<P> The Oregon Trail was laid by fur traders and traders from about 1811 to 1840 , and was only passable on foot or by horseback . By 1836 , when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence , Missouri , a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall , Idaho . Wagon trails were cleared increasingly farther west , and eventually reached all the way to the Willamette Valley in Oregon , at which point what came to be called the Oregon Trail was complete , even as almost annual improvements were made in the form of bridges , cutoffs , ferries , and roads , which made the trip faster and safer . From various starting points in Iowa , Missouri , or Nebraska Territory , the routes converged along the lower Platte River Valley near Fort Kearny , Nebraska Territory and led to rich farmlands west of the Rocky Mountains . </P>
<P> The Oregon Trail was laid by fur traders and traders from about 1811 to 1840 , and was only passable on foot or by horseback . By 1836 , when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence , Missouri , a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall , Idaho . Wagon trails were cleared increasingly farther west , and eventually reached all the way to the Willamette Valley in Oregon , at which point what came to be called the Oregon Trail was complete , even as almost annual improvements were made in the form of bridges , cutoffs , ferries , and roads , which made the trip faster and safer . From various starting points in Iowa , Missouri , or Nebraska Territory , the routes converged along the lower Platte River Valley near Fort Kearny , Nebraska Territory and led to rich farmlands west of the Rocky Mountains . </P>
where did the oregon trail start and stop
where did the oregon trail start and stop
Independence , Missouri the Willamette Valley in Oregon
Independence , Missouri the Willamette Valley in Oregon