The California Trail carried over 250,000 gold-seekers and farmers to the gold fields and rich farmlands of the Golden State during the 1840s and 1850s, the greatest mass migration in American history. The general route began at various jumping off points along the Missouri River and stretched to various points in California Oregon, and the Sierra Nevada. The specific route that emigrants and forty-niners used depended on their starting point in Missouri, their final destination in California, the condition of their wagons and livestock, and yearly changes in water and forage along the different routes. The trail passes through the states of Missouri, Kansas Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and California. Before the trail was blazed, the Great Basin region had only been partially explored during the days of Spanish and Mexican rule. However, that changed in 1832 when Benjamin Bonneville, a United States Army officer, requested a leave of absence to pursue an expedition to the west. The expedition was financed by John Jacob Astor, a rival of the Hudson Bay company. While Bonneville was exploring the Snake River in Wyoming, he sent a party of men under Joseph Walker to explore the Great Salt Lake and find an overland route to California.

Early settlers began to use the trail in the 1840's, the first of which was John Bidwell, who led the 1841 Bidwell-Bartleson Party. In 1842, a member of the Bidwell-Bartleson Party returned to Missouri on the Humboldt River Route. Among them was a man named Joseph Chiles, who would lead another party to California in 1843 and play an important part in the subsequent opening of more segments of the California Trail. Throughout the 1840's settlers would develop short cuts on the route to California. One such short cut, called the Hastings Route, ran south of the main route. This "new" route would spell the death of many of those in the infamous Donner Party.
The main branch of the trail across the Great Plains generally followed the same path as the Oregon and Mormon Trails, but extended to California from various points in southern Wyoming and Idaho. The trail followed the Missouri River before crossing the great plains of Nebraska along the Platte and North Platte Rivers to present-day Wyoming. It then followed the Sweetwater River across Wyoming, then northwest along the Snake River to Fort Hall in present-day southeastern Idaho. Fort Hall was the Hudson Bay Company's post on the Snake River. From here, the primary route followed the Snake River south to American Falls, past Massacre Rocks, and Register Rock to cross the Raft River. After the crossing of the river, the trail split with the Oregon Trail, with the California bound emigrants turning south through the Raft River Valley to the City of Rocks.
The trail then climbed through the Pinnacle and Granite Passes, before dropping down to Goose Creek and meandering south through the northwest corner of Utah and into Nevada. At the headwaters of the Humboldt River in present-day northwestern Nevada the California Trail followed the north bank of the Humboldt River southwest through present day Elko, Nevada and the narrow Carlin Canyon, where, during periods of high water, the route was almost impassable.
West of Carlin, the California Trail climbed Emigrant Pass, descending into Emigrant Canyon to rejoin the Humboldt River at Gravelly Ford. Here, the route divided to follow the north and south sides of the river, before rejoining at Humboldt Bar. Various routes branched out across the Sierra Nevada, as the emigrants made there way to various destinations in California.
Early emigrants once called the California Trail an elephant, due to the difficult journey. If you wanted to get to California in pre-railroad times, you were guaranteed an arduous trek. California emigrants faced the greatest challenges of all the pioneer emigrants of the mid-19th century. In addition to the Rockies, these emigrants faced the barren deserts of Nevada and the imposing Sierra Nevada Range. The travelers of the California Trail often quipped that if you had "seen the elephant," then you had hit some hard traveling.
When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, the trickle of emigrants became a flood as thousands of prospectors and families made their way to the Golden State in hopes of finding their fortunes. According to some statistics, over 70,000 emigrants used the California Trail in 1849 and 1850 alone. In the two decades of the 1840's and 1850's, the California Trail carried over 250,000 gold-seekers and farmers to the state's gold fields and rich farmlands. It was the greatest mass migration in American history. Eventually, the portions of the railroad followed parts of the California Trail and as the automobile was introduced and began to be used by the masses, highways replaced the trail. Today, U.S. Highways 40 and 80 follow the path of the California Trail.
The California Trail system, which now includes approximately 5,665 miles of trails, was developed over a period of years. Numerous cutoffs and alternate routes were tried along the California Trail to see which was the "best" in terms of terrain, length and sufficient water and grass for livestock. Today, more than 1,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen in the vast undeveloped lands between Casper, Wyoming and the West Coast, reminders of the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs of early American travelers and settlers. About 2,171 miles of this system cross public lands, where most of the physical evidence that still exists today is located, including the names of emigrants written with axle grease on the rocks at the City of Rocks National Reserve in southern Idaho. More than 300 historic sites along the trail will eventually be available for public use and interpretation. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-californiatrail.html

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated June, 2010.

