Following the Oregon Trail into Oregon

Any Oregon real estate agent will tell you that real estate in Oregon comes with a great historical value, molded out of the sweat and determination of those that wanted a better way of life.

Even in modern times, it’s a long trek west along the old Oregon Trail from Missouri into Oregon, more than 2,000 miles depending on where you start. But the desire for Oregon real estate was so great during the middle of the 19th Century that thousands of American pioneers braved the uncertainties of traveling the enormous distance in a leaky, covered wagon, harsh desert and mountain conditions and temperature extremes, threats from Indians and wildlife, hunger and exhaustion to migrate to Oregon in search of a new home and a better life in the Great American West.

Thirst for Oregon Real Estate

In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis to explore the nation’s new acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase, which had nearly doubled the size of the U.S. overnight. Lewis picked William Clark as his partner and together they embarked on a legendary expedition to the Great Pacific Northwest and back, spending much time in what is now Oregon.

In 1810, the Astorians, outfitted by America’s first millionaire, John Jacob Astor, established the fur trading post of Fort Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia River on northwest Oregon’s rugged Pacific Coast. The Astorians’ route across the Great Plains and through the Rocky Mountains into Oregon turned out to be the most practical wagon route, even better than Lewis & Clark’s. The treacherous journey west amid harsh conditions discouraged many from attempting the Oregon Trail, but as reports came back east of Oregon as a fertile land with mighty rivers, lush forests and usable seaports, explorers and fur traders began to make the trek. By the 1830s, small groups of settlers, missionaries and military groups were also making the journey through what is now Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Idaho into Oregon.

Why the Oregon Trail Mattered

Before Lewis & Clark or the blazing of the Oregon Trail, the only way to get to the west coast of what is now the U.S. from major eastern cities such as New York was:

• Take a ship east across the Atlantic Ocean and then south around Cape Horn in Africa, past southern Asia and across the Pacific, a journey of 20,000 miles and a few months
• Or sail to the Central American country of Panama, then take an overland mule caravan across more than 100 miles of bug-infested jungle, hop on another ship and sail up the west coast (the Panama Canal was not completed until 1914)

After Lewis & Clark proved that there was a route to the Pacific and the Astorians revised the route, people began to speculate about the possibilities of moving West.

Elm Grove Expedition

In 1842, more than 100 pioneers, including women and children, set out from Elm Grove, Missouri along the Oregon Trail. When they finally arrived at Fort Vancouver, Washington, starving and exhausted, they were mercifully given food and farming equipment on credit so they could begin their new lives.

Free Real Estate

The pot of gold at the end of the Oregon Trail was free land. Beginning with the Great Migration of 1843, in which about 800 arrived at the Trail’s end, a person could claim up to 320 acres of free real estate in what is now Oregon and Washington. Oregon officially became a U.S. Territory in 1848 (when gold was discovered in California) and two years later, settlers could be granted only 160 acres of free land. A four-year residence and cultivation was required. By 1854, Oregon real estate was no longer free: it initially sold for $1.25 per acre.

Great Migration

The years between 1841 and 1869 were when the Oregon Trail was at its busiest. The completion of the transcontinental railroad made wagon travel much less practical.

According to a book, Oregon Trail Statistics by Walter E. Hill, only 13 people traveled the Oregon Trail in 1840, but the number jumped to 1,475 in 1844, nearly doubled the following year, and hit 4,000 in 1847. The pace slowed to 6,000 by 1850 and dipped to 3,600 in 1851, but spiked to 10,000 in 1852. Another 13,500 moved to Oregon in 1853 and 1854.

Oregon became a state in 1859 and had 52,465 residents in the 1860 census. By 1900, Oregon had grown to include more than 413,000 residents. Oregon hit the million mark in the mid-1930s and went over 2 million in population in the late 1960s. By the mid-1990s, Oregon had more than 3 million people. Today Oregon has more than 3.6 million residents. The state population is projected to grow to 3.8 million by 2010 and 4.8 million by 2030.

Desirable Oregon Real Estate

Portland, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers about 95 miles southeast of the state’s original settlement of Astoria, is Oregon’s largest city, with a population of 533,427 within the city limits and 2.3 million in the metropolitan area, nearly two-thirds of the state’s residents.

Other major Oregon cities include Salem, with a population of 148,751, and Eugene, with a population of 144,515. Smaller cities include: Gresham (96,072), Beaverton (85,775), Hillsboro (84,533), Medford (70,147), Bend (67,152), Springfield (55,641) and Corvallis (49,553).

Oregon has a projected growth in population of more than 30 percent over the next 25 years, which means that unlike the state’s original settlers, home buyers can find thousands of Oregon homes for sale at a full range of prices.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

You may also Subscribe to New Homes Real Estate Listings For Sale by Email Thanks for visiting!