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National Park Service Official Map & Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Department of the Interior Guide - Large Print Forest Service Department of Agriculture Formatted for ADA standards at 11” x 17” print size. Paradise “Ho for California!” Free to the Pacific in 1805, land. Gold. Adventure. traders followed Between 1841 and 1869, Indian up more than a quarter river valleys and across million people answered mountain passes, filling this call and crossed the in the blank spaces plains and mountains to on early maps that the “El Dorado” of the represented unknown West. By 1849 the lure country. By the late of instant wealth and 1830s, mountain men tales of gold beckoned had explored most of at the end of the 2,000­ the routes that became mile . overland trails. In 1837 The story of the men, an economic panic swept women, and children the and who traveled overland gave people already to the West Coast has itching to move an become an American additional reason to go epic. Since the late 1700s, west. Throughout the the West had held out promoters and trail the promise of boundless guides worked hard to opportunity. After Lewis create an idyllic picture of and Clark found a way the prospects for greater

Rev. 11/29/12 fortune and better health ideal climate and flowers open to Americans who that bloomed all winter made the journey to “made me just crazy to California. One young move out there, for I emigrant reported that thought such a country a pamphlet describing a must be a paradise.” lush California with its

Manifest Destiny [caption] [photo caption] The concept of —that it African American trapper Jim Beckwourth was God’s will and the right of Americans to guided trains and blazed a trail across expand west—is symbolized in John Gast’s the in 1851. Historical painting, American Progress, 1872. Society

atching “one continual stream” overlanders to head west. Wof “honest looking open harted Personal motives of the emigrants varied. people” going west in 1846, mountain Some planned to build permanent homes man asked why “so many or farms, but many hoped to make their of all kinds and classes of People should fortunes and return east. One 1846 sell out comfortable homes in Missouri traveler noted that his companions all and Elsewhere pack up and start across “agreed in the one general object, that of such an emmence Barren waste to settle bettering their condition,” but individual in some new Place of which they have at hopes and dreams “were as various as most so uncertain information.” Clyman’s can well be imagined.” Dreams spurred answer?—“this is the character of my a diversity of emigrants too: Americans, countrymen.” African Americans, Indians, Canadians, Europeans—people of all ages and What was the character of Americans backgrounds crossed the plains. in the 1840s? Many embraced Manifest Destiny, a phrase penned by journalist Why Go West? [caption] John O’Sullivan in July 1845 to explain the Posters such as this captured El Dorado’s U.S. government’s thirst for expansion. It promise of instant wealth. The call of was a new term but not a new idea. Since California was irresistible—health, cheap and fertile land, and a paradise without cyclones the beginning of the republic, leaders had or blizzards. (Poster, California Cornucopia of aggressively claimed land for the United the World, 1883 poster, advertises 43,795,000 States. Manifest Destiny crystallized the Acres of Government Lands) Huntington idea that it was God’s will and the rightful Library destiny of Americans to take over the . It became a rallying cry for he Bidwell-Bartleson party, the first . The next summer promoter Temigrants to go to California, left Lansford W. Hastings convinced about Missouri in May 1841 with 69 people. At 80 of late-starting emigrants to Soda Springs, Idaho, some continued on try this new cutoff across the Great to Oregon. The others, knowing only “that Lake Desert. The last of them was the ill- California lay to the west,” struggled across fated Donner-Reed party. In 1846 a party the north end of the Desert. from the opened a They abandoned their wagons before southern route to Oregon, now known as reaching the , packed the . branched their livestock with necessities, and, in south from this route in 1848 to reach his November, 39 travelers reached California. ranch in . Not all early In 1844 the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy traffic on the California Trail headed west. party, traveling the Truckee route, reached After marching across the Southwest during the Sierra Nevada in November. Stalled the war with , by snow, they left some wagons at Donner veterans left Sutter’s Fort in 1848 for the Lake and packed onward. In the spring Valley of the Great Salt Lake. They opened a they retrieved their wagons, becoming the wagon road over , south of Lake first emigrants to take wagons all the way Tahoe, that became the preferred route for to Sutter’s Fort, California. In 1845 John C. wagon travel during the . Fremont explored a new route across the