A pioneer’s typical outfit wasn’t terribly expensive; usually one or two small, sturdy farm wagons, six to 10 head of oxen, a milk cow or two. Plus all the necessary food, clothing and utensils needed for survival. Often heavy items such as furniture, stoves, pianos would be freighted to the West Coast by clipper ship around the Horn of South America. If such heavy things were packed in the wagons, they usually ended up left along trailside along the way.
To survive the long jouney, a family of four would need 600 lbs. of flour, 120 lbs. of biscuits, 400 lbs. of bacon, 60 lbs. of coffee, 4 lbs. of tea, 100 lbs. of sugar, and 200 lbs. of lard. These would just be the basic staples. Other food stuffs could include sacks of rice and beans, plus dried peaches and apples. Bacon was often hauled in large barrels packed in bran so the hot sun would not melt the fat. Each man took a rifle or shotgun and some added a pistol. A good hunting knife was essential. Farm implements such as a plow, shovel, scythe, rake, hoe; plus carpentry tools - saw, broad axe, mallet, plane. Seeds for corn, wheat and other crops.
Usually, thick slabs of smoked bacon would keep as long as it was protected from the hot temperatures. One way to preserve bacon was to pack it inside a barrel of bran. Also, eggs could be protected by packing them in barrels of corn meal – as the eggs were used up, the meal was used to make bread. Coffee was another important staple. It was drunk by man and beast, adult and child and the best way to disguise the taste of bitter, alkali water. In the early days of the trail when game was more abundant near the trail, pioneers could often kill buffalo and antelope. However, a more dependable supply of fresh meat was to bring along a small herd of cattle and trail them behind the wagon. Many also brought along a cow for milking purposes. Milk could also be churned into butter by simply hanging it in pails beneath the bumpy wagon. By the end of the day fresh butter would be ready.
TYPICAL CARGO CRAMMED INTO A WAGON INCLUDED:
COOKING UTENSILS: Dutch oven, kettle, skillet, reflector oven, coffee grinder, teapot, butcher knife, ladle, tin tableware, water keg, matches.
CLOTHING: wool sack coats, rubber coats, cotton dresses, wool pantaloons, buckskin pants, duck trousers, cotton shirts, flannel shirts, cotton socks, brogans, boots, felt hat, palm-leaf sun hat, green goggles, sunbonnet.
FOOD: flour (600 lbs.), bacon ( 400 lbs.), coffee (60 lbs.), baking soda, corn meal, hardtack, dried beans, dried fruit, dried beef, molasses, vinegar, pepper, eggs, salt, sugar (100 lbs.), rice, tea (4 lbs.), lard (200 lbs.)
BEDDING & TENT SUPPLIES: blankets, ground cloths, pillows, tent, poles, stakes, ropes.
TOOLS & EQUIPMENT: set of augers, gimlet, ax, hammer, hoe, plow, shovel, spade, whetstone, oxbows, axles, kingbolts, ox shoes, spokes, wagon tongue, heavy ropes, chains.
LUXURIES: canned goods, plant cuttings, school books, musical instruments, dolls and toys, family albums, jewelry, china, silverware, fine linens, iron stoves, furniture.
WEAPONRY: rifle, pistol, knife, hatchet, gunpowder, lead, bullet mold, powder horn, bullet pouch, holster.
HANDY ARTICLES: surgical instruments, liniments, bandages, campstool, chamber pot, washbowl, lanterns, candle molds, tallow, spyglasses, scissors, needles, pins, thread.

