.

In early 1811, the supply ship Tonquin left supplies and men to establish Fort Astoria (Oregon) at the mouth of the Columbia River and Fort Okanogan (Washington) at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers. The Tonquin then went up the coast to Puget Sound for a trading expedition. There it was attacked and overwhelmed by Indians before being blown up, killing all the crew and many Indians.

American Fur Company partner Robert Stuart led a small group of men back east to report to Astor. The group planned to retrace the path followed by the overland expedition back up to the east following the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Fear of Indian attack near Union Pass in Wyoming forced the group further south where they luckily discovered South Pass, a wide and easy pass over the Continental Divide. The party continued east via the Sweetwater River, North Platte River (where they spent the winter of 1812–1813) and Platte River to the Missouri River, finally arriving in St. Louis in the spring of 1813. The route they had used appeared to potentially be a practical wagon route, requiring minimal improvements, and Stuart's journals provided a meticulous account of most of the route.^[4] Because of the War of 1812 and the lack of U.S. fur trading posts in the Oregon Country, most of the route was unused for more than 10 years.

The North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company [link]

The first Fort Laramie as it looked prior to 1840. Painting from memory by Alfred Jacob Miller

In August 1811, three months after Fort Astor was established, David Thompson and his team of British North West Company explorers came floating down the Columbia to Fort Astoria. He had just completed an epic journey through much of western Canada and most of the Columbia River drainage system. He was mapping the country for possible fur trading posts. Along the way he camped at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake rivers and posted a notice claiming the land for Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a fort on the site (Fort Nez Perces was later established there). Astor, pressured by potential confiscation by the British navy of their forts and supplies in the War of 1812, sold to the North West Company in 1812 their forts, supplies and furs on the Columbia and Snake River. The North West Company started establishing more forts and trading posts of their own.

By 1821, when armed hostilities broke out with their Hudson's Bay Company rivals, the North West Company was pressured by the British government to merge with the Hudson's Bay Company. The Hudson's Bay Company had nearly a complete monopoly on trading (and most governing issues) in the Columbia District, or Oregon Country as it was referred to by the Americans, and also in Rupert's Land (western Canada). That year the British parliament passed a statute applying the laws of Upper Canada to the district and giving the Hudson's Bay Company power to enforce those laws.

From 1812 to 1840 the British through the Hudson's Bay Company had nearly complete control of the Pacific Northwest and the western half of the Oregon Trail. In theory, the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 restored the U.S. back to its possessions in Oregon territory. "Joint occupation" of the region was formally established by the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. The British through the Hudson's Bay Company tried to discourage any U.S. trappers, traders and settlers from doing any significant trapping, trading or settling in the Pacific Northwest. American fur trappers, traders, missionaries, and later settlers all worked to break this monopoly.

Breaking up Camp at Sunrise, by Alfred Jacob Miller

By overland travel, American missionaries and early settlers (initially mostly ex-trappers) started showing up in Oregon around 1824. Although officially the Hudson's Bay Company discouraged settlement because it interfered with their lucrative fur trade, their Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver, Dr. John McLoughlin, gave substantial help including employment until they could get established. By 1843, when 700–1,000 settlers arrived, the American settlers greatly outnumbered the nominally British settlers in Oregon. McLoughlin, despite working for the British-based Hudson's Bay Company, gave help in the form of loans, medical care, shelter, clothing, food, supplies and seed to United States emigrants. These new emigrants often arrived in Oregon tired, worn out, nearly penniless, with insufficient food or supplies just as winter was coming on. McLoughlin would later be hailed as the Father of Oregon.

The York Factory Express, establishing another route to the Oregon territory, evolved from an earlier express brigade used by the North West Company between Fort Astoria and Fort William, Ontario on Lake Superior. By 1825 the Hudson's Bay Company started using two brigades, each setting out from opposite ends of the express route—one from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River and the other from York Factory on Hudson Bay—in spring and passing each other in the middle of the continent. This established a 'quick' (about 100 days for 2,600 miles (4,200 km)) one way to resupply their forts and fur trading centers as well as collecting the furs the posts had bought and transmitting messages between Fort Vancouver and York Factory on Hudson Bay.

HBC's York Factory Express trade route, 1820s to 1840s. Modern political boundaries shown

The Hudson's Bay Company built a new much larger Fort Vancouver in 1824 slightly upstream of Fort Astoria on the Washington side of the Columbia River (they were hoping the Columbia would be the future Canada–U.S. border). The fort quickly became the center of activity in the Pacific Northwest. Every year ships would come from London to the Pacific (via Cape Horn) to drop off supplies and trade goods in their trading posts in the Pacific Northwest and pick up the accumulated furs used to pay for these supplies. It was the nexus for the fur trade on the Pacific Coast; its influence reached from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands, and from Russian Alaska into Mexican-controlled California. At its pinnacle in about 1840, Fort Vancouver and its Factor (manager) watched over 34 outposts, 24 ports, 6 ships, and about 600 employees.

When emigration over the Oregon Trail began in earnest in about 1836, for many settlers the fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail where they could get supplies, aid and help before starting their homestead. Fort Vancouver was the main re-supply point for nearly all Oregon trail travelers until U.S. towns could be established. Fort Colville^[5] was established in 1825 on the Columbia river near Kettle Falls as a good site to collect furs and control the upper Columbia River fur trade. Fort Nisqually was built near the present town of DuPont, Washington and was the first Hudson's Bay Company fort on Puget Sound. Fort Victoria was erected in 1843 and became the headquarters of operations in British Columbia, eventually growing into modern-day Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia.

By 1840 the Hudson's Bay Company had three forts: Fort Hall (purchased from Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth in 1837), Fort Boise and Fort Nez Perce on the western end of the Oregon Trail route as well as Fort Vancouver near its terminus in the Willamette Valley. With minor exceptions they all gave substantial and often desperately needed aid to the early Oregon Trail pioneers.

When the fur trade slowed in 1840 because of fashion changes in men's hats, the value of the Pacific Northwest to the British was seriously diminished. Canada had very few potential settlers who were willing to move over 2,500 miles to the Pacific Northwest, although several hundred ex-trappers, British and American, and their families did start settling in Oregon, Washington and California. They used most of the York Express route through northern Canada. In 1841 James Sinclair, on orders from Sir George Simpson, guided nearly 200 settlers from the Red River Colony (located at the junction of the Assiniboine River and Red River near present Winnipeg, Canada)^[6] into the Oregon territory.^[7] This attempt at settlement failed when most of the families joined the settlers in the Willamette Valley, with their promise of free land and HBC-free government.

The Oregon Country/Columbia District stretched from 42'N to 54 40'N. The most heavily disputed portion is highlighted

In 1846 the Oregon Treaty ending the Oregon boundary dispute was signed with Britain. The British lost the land north of the Columbia River they had so long controlled. The new Canada–United States border was established much further north at the 49th parallel. The treaty granted the Hudson's Bay Company navigation rights on the Columbia River for supplying their fur posts, clear titles to their trading post properties allowing them to be sold later if they wanted, and left the British with good anchorages at Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. It gave the United States what it mostly wanted, a 'reasonable' boundary and a good anchorage on the West Coast in Puget Sound. While there were almost no United States settlers in the future state of Washington in 1846, the United States had already demonstrated it could induce thousands of settlers to go to the Oregon Territory, and it would be only a short time before they would vastly outnumber the few hundred Hudson's Bay Company employees and retirees living in Washington.

Great American Desert [link]

Trail ruts near Guernsey, Wyoming

Reports from expeditions in 1806 by Lieutenant Zebulon Pike and in 1819 by Major Stephen Long described the Great Plains as "unfit for human habitation" and as "The Great American Desert". These descriptions were mainly based on the relative lack of timber and surface water. The images of sandy wastelands conjured up by terms like "desert" were tempered by the many reports of vast herds of millions of Plains Bison that somehow managed to live in this "desert".^[8] In the 1840s, the Great Plains appeared to be unattractive for settlement and were illegal for homesteading until well after 1846—initially it was set aside by the U.S. government for Indian settlements. The next available land for general settlement, Oregon, appeared to be free for the taking and had fertile lands, disease free climate (yellow fever and malaria were prevalent in much of the Missouri and Mississippi River drainage then), extensive uncut, unclaimed forests, big rivers, potential seaports, and only a few nominally British settlers.

Fur traders, trappers and explorers [link]

Fur trappers, often working for fur traders, followed nearly all possible streams looking for beaver in the years (1812–1840) the fur trade was active.^[9] Fur traders included Manuel Lisa, Robert Stuart, William Henry Ashley, Jedediah Smith, William Sublette, Andrew Henry, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Peter Skene Ogden, David Thompson, James Douglas, Donald Mackenzie, Alexander Ross, James Sinclair and other mountain men. Besides discovering and naming many of the rivers and mountains in the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest they often kept diaries of their travels and were available as guides and consultants when the trail started to become open for general travel. The fur trade business wound down to a very low level just as the Oregon trail traffic seriously began around 1840.

Our Camp, by Alfred Jacob Miller

In fall of 1823, Jedediah Smith and Thomas Fitzpatrick led their trapping crew south from the Yellowstone River to the Sweetwater River. They were looking for a safe location to spend the winter. Smith reasoned since the Sweetwater flowed east it must eventually run into the Missouri River. Trying to transport their extensive fur collection down the Sweetwater and North Platte River, they found after a near disastrous canoe crash that the rivers were too swift and rough for water passage. On July 4, 1824, they cached their furs under a dome of rock they named Independence Rock and started their long trek on foot to the Missouri River. Upon arriving back in a settled area they bought pack horses (on credit) and retrieved their furs. They had re-discovered the route that Robert Stuart had taken in 1813—eleven years before. Thomas Fitzpatrick was often hired as a guide when the fur trade dwindled in 1840. Jedediah Smith was killed by Indians about 1831.

The exploration of the West by Jedediah Smith

Up to 3,000 Mountain men were trappers and explorers, employed by various British and United States fur companies or working as free trappers, who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 to the early 1840s. They usually traveled in small groups for mutual support and protection. Trapping took place in the fall when the fur became prime. Mountain men primarily trapped beaver and sold the skins. A good beaver skin could bring up to $4.00 at a time when a man's wage was often $1.00/day. Some were more interested in exploring the West. In 1825, the first significant American Rendezvous occurred on the Henry's Fork of the Green River. The trading supplies were brought in by a large party using pack trains originating on the Missouri River. These pack trains were then used to haul out the fur bales. They normally used the north side of the Platte River—the same route used 20 years later by the Mormon Trail. For the next 15 years the American rendezvous was an annual event moving to different locations, usually somewhere on the Green River in the future state of Wyoming. Each rendezvous, occurring during the slack summer period, allowed the fur traders to trade for and collect the furs from the trappers and their Indian allies without having the expense of building or maintaining a fort or wintering over in the cold Rockies. In only a few weeks at a rendezvous a year's worth of trading and celebrating would take place as the traders took their furs and remaining supplies back east for the winter and the trappers faced another fall and winter with new supplies. Jim Beckwourth describes: "Mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target-shooting, yarns, frolic, with all sorts of extravagances that white men or Indians could invent."^[10] In 1830, William Sublette brought the first wagons carrying his trading goods up the Platte, North Platte, and Sweetwater River (Wyoming) before crossing over South Pass to a fur trade rendezvous on the Green River near the future town of Big Piney, Wyoming. He had a crew that dug out the gullies and river crossings and cleared the brush where needed. This established that the eastern part of most of the Oregon Trail was passable by wagons. In the late 1830s the Hudson's Bay Company instituted a policy intended to destroy or weaken the American fur trade companies. The Hudson's Bay Company's annual collection and re-supply Snake River Expedition was transformed to a trading enterprise. Beginning in 1834, it visited the American Rendezvous to undersell the American traders—losing money but undercutting the American fur traders. By 1840 the fashion in Europe and Britain shifted away from the formerly very popular beaver felt hats and prices for furs rapidly declined and the trapping almost ceased.

Map of the Green River watershed

Fur traders tried to use the Platte River, the main route of the eastern Oregon Trail, for transport but soon gave up in frustration as its many channels and islands combined with its muddy waters were too shallow, crooked and unpredictable to use for water transport. The Platte proved to be unnavigable. The Platte River and North Platte River valley, however became an easy roadway for wagons, with its nearly flat plain sloping easily up and heading almost due west.

There were several U.S. government sponsored explorers who explored part of the Oregon Trail and wrote extensively about their explorations. Captain Benjamin Bonneville on his expedition of 1832 to 1834 explored much of the Oregon trail and brought wagons up the Platte, North Platte, Sweetwater route across South Pass to the Green River in Wyoming. He explored most of Idaho and the Oregon Trail to the Columbia. The account of his explorations in the west was published by Washington Irving in 1838.^[11]). John C. Frémont of the U.S. Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers and his guide Kit Carson led three expeditions from 1842 to 1846 over parts of California and Oregon. His explorations were written up by him and his wife Jessie Benton Frémont and were widely published. The first "decent" map^[12] of California and Oregon were drawn by Frémont and his topographers and cartographers in about 1848.

Missionaries [link]

In 1834, The Dalles Methodist Mission was founded by Reverend Jason Lee just east of Mount Hood on the Columbia River. In 1836, Henry H. Spalding and Marcus Whitman traveled west to establish the Whitman Mission near modern day Walla Walla, Washington.^[13] The party included the wives of the two men, Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Hart Spalding, who became the first European-American women to cross the Rocky Mountains. En route, the party accompanied American fur traders going to the 1836 rendezvous on the Green River in Wyoming and then joined Hudson's Bay Company fur traders traveling west to Fort Nez Perce (also called Fort Walla Walla). The group was the first to travel in wagons all the way to Fort Hall, Idaho, where the wagons were abandoned at the urging of their guides. They used pack animals for the rest of the trip to Fort Walla Walla and then floated by boat to Fort Vancouver to get supplies before returning to start their missions. Other missionaries, mostly husband and wife teams using wagon and pack trains, established missions in the Willamette Valley, as well as various locations in the future states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Early emigrants [link]

On May 1, 1839, a group of eighteen men from Peoria, Illinois set out with the intention of colonizing the Oregon country on behalf of the United States of America and drive out the Hudson's Bay Company operating there. The men of the Peoria Party were among the first pioneers to traverse most of the Oregon Trail. The men were initially led by Thomas J. Farnham and called themselves the Oregon Dragoons. They carried a large flag emblazoned with their motto "Oregon Or The Grave". Although the group split up near Bent's Fort on the South Platte and Farnham was deposed as leader, nine of their members eventually did reach Oregon.^[14]

In September 1840, Robert Newell, Joseph L. Meek, and their families reached Fort Walla Walla with three wagons that they had driven from Fort Hall. Their wagons were the first to reach the Columbia River over land, and they opened the final leg of Oregon Trail to wagon traffic.^[15]

In 1841 the Bartleson-Bidwell Party was the first emigrant group credited with using the Oregon Trail to emigrate west. The group set out for California, but about half the party left the original group at Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, leaving their wagons at Fort Hall.

On May 16, 1842, the second organized wagon train set out from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers.^[16] The party was led by Elijah White. The group broke up after passing Fort Hall with most of the single men hurrying ahead and the families following later.

