We had no highway across the Rocky Mountains from Missouri to Oregon. but once the American mind was inflmed with the need of saving the Oregon country we had the men who could make such a trail. From Independence. Mo.. tte trappers and teamsters led the emigrants westward 40 miles and then struck boldly toward the Northwest across 2.000 miles of virgin wilderness. At the place where the Oregon Trail branched off from the Santa Fe Trail. a little west of the Missouri border. there appeared a single guidepost with the words "Road to Oregon " written thereon. It was in tills offhand way that the immigrant was informed that 2.000 miles away. over the course of the Rockies. through the long deserts. and across the Sierras lay the wonderful empire of the lower Columbia. In 1842 a thousand emigrants crossed from Independence to .Oregon. in 1843. 2.000. In 1844 the Nation was aroused by the battle cry of " Fiftyfourforty or fight! " and before another year had rolled around Senator Benton had concluded his treaty with Great Britain. established the present line of Canada. and given us the three great States of Washington. Oregon. and Idaho.
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immigrant emigrants