Major threats to pioneer life and limb came from accidents, exhaustion, and disease. Crossing rivers were probably the most dangerous thing pioneers did. Swollen rivers could tip over and drown both people and oxen. Such accidents could cause the loss of life and most or all of valuable supplies. Animals could panic when wading through deep, swift water, causing wagons to overturn. Animals could cause very serious injury to their owners. People could be crushed by wagons or animals, thrown by horses.
According to Peter D. Olch, being run over by wagon wheels was the most frequent cause of injury or death. Both children and adults could slip while getting out of a wagon and fall beneath the wheels. Children were especially susceptible to being run over by heavy wagons. Firearms were the second leading cause of emigrant injury and death and a surprisingly large number of pioneers were injured by accidental firearm discharges. It was usually safer to keep rifles unloaded.and the third cause was stampeding livestock.Indians proved not to be any real danger to most pioneers. Other causes of injury or death included attacks by emigrants on other emigrants, lightning, hailstorms, grassfires, gunpowder explosions, snakebite and suicide.
Diseases and serious illnesses caused the deaths of nine out of ten pioneers. Such diseases as cholera, small pox, flu, measles, mumps, tuberculosis could spread quickly through an entire wagon camp. Cholera was the main scourge of the trail. It could attack a perfectly healthy person after breakfast and he would be in his grave by noon. However, many would linger in misery for weeks in the bouncy wagons. When it was obvious a person wouldn’t last the day, the train would often hold up moving in order to wait for the end. Burials often were done right in the middle of the trail, where wagons could roll over and animals trample it down in order to erase the scent so wolves could not pick up the scent.
The number of deaths which occurred in wagon train companies traveling to California is conservatively figured as 20,000 for the entire 2,000 miles of the Oregon/California Trail, or an average of ten graves per mile. http://www.oregontrailcenter.org/HistoricalTrails/OregonCaliforniaTrails.htm How many emigrants followed the trails to California, the Pacific Northwest, and Utah?
Probably about 500,000. Perhaps 1 out of every 250 emigrants left some kind of written account.
[Merrill Mattes, Platte River Narratives, p, 5.]

1812-1848: 5,000 to Salt Lake; 10,000 to Oregon; 2,000 to California.
1849: Perhaps as many as 40,000. This includes northsiders and those who failed to register either at Fort Kearny or Fort Laramie.
1850: 65,000 is a defensible figure. This was the most disastrous of the migration years with perhaps 5,000 deaths, mostly caused by cholera.
1851: Less than 10,000.
1852: Probably close to 70,000.
1853: About 35,000.
1854: Some 20,000, with over half going to California and the rest to Utah.
1855: The majority of an estimated 7,000 went to Utah.
1856: An estimated 12,000; two-thirds went to California.
1857: Not more than 6,000, with two-thirds again going to California.
1858: An estimated 7,500.
1859: Perhaps 80,000; 60,000 went to Colorado because of the discovery of gold on Cherry Creek.
1860: On the order of 20,000. This figure is more of an estimate than those for other years.
1861: Less than 10,000.
1862: About 20,000. The increase was caused by the discovery of silver and gold in Montana and in eastern Oregon.
1863: About the same level as 1862.
1864: About 40,000; most went to Montana.
1865: Did not exceed 20,000; most traveled to Colorado and Utah.
1866: 25,000
[Merrill Mattes, Platte River Narratives, pp. 2-5]

http://www.octa-trails.org/learn/trail-facts

The California Gold Rush
"I reached my hand down and picked it up; it made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold." - James Marshall, 1848
________________________________________

At a time when restless Americans were already itching to go west, the discovery of gold in California in 1848 was like gasoline on a fire. Within a year of its discovery, emigrants using the California Trail were flooding into the Sierra Nevada Range by the thousands.

John Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who came to California in 1839 with a dream of building an agricultural empire. When he needed lumber in early 1848, he assigned the task to one of his men, James Marshall. Marshall decided to build a sawmill on the South Fork of the American river, about 40 miles from Sutter's home.

Marshall discovered a gold nugget on January 24, 1848, while at the sawmill. He and his men found more gold nearby. Both Marshall and Sutter tried to keep things quiet, but soon word leaked out. Gold fever quickly became an epidemic.

Many who already had arrived in California or Oregon immediately gravitated to the western Sierras. But it wasn't until December of 1848 that President James Polk confirmed the findings to Congress, which meant it was too late to start a trip for easterners. But by the spring of 1849, the largest migration (25,000 that year alone) in American history was already taking place.

Better-than-average conditions on the plains and in the desert that spring and summer helped soften the blow of the wave of emigrants. But conditions were harsh at best and many livestock were lost along the way. Grass and clean water became scarcer as the trip wore on, and diseases like cholera took their toll.

Indians in particular suffered from the "Forty-Niners" who streamed across the land. For centuries, Indians had lived in the West without outside competition for resources. But now the pioneers' lust for wealth was threatening to decimate the Indians through the consumption of foods, lands, water and space.

Many new routes were opened into California as a result of the Gold Rush. With an estimated 140,000 emigrants arriving in California via the California Trail between 1849 and 1854, routes were continually modified, tested or even abandoned.

