The First Oregon Trail - Garden City, UT, USA
N 41° 58.509 W 111° 24.170
12T E 466625 N 4647095
This site, at the western shores of Bear Lake was part of the original Oregon Trail Route. It is located just south of the Utah/Idaho border, at the northern end of Garden City, Utah.
Waymark Code: WMG0WM
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 12/30/2012
Views: 5
This historical marker is located along Highway 89, on the west side of Bear Lake, at the north end of Garden City, near the Utah/Idaho border. It reads:
THE FIRST OREGON TRAIL
The first covered wagons came into the Rocky Mts. in 1830, they made their way as far west as Fort Washakie in Wyoming. Efforts were made to find passable wagon trails through the Mountains to the Pacific Coast, which goal was finally reached. At that time,
the entire northwest Mt. area was known as Oregon Country & western travel was either to the "Oregon" or the "California" regions. While early maps give the probable location of the first Oregon Trail north of here, well marked wagon ruts & stories of Indians & Settlers indicate that the first wagon migration to "Oregon" followed the Southwesterly shores of Bear Lake. Leaving this valley through a canyon to the Northwest, then to the upper reaches of the Bear River. Additional color is given this belief because this was the site of an important trappers' rendezvous as early as 1827, & well marked trails were followed for many years in & out of this valley.
"As early as 1811 and from the early to mid 1830s and particularly through the epoch years 1836–1869 the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers, ranchers, farmers, miners, and businessmen and their families." (
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The Oregon Trail proceeded over 2,170 miles from Missouri to Oregon. The trail was still in use during the Civil War, but traffic declined after 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was completed. However, in its more than 25 years of regular use, the trail caried an estimated 300,000 emigrants to the vast west, a trip that took about five months to complete.