Beginnings [caption] [caption] was 21 when he caught “If we never see each other again, do the best California fever. His 1841 party of men, you can, God will take care of us.” Patty Reed women, and children was the first of any size to travel overland to the far West. Library of Congress [photo caption] Delayed by mishaps, the Donner-Reed [photo caption] party didn’t reach the Sierra Nevada until Rescuers, intent on saving the children first, November. Trapped in deep snow, they stayed separated eight-year-old Patty Reed from her in makeshift shelters near mother. (Patty is shown here as a teen.) (above). Nearly half the party died of cold and California Dept. of Parks and Recreation starvation.

ames W. Marshall discovered gold adventure. Married men left families and Jon January 24, 1848, at ’s jobs, hoping to return home in a year or sawmill on the South Fork of the American so with enough money to last a lifetime. River, about 40 miles east of Sutter’s Fort. Thousands of travelers clogged the trail Fortune hunters from California, Oregon, to California. The size of the rush created and Sonora, Mexico, flooded the goldfields a host of problems. Almost every blade by June, but the news spread more slowly of grass vanished before the enormous across the continent. In December 1848 trail herds. Overcrowded campsites President James Polk confirmed the and unsanitary conditions contributed discovery in a report to Congress, thus to the spread of . Desperation setting the stage for the largest voluntary created tension as Indians saw the plants migration in American history. By the and animals they depended on for food spring of 1849 gold fever was an epidemic. disappear. Single men headed west to find wealth and The gold rush added new trails to and the Southwest. Cherokee Indians California. Jim Beckwourth from and present-day Oklahoma and surveyor William Nobles opened routes opened a route through the Rockies, the across the Sierra Nevada, while thousands first that did not use . traveled to the goldfields across Mexico

Gold Rush [photo captions] [photo caption] Pick axe and pan artifacts, Museum of the In 1852 miners at Spanish Flat, El Dorado Rockies and Miners Creed, Bancroft Library County, (above) pose by their “long tom”—a device for separating gold from rock and [photo caption] gravel. California State Library The gold nugget (above left) that James Marshall found at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 is [photo caption] about the size of a dime and weighs just over Miner panning for gold, Natural History a quarter of an ounce. Smithsonian/National Museum of County Numismatic Collection

he California Trail eventually offered the area, where the main branch Tmany ways to get to the West Coast. of the California Trail separated from the The network of cutoffs and variants became ; or to Utah and the settlements what is often described as a rope with of the Latter-day Saints, , which frayed ends. Most emigrants set out from were popular way stations. After visiting Salt towns on the and followed Lake City, most emigrants followed the Salt the Oregon Trail along the Platte and North Lake Cutoff back to the main trail at City Platte rivers. The trails became a single cord of Rocks in present-day Idaho. For wagons (more-or-less) between and the Humboldt River Valley provided the South Pass in present-day Wyoming. At best practical wagon road through the Parting of the Ways the strands unwound basin-and-range country, but overlanders again. The western end of the rope fanned continually sought easier ways to cross the out at the into routes formidable Sierra Nevada. leading to California and the goldfields. By 1860 freight and mail companies, South Pass marked the halfway point on military expeditions, new settlements and the trail and the end of the long ascent up trading stations, and thousands of travelers the . West of South Pass going in both directions transformed the travelers could go several ways: to Idaho and California Trail into a road.