Great Migration of 1843 [link]

In what was dubbed "The Great Migration of 1843" or the "Wagon Train of 1843",^[17]^[18] an estimated 700 to 1000 emigrants left for Oregon. They were led initially by John Gantt, a former U.S. Army Captain and fur trader who was contracted to guide the train to Fort Hall for $1 per person. The winter before, Marcus Whitman had made a brutal mid-winter trip from Oregon to St. Louis to appeal a decision by his Mission backers to abandon several of the Oregon missions. He joined the wagon train at the Platte River for the return trip. When the pioneers were told at Fort Hall by agents from the Hudson's Bay Company that they should abandon their wagons there and use pack animals the rest of the way, Whitman disagreed and volunteered to lead the wagons to Oregon. He believed the wagon trains were large enough that they could build whatever road improvements they needed to make the trip with their wagons. The biggest obstacle they faced was in the Blue Mountains of Oregon where they had to cut and clear a trail through heavy timber. The wagons were stopped at The Dalles, Oregon by the lack of a road around Mount Hood. The wagons had to be disassembled and floated down the treacherous Columbia River and the animals herded over the rough Lolo trail to get by Mt. Hood. Nearly all of the settlers in the 1843 wagon trains arrived in the Willamette Valley by early October. A passable wagon trail now existed from the Missouri River to The Dalles. In 1846, the Barlow Road was completed around Mount Hood, providing a rough but completely passable wagon trail from the Missouri river to the Willamette Valley: about 2,000 miles.

Oregon Country [link]

In 1843, settlers of the Willamette Valley drafted the Organic Laws of Oregon organizing land claims within the Oregon Country. Married couples were granted at no cost (except for the requirement to work and improve the land) up to 640 acres (2.6 km²), and unmarried settlers could claim 320 acres (1.3 km²). As the group was a provisional government with no authority, these claims were not valid under United States or British law, but they were eventually honored by the United States in the Donation Land Act of 1850. The Donation Land Act provided for married settlers to be granted 320 acres (1.3 km²) and unmarried settlers 160 acres (0.65 km²). Following the expiration of the act in 1854 the land was no longer free but cost $1.25 per acre ($3.09/hectare) with a limit of 320 acres (1.3 km²)—the same as most other unimproved government land.

Mormon emigration [link]

Main article: Mormon Trail

Following persecution and mob action in Missouri, Illinois, and other states, and the martyrdom of their prophet Joseph Smith in 1844, Mormon leader Brigham Young was chosen by the leaders of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) church to lead the LDS settlers west. He chose to lead his people to the Salt Lake Valley in present day Utah. In 1847 Young led a small, especially picked fast-moving group of men and women from their Winter Quarters encampments near Omaha, Nebraska, and their approximately 50 temporary settlements on the Missouri River in Iowa including Council Bluffs, Iowa.^[19] About 2,200 LDS pioneers went that first year as they filtered in from Mississippi, Colorado, California, and several other states. The initial pioneers were charged with establishing farms, growing crops, building fences and herds, and establishing preliminary settlements to feed and support the many thousands of immigrants expected in the coming years. After ferrying across the Missouri River and establishing wagon trains near what became Omaha, Nebraska, the Mormons followed the northern bank of the Platte River in Nebraska to Fort Laramie in present day Wyoming. They initially started out in 1848 with trains of several thousand emigrants, which were rapidly split into smaller groups to be more easily accommodated at the limited springs and acceptable camping places on the trail. Organized as a complete evacuation from their previous homes, farms, and cities in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, this group consisted of entire families with no one left behind. The much larger presence of women and children meant these wagon trains did not try to cover as much ground in a single day as Oregon and California bound emigrants did, typically taking about 100 days to cover the 1,000 miles (1,600 km) trip to Salt Lake City. (The Oregon and California emigrants typically averaged about 15 miles (24 km) per day.) In Wyoming the Mormon emigrants followed the main Oregon/California/Mormon Trail through Wyoming to Fort Bridger, where they split from the main trail and followed (and improved) the crude path established by the ill-fated Donner Party of 1846 into Utah and the Salt Lake Valley.

Between 1847 and 1860 over 43,000 Mormon settlers and tens of thousands of travelers on the California Trail and Oregon Trail followed Young to Utah. After 1848, the travelers headed to California or Oregon resupplied at the Salt Lake Valley, and then went back over the Salt Lake Cutoff, rejoining the trail near the future Idaho-Utah border at the City of Rocks in Idaho.

Starting in 1855, many of the poorer Mormon travelers made the trek with hand built handcarts and fewer wagons. Guided by experienced guides, handcarts—pulled and pushed by two to four people—were as fast as oxen-pulled wagons and allowed them to bring 75 to 100 pounds (34 to 45 kg) of possessions plus some food, bedding, and tents to Utah. Accompanying wagons carried more food and supplies. Upon arrival in Utah, the handcart pioneers were given or found jobs and accommodations by individual Mormon families for the winter until they could become established. About 3,000 out of over 60,000 Mormon pioneers came across with handcarts.

Along the Mormon Trail, the Mormon pioneers established a number of ferries and made trail improvements to help later travelers and earn much needed money. One of the better known ferries was the Mormon Ferry across the North Platte near the future site of Fort Caspar in Wyoming which operated between 1848 and 1852 and the Green River ferry near Fort Bridger which operated from 1847 to 1856. The ferries were free for Mormon settlers while all others were charged a toll of from $3.00 to $8.00.

California Gold Rush [link]

Main article: California Trail

In January 1848, James Marshall discovered a small nugget of gold in the American River, sparking the California Gold Rush. It is estimated that about two-thirds of the male population in Oregon went to California in 1848 to cash in on the early gold discoveries. To get there, they helped build the Lassen Branch of the Applegate-Lassen Trail by cutting a wagon road through extensive forests. Many returned with significant gold which helped jump-start the Oregon economy. Over the next decade, gold seekers from the Midwestern United States and East Coast of the United States started rushing overland and dramatically increased traffic on the Oregon and California Trails. The "forty-niners" often chose speed over safety and opted to use shortcuts such as the Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff in Wyoming which reduced travel time by almost seven days but spanned nearly 45 miles (72 km) of desert without water, grass, or fuel for fires.^[20] 1849 was the first year of large scale cholera epidemics in the United States, and thousands are thought to have died along the trail on their way to California—most buried in unmarked graves in Kansas and Nebraska. The "adjusted"^[21] 1850 U.S Census of California showed this rush was overwhelmingly male with about 112,000 males to 8,000 females (with about 5,500 women over age 15).^[22] Women were significantly underrepresented in the California Gold Rush, and sex ratios did not reach essential equality in California (and other western states) until about 1950. The relative scarcity of women gave them many opportunities to do many more things that were not "normally" considered "women's work" of this era. After 1849 the California Gold Rush continued for several years as the California miners continued to find about $50,000,000 worth of gold per year at $21 per ounce.^[23] Once California was established as a prosperous state many thousands more emigrated each year for the opportunities there.

Later emigration and uses of the trail [link]

Overall it is estimated that over 400,000 pioneers used the Oregon Trail and its three primary off-shoots, the California, Bozeman, and Mormon Trails. The trail was still in use during the Civil War, but traffic declined after 1855 when the Panama Railroad across the Isthmus of Panama was completed. Paddle wheel steamships and sailing ships, often heavily subsidized to carry the mail, provided rapid transport to and from the east coast and New Orleans, Louisiana, to and from Panama to ports in California and Oregon.

Over the years many ferries were established to help get across the many rivers on the path of the Oregon Trail. Multiple ferries were established on the Missouri River, Kansas River, Little Blue River, Elkhorn River, Loup River, Platte River, South Platte River, North Platte River, Laramie River, Green River, Bear River, two crossings of the Snake River, John Day River, Deschutes River, Columbia River, as well as many other smaller streams. During peak immigration periods several ferries on any given river often competed for pioneer dollars. These ferries significantly increased speed and safety for Oregon Trail travelers. They increased the cost of traveling the trail by roughly $30.00 per wagon but increased the speed of the transit from about 160–170 days in 1843 to 120–140 days in 1860. Ferries also helped prevent death by drowning at river crossings.^[24]

In April 1859, an expedition of U.S. Corp of Topographical Engineers led by Captain James H. Simpson left Camp Floyd (Utah) to establish an army supply route across the Great Basin to the eastern slope of the Sierras. Upon return in early August, Simpson reported that he had surveyed the Central Overland Route from Camp Floyd (Utah) to Genoa, Nevada. This route went through central Nevada (roughly where U.S. Route 50 goes today) and was about 280 miles shorter than the 'standard' Humboldt River California trail route.^[25]

File:CentralNevadaRoute.gif

The Central Route in Nevada

The Army improved the trail for use by wagons and stagecoaches in 1859 and 1860. Starting in 1860, the American Civil War closed the heavily subsidized Butterfield Overland Mail stage Southern Route through the deserts of the American Southwest.

In 1860–1861 the Pony Express, employing riders traveling on horseback day and night with relay stations about every ten miles to supply fresh horses, was established from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. The Pony Express built many of their eastern stations along the Oregon/California/Mormon/Bozeman trails and many of their western stations along the very sparsely settled Central Route across Utah and Nevada.^[26] The Pony Express delivered mail summer and winter in roughly ten days from the midwest to California.

In 1861 John Butterfield, who since 1858 had been using the Butterfield Overland Mail, also switched to the Central Route to avoid traveling through hostile territories during the American Civil War. George Chorpenning immediately realized the value of this more direct route, and shifted his existing mail and passenger line along with their stations from the "Northern Route" along the Humboldt River. In 1861 the Transcontinental Telegraph also laid its lines alongside the Central Overland Route. Several stage lines were set up carrying mail and passengers that traversed much of the route of the original Oregon Trail to Fort Bridger and from there over the Central Overland Route to California. By traveling day and night with many stations and changes of teams (and extensive mail subsidies) these stages could get passengers and mail from the midwest to California in about 25–28 days. These combined stage and Pony Express stations along the Oregon Trail and Central Route across Utah and Nevada were joined by the First Transcontinental Telegraph stations and telegraph line which followed much the same route in 1861 from Carson City, Nevada to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Pony Express folded in 1861 as they failed to receive an expected mail contract from the U.S. government and the telegraph filled the need for rapid east-west communication. This combination wagon/stagecoach/pony express/telegraph line route is labeled the Pony Express National Historic Trail on the National Trail Map.^[26] From Salt Lake City the telegraph line followed much of the Mormon/California/Oregon trails to Omaha, Nebraska.

After the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 all the telegraph lines usually followed the railroad tracks as the required relay stations and telegraph lines were much easier to maintain alongside the tracks. Telegraph lines to unpopulated areas were largely abandoned.

As the years passed the Oregon Trail became a heavily used corridor from the Missouri River to the Columbia river. Offshoots of the trail continued to grow as gold and silver discoveries, farming, lumbering, ranching, and business opportunities resulted in much more traffic to many areas. Traffic became two-directional as towns were established along the trail. By 1870 the population in the states served by the Oregon Trail and its offshoots increased by about 350,000 over their 1860 census levels. With the exception of most of the 180,000 population increase in California, most of these people living away from the coast traveled over parts of the Oregon trail and its many extensions and cutoffs to get to their new residences.

Even before the famous Texas cattle drives after the Civil War, the trail was being used to drive herds of thousands of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats from the midwest to various towns and cities along the trails. According to studies by trail historian John Unruh the livestock may have been as plentiful or more plentiful than the immigrants in many years.^[27] In 1852 there was even records of a 1,500 turkey drive from Illinois to California.^[28] The main reason for this livestock traffic was the large cost discrepancy between livestock in the midwest and at the end of the trail in California, Oregon, or Montana. They could often be bought in the midwest for about 1/3 to 1/10 what they would fetch at the end of the trail. Large losses could occur and the drovers would still make significant profit. As the emigrant travel on the trail declined in later years and after livestock ranches were established at many places along the trail large herds of animals often were driven along part of the trail to get to and from markets.

Trail decline [link]

The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, providing faster, safer, and usually cheaper travel east and west (the journey took seven days and cost as little as $65).^[29] Some emigrants continued to use the trail well into the 1890s, and modern highways and railroads eventually paralleled large portions of the trail, including U.S. Highway 26, Interstate 84 in Oregon and Idaho and Interstate 80 in Nebraska. Contemporary interest in the overland trek has prompted the states and federal government to preserve landmarks on the trail including wagon ruts, buildings, and "registers" where emigrants carved their names. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries there have been a number of re-enactments of the trek with participants wearing period garments and traveling by wagon.

The Oregon Trail on the eastern side of the Oregon-Washington border

Other trails west [link]

There were other possible migration paths for early settlers, miners, or travelers to California or Oregon besides the Oregon trail prior to the establishment of the transcontinental railroads.

From 1821–1846, the Hudson's Bay Company twice annually used the York Factory Express overland trade route from Fort Vancouver to Hudson Bay then on to London. James Sinclair led a large party of nearly 200 settlers from the Red River Colony in 1841. These northern routes were largely abandoned after Britain ceded its claim to the southern Columbia River basin by way of the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

Map of the route of the York Factory Express, 1820s to 1840s. Modern political boundaries shown

The longest trip was the approximately 13,600 miles (21,900 km) to 15,000 miles (24,000 km) trip on a uncomfortable sailing ship rounding the treacherous, cold, and dangerous Cape Horn between Antarctica and South America and then sailing on to California or Oregon. This trip typically took four to seven months (120 to 210 days) and cost about $350–$500 dollars. The cost could be reduced to zero if you signed on as a crewman and worked as a common seaman. The hundreds of abandoned ships, whose crews had deserted in San Francisco Bay in 1849–50, showed many thousands chose to do this.

Other routes involved taking a ship to Colón, Panama (then called Aspinwall) and a strenuous, disease ridden, five to seven day trip by canoe and mule over the Isthmus of Panama before catching a ship from Panama City, Panama to Oregon or California. This trip could be done from the east coast theoretically in less than two months if all ship connections were made without waits and typically cost about $450/person. Catching a fatal disease was a distinct possibility as Ulysses S. Grant in 1852 learned when his unit of about 600 soldiers and some of their dependents traversed the Isthmus and lost about 120 men, women, and children.^[30] This passage was considerably speeded up and made safer in 1855 when the Panama Railroad was completed at terrible cost in money and life across the Isthmus and the treacherous, disease ridden 50 miles (80 km) trip could be done in less than a day. The time and the cost for transit dropped as regular paddle wheel steamships and sailing ships went from ports on the east coast and New Orleans, Louisiana to Colón, Panama ($80–$100), across the Isthmus of Panama by railroad ($25) and by paddle wheel steamships and sailing ships to ports in California and Oregon ($100–$150).

Another route established by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1849 was across Nicaragua. The 120 miles (190 km) long San Juan River to the Atlantic Ocean helps drain the 100 miles (160 km) long Lake Nicaragua. From the western shore of Lake Nicaragua it is only about 12 miles (19 km) to the Pacific Ocean. Vanderbilt decided to use paddle wheel steam ships from the U.S. to the San Juan river, small paddle wheel steam launches on the San Juan river, boats across Lake Nicaragua, and a stage coach to the Pacific where connections could be made with another ship headed to California, Oregon, etc.. Vanderbilt, by undercutting fares to the Isthmus of Panama and stealing many of the Panama Railroad workers, managed to attract roughly 30% of the California bound steam boat traffic. All his connections in Nicaragua were never completely worked out before the Panama Railroad's completion in 1855. Civil strife in Nicaragua and a payment to Cornelius Vanderbilt of a 'non-compete' payment (bribe) of $56,000 per year killed the whole project in 1855.^[31]

Another possible route consisted of taking a ship to Mexico traversing the country and then catching another ship out of Acapulco, Mexico to California etc. This route was used by some adventurous travelers but was not too popular because of the difficulties of making connections and the often hostile population along the way.

The Gila Trail going along the Gila River in Arizona, across the Colorado River and then across the Sonora Desert in California was scouted by Stephen Kearny's troops and later by Captain Philip St. George Cooke's Mormon Battalion in 1846 who were the first to take a wagon the whole way. This route was used by many gold hungry miners in 1849 and later but suffered from the disadvantage that you had to find a way across the very wide and very dry Sonora Desert. It was used by many in 1849 and later as a winter crossing to California, despite its many disadvantages.

