sentence about the Flint Hills

[giuly90]

Dear teachers,

I have trouble understanding this sentence:

"The Flint Hills are no longer hard to get to, no longer a matter of ox train and overland trail from somewhere east of the Missouri River".

Does it imply that to reach the Flint Hills you had to depart from a place that was east of the Missouri river? What is an "ox train" an an "overland trail"?

Thank you in advance and happy Sunday.

G.

 

[mmasny]

Here is a photograph of an ox train: Ox Train

Overland trail is a route that traverses the land. You would learn everything about it by reading Mark Twain's Roughing It.
I am not a teacher.