Cutoffs and Variants [artwork caption] [artwork caption] “It was awful coming up those mountains. In the summer of 1848 Mormons working in There were great rocks, waist high, that the northern California left behind lush valleys wheels had to bump over, and it was all the such as the one above and headed east to the poor oxen could do to drag the lightened Valley of the Great Salt Lake. They opened a loads.” Frances Anne Cooper new route over the Sierra Nevada at Carson Pass. William Keith 1869. Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s College of California very great human migration seems to along this arduous stretch. For many the Ehave its own catch-phrase, and the encounter came on the Humboldt River— forty-niners were no exception. “Seeing the Humbug, as some called it in disgust—a the ” characterized emigrant stream that got more sluggish and alkaline encounters with vast plains and barren as it bent west and south until it finally deserts and the difficulty of surviving disappeared into a shallow lake. Others met the harrowing trek across the western the beast on the Fortymile Desert east of landscape. The expression predated the today’s Reno, Nevada. The travelers lucky gold rush and was based on the thrill of enough to escape the deserts of the Great seeing these exotic beasts in circuses. For Basin with animals and outfit intact were overlanders the elephant symbolized a almost certain to see the elephant among challenging trip, the adventure of a lifetime. the steep passes of the Sierra Nevada. Those If you had “seen the elephant” you had who turned back often claimed to have seen about all there was to see! People had seen the elephant’s tail. One emigrant, who never encountered anything like these turned back after only 700 miles said “he , canyons, deserts, and rugged had seen the Elephant and eaten its ears.” mountains. The deserts of the Great Basin and the barrier of the Sierra Nevada made [caption] the California Trail the most difficult of “I think that I may without vanity affirm that I all overland trails. Almost every emigrant have seen the elephant.” Louisa Clapp recalled somewhere

oing west was an expensive harder to steal. Oxen also fared better on Gproposition. Emigrants needed grass than did and , an supplies (food, utensils, stoves, bedding, important consideration because emigrants’ lanterns, and more), hardware (axes, wagon lives could depend on the health of their parts, shovels, rope, other tools), livestock, livestock. and money to last for many months. Most travelers used light farm wagons that came Getting started was one thing—getting to be called prairie schooners because their safely to California was another. canvas tops reminded emigrants of sails on Guidebooks, or “waybills,” became a ship. Schooners could carry about a ton available almost as soon as the trail opened. of food and supplies, and often travelers Most waybills offered practical advice about packed their belongings into every of routes, landmarks, distances, and what space. Treasures such as china, heirlooms, equipment and supplies to take. Some, such and furniture were jettisoned when it as The Emigrants’ Guide, to Oregon and became obvious that the load was too heavy. California, 1845, by promoter and guide Lansford W. Hastings, described California Overlanders preferred oxen to pull their in almost heavenly terms and helped fuel wagons. They were slower than horses but what became “California fever.” cheaper, more reliable and powerful, and [artwork caption] Wagons and Waybills [caption] Bruff’s 1849 sketch of dead teams and broken J. Goldsborough Bruff quit his government wagons in Nevada’s grimly drafting job to join the gold rush. His 1849 recorded the hardships of overland travel. to 1851 sketches and diaries chronicled Huntington Library humorous and horrific life on the trail. Utah State Historical Society

[artwork caption] Wagons of the City and the Sweetwater River. Bruff painted this California Gold Mining Association (led by image from the top of Independence Rock on Bruff) form a circle to corral livestock, near July 26, 1849. Huntington Library

lthough single men made up the a good influence, as the men did not take Amajority of early emigrants and forty­ such risks, were more alert about the niners, women and families played an teams and seldom had accidents, [and] important role on the trail. more attention was paid to cleanliness and sanitation.” Even “the meals were more The first major , the Bidwell- regular and better cooked thus preventing Bartleson party, set out in 1841 with five much sickness.” Births on the trail were women and about 10 children. At age 19 as common as deaths. As one girl recalled, (carrying her baby over the “Three days after my little sister died . . . Sierra Nevada after the party abandoned we stopped for a few hours, and my sister its wagons) became the first covered- Olivia was born.” wagon woman to reach California. Iowans Catherine Haun and her husband caught By 1852 about a third of all those crossing gold fever in 1849. The Hauns, and about the plains were women. Five years later, it 25 of their neighbors in the wagon party, was common to find wagon parties made longed to go west, pick up gold off the up largely of women and children. These ground, and return home to pay off their women, as did all emigrants, left familiar debts. Catherine wrote in her journal that homes and endured hardships to find a women and children on the trail “exerted better life. [photo caption] “One day I read a pamphlet written by. . [photo caption] .[promoter] Hastings. . . . We kept talking Life on the California Trail was not all about California until Father decided to put hardship and suffering. Travelers often it to a family vote whether we should go or recounted that they stayed an extra day to stay. Father went out with Fremont in 1845 to have a picnic or to simply “enjoy the grandeur explore the Far Western country. . . . Father which surrounds us.” National Archives came home in time although we had decided to go anyway.” Frances Anne Cooper

