Effects and Processes of the Oregon Trail

By Kalie Zumalt

The Oregon Trail passed through the states we now know as Kansas, Oregon, Nebraska, Idaho, Missouri, and Wyoming. Some emigrants went west on the trail in search of farmland in Willamette Valley and others went to California in search of gold but , the trail was originally used by trappers, traders, and Indians to get to and from their destinations.The trail was a total of about 2,000 miles from Independence , Missouri to Portland , Oregon.

In 1843 the great migration west began starting with over a thousand people and within three years the amount nearly tripled to about 3,000. The California Trail was linked to the Oregon Trail. People followed the Oregon Trail to get to Utah or California. The glory years of the Oregon Trail finally ended in 1869 , when the transcontinental railroad was completed. The trail was completely abandone by the 1870 's. Over a time span of twenty - five years half a million people went and completed the trail west.

The places we now know as Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, and Utah would probably not be apart of the United States if not for the Oregon Trail because the trail was the only way for settlers to get across mountains without it, most of Western America would likely be apart of Canada or even Mexico today.

Bibliographies

The Readers Companion January 1, 1991

Young Students Literature Library January '96

www.isu.edu/~trinmich/introduction

Groiler Electronical Encyclopedia 1995