36 Facts About California Trail

California Trail was heavily used from 1845 until several years after the end of the American Civil War; in 1869 several rugged wagon routes were established across the Carson Range and Sierra Nevada to different parts of northern California.

Volunteer members of John C Fremont's California Battalion assisted the Pacific Squadron's sailors and marines in 1846 and 1847 in conquering California in the Mexican–American War.

Sections of what became the California Trail route were discovered and developed by American fur traders including Kit Carson, Joseph R Walker, and Jedediah Smith, who often worked with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and after 1834 by the American Fur Company and explored widely in the west.

California Trail felt that the best way to go about this was to encourage emigration by Americans to California, and in this way the history of Texas would be repeated.

Near Soda Springs the Bear River swung southwest towards the Great Salt Lake and the regular Oregon California Trail headed northwest out of the Big Basin drainage and into the Portneuf River drainage to Fort Hall on the Snake River.

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Walker led the company with the wagons west toward California by following the Oregon Trail to Fort Hall, Idaho, and turning west off the Oregon trail at the Snake River, Raft River junction.

All of the Hastings Cutoffs to California were found to be very hard on the wagons, livestock and travelers as well as being longer, harder, and slower to traverse than the regular trail and was largely abandoned after 1846.

California Trail gave detailed descriptions of each of the way stations in his 1861 book The City of the Saints, Across the Rocky Mountains to California.

California Trail eventually got across the Sierra Nevada in southern California over Walker Pass.

The California Trail-bound travelers, striking out from the Snake River and passing into Nevada, missed the head of the Humboldt River there.

The major rivers in California Trail are shown, presumably given the names used by the trappers and Mexican and foreign settlers there.

The gold rush to northern California Trail started in 1848 as settlers in Oregon, southern California Trail, South America and Mexico headed for the gold fields even before the gold discovery was widely known about in the east.

The California Trail was one of three main ways used as Argonauts went by the California Trail, across the disease ridden Isthmus of Panama and around the storm tossed Cape Horn between South America and Antarctica to get to California.

The exact route of the trail to get to California depended on the starting point of the trip, the final destination in California, the whims of the pioneers, the water and grass available on the trail, the threats of Indian attacks on parts of the trail, and the information they had or acquired along the way and the time of year.

From Salt Lake City they could easily get back to the California Trail by following the Salt Lake Cutoff about 180 miles from Salt Lake City northwest around the north end of Great Salt Lake, rejoining the main trail at the City of Rocks near the present Idaho-Utah border.

The little used Honey Lake part of the proposed route near the present states of Nevada and California Trail border was improved in 1859 under Lander's direction but did not go much beyond improving some watering holes—work ceased in 1860.

Many California Trail bound travelers took the about 280 miles and over two weeks shorter Central Overland Route to Salt Lake City and across central Utah and Nevada.

About halfway across the desert on the Truckee California Trail, they came to a foul tasting hot springs, but its water was usually too hot for even very thirsty animals to consume.

High, rugged Carson Range and Sierra Nevada mountains on the eastern California Trail border were the final obstacles that had to be overcome before westbound travelers could proceed.

The Truckee Trail followed the Truckee River past present day Reno, Nevada and went west until they encountered Truckee River Canyon near the present Nevada-California border.

The main route quickly became variations of the Carson Trail which was rough but not as difficult as the Truckee Trail and terminated in the main gold digging regions around Placerville, California.

Portions of the Nevada City California Trail are evident at the top of Coyote Street, and North Bloomfield Road, just north of Nevada City.

The Carson California Trail was named after the Carson River, which was in turn named after Kit Carson, scout for John Charles Fremont who had guided the Fremont party over the Sierra through what was called Carson Pass in February 1844.

Carson California Trail was initially developed by about 45 discharged members of the Mormon Battalion.

The wagons were veterans of the 1846 or 1847 emigration as California Trail had at that time no facilities for building anything besides simple solid wheeled ox carts.

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The Carson California Trail was a straightforward push to Placerville and the heart of the gold country and was a main route for emigrants for many years.

Over time the Carson California Trail developed many branches and toll roads for freight wagons, emigrants and miners going both ways over the Sierra.

From about today's Pollock Pines, California Trail it followed the ridge line on the south side of the river to Placerville.

Luther Pass California Trail was established to connect the Carson River Canyon road with the Johnson Cutoff .

Volcano Road off the Carson Trail was made in 1852 when Amador County and Stockton merchants paid a contractor to construct a road from Corral Flat on what is the Carson Trail to Volcano, California.

The Applegate California Trail branch proceeded northwest into southeastern Oregon along the Lost River before turning almost due north roughly along the route of today's Interstate 5 to go the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

Later, other strikes in western Nevada and eastern California Trail would give impetus to new toll roads to a new mining town.

The Truckee California Trail that was modified and upgraded to the Dutch Flat and Donner Wagon Road over Donner summit had deteriorated so badly that the road had to be extensively rebuilt and relocated to become passable for cars or trucks.

Ultimate competitor to the California Trail showed up in 1869 when the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed.

The trip from Omaha, Nebraska, to California Trail became faster, cheaper, and safer, with a typical trip taking only seven days and a $65 fare.

The California trail was used after 1869 by a few intrepid travelers, but it mostly reverted to local traffic traveling to towns or locations along the trail.