Running from 1857 to 1861 the Butterfield Stage Line won the $600,000/yr. U.S. mail contract to deliver mail to San Francisco, California. As dictated by southern Congressional members the 2,800 miles (4,500 km) route ran from St. Louis, Missouri through Arkansas, Oklahoma Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico Territory, and across the Sonora Desert before ending in San Francisco, California. Employing over 800 at its peak, it used 250 Concord Stagecoaches seating 12 very crowded passengers in three rows. It used 1800 head of stock, horses and mules and 139 relay stations to ensure the stages ran day and night. A one way fare of $200.00 delivered a very thrashed and tired passenger into San Francisco in 25 to 28 days. As quoted by New York Herald reporter, Waterman Ormsby after traveling the route: "I now know what Hell is like. I've just had 24 days of it."

Other ways to get to Oregon were: using the York Factory Express route across Canada, and down the Columbia River; ships from Hawaii, San Francisco, or other ports that stopped in Oregon; emigrants trailing up from California, etc.. All provided a trickle of emigrants, but they were soon overwhelmed in numbers by the emigrants coming over the Oregon Trail.

The ultimate competitor arrived in 1868—the First Transcontinental Railroad which cut travel time to about seven days at a low fare (economy) of about $60.00 (economy)^[32]

Routes [link]

Oregon Trail pioneer Ezra Meeker erected this boulder near Pacific Springs on Wyoming's South Pass in 1906.^[33]

As the trail developed it became marked by numerous cutoffs and shortcuts from Missouri to Oregon. The basic route follows river valleys as grass and water were absolutely necessary.

While the first few parties organized and departed from Elm Grove, the Oregon Trail's primary starting point was Independence, Missouri, or Westport, Kansas City (Missouri), on the Missouri River. Later, several feeder trails led across Kansas, and some towns became starting points, including Weston, Missouri, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Atchison, Kansas, St. Joseph, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska.

The Oregon Trail's nominal termination point was Oregon City, at the time the proposed capital of the Oregon Territory. However, many settlers branched off or stopped short of this goal and settled at convenient or promising locations along the trail. Commerce with pioneers going further west helped establish these early settlements and launched local economies critical to their prosperity.

At dangerous or difficult river crossings, ferries or toll bridges were set up and bad places on the trail were either repaired or bypassed. Several toll roads were constructed. Gradually the trail became easier with the average trip (as recorded in numerous diaries) dropping from about 160 days in 1849 to 140 days 10 years later.^{[citation needed]}

Numerous other trails followed the Oregon Trail for much of its length, including the Mormon Trail from Illinois to Utah; the California Trail to the gold fields of California; and the Bozeman Trail to Montana. Because it was more a network of trails more than a single trail there were numerous variations with other trails eventually established on both sides of the Platte, North Platte, Snake, and Columbia rivers. With literally thousands of people and thousands of livestock traveling in a fairly small time slot the travelers had to spread out to find clean water, wood, good campsites, and grass. The dust kicked up by the many travelers was a constant complaint, and where the terrain would allow it there may be between 20 to 50 wagons traveling abreast.

Remnants of the trail in Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the entire trail is a designated National Historic Trail (listed as the Oregon National Historic Trail).

Missouri [link]

Initially, the main "jumping off point" was the common head of the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon trail—Independence, Missouri/Kansas City, Kansas. Travelers starting in Independence had to ferry across the Missouri River. After following the Santa Fe trail to near present day Topeka, Kansas they ferried across the Kansas River to start the trek across Kansas and points west. Another busy "jumping off point" was St. Joseph, Missouri—established in 1843.^[34] In its early days, St. Joseph was a bustling outpost and rough frontier town, serving as one of the last supply points before heading over the Missouri River to the frontier. St. Joseph had good steamboat connections to St. Louis, Missouri and other ports on the combined Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi River systems. During the busy season there were several ferry boats and steamboats available to transport travelers to the Kansas shore where they started their travels westward. Before the Union Pacific Railroad was started in 1865, St. Joseph was the westernmost point in the United States accessible by rail. Other towns used as supply points in Missouri included Old Franklin,^[35] Arrow Rock, and Fort Osage.

Iowa [link]

A bison bull on a Nebraska wildlife refuge

In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson obtained from France the Louisiana Purchase for fifteen million dollars (equivalent to about $230 million today) which included all the land drained by the Missouri River and roughly doubled the size of U.S. territory. The future states of Iowa and Missouri, located west of the Mississippi River and east of Missouri River, were part of this purchase. The Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped several times in the future state of Iowa on their 1805–1806 expedition to the west coast. A disputed 1804 treaty between Quashquame and William Henry Harrison (future ninth President of the U.S.) that surrendered much of the future state of Illinois to the U.S. enraged many Sauk (Sac) Indians and led to the 1832 Black Hawk War. As punishment for the uprising, and as part of a larger settlement strategy, treaties were subsequently designed to remove all Indians from Iowa Territory. Some settlers started drifting into Iowa in 1833. President Martin Van Buren on July 4, 1838, signed the U.S. Congress laws establishing the Territory of Iowa. Iowa was located opposite the junction of the Platte and Missouri Rivers and was used by some of the Fur trapper rendezvous traders as a starting point for their supply expeditions. In 1846 the Mormons, expelled from Nauvoo, Illinois, traversed Iowa (on part of the Mormon Trail) and settled temporarily in significant numbers on the Missouri River in Iowa and the future state of Nebraska at their Winter Quarters near the future city of Omaha, Nebraska. (See: Missouri River settlements (1846–1854)^[36]) The Mormons established about 50 temporary towns including the town of Kernsville Iowa (renamed Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1852) on the east bank of the Missouri River opposite the mouth of the Platte River. For those travelers to Oregon, California, and Utah who were bringing their teams to the Platte River junction Kernsville and other towns become major "jumping off places" and supply points. In 1847 the Mormons established three ferries across the Missouri River and others established even more ferries for the spring start on the trail. In the 1850 census there were about 8,000 mostly Mormons tabulated in the large Pottawattamie County, Iowa District 21. (The original Pottawattamie County was subsequently made into five counties and parts of several more.^[37]) By 1854 most of the Mormon towns, farms and villages were largely taken over by non-Mormons as they abandoned them or sold them for not much and continued their migration to Utah. After 1846 the towns of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Omaha, Nebraska (est. 1852) and other Missouri River towns became major supply points and "jumping off places" for travelers on the Mormon, California, Oregon and other trails west.

Kansas [link]

Map of principal rivers in Kansas

Starting initially in Independence or Kansas City in Missouri, the initial trail follows the Santa Fe Trail into Kansas south of the Wakarusa River. After crossing Mount Oread at Lawrence, the trail crosses the Kansas River by ferry or boats near Topeka, and crossed the Wakarusa and Vermillion River rivers by ferries. After the Vermillion River the trail angles north west to Nebraska paralleling the Little Blue River until reaching the south side of the Platte River. Travel by wagon over the gently rolling Kansas countryside was usually unimpeded except where streams had cut steep banks. There a passage could be made with a lot of shovel work to cut down the banks or the travelers could find an already established crossing.

Nebraska [link]

Chimney Rock, Nebraska

Those emigrants on the eastern side of the Missouri River in Missouri or Iowa used ferries and steamboats (fitted out for ferry duty) to cross into towns in Nebraska. Several towns in Nebraska were used as jumping off places with Omaha eventually becoming a favorite after about 1855. Fort Kearny (est. 1848) is about 200 miles (320 km) from the Missouri River, and the trail and its many offshoots nearly all converged close to Fort Kearny as they followed the Platte River west. The army maintained fort was the first chance on the trail to buy emergency supplies, do repairs, get medical aid, or mail a letter. Those on the north side of the Platte could usually wade the shallow river if they needed to visit the fort.

Map showing the Platte River watershed, including the North Platte and South Platte tributaries

The Platte River and the North Platte River in the future states of Nebraska and Wyoming typically had many channels and islands and were too shallow, crooked, muddy and unpredictable for travel even by canoe. The Platte as it pursued its braided paths to the Missouri River was "too thin to plow and too thick to drink". While unusable for transport, the Platte River and North Platte River valleys provided an easily passable wagon corridor going almost due west with access to water, grass, buffalo, and buffalo chips for fuel.^[38] The trails gradually got rougher as it progressed up the North Platte. There were trails on both sides of the muddy rivers. The Platte was about 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and 2 inches (5.1 cm) to 60 inches (150 cm) deep. The water was silty and bad tasting but it could be used if no other water was available. Letting it sit in a bucket for an hour or so or stirring in a 1/4 cup of cornmeal allowed most of the silt to settle out. Those traveling south of the Platte crossed the South Platte River with its muddy and treacherous crossings using one of about three ferries (in dry years it could sometimes be forded without a ferry) before continuing up the North Platte River valley to Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming. After crossing over the South Platte the travelers encountered Ash Hollow with its steep descent down Windlass Hill.

In the spring in Nebraska and Wyoming the travelers often encountered fierce wind, rain and lightning storms. Until about 1870 travelers encountered hundreds of thousands of bison migrating through Nebraska on both sides of the Platte River, and most travelers killed several for fresh meat and to build up their supplies of dried jerky for the rest of the journey. The prairie grass in many places was several feet high with only the hat of a traveler on horseback showing as they passed through the prairie grass. In many years the Indians fired much of the dry grass on the prairie every fall so the only trees or bushes available for firewood were on islands in the Platte river. Travelers gathered and ignited dried buffalo chips to cook their meals. These burned fast in a breeze, and it could take two or more bushels of chips to get one meal prepared. Those traveling south of the Platte crossed the South Platte fork at one of about three ferries (in dry years it could be forded without a ferry) before continuing up the North Platte River valley into present-day Wyoming heading to Fort Laramie. Before 1852 those on the north side of the Platte crossed the North Platte to the south side at Fort Laramie. After 1852 they used Child's Cutoff to stay on the north side to about the present day town of Casper, Wyoming, where they crossed over to the south side.^[39]

Notable landmarks in Nebraska include Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff, and Ash Hollow State Historical Park.^[40]

Today much of the Oregon Trail follows roughly along Interstate 80 from Wyoming to Grand Island, Nebraska. From there U.S. Highway 30 which follows the Platte River is a better approximate path for those traveling the north side of the Platte. The National Park Service (NPS) gives traveling advice for those who want to follow other branches of the trail.^[41]

Cholera on the Platte River [link]

Because of the Platte's brackish water, the preferred camping spots were along one of the many fresh water streams draining into the Platte or the occasional fresh water spring found along the way. These preferred camping spots became sources of cholera in the epidemic years (1849–1855) as many thousands of people used the same camping spots with essentially no sewage facilities or adequate sewage treatment. One of the side effects of cholera is acute diarrhea which helps contaminate even more water unless it is isolated and/or treated. The cause of cholera, ingesting the Vibrio cholerae bacterium from contaminated water,^[42] and the best treatment for cholera infections were unknown in this era. Thousands of travelers on the combined California Oregon and Mormon Trail succumbed to cholera in the 1849–1855 time period. Most were buried in unmarked graves in Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. There are many cases cited where a person would be alive and apparently healthy in the morning and dead by nightfall.

Large cholera death rates worldwide lead to increased efforts to institute good water and sewage treatment in nearly all cities. Despite the enormous costs and increase in city powers (opposed by many) nearly all cities in the developed world instituted good water and sewage treatment facilities. The last significant cholera outbreak in the U.S. occurred in 1911.

Colorado [link]

A branch of the Oregon trail crossed the very northeast corner of Colorado if they followed the South Platte River to one of its last crossings. This branch of the trail passed through present day Julesburg, Colorado before entering Wyoming. Later settlers to much of the what became the state of Colorado followed the Platte and South Platte Rivers into their settlements there.

Wyoming [link]

Main article: Emigrant Trail in Wyoming

After crossing the South Platte River the Oregon Trail follows the North Platte River out of Nebraska into Wyoming. Fort Laramie, at the junction of the Laramie River and the North Platte River, was a major stopping point. Fort Laramie was a former fur trading outpost originally named Fort John that was purchased in 1848 by the U.S. Army to protect travelers on the trails.^[43] It was the last army outpost till travelers reached the coast.

Fort Laramie was the end of most cholera outbreaks which killed thousands along the lower Platte and North Platte from 1849 to 1855. Spread by cholera bacteria in fecal contaminated water, cholera caused massive diarrhea, leading to dehydration and death. In those days its cause and treatment were unknown, and it was often fatal—up to 30% of infected people died. It is believed that the swifter flowing rivers in Wyoming helped prevent the germs from spreading.^[44]

Independence Rock

After crossing the South Platte the trail continues up the North Platte River, crossing many small swift flowing creeks. As the North Platte veers to the south the trail crosses the North Platte to the Sweetwater River valley which heads almost due west. Independence Rock (Wyoming) is located on the Sweetwater River. The Sweetwater would have to be crossed up to nine times before the trail crosses over the Continental Divide at South Pass, Wyoming. From South Pass the trail continues southwest crossing Big Sandy Creek (about 10 feet (3.0 m) wide and 1 foot (0.30 m) deep) before hitting the Green River. Three to five ferries were in use on the Green during peak travel periods. The swift and treacherous Green River, which eventually empties into the Colorado River, was usually at high water in July and August, and it was a dangerous crossing. After crossing the Green the main trail continues on in an approximate southwest direction until it encounters the Blacks Fork of the Green River and Fort Bridger Wyoming. From Fort Bridger the Mormon Trail continued southwest following the upgraded Hastings Cutoff^[45] through the Wasatch Mountains. From Fort Bridger, the main trail, comprising several variants, veered northwest over the Bear River Divide and descended to the Bear River Valley.^[46] The trail turned north following the Bear River past the terminus of the Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff at Smiths Fork^[47] and on to the Thomas Fork Valley at the present Wyoming-Idaho border.

Over time, two major heavily used cutoffs were established in Wyoming. The Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff was established in 1844 and cut about 70 miles (110 km) off the main route. It leaves the main trail about 10 miles (16 km) west of South Pass and heads almost due west crossing Big Sandy Creek and then about 45 miles (72 km) of waterless of very dusty desert before reaching the Green River near the present town of La Barge. Ferries here transferred them across the Green River. From there the Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff trail had to cross a mountain range to connect with the main trail near Cokeville, Wyoming in the Bear River valley.^[48]

Prairie Scene: Mirage, by Alfred Jacob Miller

The Lander Road, formally the Fort Kearney, South Pass, and Honey Lake Wagon Road, was established and built by U.S. government contractors in 1858–59.^[49] It was about 80 miles (130 km) shorter than the main trail through Fort Bridger with good grass, water, firewood and fishing but it was a much steeper and rougher route, crossing three mountain ranges. In 1859, 13,000^[50] of the 19,000^[51] emigrants traveling to California and Oregon utilized the Lander Road. The traffic in later years is undocumented.

The Lander Road departs the main trail at Burnt Ranch near South Pass, crosses the Continental Divide north of South Pass and reaches the Green River near the present town of Big Piney, Wyoming. From there the trail followed Big Piney Creek west before passing over the 8,800 feet (2,700 m) Thompson Pass in the Wyoming Range. It then crosses over the Smith Fork of the Bear River before ascending and crossing another 8,200 feet (2,500 m) pass on the Salt River Range of mountains and then descending into Star Valley Wyoming. It exited the mountains near the present Smith Fork road about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the town of Smoot, Wyoming. The road continued almost due north along the present day Wyoming-Idaho western border through Star Valley. To avoid crossing the Salt River (which drains into the Snake River) which runs down Star Valley the Lander Road crossed the river when it was small and stayed west of the Salt River. After traveling down the Salt River valley (Star Valley) about 20 miles (32 km) north the road turned almost due west near the present town of Auburn, Wyoming, and entered into the present state of Idaho along Stump Creek. In Idaho it followed the Stump Creek valley northwest till it crossed the Caribou Mountains and proceeded past the south end of Grays Lake.^[52] The trail then proceeded almost due west to meet the main trail at Fort Hall; alternatively, a branch trail headed almost due south to meet the main trail near the present town of Soda Springs, Idaho.^[53]^[54]

Numerous landmarks are located along the trail in Wyoming including Independence Rock, Ayres Natural Bridge and Register Cliff.

