Over the years, in my travels, I’ve come across portions of the Oregon trail. Where possible, roadside markers indicate the exact location of this famous emigrant route. You look and see two ruts where the wagon wheels traveled. There must have been a lot of wagons traveling the road to embed such tracks.

We called them Pioneers who traveled the road. there were a mix of settlers, trappers, and gold seekers using the road. It ran over 2,000 miles and split three ways; north, South, and to utah. There is an official end and beginning.

I had read that the oregon trail ended in The Dalles, Oregon. Here was the end of the road. Why not end at the coast? that was their intent however the columbia gorge prevented further travel by land. From the dalles westward they had to load up rafts and float down the river to the coast.

While in the Dalles, we stumbled upon the official end of the oregon trail. A simple stone in a park. The inscription reads:

end of the Old

oregon Trail

1843 – 1906

On this same road trip we found ourselves in Independence, Missouri. I didn’t know the oregon trail starting point is here. After some google searching, I located a historic marker commemorating the beginning of the trail. It was located at the truman courthouse in downtown independence, not far from the harry truman home.

We spent two nights in The dalles and two in Independence. However, visiting the start and finish of the oregon trail was not planned. To me, it puts this history in perspective. I understand the end from the beginning. But In-between is where the real stories are; crossing the great american desert. what an event in these pioneer’s lives. what drove them to attempt such a quest? but they did and the west was conquered. We now have a country that spans coast to coast. How this occurred and the memory of those bad days are there if you look closely.