he quiet land along the California of the depredations of the indians,” wrote TTrail may have seemed empty, but Caroline Richardson in 1852, “but we Indian nations had lived there for more have not seen one yet.” Conflict increased than 10,000 years. Unlike Hollywood in the 1850s and 1860s as thousands of stereotypes, Indians were more of a help emigrants and their livestock destroyed than a danger to emigrants. In the 1840s Indian food sources. Some Indians tried to fatal confrontations were rare. Travelers collect payment for passage across tribal entrusted their wagons and families to lands. A few emigrants paid, but most felt Indians who guided them across swift little sympathy for Indian claims to the rivers and through unfamiliar country. land. Relations deteriorated: Indians killed In 1844 Paiute Chief Truckee guided travelers, and emigrants killed Indians. emigrants along the route and the river that The violence attracted attention, but it was they named after him. Stories of Indian not the reason most emigrants perished. massacres far outnumbered actual hostile Thousands died from drownings, accidents, encounters. “We are continually hearing and disease, especially cholera. Many incidents were the work of criminals called [artwork caption] “white Indians,” who were notorious for Emigrants saw the West as theirs for the their brutality. One 1850 traveler concluded taking. Indians saw the land as their home. that “the savage Indians” were “afraid For Indians, western settlement led to to come near the road” and “near all the loss of homeland, broken treaties, and the stealing and killing is done by the Whites destruction of their traditional ways of life. Library of Congress following the Trains.” Indians and Emigrants [photo caption] [photo caption] In the 1850s Chief Washakie and his Shoshoni Paiute (left) recalled that tribe guided thousands of emigrants safely they would have helped the Donner-Reed through their homelands in present-day Party, “only my people were afraid of them.” western Wyoming. Wyoming State Archives Sarah Winnemucca, granddaughter of Chief Truckee, of the Paiute tribe in Northern Nevada, Nevada State Museum

ravel to California in days, not months! walking more than 2,000 miles, the struggle In 1869 the Union Pacific from the to cross forbidding landscapes, extremes east and the Central Pacific from the of temperature and weather, shortages of west connected their rail tracks at Utah’s food and water, fear of Indians, accidents, Promontory Summit. A golden spike tapped sickness, and death. These emigrants, who symbolically to celebrate the union hailed saw the elephant and more, remembered a new, exciting way to travel the continent, the trip west as their life’s greatest and it signaled the demise of the wagon adventure. Their experiences—often trails to the West. recorded eloquently in journals, drawings, and letters— inspired American popular Although dust from the wagons settled culture and influenced art, literature, and nearly 150 years ago, the California the movies. Their stories are part of the Trail’s heritage lives on—with the people legacy of the American West. who love its history and in the railroads, interstate highways, and powerlines that An Enduring Legacy follow the routes of the old emigrant trails. [photo captions] Today, public lands preserve much of the A Piece of the old tent 1853 original landscape. Surviving ruts offer The adventure of a lifetime! These emigrants silent testimony of the California Trail, celebrated their trip to a new homeland with but no one tells this epic better than the this lasting souvenir. University of Oklahoma people who traveled it. Westward travelers Union Pacific Route Logo, © Union Pacific shared similar experiences: the drudgery of Railroad

[caption] [photo captions] The California National Historic Trail, California National Historic Trail logo authorized by Congress in 1992, is administered by the National Park Chimney Rock, Nebraska © Jeff Gnass Service and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, other federal agencies, state and local governments, and private landowners. For More Information

National Park Service Office 324 South State St., Suite 200 , UT 84111 www.nps.gov/cali

Bureau of Land Management Internet Information www.wy.blm.gov/nhtic NPS Comprehensive Management and www.nv.blm.gov/elko/catrail Use Plan: www.nps.gov/cali/parkmgmt/ index.htm Forest Service www.fs.fed.us/r4 www.fs.fed.us/r5 Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide www.nps.gov/cali/planyourvisit/ Oregon-California Trails brochures.htm Association P.O. Box 1019 Independence, MO 64051-0519 www.octa-trails.org