In the first week of January, 1812, a party of trappers and traders from the Astor Overland Expedition crossed the Blue Mountains in this area, traveling afoot in bitter cold and often waist deep in snow as the first white men here. Their route to and from St. Louis and Astoria later developed into the emigrant route to the Oregon Country, later known as the Oregon Trail. Oregon-bound wagon trains began their journey with the greening of the grass on the prairies and crossed the Blues after completing some 2,200 miles, from late August to early October. This was the first forested area on the route, and although Meacham Meadows was the favored stopping place, some emigrants used the spring west of the park area for which the park is named.