oregon trail

noun

1. a route used during the U.S. westward migrations, especially in the period from 1840 to 1860, starting in Missouri and ending in Oregon. About 2000 miles (3200 km) long.

noun

1. an early pioneering route across the central US, from Independence, W Missouri, to the Columbia River country of N Oregon: used chiefly between 1804 and 1860. Length: about 3220 km (2000 miles)

The route over which settlers traveled to Oregon in the 1840s and 1850s; trails branched off from it toward Utah and California. The Oregon Trail passed through what is now Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho.