Oregon Trail
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More than 400,000 pioneers traveled west on the Oregon Trail, which turns 175 years old in 2018. Modern-day travelers in Oregon can retrace history at numerous spots along the legendary trail.
Cassie Whitlock, dressed in period garb, talks about 19th-century life on the Oregon Trail. Whitlock is a tour leader at Philip Foster Farm in Eagle Creek, Ore. The farm was an important rest stop for travelers on the trail. ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )
More than 400,000 pioneers traveled west on the Oregon Trail, which turns 175 years old in 2018. Modern-day travelers in Oregon can retrace history at numerous spots along the legendary trail.
Visitors to the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center outside Baker City, Ore., walk in the ruts formed when hundreds of thousands of pioneers crossed this route headed to the towering Blue Mountains. ( Terri Colby/Chicago Tribune )
Baker City winemaker Travis Cook, 33, whose family was one of the last to come to Oregon on the Oregon Trail, says the pioneer spirit is alive and well. His great-grandfather was born shortly after the family finished the journey on the trail. ( Terri Colby/Chicago Tribune )
A guide in period costume at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City, Ore., near Portland, welcomes visitors to the site that documents the history of the trail and the people who traveled on it. ( Terri Colby/Chicago Tribune )