The Oregon Trail is a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) historic East–West, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of the future state of Kansas, and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the future states of Idaho and Oregon.
Elgin is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,711 at the 2010 census. The community is named after the Lady Elgin, a ship lost on Lake Michigan.
The Blue Mountains are a mountain range in the western United States, located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into southeastern Washington. The range has an area of 4,060 square miles (10,500 km2), stretching east and southeast of Pendleton, Oregon, to the Snake River along the Oregon-Idaho border. The Blue Mountains cover eight counties in Oregon and Washington; they are Union, Umatilla, Grant, Baker, and Wallowa counties in Oregon, and Walla Walla, Columbia and Garfield counties in Washington. They are home to the world's largest organism and fungal mycelial mat, the Armillaria ostoyae. The Blue Mountains were so named due to the color of the mountains when seen from a distance.
Meek Cutoff was a covered wagon road that branched off the Oregon Trail in northeastern Oregon and was used as an alternate emigrant route to the Willamette Valley in the mid-19th century. The road was named for frontiersman Stephen Meek, who was hired to lead the first wagon train along it in 1845. The journey was a particularly hard one, and many of the pioneers lost their lives.
The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of 1,143 miles (1,839 km) of track running east from Portland, Oregon, United States to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. The railroad operated from 1896 as a consolidation of several smaller railroads.
State Route 125 (SR 125) is a state highway in Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. It travels 24 miles (39 km) south from the city of Walla Walla to the Oregon state border and north to a junction with SR 124 near Prescott. The highway continues south towards Pendleton, Oregon, as OR 11. SR 125 also has a spur route in Walla Walla that connects it to an interchange with U.S. Route 12 (US 12).
The Oregon Steam Navigation Company (O.S.N.) was an American company incorporated in 1860 in Washington with partners J. S. Ruckle, Henry Olmstead, and J. O. Van Bergen. It was incorporated in Washington because of a lack of corporate laws in Oregon, though it paid Oregon taxes.
The Colonel Wright was the first steamboat to operate on the Columbia River above The Dalles in the parts of the Oregon Country that later became the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. She was the first steamboat to run on the Snake River. She was named after Colonel George Wright, an army commander in the Indian Wars in the Oregon Country in the 1850s. She was generally called the Wright during her operating career.
James D. Miller was a steamboat captain in the Pacific Northwest from 1851 to 1903. He became well known for his long length of service, the large number of vessels he commanded, and the many different geographical areas in which he served.
The Grande Ronde Valley is a valley in Union County in northeastern Oregon, United States. It is surrounded by the Blue Mountains, and is drained by the Grande Ronde River. La Grande is its largest community. The valley is 35 miles (56 km) long, north to south, from Pumpkin Ridge to Pyles Canyon, and 15 miles (24 km) wide, east to west, from Cove to the Grande Ronde River's canyon. Its name, fittingly, means, "great circle."
Tollgate is an unincorporated community in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. It lies between Weston and Elgin on Oregon Route 204.
The Tenino was the second steamboat to run on the Columbia River above Celilo Falls and on the Snake River. Following a reconstruction or major salvage in 1876 this vessel was named the New Tenino.
The Carrie Ladd was an important early steamboat on the lower Columbia and lower Willamette rivers. The vessel established the basic design of the Columbia River steamboat, which was later used throughout the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, Alaska, and the Yukon.
Hilgard is an unincorporated community in Union County, Oregon, United States, at the junction of Oregon Route 244 with Interstate 84/U.S. Route 30, near the Grande Ronde River. It is also the site of a junction (wye) of the Union Pacific Railroad. Hilgard Junction State Recreation Area is across the river from the community.
The history of rail in Oregon predates the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
Colonel Joseph S. Ruckle was a businessman who moved to Oregon in 1855.
Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage Trail, was a major land route for immigration into California from the eastern United States that followed the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico during the California Gold Rush. Unlike the more northern routes, pioneer wagons could travel year round, mountain passes not being blocked by snows, however it had the disadvantage of summer heat and lack of water in the desert regions through which it passed in New Mexico Territory and the Colorado Desert of California. Subsequently, it was a route of travel and commerce between the eastern United States and California. Many herds of cattle and sheep were driven along this route and it was followed by the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line in 1857-1858 and then the Butterfield Overland Mail from 1858 - 1861.
The Oregon Portage Railroad was the first railroad in the U.S. state of Oregon. It originally ran for 4.5 miles (7.2 km), with an accompanying 7 miles (11 km) of telegraph line, and was later extended to a length of 15 miles (24 km). The railroad was located on the south bank of the Cascades canal of the Columbia River. It ran from Tanner Creek to the Cascade Locks, which were under construction in the later years of the railroad's operation. Although the Oregon Portage was the first railroad in Oregon, it was not the first along the Columbia River. Francis A. Chenoweth operated a rail line on the river's north bank in present-day Washington in 1851.
Enoch Steen was a United States military officer and western explorer. He joined the United States Army in 1832, serving at posts throughout the United States, including many remote locations in the west. During his military service, Steen explored parts of the western United States including large areas of southern New Mexico and southeastern Oregon. He served as the commander of several Union Army forts during the American Civil War. Today, there are landmarks in Oklahoma, Oregon, and New Mexico named in his honor; however, many of the place names are misspelled as Stein.