Utah [link]

In 1847, Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers departed from the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger in Wyoming and followed (and much improved) the rough trail originally recommended by Lansford Hastings to the Donner Party in 1846 through the Wasatch Mountains into Utah.^[55] After getting into Utah they immediately started setting up irrigated farms and cities—including Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1848, the Salt Lake Cutoff was established by Sam Hensley,^[56] and returning members of the Mormon Battalion providing a path north of the Great Salt Lake from Salt Lake City back to the California and Oregon Trails. This cutoff rejoined the Oregon and California Trails near the City of Rocks near the Utah-Idaho border and could be used by both California and Oregon bound travelers. Located about half way on both the California and Oregon Trails many thousands of later travelers used Salt Lake City and other Utah cities as an intermediate stop for selling or trading excess goods or tired livestock for fresh livestock, repairs, supplies or fresh vegetables. The Mormons looked on these travelers as a welcome bonanza as setting up new communities from scratch required nearly everything the travelers could afford to part with. The overall distance to California or Oregon was very close to the same whether one "detoured" to Salt Lake City or not. For their own use and to encourage California and Oregon bound travelers the Mormons improved the Mormon Trail from Fort Bridger and the Salt Lake Cutoff trail. To raise much needed money and facilitate travel on the Salt Lake Cutoff they set up several ferries across the Weber, Bear and Malad Rivers which were used mostly by Oregon or California bound travelers.

Idaho [link]

The main Oregon and California Trail went almost due north from Fort Bridger to the Little Muddy Creek where it passed over the Bear River Mountains to the Bear River valley, which it followed northwest into the Thomas Fork area, where the trail crossed over the present day Wyoming line into Idaho. In the Eastern Sheep Creek Hills in the Thomas Fork valley the emigrants encountered Big Hill. Big Hill was a detour caused by a then-impassable cut the Bear River made through the mountains and had a tough ascent often requiring doubling up of teams and a very steep and dangerous descent.^[57] (Much later, U.S. Highway 30, using modern explosives and equipment, was built through this cut). In 1852 Eliza Ann McAuley found and with help developed the McAuley Cutoff which bypassed much of the difficult climb and descent of Big Hill. About 5 miles (8.0 km) on they passed present-day Montpelier, Idaho, which is now the site of the National Oregon-California Trail Center.^[58] The trail follows the Bear River northwest to present-day Soda Springs, Idaho. The springs here were a favorite attraction of the pioneers who marveled at the hot carbonated water and chugging "steamboat" springs. Many stopped and did their laundry in the hot water as there was usually plenty of good grass and fresh water available.^[59] Just west of Soda Springs the Bear River turns southwest as it heads for The Great Salt Lake, and the main trail turns northwest to follow the Portneuf River valley to Fort Hall, Idaho. Fort Hall was an old fur trading post located on the Snake River. It was established in 1832 by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth and company and later sold in 1837 to the British Hudson's Bay Company. At Fort Hall nearly all travelers were given some aid and supplies if they were available and needed. Mosquitoes were constant pests, and travelers often mention that their animals were covered with blood from the bites. The route from Fort Bridger to Fort Hall is about 210 miles (340 km), taking nine to twelve days.

Storm: Waiting for the Caravan, by Alfred Jacob Miller

At Soda Springs was one branch of Lander Road (established and built with government contractors in 1858), which had gone west from near South Pass, over the Salt River Mountains and down Star Valley before turning west near present-day Auburn, Wyoming, and entering Idaho. From there it proceeded northwest into Idaho up Stump Creek canyon for about ten miles (16 km). One branch turned almost 90 degrees and proceeded southwest to Soda Springs. Another branch headed almost due west past Gray's Lake to rejoin the main trail about 10 miles (16 km) west of Fort Hall.

On the main trail about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Soda Springs Hudspeth's Cutoff (established 1849 and used mostly by California trail users) took off from the main trail heading almost due west, bypassing Fort Hall. It rejoined the California Trail at Cassia Creek near the City of Rocks.^[60] Hudspeth's Cutoff had five mountain ranges to cross and took about the same amount of time as the main route to Fort Hall, but many took it thinking it was shorter. Its main advantage was that it helped spread out the traffic during peak periods, making more grass available.^[61]

West of Fort Hall the main trail traveled about 40 miles (64 km) on the south side of the Snake River southwest past American Falls, Massacre Rocks, Register Rock, and Coldwater Hill near present-day Pocatello, Idaho. Near the junction of the Raft River and Snake River the California Trail diverged from the Oregon Trail at another Parting of the Ways junction. Travellers left the Snake River and followed Raft River about 65 miles (105 km) southwest past present day Almo, Idaho. This trail then passed through the City of Rocks and over Granite Pass where it went southwest along Goose Creek, Little Goose Creek, and Rock Spring Creek. It went about 95 miles (153 km) through Thousand Springs Valley, West Brush Creek, and Willow Creek, before arriving at the Humboldt River in northeastern Nevada near present-day Wells.^[62] The California Trail proceeded west down the Humboldt before reaching and crossing the Sierra Nevadas.

There were only a few places where the Snake River was not buried deep in a canyon, and few spots where the river slowed down enough to make a crossing possible. Two of these fords were near Fort Hall, where travelers on the Oregon Trail North Side Alternate (established about 1852) and Goodale's Cutoff (established 1862) crossed the Snake to travel on the north side. Nathaniel Wyeth, the original founder of Fort Hall in 1834, writes in his diary that they found a ford across the Snake River 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of where he founded Fort Hall. Another possible crossing was a few miles upstream of Salmon Falls where some intrepid travelers floated their wagons and swam their stock across to join the north side trail. Some lost their wagons and teams over the falls.^[63] The trails on the north side joined the trail from Three Island Crossing about 17 miles (27 km) west of Glenns Ferry on the north side of the Snake River.^[64]^[65]

Goodale's Cutoff, established in 1862 on the north side of the Snake River, formed a spur of the Oregon Trail. This cutoff had been used as a pack trail by Indians and fur traders, and emigrant wagons traversed parts of the eastern section as early as 1852. After crossing the Snake River the 230 miles (370 km) cutoff headed north from Fort Hall toward Big Southern Butte following the Lost River part of the way. It passed near the present-day town of Arco, Idaho, and wound through the northern part of what is now Craters of the Moon National Monument. From there it went southwest to Camas Prairie and ended at Old Fort Boise on the Boise River. This journey typically took two to three weeks and was noted for its very rough lava terrain and extremely dry climate, which tended to dry the wooden wheels on the wagons, causing the iron rims to fall off the wheels. Loss of wheels caused many wagons to be abandoned along the route. It rejoined the main trail east of Boise. Goodale's Cutoff is visible at many points along U.S. Highway 20, U.S. Highway 26, and U.S. Highway 93 between Craters of the Moon National Monument and Carey, Idaho.^[66]

View across top of Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho (Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1874)

From the present site of Pocatello the trail proceeded almost due west on the south side of the Snake River for about 180 miles (290 km). This route passed Cauldron Linn rapids, Shoshone Falls, two falls near the present city of Twin Falls, Idaho, and Upper Salmon Falls on the Snake River. At Salmon Falls there were often a hundred or more Indians fishing who would trade for their salmon, a welcome treat. The trail continued west to Three Island Crossing (near present-day Glenns Ferry, Idaho).^[67]^[68] Here most emigrants used the divisions of the river caused by three islands to cross the difficult and swift Snake River by ferry or by driving or sometimes floating their wagons and swimming their teams across. The crossings were doubly treacherous because there were often hidden holes in the river bottom which could overturn the wagon or ensnarl the team, sometimes with fatal consequences. Before ferries were established there were several drownings here nearly every year.^[69]

The north side of the Snake had better water and grass than the south. The trail from Three Island Crossing to Old Fort Boise was about 130 miles long. The usually lush Boise River valley was a welcome relief. The next crossing of the Snake River was near Old Fort Boise. This last crossing of the Snake could be done on bull boats while swimming the stock across. Others would chain a large string of wagons and teams together. The theory was that the front teams, usually oxen, would get out of water first and with good footing help pull the whole string of wagons and teams across. How well this worked in practice is not stated. Often young Indian boys were hired to drive and ride the stock across the river—they knew how to swim, unlike many pioneers. Today's Idaho Interstate 84 roughly follows the Oregon Trail until it leaves the Snake River near Burley, Idaho. From there Interstate 86 to Pocatello roughly approximates the trail. Highway 30 roughly follows the path of the Oregon Trail from there to Montpelier, Idaho.

Starting in about 1848 the South Alternate of Oregon Trail (also called the Snake River Cutoff) was developed as a spur off the main trail. It bypassed the Three Island Crossing and continued traveling down the south side of the Snake River. It rejoined the trail near present-day Ontario, Oregon. It hugged the southern edge of the Snake River canyon and was a much rougher trail with poorer water and grass, requiring occasional steep descents and ascents with the animals down into the Snake River canyon to get water. Travellers on this route avoided two dangerous crossings of the Snake River.^[70] Today's Idaho State Route 78 roughly follows the path of the South Alternate route of the Oregon Trail.

In 1869 the Central Pacific established Kelton, Utah as a railhead and the terminus of the western mail was moved from Salt Lake City. The Kelton Road became important as a communication and transportation road to the Boise Basin.^[71]

Oregon [link]

Once across the Snake River ford near Old Fort Boise the weary travelers traveled across what would become the state of Oregon. The trail then went to the Malheur River and then past Farewell Bend on the Snake River, up the Burnt River canyon and northwest to the La Grande valley before coming to the Blue Mountains. In 1843 settlers cut a wagon road over these mountains making them passable for the first time to wagons. The trail went to the Whitman Mission near Fort Nez Perces in Washington until 1847 when the Whitmans were killed by Native Americans. At Fort Nez Perce some built rafts or hired boats and started down the Columbia; others continued west in their wagons until they reached The Dalles. After 1847 the trail bypassed the closed mission and headed almost due west to present day Pendleton, Oregon, crossing the Umatilla River, John Day River, and Deschutes River before arriving at The Dalles. Interstate 84 in Oregon roughly follows the original Oregon Trail from Idaho to The Dalles.

Arriving at the Columbia at The Dalles and stopped by the Cascade Mountains and Mount Hood, some gave up their wagons or disassembled them and put them on boats or rafts for a trip down the Columbia River. Once they transited the Cascade's Columbia River Gorge with its multiple rapids and treacherous winds they would have to make the 1.6 miles (2.6 km) portage around the Cascade Rapids before coming out near the Willamette River where Oregon City, Oregon was located. The pioneer's livestock could be driven around Mount Hood on the narrow, crooked and rough Lolo Pass.

Several Oregon Trail branches and route variations led to the Willamette Valley. The most popular was the Barlow Road, which was carved though the forest around Mount Hood from The Dalles in 1846 as a toll road at $5.00 per wagon and 10 cents per head of livestock. It was rough and steep with poor grass but still cheaper and safer than floating goods, wagons and family down the dangerous Columbia River.

In Central Oregon there was the Santiam Wagon Road (established 1861), which roughly parallels Oregon Highway 20 to the Willamette Valley. The Applegate Trail (established 1846) cutting off the California Trail from the Humboldt River in Nevada crossed part of California before cutting north to the south end of the Willamette Valley. U.S. Route 99 and Interstate 5 through Oregon roughly follow the original Applegate Trail.

Travel equipment [link]

Wagons [link]

Oregon Trail was too long and arduous for the standard Conestoga wagons commonly used at that time in the eastern United States and on the Santa Fe Trail. Their 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg) freight capacity was larger than needed, and the large teams (8 to 10 animals) these wagons required could not navigate the tight corners often found on the Oregon Trail.

This led to the rapid development of prairie schooners. This wagon was approximately half the size of the larger Conestoga, weighed about 1,300 pounds (590 kg) empty with about 2,500 pounds (1,100 kg) of capacity and about 88 square feet (8.2 m²) of storage space in an 11 feet (3.4 m)-long, 4 feet (1.2 m)-wide, by 2 feet (0.61 m)-high box. These wagons could be easily pulled by 4 to 6 oxen or 6 to 10 mules. Extra animals were often recommended because animals could stray or become injured or die on the trip. Often late in the trip mixed teams that included dairy cows and riding ponies were sometimes hitched up to make a usable team. The wagons were manufactured in quantity by companies like Studebaker, with new wagons costing between $85 and $170. The cotton canvas covers of the wagons were doubled and treated with linseed oil to help keep out the rain, dust and wind, though the covers tended to leak rain and dust eventually. The typical wagon with 40 to 50 inches (1.0 to 1.3 m) diameter wheels could easily move over rough ground and rocks without high centering and even over most tree stumps if required. The wooden wheels were protected with an iron rim typically about 1.5 inches (3.81 cm) wide. These iron tires were installed hot so they would shrink tightly onto the wood wheel when they cooled. Nevertheless it was advisable to soak the wheel in water periodically as the desert air could dry the wheel so much that the iron tire would fall off.^[72] In practice it was found that the standard farm wagon built by a company or wagon maker (wainwright) of good reputation usually worked almost as well as prairie schooners and had only to be fitted with wooden bows and a canvas cover to be ready. Wagons were generally reliable if maintained, but they sometimes broke down and had to be repaired or abandoned along the way. Broken axles and broken wagon tongues were two of the most common problems, and replacements were created out of whatever wood was available. Abandoned wagons were typically scavenged for needed parts. One wagon could carry enough food for six months' travel for four or five travelers as well as a short list of household and luxury items.

It is estimated that about seventy percent (or more) of the wagons traveling west were pulled by oxen; mule teams were a strong second choice at 20–30%, and initially there were almost no horse-pulled wagons. This was true for many reasons. An ox team was about 10% slower than a mule or horse-pulled wagon (about 2–3 miles/hour). However, they were cheaper to buy ($25 to $85 per yoke versus up to $600 or more for six horses), easier to train, could pull more, survived better on the sparse grass often found along the trail, did not require oats or grain, and were often tamer and easier to handle after they were trained. Novices could usually learn to handle a trained ox team in about a week. Oxen could usually be turned loose at night and easily rounded up in the mornings. Mules and horses typically required herding day and night and often had to be staked out on a rope or hobbled. Oxen were usually easier to find and catch, and the Indians were usually less interested in stealing them.^[73]^[74] Mules were the second choice. They were about as fast as a horse and could survive well on the grazing found along the way, and worked well when trained. Trained mules were hard to find, and mules were difficult to handle until trained by an experienced mule skinner, which could take two months.^[75] In later years, horses were chosen more often because they were about 10% faster and the oats and grain required to keep them fit for months of continuous work could by then be bought along the way.

The ox drivers walked alongside the left side of their oxen team and used the voice commands "gee" (right) and "haw" (left) and a whip to guide them. Mules were often guided by riding one that was hooked to the wagon (typically the left hand wheel mule) and handling the reins from there. Whips were seldom used to actually whip the animals but were used to get the animal's attention by snapping them in the air.^{[citation needed]}

Food [link]

The recommended amount of food to take per adult was 150 pounds (68 kg) of flour, 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of corn meal, 50 pounds (23 kg) of bacon, 40 pounds (18 kg) of sugar, 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of coffee, 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of dried fruit, 5 pounds (2.3 kg) of salt, half a pound (0.25 kg) of saleratus (baking soda, baking powder leavening mix), 2 pounds (0.91 kg) of tea, 5 pounds (2.3 kg) of rice, and 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of beans. These provisions were usually kept in water-tight containers or barrels to minimize spoilage. The usual meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner along the trail was bacon, beans, and coffee, with biscuits or bread.^[76] The typical cost of food for four people for six months was about $150.^[77]

The amount of food required was lessened if beef cattle, calves or sheep were taken for a walking food supply. Prior to the 1870s there were vast herds of buffalo in Nebraska which provided fresh meat and jerky for the trip. In general, wild game could not be depended on for a regular source of food, but when found it was relished as a welcome change in a monotonous diet. Travelers could hunt antelope, buffalo, sage hens, trout, and occasionally elk, bear, duck, geese, salmon and deer along the trail. Most travelers carried a rifle or shotgun and ammunition for hunting game and for protection against snakes and Indian attacks. When they got to the Snake River and Columbia River areas they would often trade with the Indians for salmon. The Indians in Oregon traded potatoes and other vegetables they had learned to grow from the missionaries. Some families took along milk cows, goats, and chickens (penned in crates tied to the wagons). Additional food like pickles, canned butter, cheese or pickled eggs were occasionally carried, but canned goods were expensive and food preservation was primitive, so few items could be safely kept for the four to six month duration of the trip.