Central cutoffs and alternate routes include:

1844 Sublette Cutoff
1846 Hastings Cutoff
1848 Salt Lake Cutoff
1849 Hudspeth Cutoff
1850 Childs Cutoff
1850 Kinney Cutoff
1850 Seminoe Cutoff
1850 Slate Creek Cutoff
1852 Baker-Davis Road
1856 Dempsey-Hockadsy Cutoff
1858 Lander Road
1859 Julesburg Cutoff

1859 Western routes include:

1844 Truckee Route
1846 Applegate Trail
1848 Carson Route
1848 Lassen Route
1851 Beckwourth Trail
1852 Nobles Road
1852 Sonora Road
History & Culture
Before railroads or automobiles, people in America had to travel by foot, horse, boat or wagon. Some of these routes from our nation's early days still remain today as reminders of our historic past. A National Historic Trail (NHT) such as the California NHT is an extended trail that closely follows the original routes of travel of national historical significance. http://www.ohranger.com/california-trail/history After several days on the trail, certain routines were followed:

4:00 am: a bugler blows a trumpet or a rifle is fired by the night guards to wake up the camp.
5:00 am: cattle are rounded up after being allowed to graze during the night (except when Indians threatened).
5:30 am: women and children are up and fixing breakfast of usually bacon, corn porridge or “Johnny Cakes” made of flour and water.
6:30 am: women rinse plates and mugs and stow bedding, while the men haul down tents and load them in the wagons.
7:00 am: after every family has gathered their teams and hitched them to wagons, a trumpeter signals a “Wagons Ho,” to start the wagons down the trail. Average distance covered in a day was usually fifteen miles, but on a good day twenty could be traveled.
7:30 am: men ride ahead on horses with shovels to clear out a path, if needed.
“Nooning Time”: animals and people stop to eat, drink and rest.
1:00 pm: back on the trail.
5:00 pm: when a good campsite with ample water and grass is found, pioneers stop to set up camp for the evening. Wagons are formed into a corral.
6:00 pm: families unpack and make supper.
7:00 pm: mothers do chores, men smoke and talk, young people dance.
8:00 pm: camp settles down for the night, guards go out on duty.
Midnight: night guards are changed.

Most Indians were tolerant of the pioneer wagon trains that drove through their lands. Some traded and swapped buffalo robes and mocassins for knives, clothes, food and other items. Some tribes were notorious for stealing from the emigrants along the road. And, there were some violent altercations between Indians and pioneers, but these were very few compared with the total number of settlers who traveled in safety through Indian lands. In the early years of the trail, Indians never attacked a large wagon train, but stragglers could be in big trouble
Historical studies indicate that between 1840-1860 that Indians killed 362 emigrants, but that emigrants killed 426 Indians. Of the emigrants killed by Indians, about 90% were killed west of South Pass, mostly along the Snake and Humboldt Rivers or on the Applegate Trail to the southern end of the Willamette Valley.
Indians of many separate tribes who spoke different languages considered the land where the Oregon/California trails ran through their home. Sioux, Shoshone, Kiowa, Crow, Ute, Paiute, were some of the various tribes that an emigrant train might encounter. Many of the depredations done by Shoshone Indians were on the stretch between Soda Springs/Ft. Hall and Snake River where it runs through what is now southern Idaho.
Shoshone were the dominant tribe along the trail within the area in and around The National Oregon-California Trail Center, from Thomas Fork Crossing to Soda Springs. No record or any attacks or altercations against western travelers by the Shoshone have been documented along this section of the trail. http://www.oregontrailcenter.org/HistoricalTrails/OregonCaliforniaTrails.htm Pioneer Children's Games
What sort of games did children play before television and video games? Here are just a few. You might find they are not as easy as they look; they require dexterity and skill. Cat’s Cradle:
The game of Cat’s Cradle is only one of many finger and string games, although it is the best known. String games like this one have a rich and varied history. It is thought that this particular game traveled to Europe in the early seventeenth century with the tea trade from Asia. Some sources say that children played Cat’s Cradle in England as early as 1782. In the American colonies, Cat’s Cradle (or “Cratch Cradle”) was one of the earliest and most popular of all known string games. You need 2 people (or at least 4 hands!) and 6 feet of cord, yarn or string tied into a loop.
If you’d like to see how a Cat’s Cradle is done, try this site: http://www.ifyoulovetoread.com/book/chten_cats1105.htm Cup and Ball:
Cup and ball toys tests the player’s eye-hand coordination, and can be played indoors or out. The ball is connected to the cup with a string and the player tries to swing the ball so that it falls into the cup. A favorite American pastime for generations, it can still be found in many forms, although it is usually made of wood.
This toy’s origins can be traced back to early India and ancient Greece, with it being the fashion in late 16 th-century Europe for both children and adults alike to be skilled cup-and-ballers. It traveled from there to the New World, being one of the earliest games played in America. Dominoes:
With a long and fascinating history, the game of dominoes is recorded as being played in China in 1120 A.D. Moving west, the game came with traders to Europe, where it became the most popular game of the mid-eighteenth century. Immigrants brought it to America with them where it is still popular game, both on line and in real space.
While most of today’s dominoes are made of wood, they were originally made of ivory and ebony. The name comes from the French domino, the winter hood of a priest which was white on the inside and black on the outside.
If you’d like to play dominoes on line, try this site: http://www.ehow.com/how_9241_play-dominoes.html Draughts (Checkers):
One of the most popular games of all times, checkers combines the two-color board of chess, the game pieces of backgammon of the Middle Ages, and the moves of another old game called alquerque. Easy to learn and with simple rules, checkers have given hours of pleasure to millions of players down through the years.
If you’d like to play checkers online, try this site: http://thinks.com/java/checkers/checkers.htm Hopscotch:
One of the oldest and most popular of all children’s games, a hopscotch diagram is still visible etched into the floor of the Roman Forum. The vast network of roads that supported the Roman Empire’s military and economic might also made possible the spread of hopscotch to many parts of the world. With many different patterns and variations of the rules, hopscotch is still a favorite with children of all ages.
If you’d like to see hopscotch variations from around the world, try this site: http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110166/hopscotch.htm
Jacks:

