1848) went north and west of the Great Salt Lake and rejoined the California Trail in the City of Rocks in present-day Idaho. This cutoff allowed travelers to use the Mormon Trail from Fort Bridger over the Wasatch Range to Salt Lake City and back to the California Trail. The exact route of the trail to get to California depended on the starting point of the trip, the final destination in California, the whims of the pioneers, the water and grass available on the trail, the threats of Indian attacks on parts of the trail, and the information they had or acquired along the way and the time of year. The trail down the western slope of the Sierra from Donner pass had enormous granite boulders and numerous rocky outcrops and steep slopes before passing through Emigrant Gap (California). Here the meandering river passed through a steep section of mountains, and its river valley became very narrow or only the width of the stream bed. While pioneer trains did circle their wagons at night, it was mostly to keep their draft animals from wandering off, not protect against an ambush. The canyon was filled with boulders and rocks that had often fallen over a thousand feet into the canyon carved by the river through the Carson Range. None of these original statistical records have been found, as the army lost them or destroyed them. By the 1840s, when the Oregon Trail came into use, the beaver were mostly trapped out and the HBC was shifting its goals to settling the prairies in the Willamette Valley and around Puget Sound. The average number of occupants of a typical wagon was about three pioneers per wagon (Mormon "church teams" often had eight-plus pioneers). Cliffs and caves. The route was developed as a wagon toll route by Patrick Henness starting in about 1850. The descent was soon scattered with fragments of many wagons and dead animals. The last immigrant party in 1846 was the Donner Party, who were persuaded by Lansford Hastings, who had only traveled over the route he recommended by pack train, to take what would be called the Hastings Cutoff around the south end of the Great Salt Lake. [24] From Carson pass they followed the northern Sierra's southern slopes, to minimize snow depth, of what is now called the American River valley down to Sutter's Fort located near what is now Sacramento, California. Lassen, it used part of Lassen's road in reverse over a distance of about 20 miles (32 km). On a wagon there was essentially no reverse or brakes and the turning radius was nearly always greater than 125 feet (38 m) so the teamsters had to think about how to extract the wagon and his team from wherever they went. In 1846 it is believed that about 1,500 settlers made their way to California over the Truckee branch of the California Trail—just in time to join the war for independence there. In addition to providing transport, shelter and protection against bad weather during the trip at the end of the trip many wagons were parked and became a temporary home until a more permanent cabin or shelter could be built. From here the settlers entered a difficult portion called Rock Avenue which moved from spring to spring across mostly alkaline soil and steep hills until it reached the Sweetwater River. At the end of the Humboldt River, where it disappeared into the alkaline Humboldt Sink, travelers had to cross the deadly Forty Mile Desert before finding either the Truckee River or Carson River in the Carson Range and Sierra Nevada that were the last major obstacles before entering Northern California.[9]. Possible Indian troubles was about the only condition that kept large trains together for mutual protection. Some estimated that only about half the wagons that started the trip across Forty Mile Desert got to the other side.[117]. Some of the luckier ones had riding horses or mules and could afford to have someone else drive the wagon team. 1850 by James Beckwourth)[114] left the Truckee River Route at Truckee Meadows (now the site of Sparks, Nevada) and proceeded north along roughly the route of Stanford Way to Wedekind Road to U.S. Route 395 before crossing the Sierra on what is now California State Route 70 at 5,221 feet (1,591 m) Beckwourth Pass. Greeley published his detailed observations in his 1860 book An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco.[28]. Hudspeth's Cutoff rejoined the California trail at Cassia Creek on the Raft River about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the City of Rocks. Some names in the lists are familiar. Why did American settlers travel so far along the Oregon Trail and similar routes rather than settling the lands the Trail passed through? This road eventually became U.S. Route 50.[138]. It is believed that on his first trip he used the Mojave River route (later part of the Old Spanish Trail) to get into California and 8,730 feet (2,660 m) Ebbetts Pass when leaving California in the spring 1827. [30] The Donner party spent over a week's hard work scratching a barely usable path across the Wasatch mountains, getting ever further behind Hastings's Party. In 1841 the Bartleson–Bidwell Party group set out for California, but about half the party left the original group at Soda Springs, Idaho, and proceeded to the Willamette Valley in Oregon and the other half proceeded on to California. Horses were changed at roughly every 10–20 mile intervals and the drivers often vied to make the fastest time. To be more useful the Truckee Trail needed extensive and expensive work spent on it. 1848) (also called Mormon Emigrant Trail)[116] crossed Forty Mile Desert by leaving the Humboldt Sink and skirting the western edge of the Carson Sink and hit the Carson River near modern-day Fallon, Nevada. Plaques can be found where these roads meet the top of Harmony Ridge, as this was the ridge used to descend