Cooking along the trail was done over a campfire. Fuels used were wood, buffalo chips, willow or sagebrush. Flint and steel were used to start fires. Some carried matches in water-tight containers. Fire was borrowed from a neighbor for ease of starting. Cooking required simple cooking utensils such as butcher knives, large spoons, spatulas, ladles, Dutch ovens, pots and pans, grills, spits, coffee pots and an iron tripod to suspend the pans and pots over the fire. Some brought small stoves, but these were often jettisoned along the way as being too heavy and unnecessary. Wooden or canvas buckets were brought for carrying water, and most travelers carried canteens or water bags for daily use. A ten gallon water barrel was needed, but it was usually kept nearly empty to minimize weight (some water had to be kept in it to prevent it from drying out and losing its water tightness). It was only filled for long waterless stretches. Some brought a new invention: an India Rubber combination mattress and water carrier.^[78]

Clothing and equipment [link]

Tobacco was popular, both for personal use and for trading with Indians and other pioneers. Each person brought at least two changes of clothes and multiple pairs of boots (two to three pairs often wore out on the trip). About 25 pounds of soap was recommended for a party of four for bathing and washing clothes. A washboard and tub was usually brought for washing clothes. Wash days typically occurred once or twice a month or less, depending on availability of good grass, water and fuel. Most wagons carried tents for sleeping, though in good weather most would sleep outside. A thin fold-up mattress, blankets, pillows, canvas or rubber gutta percha ground covers were used for sleeping. Sometimes an unfolded feather bed mattress was brought for the wagon if there were pregnant women or very young children along. The wagons had no springs, and the ride along the trail was very rough. Despite modern depictions, almost nobody actually rode in the wagons; it was too dusty, too rough, and hard on the livestock.

Oregon Trail, by Albert Bierstadt, circa 1863

Travelers brought books, Bibles, trail guides, and writing quills, ink and paper for letters (about one in 200 kept a diary).^[79]

Belt and folding knives were carried by nearly all men and boys. Awls, scissors, pins, needles and thread for mending were required. Spare leather was used for repairs to shoes, harnesses, and other equipment. Some used goggles to keep dust out of the eyes. Storage boxes were ideally the same height so they could be arranged to give a flat surface inside the wagon for a sleeping platform.

Saddles, bridles, hobbles, and ropes were needed if the party had a horse or riding mule, and many men did. Extra harnesses and spare wagon parts were often carried. Most carried steel shoes for oxen, mules or horses. Tar was carried to help repair an injured ox's hoof.

Goods, supplies and equipment were often shared by fellow travelers.^[80] Items that were forgotten, broken or worn out could be bought from a fellow traveler, post or fort along the way. New iron shoes for horses, mules and oxen were put on by blacksmiths found along the way. Equipment repairs and other goods could be procured from blacksmith shops established at some forts and some ferries. Emergency supplies, repairs and livestock were often provided by local residents in Oregon, California, and Utah for late travelers on the trail who were hurrying to beat the snow.

Non-essential items were often abandoned to lighten the load, or in case of emergency. Many travelers would salvage discarded items, picking up essentials or leaving behind their lower quality item when a better one was found abandoned along the road. Some profited by collecting discarded items and hauling them back to jumping off places and reselling them. In the early years Mormons sent scavenging parties back along the trail to salvage as much iron and other supplies as possible and haul it to Salt Lake City, where supplies of all kinds were needed.^[81] Others would use discarded wagons, wheels and furniture as firewood. During the 1849 gold rush, Fort Laramie was known as "Camp Sacrifice" because of the large amounts merchandise discarded nearby.^[82] Travelers had pushed along the relatively easy path to Fort Laramie with their luxury items but discarded them before the difficult mountain crossing ahead and after discovering that many items could be purchased at the forts or located for free along the way. Some travelers carried their excess goods to Salt Lake City to be sold.

Professional tools used by blacksmiths, carpenters, and farmers were carried by nearly all. Shovels, crow bars, picks, hoes, mattocks, saws, hammers, axes and hatchets were used to clear or make a road through trees or brush, cut down the banks to cross a wash or steep banked stream, build a raft or bridge, or repair the wagon. In general as little road work as possible was done. Travel was often along the top of ridges to avoid the brush and washes common in many valleys.

Statistics [link]

Emigrants [link]

Estimated California Oregon Mormon Trail Emigrants^[83]
Year	Oregon	California	Utah	Total
1834–39	20	−	−	20
1840	13	−	−	13
1841	24	34	−	58
1842	125	−	−	125
1843	875	38	−	913
1844	1,475	53	−	1,528
1845	2,500	260	−	2,760
1846	1,200	1,500	−	2,700
1847	4,000	450	2,200	6,650
1848	1,300	400	2,400	4,100
Total	11,512	2,735	4,600	18,847
1849	450	25,000	1,500	26,950
1850	6,000	44,000	2,500	52,500
1851	3,600	1,100	1,500	6,200
1852	10,000	50,000	10,000	70,000
1853	7,500	20,000	8,000	35,500
1854	6,000	12,000	3,200	21,200
1855	500	1,500	4,700	6,700
1856	1,000	8,000	2,400	11,400
1857	1,500	4,000	1,300	6,800
1858	1,500	6,000	150	7,650
1859	2,000	17,000	1,400	20,400
1860	1,500	9,000	1,600	12,100
Total	53,000	200,300	43,000	296,300
1834–60	Oregon	California	Utah^[84]	Total^[85]
1861	−	−	3,148	5,000
1862	−	−	5,244	5,000
1863	−	−	4,760	10,000
1864	−	−	2,626	10,000
1865	−	−	690	20,000
1866	−	−	3,299	25,000
1867	−	−	700	25,000
1868	−	−	4,285	25,000
Total	80,000	250,000	70,000	400,000
1834–67	Oregon	California	Utah	Total

Some of the trail statistics for the early years were recorded by the U.S. Army at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, from about 1849 to 1855. None of these original statistical records have been found—the Army lost them or destroyed them. There are only some partial written copies of the Army records and notes recorded in several diaries. Emigration to California spiked considerably with the 1849 gold rush. Following the discovery of gold, California remained the destination of choice for most emigrants on the trail up to 1860, with almost 200,000 people traveling there between 1849 and 1860.

Travel diminished after 1860 as the Civil War caused considerable disruptions on the trail. Many of the people on the trail in 1861–1863 were fleeing the war and its attendant drafts in both the south and the north. Trail historian Merrill J. Mattes^[86] has estimated the number of emigrants for 1861–1867 given in the total column of the above table. But these estimates may well be low since they only amount to an extra 125,000 people, and the 1870 census shows that over 200,000 additional people (ignoring most of California's population increase which had an excellent sea and rail connections across Panama by then) showed up in all the states served by the California/Oregon/Mormon/Bozeman Trail(s) and its offshoots. Mormon emigration records after 1860 are reasonably accurate as newspaper and other accounts in Salt Lake City give most of the names of emigrants arriving each year from 1847 to 1868.^[84] Gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and Montana caused a considerable increase in people using the trails, often in directions different than the original trail users.

Though the numbers are significant in the context of the times, far more people chose to remain at home in the 31 states. Between 1840 and 1860, the population of the United States rose by 14 million, yet only about 300,000 decided to make the trip. Many that went were between the ages 12 and 24. Between 1860 and 1870 the U.S. population increased by seven million, with about 350,000 of this increase being in the Western states. Many were discouraged by the cost, effort and danger of the trip. Western scout Kit Carson reputedly said, "The cowards never started and the weak died on the way." According to several sources 3–10% of the emigrants are estimated to have perished on the way west.^[87]

Western census data [link]

Census Population of western States^[88]
State	1870	1860	Difference
California	560,247	379,994	180,253
Nevada	42,491	6,857	35,634
Oregon	90,923	52,465	38,458
Colorado^[89]	39,684	34,277	5,407
Idaho^[89]	14,990	−	14,990
Montana^[89]	20,595	−	20,595
Utah^[89]	86,789	40,273	46,516
Washington^[89]	23,955	11,594	12,361
Wyoming^[89]	9,118	−	9,118
Totals	888,792	525,460	363,332

These census numbers show a 363,000 population increase in the western states and territories between 1860 and 1870. Some of this increase is because of a high birth rate in the western states and territories but most is from emigrants moving from the east to the west and new immigration from Europe. Much of the increase in California and Oregon is from emigration by ship as there were fast and reasonably low cost transportation via east and west coast steamships and the Panama Railroad after 1855. The census numbers imply at least 200,000 emigrants (or more) used some variation of the California/Oregon/Mormon/Bozeman trails to get to their new homes between 1860 and 1870.

Costs [link]

The cost of traveling over the Oregon Trail and its extensions varied from nothing to a few hundred dollars per person. Women seldom went alone. The cheapest way was to hire on to help drive the wagons or herds, allowing one to make the trip for nearly nothing or even make a small profit. Those with capital could often buy livestock in the midwest and drive the stock to California or Oregon for profit. About 60–80% of the travelers were farmers and as such already owned a wagon, livestock team, and many of the necessary supplies. This lowered the cost of the trip to about $50 per person for food and other items. Families planned the trip months in advance and made many of the extra clothing and other items needed. Individuals buying most of the needed items would end up spending between $150–$200 per person.^[90] As the trail matured, additional costs for ferries and toll roads were thought to have been about $30 per wagon.^[91]

Deaths [link]

Oregon-California-Mormon Trail Deaths^[92]
Cause	Estimated deaths
Disease	6,000–12,500
Indian attack	3,000–4,500
Freezing	300–500
Run overs	200–500
Drownings	200–500
Shootings	200–500
Miscellaneous	200–500
Scurvy	300–500
Totals	9,400–21,000

The route west was arduous and with many dangers, but the number of deaths on the trail is not known with any precision; there are only wildly varying estimates. Estimating is difficult because of the common practice of burying people in unmarked graves that were intentionally disguised to avoid them being dug up by animals or Indians. Graves were often put in the middle of a trail and then run over by the livestock to make them difficult to find. Disease was the main killer of trail travelers; cholera killed up to 3% of all travelers in the epidemic years from 1849 to 1855.

Indian attacks increased significantly after 1860 when most of the army troops were withdrawn and miners and ranchers began fanning out all over the country, often encroaching on Indian territory. Increased attacks along the Humboldt led to most travelers taking the Central Nevada Route. The Goodall cutoff was developed in Idaho in 1862 which kept Oregon bound travelers away from much of the Indian trouble nearer the Snake River. Other trails were developed that traveled further along the South Platte to avoid local Indian hot spots.

Other common causes of death included hypothermia, drowning in river crossings, getting run over by wagons, and accidental gun deaths. Drownings probably peaked in 1849 and 1850 when young impatient and pushy men were the predominant population on the trail. Later more family groups started traveling as well as many more ferries and bridges were being put in, and fording a dangerous river became much less common and dangerous. Surprisingly few people were taught to swim in this era. Being run over was a major cause of death, despite the wagons only averaging 2–3 miles per hour. The wagons could not easily be stopped, and people, particularly children, were often trying to get on and off the wagons while they were moving—not always successfully. Another hazard was a dress getting caught in the wheels and pulling the person under. Accidental shootings declined significantly after Fort Laramie as people became more familiar with their weapons and often just left them in their wagons. Carrying around a ten pound rifle all day soon became tedious and usually unnecessary as the perceived Indian threat faded and hunting opportunities receded.

A significant number of travelers were suffering from scurvy by the end of their trips. Their typical flour and salted pork/bacon diet had very little vitamin C in it. The diet in the mining camps was also typically low in fresh vegetables and fruit, which indirectly led to early deaths of many of the inhabitants. Some believe that scurvy deaths may have rivaled cholera as a killer, with most deaths occurring after the victim reached California.^[93] Many understood the importance of a diet that included fresh vegetables and fruit, and how to prevent scurvy was common knowledge in some circles but far from universally known or taught. Chinese travelers with their insistence on many vegetables in their diet fared much better.^{[citation needed]}

Miscellaneous deaths included deaths by homicides, lightning strikes, childbirth, stampedes, snake bites, flash floods, falling trees, and kicks by animals. According to an evaluation by John Unruh,^[94] a 4% death rate or 16,000 out of 400,000 total pioneers on all trails may have died on the trail.

Legacy [link]

One of the enduring legacies of the Oregon Trail is the expansion of the United States territory to the West Coast. Without the many thousands of United States settlers in Oregon and California and thousands more on their way each year, it is highly unlikely that this would have occurred. The western expansion and the Oregon Trail in particular inspired many songs that told of the settlers' experiences. "Uncle Sam's Farm" encouraged east-coast dwellers to "Come right away. Our lands they are broad enough, so don't be alarmed. Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm." In "Western Country", the singer exhorts that "if I had no horse at all, I'd still be a hauling, far across those Rocky Mountains, goin' away to Oregon."

The story of the Oregon Trail inspired a popular educational computer game of the same name, The Oregon Trail. The game became widely popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. Several sequels to the game were also released, such as The Oregon Trail II, The Yukon Trail, and The Amazon Trail. The game resurfaced in 2008 when Gameloft created an updated version for cell phones.^[95]

The Oregon Trail was briefly made into a television series that ran from September 22, 1977 – October 26, 1977, on NBC. The show starred Rod Taylor, Tony Becker, Darleen Carr, Charles Napier, and Ken Swofford. Although it was canceled after six episodes, the remaining seven episodes were still aired on BBC 2 in the U.K.^[96] In June 2010, the entire series was released on DVD in the USA by Timeless.

