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United States Migration  Trails and Roads  California Trail

The California Trail went from western Missouri across the Great Plains into the Rocky Mountains to the gold fields of northern California. It was most heavily used in the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s. The length of the wagon trail from the Missouri River to Sacramento, California was about 1,950 miles (3,138 km). It normally took four to six months to traverse the length of the California Trail with covered wagons pulled by oxen. About 250,000 pioneers, the most of any American emigration trail, used it to reach California before the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

The main California Trail overlapped the Oregon Trail from western Missouri to the Raft River crossing in Idaho. This route passed the City of Rocks, Idaho and followed the Humboldt River in Nevada toward California. An alternate California Trail route overlapped the Mormon Trail all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah and then to the City of Rocks in Idaho. The trail ended at several destination places mostly in the gold fields in the mountains of northern California.

Background History
Footpaths, wagons, and stagecoaches. The overland route over South Pass was discovered by fur trappers in 1811. By the 1830s that pass was used as part of the Oregon Trail. Between 1829 and 1840 other mountain men explored possible additional routes extending through northern Utah and Nevada toward California. At first these were footpaths or pack train trails. The earliest wagon road was pioneered through South Pass to a mountain man rendezvous on the Green River in Wyoming in 1830. By 1836 a wagon road reached as far as Fort Hall, Idaho. In 1841 and 1843 wagon trains started for California but abandoned their wagons in Nevada and went on by foot. The first overland wagon train to reach California arrived in 1844 by leaving the Oregon Trail after crossing the Raft River in Idaho. From there they followed Nevada's Humboldt River west to the Sierra Nevada mountains, up the Truckee River and over Donner Pass to Sacramento. This became the most popular route, but other pioneers also came via Salt Lake City, Utah to the City of Rocks. From 1857 to 1861 the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route near the Mexican border opened to Calfornia. That mail route was closed in favor of the Pony Express (Central Overland) route through central Nevada farther south than the Humboldt River. In time these various paths to California were followed by wagon roads, railroads, and modern highways.

Reasons for migrating. Mountain men fur trappers were the earliest to use the California Trail. Larger groups of American settlers began arriving in 1846. The outbreak of the Mexican-American War 1846-1848 resulted in American soldiers invading California to help secure it for the United States. Once California was officially United States territory it immediately began to attract more immigrants. Several western gold and silver strikes, productive farm land, lumber, and ranching all increased traffic on the California Trail. The California gold rush attracted adventurers and gold seekers from around the world after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill. An estimated 90,000 arrived in 1849, about half of them Americans. Americans usually took the California Trail to reach the gold fields. Some came by ship. Other used the Oregon Trail and then came south to California on the Siskiyou Trail.

Preparations. Many emigrants were farmers who already had their own wagons and most of their own supplies. Other travelers usually purchased supplies at "jumping off points" in Missouri, Iowa, or Kansas. Supplies cost as much as $200 per person including a covered wagon, teams of oxen, 150 pounds of food per person, tobacco, cooking gear, extra shoes, two sets of clothes, 25 pounds of soap, washboard and wash tub, tent, a canvas or rubber groundcloth with blankets for sleeping, tools, guns and ammunition. Some also bought a trail guide book.

Trail life. Non-essentials were often abandoned on the trail to lighten the load. Forts and trading posts (Ft. Kearny, Ft. Laramie, Ft. Fetterman, Ft. Bridger, Ft. Hall, and Sutter's Fort along the way usually provided supplies, fresh animal teams, repairs, spare parts, and news of trail conditions. Hunting (including bison), fishing, and trading were also common along the route. Emigrants usually formed into wagon trains for security. Almost everyone preferred to walk rather than ride in dusty, bumpy wagons. They had to average 11 miles (18 km) to 17 miles (27 km) per day to reach California in four to six months. To leave too early risked muddy trails and too little grass for livestock. To arrive late risked traveling in winter weather. Thunderstorms and fierce winds were common. In good weather they often slept under the stars. On the prairie buffalo chips were gathered for use as cooking fuel. Wash day was about every two weeks. Many travelers enjoyed side trips climbing over trail landmarks like Chimney Rock, Scott's Bluff, and Independence Rock. Some entrepreneurs drove herds of cattle over the trail to sell and help pay for the trip. Deaths. About five percent of pioneers died on the Oregon-California-Mormon trails. The most common killer was cholera along the Platte River in Nebraska. This disease killed as much as three percent between 1849 and 1855 (6,000 to 12,500 individuals). About 3,000 to 4,500 deaths happened because of Indian attacks especially in Idaho and Nevada after U.S. Army troops were withdrawn in 1860 in the run up to the Civil War. Other causes of death included freezing, scurvy, being run over, drownings (especially in the 1850s before many ferries), and accidental shootings. Decline of trail use. In 1855 the California Trail (and Oregon Trail) traffic declined dramatically. First, the bloom was off the California gold rush. Second, the Panama Railroad was completed with steamship links that made transportation from the east coast to the west coast of America more practical than using an overland wagon trail. From 1857 to 1861 the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route took some traffic from the California Trail. In 1869 the transcontinental Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads completed to Sacramento, California made that route faster, safer, and less expensive than traveling the California Trail.

