American settlers in the 1830s and 1840s began to look to Oregon and the far West for settlement because

Pioneer settlers were sometimes pulled west because they wanted to make a better living. Others received letters from friends or family members who had moved west. These letters often told about a good life on the frontier. The biggest factor that pulled pioneers west was the opportunity to buy land.

These settlers were motivated by a desire for land, not by a desire for furs. They were not going to Oregon to trade but rather to set up their own new homes. They had heard that Oregon (in particular the Willamette Valley) was very fertile and had good weather.

They wanted to set up farms in that area, giving themselves the chance to become wealthier and more independent than they had been farther east.