 True to the then @-@ ideal of <unk> Destiny , over 500 @,@ 000 people set out from the river town of Independence , Missouri to their various destinations in the American West from the 1830s to the 1860s . These people had many reasons to embark on this strenuous year @-@ long journey – economic crisis , and later gold strikes including the California Gold Rush , for example . For most , the route took them up the Missouri to Omaha , Nebraska , where they would set out along the Platte River , which flows from the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado eastwards through the Great Plains . An early expedition led by Robert Stuart from 1812 to 1813 proved the Platte impossible to navigate by the <unk> canoes they used , let alone the large <unk> and <unk> that would later <unk> the Missouri in increasing numbers . One explorer remarked that the Platte was " too thick to drink , too thin to <unk> " . Nevertheless , the Platte provided an abundant and reliable source of water for the pioneers as they headed west . <unk> wagons , popularly referred to as prairie <unk> , provided the primary means of transport until the beginning of regular boat service on the river in the 1850s . 
