The Oregon Trail stretched for approximately 2,000 miles from the Missouri River to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon territory. It was the route by which American pioneers in the 1840's reached the Pacific Northwest, a wilderness that came to represent an untamed land of opportunity for those people trying to start a new life. These emigrants endured great hardships as they crossed the Rocky Mountains in covered wagons, with family and livestock in tow. A wagon train could consist of 1,000 men, women, and children, 3,000—4,000 head of cattle, and more than 100 wagons. The pioneers encountered terrible weather conditions, as well as death from disease and at the hands of some Native Americans already living in the territory. But, during the Civil War and afterwards, when the cross-country railroad made its appearance, traffic on the trail declined until wagon trains could no longer be seen.

Here, Leonard Everett Fisher tells the dramatic story of an important chapter in the western expansion of America in the nineteenth century.

From the dust jacket