References [link]

^ Federal Writers Project, The Oregon trail: the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean (1939) p.215
^ "Lewis and Clark Pass, Montana". http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/lewisclark/lcic/grasslands/lewis_clark.htm.
^ "Map of Astorian expedition, Lewis and Clark expedition, Oregon Trail, etc. in Pacific Northwest etc". oregon.com. http://www.oregon.com/history/oregon_trail_maps.cfm. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
^ Rollins, Philip Ashton (1995). The Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart's Narratives of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812–13. University of Nebraska. ISBN 0-8032-9234-1.
^ "Fort Colville". Nwcouncil.org. http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/FortColville.asp. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
^ "Resettlement maps". Metisresourcecentre.mb.ca. http://www.metisresourcecentre.mb.ca/maps/rrsettlement1870.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ Red River Settlers in Oregon, Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ It was not until later that the Ogallala Aquifer was discovered and used for irrigation, dry farming techniques developed and railtracks laid.
^ IDAHO FUR TRADE^{[dead link]}
^ Gowans, Fred R. Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, pg 27. Gibbs Smith Publisher. ISBN 1-58685-756-8
^ The Adventures of Captain Bonneville s:The Adventures of Captain Bonneville
^ Frémont's Map of California and Oregon, Retrieved December 23, 2009
^ The Oregon History Project: Protestant Ladder Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
^ "Oregon Emigrants 1839". Oregonpioneers.com. http://www.oregonpioneers.com/1839.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ "Oregon Emigrants 1840". Historylink.org. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=pf_output.cfm&file_id=5235. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ Members of the party later disagreed over the size of the party, one stating 160 adults and children were in the party, while another counted 105.
^ The Wagon Train of 1843: The Great Migration Oregon Pioneers. Retrieved December 22, 2007.
^ Events in The West: 1840–1850 PBS. Retrieved December 22, 2007.
^ Mormons in Iowa towns map referenced January 5, 2009
^ "American West – The Oregon Trail". http://www.americanwest.com/trails/pages/oretrail.htm.
^ The 1850 U.S. California Census, the first census that included everyone, showed only about 7,019 females with 4,165 non-Indian females older than 15 in the state. To find a "correct" census there should be added about 20,000 men and about 1,300 females from San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa counties whose censuses were lost and not included in the official totals.[1] Retrieved Aug 18, 2011
^ U.S. Seventh Census 1850: California Retrieved Aug 18, 2011
^ Greeley, Horace. An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859. XXXIV.
^ Unruh:op. cit. pp 410
^ Simpson, Capt. J. H. (1876). Report of Explorations across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 25–26. http://books.google.com/?id=L8ZPWha6TUUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
^ ^a ^b Pony Express Trail maps, Retrieved January 28, 2009
^ Unruh, John D (1993). The Plains Across the Overland Emigrants and Trans-Mississippi West 1840–1860. University of Illinois Press. pp. 392, 512. ISBN 978-0-252-06360-2.
^ Barry, Louise. The Beginnings of the West. 1972. pp 1084–85
^ Railroad ticket 1870 Transcontinental Railroad Statistics. Retrieved January 21, 2009
^ Brooks D. Simpson; Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822–1865; 2000, ISBN 978-0-395-65994-6, pg. 55
^ "Nicaragua Route". http://www.costarica-net-guide.com/vanderbilt.html.
^ Railroad fares 1869 Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ Ventures and Adventures of Ezra Meeker: Or, Sixty Years of Frontier Life by Ezra Meeker. Rainer Printing Company 1908. ASIN: B000861WA8
^ North America Travel Guide. "Saint Peters: Missouri". North America Travel Guide. http://north-america.traveltoworld.com/north-america-travel-guide/5317/saint-peters-missouri/. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
^ Old Franklin Missouri. accessed13 January 2010
^ "Winter Quarters Project". Winterquarters.byu.edu. http://winterquarters.byu.edu/pages/settlements.htm. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
^ Pottawattamie County 1850 Retrieved December 21, 2010
^ Mattes, Merrill J. The Great Platte River Road. Bison Books, 1987. ISBN 978-0-8032-8153-0
^ Pictures of Oregon Trail in Nebraska. Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ Nebraska's branch of Oregon-California trail Association Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ Oregon Trail Nebraska eastern Wyoming NPS road guide, accessed February 8, 2010
^ "Causes of Cholera". Mayoclinic.com. 2011-03-30. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholera/DS00579/DSECTION=causes. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ Chronological List of Fort Laramie History
^ "Treading the Elephant's Tail: Medical Problems on the Overland Trails". Overland Journal, Volume 6, Number 1, 1988; Peter D. Olch; Pp. 25–31; ISBN 978-0-674-00881-6
^ "Hastings Cutoff". Scienceviews.com. http://www.scienceviews.com/historical/hastingscutoff.html. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
^ [2]^{[dead link]}
^ "Lincoln County Photos II-Wyoming Tales and Trails". Wyomingtalesandtrails.com. June 30, 1952. http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/cokeville.html. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
^ "Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff Map". Wyoshpo.state.wy.us. http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/trailsdemo/sublettegreenwood.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ "Additional estimate for Fort Kearney, South Pass, and Honey Lake wagon road : letter from the acting Secretary of the Interior, transmitting a communication from Colonel Lander in regard to the Fort Kearney, South Pass and Honey Lake wagon road". United States. Dept. of the Interior. http://www.archive.org/details/additionalestima00unitrich. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
^ "0631.doc" (PDF). http://history.idaho.gov/Reference%20Series/0631.pdf. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
^ >Unruh: page 119–120
^ Grays Lake [3] accessed February 8, 2010
^ "Lander Road Cutoff Map". Wyoshpo.state.wy.us. http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/trailsdemo/landerroad.htm. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ "Emigrant Trails of Southern Idaho"; Bureau of Land Management & Idaho State Historical Society;1993; pp 117–125 ASIN: B000KE2KTU
^ Salt Lake Cutoff accessdate=September 17, 2009
^ Schindler, Hal (June 5, 1994). "It's Sam Hensley-Not Hansel-Who Discovered Cutoff". The Salt Lake Tribune. pp. D1. http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/in_another_time/060594.html. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
^ Big Hill Idaho. OCTA Idaho accessed February 5, 2009
^ The National Oregon-California Trail Center Retrieved February 25, 2009
^ Soda Springs quotes Idaho State Historical Society [4] Retrieved February 25, 2009
^ Hudspeth cutoff map (OCTA-Idaho) [5] Accessed February 5, 2009
^ For an Oregon-California trail map up to the junction in Idaho NPS Oregon National Historic Trail Map. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
^ Northern Nevada and Utah, Southern Idaho Tail Map Accessed February 9, 2009
^ [6]^{[dead link]}
^ Oregon Trail North Side Alternate, Retrieved February 25, 2009
^ map of North Side Alternate, Retrieved February 25, 2009
^ Goodale's Cutoff NPS [7] Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ Three Island Crossing photos Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ Three Island Crossing quotes [8] Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ Three Mile Island Crossing Park, Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ National Trail Map Retrieved February 22, 2009
^ "IdahoHistory.net". IdahoHistory.net. July 7, 2010. http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0074.pdf. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
^ Wagon choices option=com_content&view=article&id=156:wagons&catid=70:oregon-trail-history&Itemid=75] Retrieved August 18, 2009
^ The training and use of oxen Retrieved March 31, 2009
^ Using oxen Retrieved March 31, 2009
^ Mule training Retrieved March 30, 2009
^ "Provisions for the Trail". End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/outfit.html. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
^ Dary, David The Oregon Trail an American Saga; Alfred p. Knopf New York; 2004; pp 274;ISBN 0-375-41399-5
^ India Rubber water bottles/mattresses, Retrieved January 21, 2009
^ Unruh:op. cit. pp 4–5
^ Unruh: pp 149–155
^ Unruh: pp 149–150
^ Unruh: p 150
^ Unruh: page 119–120
^ ^a ^b Mormon Pioneer Companies [9] Retrieved April 11, 2009
^ Mattes, Merril J.; "The Great Platte River Road"; p23; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1979: ISBN 978-0-686-26254-1
^ Mattes,Merrill J.; op. cit.; p 23
^ Lloyd W. Coffman, 1993, Blazing A Wagon Trail To Oregon
^ "U.S. Census 1790–1870" (PDF). http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1870a-03.pdf. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Territory
^ Dary, David (2004). The Oregon Trail an American Saga. Alfred p. Knopf New York. pp. 272–275. ISBN 0-375-41399-5.
^ Unruh: page 408
^ Unruh: pp 408–410, 516
^ Steele, Volney M.D. Bleed, Blister, and Purge: A History of Medicine on the American Frontier. Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2005. pp 115, 116. ISBN 978-0-87842-505-1
^ Unruh, John David (1993). 'The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840–1860. University of Illinois Press. pp. 408–410, 516. ISBN 978-0-252-06360-2.
^ ""Mobile Game Review: The Oregon Trail, ''PocketGamer''". Pocketgamer.co.uk. http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobile/The+Oregon+Trail/review.asp?c=7058. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
^ "The Oregon Trail: Summary", TV.com

Bibliography [link]

Bagley, Will. So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1812–1848 (University of Oklahoma Press; 458 pages; 2010). First book in a projected four-volume study of the course and impact of western migration.
Faragher, John Mack. Women and Men on the Overland Trail (2nd ed. 2001) excerpt and text search
Federal Writers' Project. The Oregon trail: the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean (1939) online edition, 244pp
Hanson, T J (2001). Western Passage. Bookmasters, Inc. ISBN 0-9705847-0-9.
Unruh, John David. The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840–1860 (1993) University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06360-2, the standard scholarly history

Primary sources [link]

Crawford, Medorem (1897) (DJVU). Journal of Medorem Crawford: an account of his trip across the plains with the Oregon pioneers of 1842. Star Job Office. OCLC 5001642. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=11.
Hewitt, Randall (1863) (DJVU). Notes by the way: memoranda of a journey across the plains, from Dundee, Ill., to Olympia, W. T. May 7, to November 3, 1862. Washington Standard. OCLC 51465106. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=38.
Myres, Sandra L., ed. Ho for California!: Women's Overland Diaries from the Huntington Library (2007)
Parkman, Francis, The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life. University of Virginia Press., personal account by a famous historian
Smedley, William (1916) (DJVU). Across the plains in '62. ISBN 0-87770-460-0. OCLC 4981167. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=58.
Ward, D. B. (1911) (DJVU). Across the plains in 1853. Ward. ISBN 0-8466-0061-7. OCLC 2931824. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=57.
Williams, Joseph (1921) (DJVU). Narrative of a tour from the state of Indiana to the Oregon Territory in the years 1841–2. Standard. ISBN 0-87770-172-5. OCLC 2095243. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=59.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Oregon Trail

National Trail Map
National Parks Service Oregon Trail Map
National Parks Service California Trail Map
Oregon National Historic Trail Home Page
Oregon Trail history from Oregon Department of Transportation (with maps)
Thomas Esson Ewing, "The Journey to Oregon Over the Oregon Trail. One Family's Story" [10]

v t e State of Oregon

Salem (capital)

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v t e Pioneer history of Oregon (1806–1890)

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People	George Abernethy Jesse Applegate Ira Babcock Sam Barlow François Blanchet Tabitha Brown Matthew Deady Abigail Scott Duniway Thomas Lamb Eliot Philip Foster Peter French Joseph Gale Cornelius Gilliam David Hill Chief Joseph Joseph Kellogg H.A.G. Lee Jason Lee David Thomas Lenox Asa Lovejoy John McLoughlin Joseph Meek Ezra Meeker James D. Miller John Minto Robert Newell Joel Palmer Osborne Russell Sager orphans Levi Scott Henry Spalding Elijah White Marcus Whitman Narcissa Whitman Geo. H. Williams Ewing Young William Vandevert

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Category Portal WikiProject

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

This article is about the U.S. state of Oregon. For other uses, see Oregon (disambiguation).

State of Oregon


Flag (obverse)	Seal

Nickname(s): Beaver State

Motto(s): Alis volat propriis (Latin = She flies with her own wings)

Official language(s)

De jure: None^[1]
De facto: English

Demonym

Oregonian

Capital

Salem

Largest city

Portland

Largest metro area

Portland metropolitan area

Area

Ranked 9th in the U.S.

- Total

98,381 sq mi
(255,026 km²)

- Width

400 miles (640 km)

- Length

360 miles (580 km)

- % water

2.4

- Latitude

42° N to 46° 18′ N

- Longitude

116° 28′ W to 124° 38′ W

Population

Ranked 27th in the U.S.

- Total

3,871,859 (2011 est)^[2]

- Density

40.3/sq mi (15.6/km²)
Ranked 39th in the U.S.

Elevation

- Highest point

Mount Hood^[3]^[4]^[5]
11,249 ft (3,428.8 m)

- Mean

3,300 ft (1,000 m)

- Lowest point

Pacific Ocean^[4]
sea level

Before statehood

Oregon Territory

Admission to Union

February 14, 1859 (33rd)

Governor

John Kitzhaber (D)

Secretary of State

Kate Brown (D)

Legislature

Legislative Assembly

- Upper house

State Senate

- Lower house

House of Representatives

U.S. Senators

Ron Wyden (D)
Jeff Merkley (D)

U.S. House delegation

4 Democrats, 1 Republican (list)

Time zones

- most of state

Pacific: UTC -8/-7

- most of Malheur County

Mountain: UTC -7/-6

Abbreviations

OR Ore. US-OR

Website

www.oregon.gov

A map of Oregon.^[6]

The Oregon coastline looking south from Ecola State Park, with Haystack Rock in the distance.

Oregon (ⁱ/ˈɔrɨɡən/ ORR-ə-gən)^[7] is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843. The Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859.

Oregon is the 9th most extensive and the 27th most populous of the 50 United States. Salem is the state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 29th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 583,776 (2010 US Census) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area. The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the state's most densely populated area and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities.

Oregon contains a diverse landscape including the windswept Pacific coastline, the volcanoes of the rugged and glaciated Cascade Mountain Range, many waterfalls (including Multnomah Falls), dense evergreen forests, mixed forests and deciduous forests at lower elevations, and high desert across much of the eastern portion of the state, extending into the Great Basin. The tall Douglas firs and redwoods along the rainy Western Oregon coast contrast with the lower density and fire-prone pine tree and juniper forests covering portions of the eastern half of the state. Alder trees are common in the west and fix nitrogen for the conifers; aspen groves are common in eastern Oregon. Stretching east from Central Oregon, the state also includes semi-arid shrublands, prairies, deserts, steppes, and meadows. Mount Hood is the highest point in the state at 11,249 feet (3,429 m). Crater Lake National Park is the only national park in Oregon.

Etymology [link]

Main article: Oregon (toponym)

Oregon welcome sign at Hells Canyon.

The earliest known use of the name, spelled Ouragon, was in a 1765 petition by Major Robert Rogers to the Kingdom of Great Britain. The term referred to the then–mythical River of the West (the Columbia River). By 1778 the spelling had shifted to Oregon.^[8] In his 1765 petition, Rogers wrote:^[9]

"The rout [sic]...is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon..."

One theory is the name comes from the French word ouragan ("windstorm" or "hurricane"), which was applied to the River of the West based on Native American tales of powerful Chinook winds of the lower Columbia River, or perhaps from firsthand French experience with the chinook winds of the Great Plains. At the time, the River of the West was thought to rise in western Minnesota and flow west through the Great Plains.^[10]

Joaquin Miller explained in Sunset (magazine) in 1904 how Oregon's name was derived:^[11]

"The name, Oregon, is rounded down phonetically, from Aure il agua—Oragua, Or-a-gon, Oregon—given probably by the same Portuguese navigator that named the Farallones after his first officer, and it literally, in a large way, means cascades: 'Hear the waters.' You should steam up the Columbia and hear and feel the waters falling out of the clouds of Mount Hood to understand entirely the full meaning of the name Aure il agua, Oregon."

Another account, endorsed as the "most plausible explanation" in the book Oregon Geographic Names, was advanced by George R. Stewart in a 1944 article in American Speech. According to Stewart, the name came from an engraver's error in a French map published in the early 18th century, on which the Ouisiconsink (Wisconsin) River was spelled "Ouaricon-sint," broken on two lines with the -sint below, so there appeared to be a river flowing to the west named "Ouaricon."

According to the Oregon Tourism Commission (also known as Travel Oregon), present-day Oregonians /ˌɒrɨˈɡoʊniənz/^[12] pronounce the state's name as "OR-UH-GUN, never OR-EE-GONE."^[7]

After being drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2002, former Oregon Ducks quarterback Joey Harrington distributed "ORYGUN" stickers to members of the media as a reminder of how to pronounce the name of his home state.^[13]^[14] The stickers are sold by the University of Oregon Bookstore, which credits the spelling as a joke that is meant "for Oregonians and Oregon fans everywhere who get a kick out of this hilarious mispronunciation of our state."^[15]

History [link]

Main article: History of Oregon

Humans have inhabited the area that is now Oregon for at least 15,000 years. In recorded history, mentions of the land date to as early as the 16th century. During the 18th and 19th centuries, European powers – and later the United States – quarreled over possession of the region until 1846 when the U.S. and Great Britain finalized division of the region. Oregon became a state in 1859 and is now home to over 3.8 million residents.

Earliest inhabitants [link]

This section requires expansion.

Human habitation of the Pacific Northwest began at least 15,000 years ago, with the oldest evidence of habitation in Oregon found at Fort Rock Cave and the Paisley Caves in Lake County. Archaeologist Luther Cressman dated material from Fort Rock to 13,200 years ago.^[16] By 8000 B.C. there were settlements throughout the state, with populations concentrated along the lower Columbia River, in the western valleys, and around coastal estuaries.

