Trails and Wagon Trains

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As Westward Expansion of major parts of North America became possible with the Louisiana Purchase by the United States from France in 1803, the swell of immigrants from Europe and elsewhere had pushed the population higher, and toward the current boundaries of the United States. Feeling the building pressure of limited space, it was several decades after the Lewis and Clark expedition before most average folk began making the trek west.

From 1840 to 1870 more than 500,000 people made journeys to find a better life in the west. When these people decided to venture out, whether for economic, political or religious reasons, it was usually entire families bringing their possessions by covered wagon. With little exception the travel was made in groups or "trains" of wagons organized by wagon masters hired to guide them to a common midway or end point. From that terminus the individual or family made the short trip to their final destination, typically a homestead.

Oregon Trail Marker Stone

Many of these travelers endeavored to make the entire journey to the Pacific region. However, a good number stopped short in areas that became Montana, Colorado, and Utah. Regardless of their final destination, these "pioneers" or "settlers" were part of a great migration into the wilderness by foot and by wagon. Over time ancient trails became named routes, used repeatedly and becoming well known to contemporaries and history alike.

The most famous of these trails led west. Originating in Independence, Missouri, and called the Oregon Trail, it spanned over 2,000 miles. Other westward paths included the California Trail and Mormon Trail. There were also southern routes including the Santa Fe Trail, Southern Emigrant Trail, and the Old Spanish Trail (not to be confused with the Mormon Trail, the Mormon Road was a successor to the Old Spanish Trail). Stories of these trails and the people who traveled across the vast distance are etched into the culture and folklore of the United States. Whether the journey ended well or in tragedy (e.g. Donner Party), their courage and fortitude is still celebrated more than 150 years later.

Listed below are brief descriptions of each major trail with resources and links to WikiTree profiles or pages that explore the lives and stories tied to each route.

Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail Map

Parties

• The Whitman Party - The first significant wagon train to traverse The Oregon Trail for the purpose of settlement in Oregon Country. Led in 1836 by Marcus Whitman, a Methodist missionary and physician, the party joined with a fur trapping caravan of seven wagons, led by Milton Sublett and Thomas Fitzpatrick. Party members Henry and Eliza Spalding broke off early, settling in what is now Idaho to create a Presbyterian mission in Nez Perce territory. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa settled in what is now Walla Walla, Washington, to build a mission in Cayuse territory. Whitman and his wife were later killed when Cayuse Indians attacked the mission, in what was later dubbed The Whitman Massacre, which was the start of the Cayuse War.

• The Mission Party of 1838 - After traveling to Oregon Territory with The Whitman Party, W.H. Gray returned East to gather supplies and marry Mary Augusta Dix. Gray then travelled again to Oregon, with his wife, and three other missionary couples, in order to establish missions in Oregon Territory.

• The Great Emigration of 1843 - This wagon train departed from Independence, Missouri on May 22, 1843 to make the trek to Oregon.

• 1844 Oregon Trail Wagon Train - The Cornelius "Neal" Gilliam party blazed a completely new wagon road from St. Joseph westward to intersect the original Oregon & California road from Independence in 1844. Gilliam had advertised in the summer of 1843 that he would lead an emigrant party to Oregon in the Spring, and that the rendezvous would be on the Missouri river's right bank opposite Owen's Landing (present day Amazonia). Camp was set up as scheduled on 9 March, and the journey commenced on 9 May. Eventually the party consisted of 84 wagons and 370 persons when organized west of the Iowa/Sac & Fox Presbyterian Mission.

• Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party - in 1844 ten families migrated from Iowa to California, significant because they were the first to cross the Sierra Nevada with wagons, they pioneered the route through what was later named Donner Pass.

• Donner Party - were 81 American Pioneers that set out for California in a wagon train and became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in 1846. Some of these immigrants resorted to cannibalism to survive.

Resources

• Wikipedia: Oregon Trail
• William Henry Gray - Was a writer, cabinet maker, minister, missionary, and later politician. He is often thought of as Oregon's first historian. His book, "A History of Oregon 1792-1849" was the first comprehensive history written of Oregon Territory, and included information from his own personal journal entries, and those of his fellow pioneers.
• This Day in History - May 22, 1843 - A thousand pioneers head West on the Oregon Trail
• Oregon Pioneers - THE OREGON TERRITORY AND ITS PIONEERS
• Legends of America - Oregon Trail - Pathway to the West
• Overland.com - Links to The Oregon Trail
• Encyclopedia - Oregon Trail Facts Information.
• Oregon Pioneers - Food on the Oregon Trail'
• History Globe - The Oregon Trail Fort Laramie

Maps

• History Globe - Click on a landmark on the map or a name below for a photo
• Roots Web - Maps

Images

• Global Class Room - Images The Oregon Trail in Western Nebraska.
• Pinterest - Oregon trails

California Trail

Resources

• Wikipedia: California Trail

Mormon Trail

Mormon Trail Map

Parties

• Homer Duncan Company

Resources

• Wikipedia: Mormon Trail

Santa Fe Trail

Parties

• Oatman Family - were pioneers , in 1851 they joined a wagon train headed for southern California, the group to split up. Royce Oatman and Mary Oatman and 4 of their children were massacred, by a Native American tribe, the Tolkepayas . Royce's son Lorenzo Oatman was left for dead but survived. His 2 daughters Olive Oatman and her sister Mary Ann were captured and enslaved. Olive was rescued 5 years after her capture, during this time her sister Ann died of hunger.

Resources

• Wikipedia: Santa Fe Trail

Southern Emigrant Trail (aka, The Applegate Trail)

Resources

• Wikipedia: Applegate Trail
• Traiks West, Applegate Trail
• Webtrail: Applegate
• Historybits - American Western Migration Wagon Trains and Covered Wagons c.1700 – 1800s Midwest, Southwest and Western United States of America
• Chronicle of the Old West - The Chuckwagon Old West Recipes and cooking tips
• Eye witness to history - Crossing the Plains, 1865
• Pinterest - Wagons Trains West
• Overland.com - Links to Old West Forts and Towns
• Library of Congress - Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869
• Desert USA - The Desert Route to California Trails to the West by Jay W. Sharp
• Legends of America Pioneers of the American West

Parties

• Donner Party
• Denny Party
• The Mission Party of 1838

Old Spanish Trail

Resources

• Wikipedia: Old Spanish Trail
• Desert USA - California and the Old Spanish Trail
• Old Spanish Trail Association

Maps

• NPS Maps - Old Spanish Trail

Parties

• Baker-Fancher Party - 200 emigrants from the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas left in April 1857 for California. By early September 1857 the wagon train was in the south Utah Territory almost to California when nearly the entire party was slaughtered at Mountain Meadows along the Old Spanish Trail. Only seventeen infants and toddlers were left living by their assailants, who assumed they were too young to tell the tale. It took 150 years for the healing to begin.