|
|
|
The way west for wagons to Oregon and California was discovered in October 1812, when Robert Stuart of the Astorian expedition, discovered the low and gentle South Pass as he traveled east over the Continental Divide. In 1830, Jedediah Smith, Bill Sublette and David Jackson took the first caravan accompanied by wagons west from St. Louis to the Wind River Range in Wyoming. While they did not cross the mountains, they reached the base of them, demonstrating that such travel was possible. In 1832, Benjamin E. Bonneville took a wagon train across the Continental Divide at South Pass, and built a fort on the Green River. In 1836, Marcus Whitman took a wagon, with only two wheels, almost to the Columbia River. In 1841, a small group tried to discover a wagon route from the mid-West to California. They had no reliable maps or guides, and eventually had to abandon their wagons in present-day eastern Nevada. In that first year, thirty-three people made it to California, and a small party that had split off went on to Oregon. In 1842, 112 people left Missouri for Oregon, followed by 1000 people the next year. Only about 2700 emigrants traveled to California before 1849. In January 1848, however, gold was discovered at Sutter's mill in California, and the event changed history. Although the news was too late to influence the tide of emigration in 1848, people wrote in their journals about six-mile long wagon trains in 1849. An estimated 20,000 emigrants traveled to California in 1849, but this was followed by about 45,000 a year later. By the end of the century, hundreds of thousands had traveled over the Oregon and California Trails.. The 2000-mile trails to Oregon or California began at one of three towns: Independence or St. Joseph, Missouri; or Council Bluffs, Iowa. The trails from Independence and St. Joseph met west of Marysville, Kansas and then joined the trail from Council Bluffs near Fort Kearny, Nebraska. The emigrants then traveled up the Platte River to present-day Casper, Wyoming. The Trail went south and west over the Continental Divide at South Pass, and then split into alternative routes that led to Fort Hall, near present-day Pocatello, Idaho. A few miles west, the northern trail headed to Oregon and the southern trail went to California. On the trail to Oregon, the emigrants followed the Snake River, and then climbed over the Blue Mountains in Oregon. The Trail reached the Columbia River near present-day Biggs, Oregon, and then followed the river to The Dalles. Here, the emigrants floated down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver, or used the Barlow Road, a rough toll-road that circled Mt. Hood to Oregon City. On the trail to California, most emigrants traveled down the Humboldt River to the sink, crossed a desert, and went over the Sierra Nevada at one of four passes: Carson, Donner, Cold Stream, or Roller. Some went north before the Humboldt Sink, crossing into California near present-day Goose Lake before heading south to Sutter's Fort. Additional images of the Trails are also available. Photographs were taken along the California Trail in preparation for the sesquicentennial celebration in 1999. Many of them on this website are part of the traveling photography exhibit "Path of the 49ers: Photos of the Trail Today", produced in association with the St. Joseph Museum, which has appeared in several museums. If you would like information about renting the exhibit, please contact the St. Joseph Museum directly. |
|
All images are registered as
|
David Lincoln. All rights reserved. Images
may not be reproduced, including copying or saving a digital image file, or
altered without the written authorization of