January 27, 2009

did the santa fe and the oregon trail start at the same place?

santa fe
simplylissa23 asked:


i think someone said that they both started at st. louis but maybe not. if not, where did they start?

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January 29, 2009

redunicorn @ 2:38 pm

Sante Fe Trail
The eastern end of the trail was in the central Missouri town of Franklin on the north bank of the Missouri River. The route across Missouri first used by Becknell followed portions of the existing Osage Trace. West of Franklin the trail crossed the Missouri near Arrow Rock, after which it followed roughly the route of present-day U.S. Route 24. It passed north of Marshall, through Lexington to Fort Osage, then to Independence. Independence was also one of the historic “jumping off points” for the Oregon and California Trails.
West of Independence, in the State of Missouri, it roughly followed the route of U.S. Route 56 to the town of Olathe. The section of the trail between Independence and Olathe was also used by imigrants on the California and Oregon Trails, which branched off to the northwest near Gardner, Kansas.

Oregon Trail
On May 16, 1842, the first organized wagon train on the Oregon Trail set out from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers (members of the party later disagreed over the size of the party, one stating 160 adults and children were in the party, while another counted only 105). The party was led by Elijah White, appointed Indian Sub-Agent to Oregon, the first U.S. official in the region (never confirmed by Congress). Despite company policy to discourage U.S. emigration, John McLoughlin, Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, offered the American settlers food and farming equipment on credit, being unwilling to watch able-bodied people starve

January 31, 2009

Ryan the girl. @ 4:14 am

um wasn’t it Independence, Missouri?