Oregoner: Setting
Oregoner takes you along the Oregon Trail of the Old West. The year is (insert year here) and you are a pioneer, traveling with a wagon train down the trail to Oregon. Everyone's reasons for being on the trail are different - perhaps you are traveling with your family to start a new life, perhaps you are running away from an old life that went wrong. Maybe you hope to make your fortune- or you just want to see some wide open spaces.
At any rate, the journey will take a while - four or five months if you're quick. Take too long, and you run the risk of unfortunate incidents like what happened to the Donner party. But don't let that worry you none - there's plenty of game to hunt along the way - and you did bring supplies, didn't you?
The Journey Begins: Independence, MO
For many years Independence was the most popular “jumping off” point on the Oregon Trail. Here the emigrants stocked up on supplies and prepared their wagons. There was generally a festive air in Independence in the spring. The newcomers collected information and misinformation, made friends and enemies, changed proposed destinations, and behaved in general as though they were on a picnic.
Because of the fear of Indian attacks (which was largely unfounded), emigrants often tried organize a traveling party here, because no one wanted to head west alone. When a wagon “train” had been assembled, a quasi-military organization was often formed.
Independence was originally inhabited by Missouri and Osage Indians, followed by the Spanish and a brief French tenure. It became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Lewis and Clark recorded in their journals that they stopped in 1804 to pick plums, raspberries, and wild apples at a site that would later form part of the city.
Independence was founded on March 29, 1827 and quickly became an important frontier town. Independence was the farthest point westward on the Missouri River where steamboats or other cargo vessels could travel, due to the convergence of the Kansas River with the Missouri River approximately six miles west of town, near the current Kansas-Missouri border. Independence immediately became a jumping-off point for the emerging fur trade, accommodating merchants and adventurers beginning the long trek westward.
In 1831, members of the Latter Day Saint movement began moving to the Jackson County, Missouri area. Shortly thereafter, Joseph Smith, Jr., their prophet, declared a spot just west of Courthouse Square to be the place for his prophesied temple of the New Jerusalem, in expectation of the Second Coming of Christ. Tension grew with local Missourians until finally the Latter-Day Saints were driven from the area. Several branches of this movement would gradually return to the city, with many making their headquarters there. These included the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), the Restoration Branches and the Church of Christ (Temple Lot).Independence saw great prosperity from the late 1830s through the mid-1840s, while the business of outfitting pioneers boomed.
All wagon trains in Oregoner start in Independence, MO.