California Trail
The California Trail was a major overland
emigrant route across the
Western United States from
Missouri to
California in the middle
19th century. It was used by 250,000 farmers and
gold-seekers to reach the
California gold fields and farm homesteads in California from the late 1840s until the introduction of the
railroads in the late 1860s. The original route had many branches and encompassed over 5,000 miles of trails. Over 1,000 miles of the rutted traces of the trail remain throughout the
Great Basin as historical evidence of the great mass migration westward.
Encyclopedia
The
California Trail was a major overland
emigrant route across the
Western United States from
Missouri to
California in the middle
19th century. It was used by 250,000 farmers and
gold-seekers to reach the
California gold fields and farm homesteads in California from the late 1840s until the introduction of the
railroads in the late 1860s. The original route had many branches and encompassed over 5,000 miles of trails. Over 1,000 miles of the rutted traces of the trail remain throughout the
Great Basin as historical evidence of the great mass migration westward. Portions of the trail are now preserved by the
National Park Service as the
California National Historical Trail.
Description
The exact route of the trail depended on the starting point of the voyage, the final destination in California, as well as the condition of livestock and vehicles. The main branch of the trail across the
Great Plains was identical to the
Oregon and
Mormon trails, going up the
Missouri River then crossing
Nebraska along the
Platte and
North Platte to present-day
Wyoming. The trail then followed the Sweetwater River across Wyoming, crossing the
continental divide at
South Pass . From South Pass it went northwest to
Fort Hall in the
Oregon Country in present-day southeastern
Idaho along the
Snake River.
West of Fort Hall at the junction of the Raft River and Snake River, the trail diverged from the Oregon Trail. The trail followed the Raft river southwest to near present day Almo, Idaho. It then passed through the
City of Rocks and over Granite Pass where it followed southwest along Goose Creek, Little Goose Creek, and Rock Spring Creek. It passed through Thousand Springs Valley, and then along West Brush Creek to Willow Creek, then to the headwaters of the Humboldt River in present-day northwestern Nevada. The trail followed the north bank of the Humboldt across Nevada, passing through the narrow Carlin Canyon, which became nearly impassable during periods of high water. West of Carlin Canyon the trail climbed through
Emigrant Gap then descended through Emigrant Canyon to rejoin the Humboldt at Gravelly Ford. At Gravelly Ford the trail divided into two branches, following the north and south banks of the river. The two branches rejoined at Humboldt Bar.
At the Humboldt Sink the trail again diverged, with the
Truckee River Route proceeding west across the Forty Mile Desert and reaching the Truckee River at the site of modern-day
Wadsworth, Nevada. This trail then followed the Truckee River to
Donner Lake, crossed the Sierra crest through
Donner Pass, and then proceeded down the Sierra through
Emigrant Gap.
The Carson Trail proceeded south through the Forty Mile Desert, skirting the western edge of the Carson Sink and striking the Carson River near modern-day
Fallon, Nevada. The trail then followed the Carson River and crossed the Sierra Crest through Carson Pass. Both trails ended up at
Sutter's Fort, which is located in modern-day
Sacramento, California.
Lesser traveled routes include the
Beckwourth Cutoff and the
Applegate-Lassen Cutoff. The Beckwourth Cutoff left the Truckee River Route near the site of modern-day
Reno, Nevada and proceeded north to Beckwourth Pass, and then down between the north fork and the middle fork of the Feather River.
The Applegate-Lassen Cutoff left the California Trail near the modern-day Rye Patch Reservoir, and passed through the
Black Rock Desert and High Rock Canyon to Goose Lake. There the trails split, with the Lassen Cutoff proceeding south into the Sacremento Valley along the
Pit River and the Applegate Trail proceeding west into southeastern Oregon along the Lost River.
History
The area of the Great Basin through which the trail had passed had been only partially explored during the days of
Spanish and
Mexican rule. In 1828-29 Peter Skene Ogden, leading expeditions for the
Hudson's Bay Company, explored much of the Humboldt River Valley. In 1834
Benjamin Bonneville, a
United States Army officer on leave to pursue an expedition to the west financed by
John Jacob Astor, sent Joseph Walker westward from the Green River in present-day Wyoming with the mission of finding a route to California. Walker confirmed that the Humboldt River furnished a natural artery across the Great Basin.
Throughout the 1840s the trail began to be used sporadically by early settlers. The first recorded emigrant to use trail was
John Bidwell, who led the 1841 Bidwell-Bartleson Party and later founded
Chico in the Sacramento Valley. Two years later in 1843, Joseph Chiles followed the same route. In 1844, Caleb Greenwood and the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party became the first settlers to take wagons over the Sierra Nevada. In 1845,
John C. Frémont and
Lansford Hastings guided parties totaling several hundred settlers along the trail to California. The following year Hastings persuaded another party of emigrants to follow his "shortcut" that ran to the south of the main route. One such, the
Donner Party, became the most infamous group of emigrants to follow the trail.
The trickle of emigrants would become a flood after the discovery of
gold in California in 1848, the same year that the U.S. acquired the Southwest in the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Within several months of the public announcement of the discovery by
President Polk in early 1849, thousands gold seekers were headed westward into take seek their fortunes in the newly acquired land.
Legacy
Part of the route of the trail across Nevada was used for the
Central Pacific portion of the
first transcontinental railroad. In the
20th century, the route was used for modern highways, in particular
U.S. Highway 40 and later
Interstate 80. Ruts from the wagon wheels and names of emigrants, written with axle grease on rocks, can still be seen in the
City of Rocks National Reserve in southern Idaho.
See also
- Oregon-California Trails Association
External links
