North on I-84: La Grande and Pendleton: The Oregon Trail
Between the 1840s and 1870s, more than a quarter-million Americans journeyed by wagon train from the Midwest to Oregon in search of a new start. Ever since Lewis and Clark completed their successful survey of the Oregon Country (the coastal region between Russian Alaska and Spanish California) in 1806, the ideal of "manifest destiny" had both politicians and prospective settlers keen to see their country grow from coast to coast. The first migrants were also inspired by the missionaries who went to try to Christianize Native Americans in the 1830s, and who sent back glowing reports of the region's fine climate, fertile soil, dense forests, fish-rich rivers and absence of malaria.With the promise of generous land grants, in spring 1843 more than one thousand would-be migrants gathered at Independence and Westport on the banks of the Missouri, preparing for the " Great Migration ." The pioneers were a remarkably homogenous bunch, nearly all experienced farmers, traveling with their families in ox-pulled wagons with flimsy canvas roofs.
Traversing almost two thousand miles of what is now Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming and Idaho, the movers forced their wagons across rivers, over mountain passes and through virgin forests, pausing at the occasional army fort or missionary station to recuperate. They also bartered supplies with Native Americans in return for rafts and local knowledge. After three months on the trail, they arrived at what is now the town of The Dalles. From here the group had a difficult choice to make before reaching the lush Willamette Valley. Some people built rafts and risked the treacherous currents of the Columbia River, while others took the hazardous Barlow Road around Mount Hood, notorious for its swiftly changing weather.
Over the next thirty years further waves of settlers swelled the population of the Willamette Valley by fifty thousand, with others moving into Washington and California. The migration spawned a cottage industry of specialist suppliers and wagon builders, and traffic on the trail was such that the route was miles wide in parts. Inevitably, there are precious few surviving signs of the passing of the migrants, but they are commemorated by several museums, the best of which is near Baker City
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