Mormon Trail

The original 1846-1847 Mormon Trail went from Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois to Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. The length of the wagon trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City was about 1,300 mile (2,092 km).

Background History
Nauvoo, Illinois from 1839 to 1845 was a gathering place for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called "Mormons"). In 1846 hostile neighbors forced an exodus of the main group out of Nauvoo across Iowa to the area near where Omaha, Nebraska would eventually be built. Most Mormon pioneers stayed there in "Winter Quarters" and in 1847 completed the journey to Salt Lake City in Utah Territory, their new gathering place.

Each of the following years until 1869 several areas in Kansas, Iowa, or Nebraska were used as staging areas for the trip on the Mormon Trail across the plains into the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City. Several sets of new wagon trains or handcart companies came each year to Salt Lake City. By the time the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 about 70,000 pioneers had walked, pulled a handcart, or ridden a wagon or carriage to Utah.

Route
The Mormon Trail usually followed the north side of the North Platte River west through Nebraska and Wyoming to follow the Sweetwater River farther west. The trail went over South Pass, then worked its way through the mountains. Pioneers ferried across the Green River and forded the Bear River before reaching Salt Lake City.

The Mormon Trail overlapped parts of the Oregon Trail and California Trail which normally stayed on the south side of the North Platte and Sweetwater rivers. The Oregon Trail took a more northerly route after the Green River into Idaho and Oregon. The California Trail continued west from Salt Lake City into Nevada and California.

The exact route of the Mormon Trail varied over the years. Most often it passed through:


 * Iowa
 * Nebraska
 * Wyoming
 * Utah

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints provides an interactive website titled the Pioneer Story, which includes an interactive map of the historic trail, allowing you to search the trail from the beginning or allowing one to go to a specific location along the trail. A variety of personal accounts of some of the pioneers are included with each of the stops along the trek west from Nauvoo, Ilinois to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Connecting migration routes. The Mormon Trail linked to other migration routes at each end. The migration pathways connected at the east end included:


 * Mississippi River
 * Missouri River
 * Union Pacific Railroad 1865 from Omaha, Nebraska and extending its way west to Ogden, Utah in 1869

The migration pathways connected at the west end of the Mormon Trail included:


 * western leg of the California Trail 1846 from western Missouri to Sacramento, California
 * Union Pacific Railroad 1869 from Ogden, Utah to Omaha, Nebraska
 * Central Pacific Railroad 1869 from Ogden, Utah to Sacramento, California
 * Denver and Rio Grande Railroad 1889 Ogden, Utah to Denver, Colorado

Modern parallels. The modern roads that roughly match the Mormon Trail from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah are listed in an online edition of a National Park Service publication about the Mormon Trail:


 * Auto Tour Route - Illinois
 * Auto Tour Route - Iowa
 * Auto Tour Route - Nebraska
 * Auto Tour Route - Wyoming
 * Auto Tour Route - Utah

Settlers and Records
The Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel 1847-1868 database is the most complete listing of individuals and companies that traveled the Mormon Trail. However, it is incomplete and a complete roster of every company has not been found. The database also identifies sources that describe the experiences of each company.

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


 * 1850 federal census of Utah
 * 1856 Utah territorial census
 * 1860 federal census of Utah
 * 1870 federal census of Utah

Local and county histories in Utah also may help identify additional pioneers. Some Mormon Trail pioneers also settled in Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, or California.

Only a tiny fraction of pioneers settled along the Mormon Trail before reaching Salt Lake City, mostly in Iowa or the Omaha area. Only a few may have stayed three to five years before continuing to Utah. It was uncommon to remain much longer.

Mormon pioneer companies experienced less than half the mortality rate on the trail compared to the Oregon Trail or California Trail. An incomplete list