Feeder routes or Eastern branches of the named emigrant trails crossed the states of Missouri and Iowa before reaching and crossing the Missouri River. Initially, steamboat navigable waters on the Missouri River ended just upstream of Independence, Missouri/Kansas City, Kansas. By 1846, the Great Flood of 1844's damage to up-river traffic was fixed, as primitive dredging had opened up the Missouri River as far as the Platte River confluence near Kanesville, Iowa (later renamed Council Bluffs). By 1853, Omaha, Nebraska, on the west bank, became the starting point of choice for many, as armed conflicts in "Bleeding Kansas" made travel across Kansas more hazardous.
