...The Oregon Trail was one of the main overland migration routes on the North American continent, leading from locations on the Missouri River to the Oregon Country. The eastern half of the trail was also used by travelers on the California Trail, Bozeman Trail, and Mormon Trail which used much of the same trail before turning off to their separate destinations. To complete the journey in one traveling season most travelers left in April to May—as soon as grass was growing enough to support their teams and the trails dried out. To meet the constant needs for water, grass, and fuel for campfires the trail followed various rivers and streams across the continent. The network of trails required a minimum of road work to be made passable for wagons. People using the trail traveled in wagons, pack trains, on horseback, on foot, by raft, and by boat to establish new farms, lives, and businesses in the Oregon Country. This territory in the early 19th century was subject to competing claims by the United States and Britain, who had come to an arrangement usually described as "joint occupancy"; Britain's name for the region was the Columbia District, referring to the local regional department of the Hudson's Bay Company. Read full entry

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