European exploration [link]

This section requires expansion.

By the 16th century, Oregon was home to many Native American groups, including the Coquille (Ko-Kwell), Bannock, Chasta, Chinook, Kalapuya, Klamath, Molalla, Nez Perce, Takelma, and Umpqua.^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20]

The first Europeans to visit Oregon were Spanish explorers who sighted southern Oregon off the Pacific Coast in 1543. No Europeans returned to Oregon until 1778, when British captain James Cook explored the coast.^[21] French Canadian and metis trappers and missionaries arrived in the eastern part of the state in the late 18th century and early 19th century, many having travelled as members of Lewis and Clark and the 1811 Astor expeditions.

Some stayed permanently, including Étienne Lussier, believed to be the first European farmer in the state of Oregon. The evidence of this French Canadian presence can be found in the numerous names of French origin in that part of the state: Charbonneau, Malheur Lake and River, Grande Ronde and Des Chutes Rivers, cities of La Grande, Ontario, etc.

During U.S. westward expansion [link]

The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled through the region also in search of the Northwest Passage. They built their winter fort at Fort Clatsop, near the mouth of the Columbia River. British explorer David Thompson also conducted overland exploration.

In 1811, David Thompson, of the North West Company, became the first European to navigate the entire Columbia River. Stopping on the way, at the junction of the Snake River, he posted a claim to the region for Great Britain and the North West Company. Upon returning to Montreal, he publicized the abundance of fur-bearing animals in the area.

Also in 1811, New Yorker John Jacob Astor financed the establishment of Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River as a western outpost to his Pacific Fur Company;^[22] this was the first permanent European settlement in Oregon.

In the War of 1812, the British gained control of all Pacific Fur Company posts. The Treaty of 1818 established joint British and American occupancy of the region west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. By the 1820s and 1830s, the Hudson's Bay Company dominated the Pacific Northwest from its Columbia District headquarters at Fort Vancouver (built in 1825 by the District's Chief Factor John McLoughlin across the Columbia from present-day Portland).

Map of Oregon Country.

In 1841, the expert trapper and entrepreneur Ewing Young died leaving considerable wealth and no apparent heir, and no system to probate his estate. A meeting followed Young's funeral at which a probate government was proposed. Doctor Ira Babcock of Jason Lee's Methodist Mission was elected Supreme Judge. Babcock chaired two meetings in 1842 at Champoeg, (half way between Lee's mission and Oregon City), to discuss wolves and other animals of contemporary concern. These meetings were precursors to an all-citizen meeting in 1843, which instituted a provisional government headed by an executive committee made up of David Hill, Alanson Beers, and Joseph Gale. This government was the first acting public government of the Oregon Country before annexation by the government of the United States.

Also in 1841, Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, reversed the Hudson's Bay Company's long-standing policy of discouraging settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. He directed that some 200 Red River Colony settlers be relocated to HBC farms near Fort Vancouver, (the James Sinclair expedition), in an attempt to hold Columbia District.

Starting in 1842–1843, the Oregon Trail brought many new American settlers to Oregon Country. For some time, it seemed that Britain and the United States would go to war for a third time in 75 years (see Oregon boundary dispute), but the border was defined peacefully in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty. The border between the United States and British North America was set at the 49th parallel. The Oregon Territory was officially organized in 1848.

Settlement increased with the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and the forced relocation of the native population to Indian reservations in Oregon.

After statehood [link]

Oregon was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859. Founded as a refuge from disputes over slavery, Oregon had a "whites only" clause in its original state Constitution.^[23]

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, regular U.S. troops were withdrawn and sent east. Volunteer cavalry recruited in California were sent north to Oregon to keep peace and protect the populace. The First Oregon Cavalry served until June 1865.

In the 1880s, the growth of railroads helped market the state's lumber, wheat, and the rapid growth of its cities.

20th and 21st centuries [link]

See also: State of Jefferson, Cascadia, and Ecotopia

This section requires expansion.

In 1902, Oregon introduced direct legislation by the state’s citizens through initiatives and referenda, known as the Oregon System. Oregon state ballots often include politically conservative proposals side-by-side with politically liberal ones, illustrating the diversity of political thought in the state.

Industrial expansion began in earnest following the 1933–1937 construction of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. Hydroelectric power, food, and lumber provided by Oregon helped fuel the development of the West, although the periodic fluctuations in the U.S. building industry have hurt the state's economy on multiple occasions.

Geography [link]

National parks and historic areas in Oregon
Entity	Location
Crater Lake National Park	Southern Oregon
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument	Eastern Oregon
Newberry National Volcanic Monument	Central Oregon
Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument	Southern Oregon
Oregon Caves National Monument	Southern Oregon
California Trail	Southern Oregon, California
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site	Western Oregon, Washington
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail	IL, MO, KS, IA, NE, SD, ND, MT, ID, OR, WA
Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks	Western Oregon, Washington
Nez Perce National Historical Park	MT, ID, OR, WA
Oregon Trail	MO, KS, NE, WY, ID, OR

Oregon's geography may be split roughly into eight areas:

The mountainous regions of western Oregon, home to four of the most prominent mountain peaks of the United States including Mount Hood, were formed by the volcanic activity of Juan de Fuca Plate, a tectonic plate that poses a continued threat of volcanic activity and earthquakes in the region. The most recent major activity was the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. (Washington's Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, an event which was visible from Oregon.)

The Columbia River, which forms much of the northern border of Oregon, also played a major role in the region's geological evolution, as well as its economic and cultural development. The Columbia is one of North America's largest rivers, and one of two rivers to cut through the Cascades (the Klamath River in Southern Oregon is the other). About 15,000 years ago, the Columbia repeatedly flooded much of Oregon during the Missoula Floods; the modern fertility of the Willamette Valley is largely a result of those floods. Plentiful salmon made parts of the river, such as Celilo Falls, hubs of economic activity for thousands of years. In the 20th century, numerous hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia, with major impacts on salmon, transportation and commerce, electric power, and flood control.

Today, Oregon's landscape varies from rain forest in the Coast Range to barren desert in the southeast, which still meets the technical definition of a frontier.

Oregon is 295 miles (475 km) north to south at longest distance, and 395 miles (636 km) east to west at longest distance. In land and water area, Oregon is the ninth largest state, covering 98,381 square miles (254,810 km²).^[24] The highest point in Oregon is the summit of Mount Hood, at 11,239 feet (3,426 m), and its lowest point is sea level of the Pacific Ocean along the Oregon coast.^[25] Its mean elevation is 3,300 feet (1,006 m). Crater Lake National Park is the state's only national park and the site of Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the U.S. at 1,943 feet (592 m).^[26] Oregon claims the D River is the shortest river in the world,^[27] though the American state of Montana makes the same claim of its Roe River.^[28]

Oregon is also home to Mill Ends Park (in Portland),^[29] the smallest park in the world at 452 square inches (0.29 m²). Oregon's geographical center is farther west than that of any of the other 48 contiguous states (although the westernmost point of the lower 48 states is in Washington). Its antipodes, diametrically opposite its geographical center on the Earth's surface, is at 44°00′S 59°30′E / 44°S 59.5°E / -44; 59.5 in the Indian Ocean northwest of Port-aux-Français in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. Oregon lies in two time zones. Most of Malheur County is in the Mountain Time Zone while the rest of the state lies in the Pacific Time Zone.

Oregon is home to what is considered the largest single organism in the world, an Armillaria solidipes fungus beneath the Malheur National Forest of eastern Oregon.^[30]

Images of Oregon
Mount Hood, with Trillium Lake in the foreground
An aerial view of Crater Lake in Oregon
Sunset over Malheur Butte, an extinct volcanic cinder cone near Ontario, Oregon.
Portland
Downtown Eugene as seen from Skinner Butte in North Eugene
Map of Oregon's population density
Nearly half of Oregon's land is held by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.^[31]
Willamette Valley basin map

Major cities [link]

Most Populous Cities
City	Population (2010 US Census)^[32]
1. Portland	583,776
2. Eugene	156,185
3. Salem	154,637
4. Gresham	105,594
5. Hillsboro	91,611
6. Beaverton	89,803
7. Bend	76,639
8. Medford	74,907
9. Springfield	59,403
10. Corvallis	54,462
11. Albany	50,158
12. Tigard	48,035

Further information: List of cities and unincorporated communities in Oregon

Oregon's population is largely concentrated in the Willamette Valley, which stretches from Eugene in the south (home of the University of Oregon) through Corvallis (home of Oregon State University) and Salem (the capital) to Portland (Oregon's largest city).^[32]

Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River, was the first permanent English-speaking settlement west of the Rockies in what is now the United States. Oregon City, at the end of the Oregon Trail, was the Oregon Territory's first incorporated city, and was its first capital from 1848 until 1852, when the capital was moved to Salem. Bend, near the geographic center of the state, is one of the ten fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States.^[33] In the southern part of the state, Medford is a rapidly growing metro area, which is home to The Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, the third-busiest airport in the state. To the south, near the California-Oregon border, is the community of Ashland, home of the Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Climate [link]

Main article: Climate of Oregon

Oregon's climate – particularly in the western part of the state – is heavily influenced by the Pacific Ocean. The climate is mild, but periods of extreme hot and cold can affect parts of the state. Oregon's population centers, which lie mostly in the western part of the state, are moist and mild, while the lightly populated high deserts of Central and Eastern Oregon are much drier. Oregon's highest recorded temperature is 119 °F (48 °C) at Pendleton on August 10, 1898, and the lowest recorded temperature is −54 °F (−48 °C) at Seneca on February 10, 1933.

Governance [link]

The flags of the United States and Oregon flown side-by-side in downtown Portland.

A writer in the Oregon Country book A Pacific Republic, written in 1839, predicted the territory was to become an independent republic. Four years later, in 1843, settlers of the Willamette Valley voted in majority for a republic government.^[34] The Oregon Country functioned in this way until August 13, 1848, when Oregon was annexed by the United States and a territorial government was established. Oregon maintained a territorial government until February 14, 1859, when it was granted statehood.^[35]

State [link]

Federal [link]

Like all US states, Oregon is represented by two U.S. Senators. Since the 1980 census, Oregon has had five Congressional districts.

After Oregon was admitted to the Union, it began with a single member in the House of Representatives (La Fayette Grover, who served in the 35th United States Congress for less than a month). Congressional apportionment increased the size of the delegation following the censuses of 1890, 1910, 1940, and 1980. A detailed list of the past and present Congressional delegations from Oregon is available.

The United States District Court for the District of Oregon hears federal cases in the state. The court has courthouses in Portland, Eugene, Medford, and Pendleton. Also in Portland is the federal bankruptcy court, with a second branch in Eugene.^[42] Oregon (among other western states and territories) is in the 9th Court of Appeals. One of the court's meeting places is at the Pioneer Courthouse in downtown Portland, a National Historic Landmark built in 1869.

Politics [link]

Main article: Politics of Oregon

**Presidential elections results**^[43]
Year	Republican	Democratic
2008	40.40% 738,475	56.75% 1,037,291
2004	47.19% 866,831	51.35% 943,163
2000	46.46% 713,577	47.01% 720,342
1996	39.06% 538,152	47.15% 649,641
1992	32.53% 475,757	42.48% 621,314
1988	46.61% 560,126	51.28% 616,206
1984	55.91% 685,700	43.74% 536,479
1980	48.33% 571,044	38.67% 456,890
1976	47.78% 492,120	47.62% 490,407
1972	52.45% 486,686	42.33% 392,760
1968	49.83% 408,433	43.78% 358,866
1964	35.96% 282,779	63.72% 501,017
1960	52.56% 408,060	47.32% 367,402
1956	55.25% 406,393	44.75% 329,204
1952	60.54% 420,815	38.93% 270,579

The state has been thought of as politically split by the Cascade Range, with western Oregon being liberal and Eastern Oregon being conservative. In a 2008 analysis of the 2004 presidential election, a political analyst found that according to the application of a Likert scale, Oregon boasted both the most liberal voters and the most conservative voters, making it the most politically polarized state in the country.^[44]

During Oregon's history it has adopted many electoral reforms proposed during the Progressive Era, through the efforts of William S. U'Ren and his Direct Legislation League. Under his leadership, the state overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in 1902 that created the initiative and referendum for citizens to introduce or approve proposed laws or amendments to the state constitution directly, making Oregon the first state to adopt such a system. Today, roughly half of U.S. states do so.^[45]

In following years, the primary election to select party candidates was adopted in 1904, and in 1908 the Oregon Constitution was amended to include recall of public officials. More recent amendments include the nation's first doctor-assisted suicide law,^[46] called the Death with Dignity law (which was challenged, unsuccessfully, in 2005 by the Bush administration in a case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court), legalization of medical cannabis, and among the nation's strongest anti-urban sprawl and pro-environment laws. More recently, 2004's Measure 37 reflects a backlash against such land-use laws. However, a further ballot measure in 2007, Measure 49, curtailed many of the provisions of 37.

Of the measures placed on the ballot since 1902, the people have passed 99 of the 288 initiatives and 25 of the 61 referendums on the ballot, though not all of them survived challenges in courts (see Pierce v. Society of Sisters, for an example). During the same period, the legislature has referred 363 measures to the people, of which 206 have passed.

Oregon pioneered the American use of postal voting, beginning with experimentation approved by the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 1981 and culminating with a 1998 ballot measure mandating that all counties conduct elections by mail. It remains the only state, with the exception of Washington, where voting by mail is the only method of voting.^[47]

Under the leadership of Governor John Kitzhaber in 1994, Oregon was the first state in the US to set up effective health care programs with the Oregon Health Plan, which made health care available to most of its citizens without private health insurance.

In the U.S. Electoral College, Oregon casts seven votes. Oregon has supported Democratic candidates in the last six elections. Democrat Barack Obama won the state in 2008 by a margin of sixteen percentage points, with over 56% of the popular vote.

Economy [link]

Main article: Economy of Oregon

A grain elevator in Halsey storing grass seed, one of the state's largest crops.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Oregon in 2010 was $168.6 billion, it is the United States's 26th wealthiest state by GDP. The state's per capita personal income in 2010 was $44,447.^[48]

Agriculture [link]

Land in the Willamette Valley owes its fertility to the Missoula Floods, which deposited lake sediment from Glacial Lake Missoula in western Montana onto the valley floor.^[49]

Oregon is also one of four major world hazelnut growing regions, and produces 95% of the domestic hazelnuts in the United States. While the history of the wine production in Oregon can be traced to before Prohibition, it became a significant industry beginning in the 1970s. In 2005, Oregon ranked third among U.S. states with 303 wineries.^[50] Due to regional similarities in climate and soil, the grapes planted in Oregon are often the same varieties found in the French regions of Alsace and Burgundy.

In the Southern Oregon coast commercially cultivated cranberries account for about 7 percent of U.S. production, and the cranberry ranks twenty-third among Oregon's top fifty agricultural commodities. From 2006 to 2008, Oregon growers harvested between forty and forty-nine million pounds of berries every year. Cranberry cultivation in Oregon uses about 27,000 acres in southern Coos and northern Curry counties, centered around the coastal city of Bandon, Oregon.

In the northeastern region of the state, particularly around Pendleton, both irrigated and dry land wheat is grown. Oregon farmers and ranchers also produce cattle, sheep, dairy products, eggs and poultry.