A century old game, jacks is played with bones, seeds, stones, small cloth bags filled with sand or other materials. Modern games are played with six-pronged metal, wood, or plastic objects and a ball. Also called dibs, jackstones, five stones, checkstones, or knucklebones, archeological evidence shows that primitive forms of the game were played in prehistoric times, as well as in classical Greece and Rome, and colonial America.
The modern game consists of bouncing the ball and picking up a specified number of jacks before catching the ball before it bounces a second time. In the basic game, players start by picking up one jack each bounce, then two, then three, and so on. Other variations involve images of putting cats down a well, sending people into church, and playing baseball.
If you’d like to see more information on how to play basic jacks and some of its variations, try this site: http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/games/beard/jack_stones.htm Jump Rope:
It seems that skipping rope and rhymes have gone together for centuries, as indeed they have. The rhymes have been passed down the generations orally, while others were written down to record for history. While the girls liked to skip to rhymes, the boys at first just had contests to see how many jumps they could make.
Though its worldwide history is centuries long, jump rope only became a favorite pastime of American children in the 1830’s, when the allure of chanting rhymes while skipping replaced jump-counting contests. And though it’s often represented as a solitary activity, modern jump rope activities often involve groups of three or more.
For some jump rope games, try this site: http://kidsreadingcircle.com/KKJumpRope.pdf
For information on modern jump rope competition, try this site: http://www.usajrf.org/

Marbles:
One of the oldest of all known games, games of marbles have been played in ancient Egypt as well as classical Greece and Rome. In America, the game has not changed very much. A ring is drawn in the dirt, marbles are placed inside, and the players try to shoot the marbles out of the ring with a shooter marble, which is called a knuckler.
For some international marbles variations, try this site: http://www.topics-mag.com/edition11/games-marbles.htm
For more information on history and rules, try this site: http://www.cowtowncollectibles.com/Marble%20History.htm Pick-up Sticks:
Also called Jackstraws, Jerkstraws, Spilikins or Woodpile, Pick Up Sticks were originally made of ivory or bone, and was a popular game with both children and adults. When it became particularly popular in Colonial America, the sticks were made of wood. By the 20 th century, the “sticks” were made rounded for easier use and started to be called Pick Up Sticks, after the children’s counting rhyme: “One, two, buckle my shoe; three, four, shut the door; five, six, pick up sticks….” The object of the game is to drop the sticks in a pile and then remove them one at a time without disturbing the rest. The game can either be scored by counting the number of sticks each player picks up, or using the color of the sticks determine their point value, with the player having the most number of points declared the winner.
For more about its history, see this site: http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/Tablegames/Jackstraws/index.html For instructions, including stick point value, see this site: http://www.cardinalgames.com/instruct/picksticks.htm Yo-Yo:
While the toy has been around since before recorded history, the modern name was coined by Donald Franklin Duncan in 1932. Called a Bandelure (winding toy) in French or a “Prince of Wales” toy, the toy has been traced from ancient Greece to many of the European countries. In the beginning of the 1800’s, it became fashionable in England under the name of Quiz, with most persons of fashion owning one.

http://www.historicthedalles.org/pioneer_games.htm