Main Route
The California Trail was miles wide with many variations. Emigrants started on their journey from many sundry "jumping off points" in three states. Some took a variety of shortcuts, and others traveled on different sides of the rivers from other emigrants. Travelers often completed their journey in Idaho, Nevada or places other than northern California. The California Trail was a branch of the Oregon trunk trail.

Two of the most popular early outfitting or "jumping off points" were Independence and St. Joseph in western Missouri. Once the river was dredged and steamboats could reach it in the early 1850s, Council Bluffs, Iowa became the most popular California Trail starting place. Kansas City, Lawrence, and Topeka in Kansas were also used. From their starting point emigrants often followed the Missouri River up to the Platte River. Another option was to follow the Kansas River and then the Little Blue River toward the Platte River.

Livestock needed watering so the California Trail followed rivers across the dry prairies. The California Trail usually followed the south side of the North Platte River west through Nebraska into Wyoming. Near Caspar, Wyoming California Trail emigrants followed the Sweetwater River farther west. An important goal was to reach Independence Rock on the Sweetwater River by Independence Day. The trail went over South Pass then worked its way through the mountains. One shortcut went from South Pass due west toward Fort Hall. The main trail from South Pass headed southwest to cross the Green River at Lombard Ferry, headed for Fort Bridger. At Fort Bridger the Mormon Trail branched southwest toward Salt Lake City. The main California Trail went northwest from Bridger to Fort Hall, Idaho. From the Raft River southwest of Fort Hall most California Trail emigrants forked southwest past the City of Rocks, Idaho toward Nevada, while Oregon Trail followers continued along the Snake River to Fort Boise and the Oregon border. The California Trail followers who opted to go through Salt Lake City often rejoined the main trail at the City of Rocks. In Nevada the trail followed the Humboldt River westward to its end in the Humboldt Sink. The next stage of the journey was usually considered the worst--across the Forty Mile Desert to the Truckee River or Carson River.

Trails over the mountains to the gold fields. From near the Humboldt Sink pioneers developed a variety of routes over the Sierra Nevada mountains:

The exact route of the California Trail varied from group to group over the years. Most often it passed through:


 * sometimes Missouri
 * sometimes Kansas
 * sometimes Iowa
 * Nebraska
 * Wyoming
 * Idaho
 * Oregon
 * sometimes extended into Washington especially after 1846

The Oregon-California Trails Association provides a Virtual Trail map with images, and brief histories of points along the trail.

Connecting migration routes. The California Trail linked to other migration routes at each end, and at junctions in the middle. The migration pathways connected near the east end included:


 * Mississippi River
 * Missouri River
 * Santa Fe Trail 1821-1880 from western Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico
 * Oregon Trail 1820s from western Missouri to the Willamette Valley of Oregon
 * California Trail 1841 from western Missouri to central California overlapped the California Trail most of the way to Fort Hall, Idaho
 * Mormon Trail 1846-1847 from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah overlapped the California Trail from the North Platte River, Nebraska to Ft. Bridger, Wyoming
 * Union Pacific Railroad 1865 from Omaha, Nebraska and extending its way slowly west to Ogden, Utah in 1869
 * Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway 1872 eventually from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California

The migration pathways connected near the west end of the California Trail included:


 * Columbia River
 * Oregon Trail 1820s from western Missouri to the Willamette Valley of Oregon
 * York Factory Express 1824 from Fort Vancouver, Washington to York Factory, Manitoba, Canada
 * Siskiyou Trail 1829 from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco, California
 * Applegate Trail 1846 from the Willamette Valley in Oregon to the California Trail at the Humboldt River in Nevada
 * Thomas and Ruckle Road 1864-1886 over the Blue Mountains from Walla Walla to Idaho
 * Southern Pacific Railroad 1883 Los Angeles to New Orleans, including Oregon
 * Great Northern Railway (U.S.) 1893 Chicago to Seattle, including Oregon
 * Union Pacific Railroad 1925 Granger, Wyoming via Boise to Portland

Several migration pathways had junctions at various places along the middle of the California Trail:


 * Bozeman Trail 1863 branched from the California Trail at Ft. Fetterman, near Douglas, Wyoming heading to Bozeman, Montana
 * Cherokee Trail (aka Trapper's Trail) 1849 to early 1890s from Salina, Oklahoma merged with the California Trail near Ft. Bridger, Wyoming
 * Mormon Trail 1847 from Omaha, Nebraska branched off the California Trail at Ft. Bridger, Wyoming going to Salt Lake City, Utah
 * California Trail 1841 from western Missouri usually split off the California Trail at Fort Hall, Idaho toward northern California
 * Meek Cutoff 1845 branched from the California Trail at Vale, Oregon going northwest to The Dalles, Oregon

Modern parallels. The modern roads that roughly match the California Trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon are listed in an online edition of a National Park Service publication about the California Trail:


 * Auto Tour Route - Missouri
 * Auto Tour Route - Kansas
 * Auto Tour Route - Nebraska
 * Auto Tour Route - Wyoming
 * Auto Tour Route - Idaho
 * Auto Tour Route - Oregon

Settlers and Records
Pioneers who used the California Trail were mostly Americans from the Midwest or Mid-South. Most settled in Oregon, especially in the Willamette Valley, but about 20 percent moved on to Washington (state) before 1870. Others went to California.

No complete list of pioneer settlers who traveled the California Trail is known to exist. However, a variety of sources exist which can be used to identify most of them. Some of these sources may reveal their place of origin.

Pioneer Databases. Less than one percent of California Trail pioneers are so far listed in:


 * "The Oregon Territory and Its Pioneers" [Internet site] at http://www.oregonpioneers.com/ortrail.htm (accessed 15 July 2011). Includes year-by-year lists of pioneers pre-1839 to 1855.
 * "Oregon Pioneers - Search List" in Oregon Genealogical Society at http://www.oregongenealogicalsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=section&amp;layout=blog&amp;id=17&amp;Itemid=65 (accessed 15 July 2011). Includes 668 entries with spouse, arrival date, and place settled prior to 1872.
 * Oregon Pioneer List (OPL) Project master index at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orpionpr/master.html (accessed 15 July 2011). A few hundred names of pioneers prior to 1901, many with biographical and submitter information.

Oregon Land Records. From 1850 to 1854 pioneers could claim up to 300 acres of free land in Oregon (Donation Land Claims). Deeds and other land records from any  time period are clues to when a pioneer arrived.


 * "Land Records" in Oregon States Archives at http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/land.html (accessed 15 July 2011). County-by-county list of land records at the State Archives.
 * "Oregon Donation Land Claim Index" in Genealogical Forum of Oregon at http://www.gfo.org/donation/ (accessed 15 July 2011). Lists surname, given name, volume, office, and claim number.

Censuses also can be used to identify pioneers who traveled the California Trail:


 * 1870 federal census of Oregon
 * 1860 federal census of Oregon
 * 1850 federal census of Oregon


 * Oregon took territorial and state censuses in years between federal censuses. These censuses often have different questions than federal censuses and additional family information. Pioneer censuses included:

Local and county histories and biographies in Oregon also may help identify additional pioneers. For example:


 * Vera Martin Lynch, Free land for free men : a story of Clackamas County ((Portland, Oreg. : Printed by Artline Print), 1973). WorldCat entry..
 * Elma Rust, Pioneers of Lake Creek Valley, and a few later ones (Photocopy of original published: Blachly, Ore. : E. Rust, 1984). WorldCat entry..

Some California Trail pioneers also settled in Washington, California, Idaho, or Nevada. Local histories and biographies from those places may also include some pioneers to travelled the California Trail.