Oregon Trail in Boise The Oregon Trail is a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between. It flourished from the 1840s until the coming of the railroad at the end of the 1860s. The trip on foot took four to six months. It was the oldest of the northern commercial and emigrant trails and was originally discovered and used by fur trappers and traders in the fur trade from about 1811 to 1840. In its earliest days, much of the Oregon Trail was not passable to wagons but was passable everywhere only to people walking or riding horses and leading mule trains. By 1836, when the first Oregon wagon trains were organized at Independence, Missouri, the trail had been improved so much that it was possible to take wagons to Fort Hall, Idaho. By 1843, a rough wagon trail had been cleared to The Dalles, Oregon, and by 1846, all the way around Mount Hood to the Willamette Valley in the state of Oregon. What became called the Oregon Trail was complete even as improved roads," cutouts," ferries and bridges made the trip faster and safer almost every year.

Oregon Trail in Boise

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D]

Oregon Trail in Boise [D] Once upon a time . . .

Hopffgarten Park [D] The property was donated to the City by Anna M. and J.H. Hopffgarten in 1916. The Hopffgartens stipulated that the property was to be used “…for the beautification of the said city, and for the purpose of encouraging the establishment of parks therein, as well as to improve the neighborhood in which the grantors reside, and make the same more desirable as a residential district.”

Hopffgarten Park

Hopffgarten Park

Hopffgarten Park

Hopffgarten Park [D]

Hopffgarten Park

Hopffgarten Park [D] Beautiful finial on top one of the three sign posts.

Hopffgarten Park [D]