What pioneer trail started in Independence, Missouri and ended in the Willamette Valley?
Willamette River attracted thousands of settlers from the eastern United States, mainly the Upland South borderlands of Missouri, Iowa, and the Ohio Valley. Many of these emigrants followed the Oregon Trail, a trail across western North America that began at Independence, Missouri, and ended at various locations near the mouth of the Willamette River. Although people had been traveling to Oregon since 1836, large-scale migration did not begin until 1843, when nearly 1,000 pioneers headed westward. Over the next 25 years, some 500,000 settlers traveled the Oregon Trail, braving the rapids of the Snake and Columbia Rivers to reach the Willamette Valley.
Willamette Valley 1818, ended in 1846 with the Oregon Treaty. The Willamette Valley was connected to California's Central Valley by the Siskiyou Trail. The first European settlements in the valley were at Oregon City and Champoeg. The first institution of higher learning on the West Coast, today's Willamette University, was founded in the valley at Salem by Jason Lee, one of the many Oregon missionaries who settled in the valley. Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley () is a long valley in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley, and it is