Complex sentence: Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the Willamette Valley in the early 1840s, half way between Oregon City and Salem and was site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Country.
Split into simpler sentences: Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the Willamette Valley in the early 1840s, positioned halfway between Oregon City and Salem. It was the site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Country.