Forestry and fisheries [link]

Vast forests have historically made Oregon one of the nation's major timber production and logging states, but forest fires (such as the Tillamook Burn), over-harvesting, and lawsuits over the proper management of the extensive federal forest holdings have reduced the timber produced. According to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, between 1989 and 2001 the amount of timber harvested from federal lands dropped some 96%, from 4,333 million to 173 million board feet (10,000,000 to 408,000 m³), although harvest levels on private land have remained relatively constant.^[51]

Even the shift in recent years towards finished goods such as paper and building materials has not slowed the decline of the timber industry in the state. The effects of this decline have included Weyerhaeuser's acquisition of Portland-based Willamette Industries in January 2002, the relocation of Louisiana-Pacific's corporate headquarters from Portland to Nashville, and the decline of former lumber company towns such as Gilchrist. Despite these changes, Oregon still leads the United States in softwood lumber production; in 2001, 6,056 million board feet (14,000,000 m³) was produced in Oregon, compared with 4,257 million board feet (10,050,000 m³) in Washington, 2,731 million board feet (6,444,000 m³) in California, 2,413 million board feet (5,694,000 m³) in Georgia, and 2,327 million board feet (5,491,000 m³) in Mississippi.^[52] The slow of the timber and lumber industry has caused high unemployment rates in rural areas.^[53]

Oregon has one of the largest salmon-fishing industries in the world, although ocean fisheries have reduced the river fisheries in recent years.

Tourism [link]

Tourism is also a strong industry in the state. Oregon's mountains, forests, waterfalls, lakes (including Crater Lake National Park), and beaches draw visitors year round. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, held in Ashland, is a tourist draw for Southern Oregon.

Oregon ranks 4th nationally in craft breweries per capita.

Oregon is home to many breweries and Portland has the largest number of breweries of any city in the world.^[54]

Oregon occasionally hosts film shoots. Movies filmed in Oregon include: Animal House, Free Willy, The General, The Goonies, Kindergarten Cop, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Stand By Me. Oregon native Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has incorporated many references from his hometown of Portland into the TV series.^[55]

Technology [link]

High technology industries and services have been a major employer since the 1970s. Tektronix was the largest private employer in Oregon until the late 1980s. Intel's creation and expansion of several facilities in eastern Washington County continued the growth that Tektronix had started. Intel, the state's largest for-profit private employer, operates four large facilities, with Ronler Acres, Jones Farm and Hawthorn Farm all located in Hillsboro.^[56]

The spinoffs and startups that were produced by these two companies led to the establishment in that area of the so-called Silicon Forest. The recession and dot-com bust of 2001 hit the region hard; many high technology employers reduced the number of their employees or went out of business. Open Source Development Labs made news in 2004 when they hired Linus Torvalds, developer of the Linux kernel. Recently, biotechnology giant Genentech purchased several acres of land in Hillsboro to expand its production capabilities.^[57] Oregon is home to several large datacenters that take advantage of cheap power and a climate in Central Oregon conducive to reducing cooling costs. Google has a large datacenter in The Dalles; Facebook is building a datacenter in Prineville; and Amazon is restarting construction of a datacenter in Boardman.

Corporate headquarters [link]

Largest Public Corporations Headquartered in Oregon^[58]
Corporation	Headquarters	Market cap (million)
1. Nike, Inc.	near Beaverton	$32,039
2. Precision Castparts Corp.	Portland	$16,158
3. FLIR Systems	Wilsonville	$4,250
4. StanCorp Financial Group	Portland	$2,495
5. Schnitzer Steel Industries	Portland	$1,974
6. Portland General Electric	Portland	$1,737
7. Columbia Sportswear	near Beaverton	$1,593
8. Northwest Natural Gas	Portland	$1,287
9. Mentor Graphics	Wilsonville	$976
10. TriQuint Semiconductor	Hillsboro	$938

Oregon is also the home of large corporations in other industries. The world headquarters of Nike, Inc. are located near Beaverton. Medford is home to Harry and David, which sells gift items under several brands. Medford is also home to the national headquarters of the Fortune 1000 company, Lithia Motors. Portland is home to one of the West's largest trade book publishing houses, Graphic Arts Center Publishing.

Employment [link]

As of April 2011, the state's unemployment rate is 9.5%.^[59] Oregon's largest for-profit employer is Intel, located in the Silicon Forest area on Portland's west side. Intel was the largest employer in Oregon until 2008. As of January 2009, the largest employer in Oregon is Providence Health & Services, a non-profit.^[60]

Taxes and budgets [link]

Oregon's biennial state budget, $42.4 billion as of 2007, comprises General Funds, Federal Funds, Lottery Funds, and Other Funds. Personal income taxes account for 88% of the General Fund's projected funds.^[61] The Lottery Fund, which has grown steadily since the lottery was approved in 1984, exceeded expectations in the 2007 fiscal years, at $604 million.^[62]

Oregon is one of only five states that have no sales tax.^[63] Oregon voters have been resolute in their opposition to a sales tax, voting proposals down each of the nine times they have been presented.^[64] The last vote, for 1993's Measure 1, was defeated by a 72–24% margin.^[65]

The state also has a minimum corporate tax of only $10 a year, amounting to 5.6% of the General Fund in the 2005–2007 biennium; data about which businesses pay the minimum is not available to the public.^[66] As a result, the state relies on property and income taxes for its revenue. Oregon has the fifth highest personal income tax in the nation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Oregon ranked 41st out of the 50 states in taxes per capita in 2005.^[67] The average paid of $1,791.45 is higher than only nine other states.^[67]

Some local governments levy sales taxes on services: the city of Ashland, for example, collects a 5% sales tax on prepared food.^[68]

Oregon is one of six states with a revenue limit.^[69] The "kicker law" stipulates that when income tax collections exceed state economists' estimates by 2% or more, any excess must be returned to taxpayers.^[70] Since the enactment of the law in 1979, refunds have been issued for seven of the eleven biennia.^[71] In 2000, Ballot Measure 86 converted the "kicker" law from statute to the Oregon Constitution, and changed some of its provisions.

Federal payments to county governments, which were granted to replace timber revenue when logging in National Forests was restricted in the 1990s, have been under threat of suspension for several years. This issue dominates the future revenue of rural counties, which have come to rely on the payments in providing essential services.^[72]

55 percent of state revenues are spent on public education, 23% on human services (child protective services, Medicaid, and senior services), 17% on public safety, and 5% on other services.^[73]

Demographics [link]

Population [link]

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1850	12,093	—
1860	52,465	333.8%
1870	90,923	73.3%
1880	174,768	92.2%
1890	317,704	81.8%
1900	413,536	30.2%
1910	672,765	62.7%
1920	783,389	16.4%
1930	953,786	21.8%
1940	1,089,684	14.2%
1950	1,521,341	39.6%
1960	1,768,687	16.3%
1970	2,091,533	18.3%
1980	2,633,156	25.9%
1990	2,842,321	7.9%
2000	3,421,399	20.4%
2010	3,831,074	12.0%
U.S. Census Bureau^[74]

Graph of Oregon's population growth from 1850–2010^[74]

File:Oregon county pop 2007.png

Source: Population Research Center^[75]

County population cartogram of Oregon.

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Oregon was 3,871,859 on July 1, 2011, a 1.06% increase since the 2010 United States Census.^[2]

As of the census of 2010,^[76] Oregon has a population of 3,831,074, which is an increase of 409,675, or 12%, since the year 2000. The population density is 39.9 persons per square mile. There are 1,675,562 housing units, a 15.3% increase over 2000. Among them, 90.7% are occupied.

Hispanics or Latinos make up 11.7% of the total population. Among those who are not Hispanic or Latino, 78.5% is "white alone," 1.7% is "black or African American alone," 1.1% is "American Indian or Alaska native alone," 3.6% is "Asian alone," 0.3% is "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander alone," 0.1% is "another race alone," and 2.9% is multiracial.

Of the state's total population, 22.6% was under age 18, and 77.4% were 18 or older.

The center of population of Oregon is located in Linn County, in the city of Lyons.^[77] More than 57% of the state's population lives in the Portland metropolitan area.^[78]

As of 2004, Oregon's population included 309,700 foreign-born residents (accounting for 8.7% of the state population).

Population Growth by County, 2000–2007. Green counties grew faster than the national average, while purple counties grew more slowly or, in a few cases, lost population.

Demographics of Oregon (csv)
By race	White	Black	AIAN*	Asian	NHPI*
2000 (total population)	93.45%	2.17%	2.54%	3.75%	0.48%
2000 (Hispanic only)	7.63%	0.17%	0.32%	0.10%	0.05%
2005 (total population)	92.95%	2.38%	2.44%	4.25%	0.50%
2005 (Hispanic only)	9.38%	0.24%	0.34%	0.11%	0.05%
Growth 2000–05 (total population)	5.85%	16.64%	2.45%	20.78%	10.87%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only)	3.63%	13.63%	0.62%	20.75%	10.26%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only)	30.84%	52.63%	15.25%	21.84%	16.42%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

The largest ancestry groups in the state are:^[79]

22.5% German
14.0% English
13.2% Irish
8.4% Scandinavian: (1.2% Danish, 3.1% Swedish, & 4.1% Norwegian American)
5.0% American
3.9% French
3.7% Italian
3.6% Scottish
2.7% Scots-Irish
2.6% Dutch
1.9% Polish
1.4% Russian
1.1% Welsh

The largest reported ancestry groups in Oregon are: German (22.5%), English (14.0%), Irish (13.2%), Scandinavian (8.4%) and American (5.0%). Approximately 62% of Oregon residents are wholly or partly of English, Welsh, Irish or Scottish ancestry. Most Oregon counties are inhabited principally by residents of Northwestern-European ancestry. Concentrations of Mexican-Americans are highest in Malheur and Jefferson counties.

The majority of the diversity in Oregon is in the Portland metropolitan area.

Future projections [link]

Projections from the U.S. Census Bureau show Oregon's population increasing to 4,833,918 by 2030, an increase of 41.3% compared to the state's population of 3,421,399 in 2000.^[80] The state's own projections forecast a total population of 5,425,408 in 2040.^[81]

Religious and secular communities [link]

Major religious affiliations of the people of Oregon are:^[82]

Christian — 67%
- Protestant — 47%
  - Evangelical — 30%
  - Mainline— 16%
  - Other Protestant — 1%
- Roman Catholic — 14%
- Latter Day Saint / Mormon — 5%
- Other Christian traditions — 1%
Unaffiliated — 27%
Buddhist — 2%
Jewish — 1%
Muslim — 0.5%
Other Religions — 2%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 348,239; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 104,312 (144,808 year-end 2007); and the Assemblies of God with 49,357.^[83]

In a 2009 Gallup poll, 69% of Oregonians identified themselves as being Christian.^[84] Most of the remainder of the population had no religious affiliation; the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) placed Oregon as tied with Nevada in fifth place of U.S. states having the highest percentage of residents identifying themselves as "non-religious", at 24 percent.^[85]^[86] Secular organizations include the Center for Inquiry (CFI), the Humanists of Greater Portland (HGP), and the United States Atheists (USA).

During much of the 1990s, a group of conservative Christians formed the Oregon Citizens Alliance, and unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation to prevent "gay sensitivity training" in public schools and legal benefits for homosexual couples.^[87]

Oregon also contains the largest community of Russian Old Believers to be found in the United States.^[88] The Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association is headquartered in Portland, and the New Age film What the Bleep Do We Know!? was filmed and had its premiere in Portland. There are an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 Muslims in Oregon.^[89]

Education [link]

Primary and secondary [link]

As of 2010, the state had 561,698 students in public primary and secondary schools.^[90] There were 197 public school districts at that time, served by 20 education service districts.^[90] The five largest school districts as of 2007 were: Portland Public Schools (46,262 students); Salem-Keizer School District (40,106); Beaverton School District (37,821); Hillsboro School District (20,401); and Eugene School District (18,025).^[91]

Colleges and universities [link]

The Memorial Union at OSU.

Public [link]

The Oregon University System supports seven public universities and one affiliate in the state. The University of Oregon in Eugene is Oregon's flagship liberal arts institution,^[92] and was the state's only nationally ranked university by U.S. News & World Report.^[93] Oregon State University is located in Corvallis and holds the distinction of being the state's flagship research university with top ranked programs in science, engineering, and agriculture. The university is also the state's highest ranking university/college in a world survey of academic merit.^[94]

The state's urban Portland State University has Oregon's largest enrollment. The state has three regional universities: Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Southern Oregon University in Ashland, and Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. The Oregon Institute of Technology has its campus in Klamath Falls. The quasi-public Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) includes medical, dental, and nursing schools, and graduate programs in biomedical sciences in Portland and a science and engineering school in Hillsboro. It rated 2nd among US best medical schools for primary care based on research by The Med School 100.^[95]

Oregon has historically struggled to fund higher education. Recently, Oregon has cut its higher education budget over 2002–2006 and now Oregon ranks 46th in the country in state spending per student. However, 2007 legislation forced tuition increases to cap at 3% per year, and funded the OUS far beyond the requested governor's budget.^[96]

The state also supports 17 community colleges.

Private [link]

Oregon is home to a wide variety of private colleges. The University of Portland and Marylhurst University are Catholic institutions in the Portland area. Reed College; Concordia University; Lewis & Clark College;Multnomah Bible College; Portland Bible College; Warner Pacific College; Cascade College; the National College of Natural Medicine; and Western Seminary, a theological graduate school; are also in Portland. Pacific University is in the Portland suburb of Forest Grove.

There are also private colleges farther south in the Willamette Valley. McMinnville has Linfield College, while nearby Newberg is home to George Fox University. Salem is home to two private schools: Willamette University (the state's oldest, established during the provisional period) and Corban University. Also located near Salem is Mount Angel Seminary, one of America's largest Roman Catholic seminaries. Eugene is home to three private colleges: Northwest Christian University, New Hope Christian College, and Gutenberg College.

People's Republic of China, Fujian Province – 1984^[107]
Republic of China, Taiwan – 1985^[107]
Japan, Toyama Prefecture – 1991^[107]^[108]
Republic of Korea, Jeollanam-do Province – 1996^[107]^[108]
Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan – 2005^[109]

References [link]

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External links [link]

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State of Oregon (official website)
Oregon Blue Book, the online version of the state's official directory and fact book
TravelOregon.com an official website of the Oregon Tourism Commission
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon State Databases, an annotated list, in wiki form, of searchable databases produced by Oregon state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association
Real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Oregon from the United States Geological Survey
Oregon Quickfacts from the United States Census Bureau
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Wikipedia topics related to Oregon

v t e State of Oregon

Salem (capital)

Topics	History Geography Climate People Governors Government Delegations Constitution Congress Ballot measures Elections Parks Fair Symbols Oregon Trail Rivers Misc.

Society	Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics

Regions	The Cascades Central Oregon Columbia Gorge Columbia Plateau Columbia River Eastern Oregon Harney Basin High Desert Inland Empire Mount Hood Corridor Oregon Coast Palouse Portland Metro Rogue Valley Southern Oregon Treasure Valley Tualatin Valley Western Oregon Willamette Valley

Metros	Bend-Redmond Coos Bay-North Bend Eugene-Springfield Medford-Ashland Portland Salem-Keizer

Cities	Albany Astoria Baker City Beaverton Brookings Coos Bay Corvallis Florence Grants Pass Gresham Hillsboro Hood River Independence Klamath Falls La Grande Lake Oswego Lakeview Madras McMinnville Milwaukie Monmouth Newberg Newport Ontario Oregon City Pendleton Prineville Roseburg Sandy The Dalles Tigard Tillamook Tualatin Umatilla West Linn Wilsonville Woodburn

Counties	Baker Benton Clackamas Clatsop Columbia Coos Crook Curry Deschutes Douglas Gilliam Grant Harney Hood River Jackson Jefferson Josephine Klamath Lake Lane Lincoln Linn Malheur Marion Morrow Multnomah Polk Sherman Tillamook Umatilla Union Wallowa Wasco Washington Wheeler Yamhill

v t e Political divisions of the United States

States	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Federal district	Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia)

Insular areas	American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands

Outlying islands	Bajo Nuevo Bank Baker Island Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Navassa Island Palmyra Atoll Serranilla Bank Wake Island

Preceded by Minnesota	List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on February 14, 1859 (33rd)	Succeeded by Kansas

Coordinates: 44°00′N 120°30′W / 44°N 120.5°W / 44; -120.5

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