NATIONAL PARK SERVICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR REVISED FEASIBILITY AND SUITABILITY STUDY FOR ADDITIONAL ROUTES OF THE OREGON, MORMON PIONEER, CALIFORNIA, AND PONY EXPRESS NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS: APPENDIX A: STUDY ROUTE DESCRIPTIONS AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEWS SEPTEMBER 2017 Cover: “Westport Landing,” watercolor, William Henry Jackson, SCBL_280, Scotts Bluff National Monument, NPS REVISED FEASIBILITY AND SUITABILITY STUDY FOR ADDITIONAL ROUTES OF THE OREGON, MORMON PIONEER, CALIFORNIA, AND PONY EXPRESS NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS APPENDIX A: STUDY ROUTE DESCRIPTIONS AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEWS National Park Service 2017 Table of Contents APPENDIX A: STUDY ROUTES AND HISTORICAL SUMMARIES ...................................................................... 1 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................ 1 STUDY ROUTE DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................................................................... 1 HISTORICAL SUMMARIES AND USE ANALYSES ......................................................................................... 2 THE STUDY ROUTES .................................................................................................................................. 6 1. Blue Mills-Independence Road (also called Lower Independence Landing Road) ........................... 6 2. Kansas and Missouri Alternates: Mississippi Saints Route from Independence, Missouri, to Fort Laramie, Wyoming .................................................................................................................. 8 3. Blue Ridge Cutoff ............................................................................................................................ 12 4. Westport Landing Road .................................................................................................................. 13 5. Westport Road ............................................................................................................................... 14 6. The Westport-Lawrence Road ........................................................................................................ 17 7. Gum Springs-Fort Leavenworth Route ........................................................................................... 18 8. Fort Leavenworth-Kansas River Route ........................................................................................... 21 9. Fort Leavenworth-Big Blue River Route ......................................................................................... 23 10. Atchison Road ............................................................................................................................... 26 11. Independence Creek Route .......................................................................................................... 31 12. Atchison to Kennekuk Pony Express Route .................................................................................. 32 13. Union Ferry (Union Town) Route ................................................................................................. 34 14. Road to Amazonia (Road from Amazonia) ................................................................................... 36 15. St. Joe Road .................................................................................................................................. 37 16. Pony Express Trail from Wathena, Kansas, to Troy, Kansas ......................................................... 40 17. Minersville-Nebraska City Road ................................................................................................... 42 18. Old Fort Kearny Road (Oxbow Trail) ............................................................................................. 42 19. Nebraska City Cutoff Routes ........................................................................................................ 44 20. Woodbury Cutoff .......................................................................................................................... 47 21. Old Wyoming (Road to the) Nebraska City Cutoff ....................................................................... 48 22. Keokuk Route ............................................................................................................................... 50 23. 1846 Subsequent Routes A and B ................................................................................................ 51 24. 1856–1857 Handcart Route, Iowa City to Council Bluffs ............................................................. 52 25. Lower Plattsmouth Route ............................................................................................................ 53 26. Upper Plattsmouth Route ............................................................................................................ 55 27. Lower Bellevue Route ................................................................................................................... 55 28. Upper Bellevue Route .................................................................................................................. 57 29. Council Bluffs Road ....................................................................................................................... 58 30. 1847 Alternative Elkhorn and Loup River Crossings in Nebraska ................................................. 62 31. Childs Cutoff ................................................................................................................................. 63 32a. Cherokee Trail............................................................................................................................. 65 32b. Cherokee Trail [Selected sections, Oklahoma to Wyoming, plus 1850 Southern Route through Wyoming]. ............................................................................................................................. 75 32c. Cherokee Trail [Selected sections, Oklahoma to Wyoming, plus 1849 Northern Route through Wyoming]. ............................................................................................................................. 75 33. Diamond Springs Cutoff ............................................................................................................... 75 34. Sublette Cutoff ............................................................................................................................. 77 35a. Central Overland Route (Central Overland Emigrant Routes, or COER) [Original study routes, complete complex] ................................................................................................................ 79 35b. COER [Selected section, South Platte River Route]. ................................................................... 93 iii 35c. COER [Selected section, Lodgepole Creek Trail]. ........................................................................ 93 35d. COER [Selected sections through Wyoming: Little Laramie River to Sage Creek, Sweetwater Cutoff, and Sage Creek Station to Granger]. ......................................................................... 93 35e. COER [Selected section, Simpson Route and Variants]. ............................................................. 93 36. Weber Canyon Route of the Hastings Cutoff ............................................................................... 93 37. 1850 Golden Pass Road ................................................................................................................ 97 38. McAuley Cutoff ............................................................................................................................. 98 39. Bidwell-Bartleson Route (Soda Springs to Marsh’s Rancho, California) ...................................... 99 40. Bishop Creek Cutoff (Bishop Creek Route) ................................................................................. 104 41. Secret Pass .................................................................................................................................. 105 42. Greenhorn Cutoff ....................................................................................................................... 106 43. Goodale’s Cutoff (Jeffrey-Goodale Cutoff) ................................................................................. 107 44. Goodale’s Boise-North 1862 and 1863 Routes .......................................................................... 110 45. Olds Ferry Road .......................................................................................................................... 113 46. North Side Alternate Route ........................................................................................................ 114 47. North Alternate Oregon Trail ..................................................................................................... 116 48. Raft River to the Applegate Trail ................................................................................................ 118 49. Applegate Trail, or Southern Route to Oregon .......................................................................... 120 50a-c. Meek Cutoff ........................................................................................................................... 127 51. Free Emigrant Road ...................................................................................................................