APPENDIX I 



HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE OREGON/MORMON 

 PIONEER NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL ROUTES 



The following historical overview of the Oregon 

 and Mormon Trails was written for the Wyoming 

 Recreation Commission by Robert Rosenberg, a 

 historian employed by Cultural Research and 

 Management, Inc. It provides an excellent 

 historical overview of the great migration along 

 the Oregon and Mormon Trails to Oregon, 

 California, and the Great Basin. It is used here 

 with permission from Gary Stephenson, State 

 Trails Coordinator with the Wyoming Recreation 

 Commission. 



"The Oregon Trail, designated a National Historic Trail by 

 Congress in 1978, was the principal travel corridor for the 

 great 19th century westward migration to the Pacific Coast. 

 The trail completely traverses the state of Wyoming from east 

 to west, and numerous trail-related sites, landmarks, and 

 pristine trail segments still remain. The Oregon Trial was 

 originally blazed by legions of fur trappers and traders who 

 were following the well-worn trails of the Native American 

 Indian. The fur trappers discovered South Pass, the principal 

 mountain gateway for the coming migration, and proved the 

 trail's applicability to wagon travel. Missionaries followed the 

 fur trappers along trails west to live among the Indians, 

 attempting to Christianize and 'civilize' them. Emigrants 

 followed, at first a trickle, bound for Oregon to escape social 

 upheaval, poverty, depressed farm prices, and to find a place 

 to start anew. These early settlers helped tip the balance in 

 favor of American acquisition of Oregon from England in 1846, 

 maintaining the nation's steady growth westward to the Pacific 

 Ocean. The Oregon Trail became the chief central route across 

 the trans-Mississippi West, carrying the beginning of the 

 Mormon migration to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and the 

 hordes of gold seekers to California in 1849. The migration 

 hastened the demise of the culture of the Native American 

 Indian through military suppression and the reservation 

 system. In addition to emigrant travel, the Oregon Trail corridor 

 became the route for the first transcontinental telegraph, the 

 Pony Express, and the federal overland mail. It was along this 

 corridor that gold was discovered at South Pass, and men 

 learned that livestock could successfully winter over on the 

 high plains grasses of Wyoming. The Oregon Trail, then, helped 

 spawn two of Wyoming's most important industries; mining 

 and ranching. This corridor, which included many cutoffs and 

 variations and the associated north-south secondary 

 transportation routes emanating from it such as the Bozeman 

 and Bridger Trails, opened up the interior of Wyoming to 

 eventual exploitation and settlement. It continued to serve as 

 a main transportation artery even after the construction of 

 the transcontinental railroad in 1869, carrying emigrants both 

 east and west, cattle, sheep and horses from Oregon and 

 California, and regional and local traffic into the early 20th 

 century. The history of the Oregon Trail is a history of the 

 settlement of the western United States and the fulfillment 

 of the policy of Manifest Destiny as America expanded from 

 shore to shore in the 19th century. 



"The origins of the Oregon Trail can be traced to America's 

 early interest in the Trans-Mississippi West as a result of the 

 Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804 to 1806. which explored 

 the Louisiana Purchase obtained by the United States from 

 France in 1803. Although their route was far to the north (from 

 the headwaters of the Missouri River overland to the Columbian 



River) and was unsuitable as a major emigration route, reports 

 and journals published by the expedition drew the attention 

 of the American people to a vast western region of virtually 

 untapped and unlimited natural resources. It also established 

 a claim for the United States that would prove valuable in 

 later negotiations concerning the Oregon country, the early 

 goal of the westward migration. 



"Even before the return of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 

 large British fur companies had been attracted to the Northern 

 Rockies in Canada and the Pacific Northwest. The Hudson's 

 Bay Company and the Montreal-based North West Company 

 were well established in the region before American fur 

 trappers began exploiting the Louisiana Purchase. In 1810, 

 John Jacob Aster, founder of the American Fur Company, 

 conducted the first well organized assault upon the British 

 dominance of the western fur trade. He dispatched two 

 expeditions to the mouth of the Columbia River to establish 

 the headquarters of an envisioned chain of trading posts 

 stretching from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean. The 

 first expedition traveled by sea and founded the headquarters 

 settlement of Astoria in April 1811. The second party was led 

 overland by Wilson Price Hunt, who attempted to find a more 

 southerly alternative to the route taken by Lewis and Clark, 

 due to fear of the Blackfeet Indians. The party entered present- 

 day Wyoming from the northeast corner near the great bend 

 of the Belle Fourche River, continued southwesterly across 

 the Bighorn Mountains and followed the Bighorn River 

 southward. In the vicinity of Dubois, they found a well-worn 

 Indian trail leading into the Wind River Mountains, crossing 

 at Union Pass. They entered the upper Green River Valley 

 in mid-September and left Wyoming via the Hoback River and 

 Teton Pass. 



"More important to American westward expansion was the 

 expedition led by Robert Stuart in 1812. Traveling east from 

 Astoria, Stuart entered the present confines of Wyoming via 

 Teton Pass and descended the Green River after taking a 

 circuitous route along the Bear River, Greys River, and back 

 down the Snake, attempting to avoid a party of Crow Indians. 

 A friendly Shoshoni had told Stuart about a better crossing 

 of the Wind River Range to the south. Still attempting to elude 

 a large Crow war party, he detoured south and crossed the 

 Divide in the South Pass area. Stuart is generally credited 

 with the discovery of that great gate of the westward migration. 

 He continued east along the North Platte River, camping near 

 Casper, Wyoming, and Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He not only 

 discovered South Pass but traveled from west to east along 

 a large portion of what would become the Oregon Trail. 



"After its initial discovery. South Pass remained in obscurity 

 until 1824 when it was 'rediscovered' by an Ashley party led 

 by Jedediah Smith, who was looking for a westward crossing 

 of the Wind River Range in winter. Thereafter, the pass was 

 commonly used by mountain men and became well known 

 to the general public. In 1830, Smith, David E. Jackson, and 

 William L. Sublette led a caravan of wagons loaded with trade 

 goods along the eastern portion of the Oregon Trail as far 

 as South Pass. They did not cross the pass, but proved that 

 the route was feasible for wagon migration to that point. In 

 1832, Captain Benjamin L.E. Bonneville led the first wagons 

 across South Pass into the Green River Basin, proving the 

 practicality of the pass for wagon travel. Thus, the fur trappers 

 and traders had not only discovered the essential Oregon Trail 

 corridor, but proved its ability to accommodate wagon traffic. 



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