In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a journey of , following what came to be known as the Oregon Trail. About west of Kansas City, Missouri, three half-Kansas Indian sisters married to the French-Canadian Pappan brothers established a ferry service allowing travelers to cross the Kansas River at what is now Topeka. During the 1840s and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river, but little else was in the area.