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 Grande Ronde Valley near present-day La Grande 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
Whitmans were killed by Native Americans
Whitman massacre
Oregon Trail