from the high sierra, to the foothills of California. The main initial attraction for improved toll roads across the Sierra was Virginia City, Nevada and the Comstock Lode strike in the Washoe district of Nevada in 1859. Mattes, Merril J.; "The Great Platte River Road"; p23; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1979: Steele, Volney M.D. working on the Comstock Lode (1859–88) near the present Virginia City, Nevada. Without guides or maps, they traveled down the Bear River as it looped southwest through Cache Valley, Utah. The gold and silver found more than paid for the wages, development, lumbering and shipping costs. The Great Basin covers essentially all of Nevada and parts of Utah, Idaho, Oregon and California and has no outlet to the sea. Details of the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin concerning the best passes or possible emigrant routes for wagons would be explored and discovered from about 1846 to 1859 by numerous other explorers. Blacksmiths there could then recycle the salvaged iron to make almost any iron/steel object needed. It finally comes to an end at Maddron Bald Trail. After the wetlands, your walk takes you through another pleasant forested area, before coming down into the clearing that takes you towards Westermans Hut. Smith was killed in 1831 before he could publish his explorations, which were only known by word of mouth. National Trails System has designated 19 National Historic Trails commemorating some of the nation's most historically ... the historic trail represents one of the primary routes settlers traversed during this westward expansion. Many took their fishing gear along—at least lines and hooks as a usable pole could usually be cut from a willow or other bush. While most Oregon-bound emigrants traveled a route that passed by landmarks in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon, there was never just one set of wagon ruts leading west. Women seldom went alone outside of family groups and were a distinct minority in the West for decades. They were able to finish their rugged trip over the Sierra and into the future state of California by killing and eating many of their oxen for food. Travelers could hunt antelope, buffalo, trout, deer and occasionally sage hens, elk, bear, duck, geese, and salmon along the trail. To help the emigrants leaving the main trail at Lassen's meadow and going to Honey Lake, Lander had two large reservoir tanks built at Rabbit Hole and Antelope Springs. Surprisingly few people were taught to swim in this era. Trail Historian Merrill J. Mattes[143] has estimated the number of emigrants for 1861–1867 given in the total column of the above table. their current names. The NWC had arrived in the Oregon Country as far back as 1807, so the Hudson’s Bay Company inherited its forts there in 1821. [52] The eastern end of the trail has been compared to a frayed rope of many strands that joined up at the Platte River near new Fort Kearny (est. After drinking their fill of fresh water and recuperating on the other side, many would go back and retrieve their wagon—others simply abandoned them there. The railroad served nearly all trans-Sierra passenger and freight needs. A good, easily traversed road was needed to haul in miners, other workers, supplies, etc., and road improvements and maintenance could be financed by the road tolls. Gold, silver, livestock etc. This strike rapidly developed after about 1860 when they found out how potentially massive the gold and silver deposits there were. From the end of Central Overland route in Carson City, Nevada, they followed the Johnson Pass (Placerville route) to California since it was the fastest and only route that was then kept open in winter across the Sierra Nevada (U.S.) mountains. 1848) went roughly from today's I-80 and U.S. Highway 95 junction to modern day Fallon, Nevada, (near Rag Town) southwest across Forty Mile Desert to the Carson River. Awls, scissors, pins, needles, thread and leather laces to repair clothes, shoes, harnesses, equipment and occasionally people were constantly in use. The tolls on the various bridges, ferries and toll roads typically averaged about $30.00 per wagon by 1860. As the railroad construction progressed over the Sierra, freight could be shipped to near the railhead then transferred to wagons that could use the new toll road to complete their journey. Others besides emigrants were also using parts of the trail(s) for freighting, extensive livestock herding of cows, sheep and horses, stage lines, and briefly in 1860–61 the Pony Express. [citation needed]. Travelers heading west in 1848 and later, crossed Forty Mile Desert, then followed the trail blazed by the Mormons in 1848 up the Carson River valley from what is now Fallon, Nevada, in 1850 the town was called "Ragtown". The Henness Pass Road was located about 15 miles (24 km) north of the Truckee trail. From Donner summit, the trail then proceeded on a rugged cliff and rock-strewn path down the South Fork of the Yuba River—fed by an alpine lake. Settlers Cabin Park is located near the Settlers Ridge exit of 376 in Robinson Township. Creeks, streams, or rivers originating east of the Sierra crest find no outlet to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean. After finally finding the Humbodlt, they continued slogging west and continuing to struggle through most of November 1841 getting over the Sierra—gradually killing and eating up their oxen for food as their food supplies dwindled. [17] The trail ended at his ranch, and he invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports. Trapper Jim Beckwourth describes: "Mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target-shooting, yarns, frolic, with all sorts of drinking and gambling extravagances that white men or Indians could invent.