Generations after the “founding fathers” established the first settlements in America, Marc Huehn, a blacksmith born in a small farming community in St. Claire County, Missouri and other settlers like him, followed the Oregon Trail in what is to be known as “the Great Migration of 1843″.

Lured by the promise of endless opportunity, Marc Huehn, his wife and his 5 children gave up their small piece of land in Missouri and headed out west. They met with a thousand other would-be emigrants in Elm Grove, a town near Independence, on the 20th of May, 1843 where they were assembled for their migration to the Western Frontier. Along the way, Huehn lost three of his children, one of which is four-year-old Gideon, to the harsh weather of the Oregon Trail. In the fall of 1843, he and his family reached Lane County, Oregon where he established himself as a successful lumberman. Marc Huehn remained in Lane Country until his death in 1892.

Nowadays, Marc Huehn and the people who passed through the many trails that led to the West are known as the “pioneers”.  They are the people who endured famine, hardship, and on many occasions, death of their sons and daughters, to put the Northwest on the map.