By the early 1840s, the community had become important as a trading center and a destination for settlers heading west.

The National Road provided a route through the mountains for settlers heading west.

The town was an important stocking point for settlers heading west on the California Trail.

A number of settlers heading from there for Ohio would sleep at the inn for their first night on the road.

St. Louis was a major supply point for decades for parties of settlers heading west.

Since the 1840s, settlers headed toward the Willamette Valley would pass through it.

The trails that trappers used to get through the mountains were later used by settlers heading west.

This is unusually notable as the settlers headed east, instead of west (like most settlers at the time), even if it was over a mountain range.

Omaha was a stopping point for settlers and prospectors heading west, either overland or via the Missouri River.

As news of the massive rebellion spread, and the Shona joined in the fighting, the settlers headed towards Bulawayo.