Was Oregon the first state in the West to be extensively settled by Americans? (rated)

[belmont22]

Would you agree that Oregon was the first state west of the Rockies, maybe even west of the Mississippi aside from Texas and Louisiana, to be extensively settled by people who identified as Americans?

Fort Astoria opened in 1811, and the Willamette Valley was extensively settled by the 1830s, predating extensive American settlement in California by at least 15 years. The interior of the West between the coastal settlements and the Mississippi remained wild well into the later third of the 19th century, some areas are still basically frontier.

[polo89]

This is a good and interesting question. I never realised how true this. The American Settlers pretty much skipped through some of the desert lands on there way to settle the coast.

[pgm123]

Well, it wasn't the first west of the Mississippi (Missouri comes to mind). But settlers did skip over the "Great American desert" (as they called the area between the Missouri river and the rockies).Oregon and Washington were also disputed territories with the British, so Americans settled there to take advantage of the fur trade while they left it to the governments to figure out that issue.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Oregon City is the oldest incorporated city west of the Rockies, incorporated in 1845
Oregon City, Oregon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think there are some mining towns in Colorado that are a tad bit older, not sure exactly which ones they are.