01Summary
The end of the Oregon Trail, at the falls of the Willamette River. Many emigrants spent their first winter here, then claimed farmland in the Willamette Valley.
02History
Oregon City grew up beside Willamette Falls, just south of present-day Portland. John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company claimed the site in 1829 to use the falls' water power, and in 1844 it became the first American city west of the Rocky Mountains to incorporate. It was the seat of Oregon's provisional government and then the capital of Oregon Territory until 1851.
For most emigrants this was the end of the road. Many spent their first winter camped at Abernethy Green on the edge of town, looked over the valley for land, and bought supplies in town. The Barlow Road, which from 1846 carried most wagons over the Cascades, led here too.
Land was the great draw. The provisional government's land law of 1843 let a settler claim up to 640 acres, and the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 confirmed such claims: 320 acres for a white man who had arrived by December 1, 1850, and 320 more for his wife. Later arrivals could claim half as much until 1855. By then about 7,000 settlers had claimed some 2.5 million acres. The law shut out Black and Hawaiian settlers, and it took land from the Native peoples who lived there.
03Today
The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center stands at Abernethy Green, where two monuments mark the trail's official end. John McLoughlin's house, built in the mid-1840s and later moved to save it, is part of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
04People connected here
05Stops nearby
The Oregon Trail ran about 2,170 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City. The stops just before and after this one are below. You can also find Oregon City on the interactive map.