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The Route of the Oregon Trail

TECHNICAL NOTE: You're looking at one of the maps from Emigrant Road, depicting the route of the Oregon Trail. These maps were created especially for the production by Darin Tompkins. Using computer graphics and satellite imagery, he created three-dimensional relief maps of the Oregon Trail and the surrounding areas. These images were then compressed, shipped via the internet and incorporated using a non-linear editing system.

The Oregon Trail, in its earliest years, started in the small town of Independence, Missouri, near Kansas City. From there, it stretched across 2,000 miles to Oregon City, in the Willamette Valley, just south of where Portland, Oregon, is today.

The "Road to Oregon" passed through parts of the present-day states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Over 400,000 people¹ followed portions of the Emigrant Road to find new lives in the west. They migrated west mostly during the 1840's through the 1860's.

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References:
1Merrill J. Mattes, "OCTA Revolution," Overland Journal, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Independence, Missouri: Oregon-California Trails Association, Winter 1995-6).

Additonal Image Credits:
Oregon Trail Map: Darin Tompkins

Produced by Southwind Productions