Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869
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Trails West
Before railroads, automobiles, and airplanes, distances of any great length were traveled in long and arduous voyages by ship and covered wagon. When the lands and minerals of the western territories beckoned in the 1840s and 50s, hundreds of thousands of pioneers emigrated from the United States by way of a few western wagon trails. These trails are illustrated in a Special Presentation of Interactive Maps, while trail life is reflected in the collection's diaries, letters, maps, and images.
Use the Trail Name Index to locate materials that describe travel along specific trails. For example, in his two-volume diary, William Henry Hart provides a detailed account of life on the California Trail, describing everything from learning to cook over a campfire to guarding cattle during a night watch. Hart gives several accounts of driving his wagon through rivers and ravines as well as the Black Hills:
"June 22d Rolled out early. Road very bad being all hills, steep and rocky, up mountains and down vales, over or around the rocky ridges, with many a sudden creek or steep pitch. I was driver and on one of the steepest rocky descents my lock chain became loosened and the wagon instantly commenced going down much faster than {begin inserted text}was{end inserted text} proper and threatened to crowd the team off the side {begin inserted text}of{end inserted text} the road into a deep ravine. In trying to catch the wheel with my hands I put my foot too near it and immediately my right great toe underwent a flattening process that was decidedly disagreeable. I was still striving to stop the wagon however when I was reinforced by Streeter + Reed who had not been far off and by the driver of the succeeding team By each catching a wheel we stopped the wagon and relocked it."
Hart, William Henry. Diaries, 1852-1888 (vol 1). June 1852, pages 88 - 89
- What natural barriers did pioneers face in crossing the continent?
- What were the challenges of crossing the Great Plains? What were the challenges of crossing the mountains?
- Which of the trails westward would you consider the least hazardous? Why?
- What guidebooks were available for each trail? When did these become available?
- What were the main activities of trail life?
- What would have happened to a pioneer if he had lost his wagon or oxen in an accident?
- What were the hardships of trail life? What did diarists enjoy about life on the trail?
Ezekiel Headley also traveled the California trail, keeping a diary of short and factual entries. The nineteen year old makes repeated references to the many other travelers emigrating at that time, noting on May 22, 1849, "...Met 19 wagons of Fur traders they Told us there was About 2500 wagons Ahead of us." Headley also kept track of the number of graves he saw each day. In a series of typical entries, he wrote, "T[uesday] 11 Seen 3 graves. W[ednesday] 12 Seen 6 graves. T[hursday] 13 Crossed the big Nimakaw River, and seen 5 graves."
Many of the deaths along the trails were the result of cholera. Edward Jackson writes of an attack of cholera on a steamer taking pioneers up the Missouri River from St. Louis to Independence, one of the points of embarkation of wagon trains.
"May 9 [1849]. The cholera is now raging fearfully here and report says this morning that the steamer Mary had thirty six deaths on board from cholera since she left St. Louis. We are very particular about cleanliness in the camp - all bathing every morning."
His diary entry for May 20 sounds the lament of many western travelers:
"One of our axle trees broke which detained us & compelled us to reverence the day [Sunday]. At this place are the graves of two emigrants who died the past week. O do not leave my bones here. If possible let them lay at home - if not, let it be California . The idea of the plains is horrible! I now see my journey in its true light and if I am permitted to record, the pages of my journal will tell a fearful tale."
- Why was cholera such a dread disease of pioneers venturing west?
- According to Jackson, what precautions were taken to prevent the outbreak of a cholera epidemic in his party?
The trails west crossed territory occupied, and in many cases held sacred, by Native Americans. Refer to maps showing the location of Native-American tribes, such as a Map of Lewis & Clark's treck across the western portion of North America and Johnson's California, with Utah, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. Use Subject Index headings beginning with Indian or search on Indian for other materials. Numerous diarists record encounters with Native Americans, including Kate Dunlap, who traveled from Iowa to Montana by horse team in 1864:
"After passing another range of bluffs worse than the first, we came to an In-dian village of about 40 'wigwams'. This village is sit- uated on one of the finest grazing plains we have seen since we have been on the road. A half a dozen or so of naked children fol- lowed after us crying for bread. I felt sorry for them but had none to give them. as I had given the last mor sel I had to some squaws and their papooses, whom we met among the Sandy bluffs - We stopped one and a half miles from their village to camp, as some the Ohio freighter had not yet got over the sand bluffs, but an old chief came to us and forbid us camping on their pas- ture, claiming that all this land belonged to the Soux , that God had given it to them, and we must move. After a long debate with him and among ourselves we concluded to go on."
Dunlap, Kate. Diary, 1864-1865. June 1864, pages 40 - 41
- What kinds of interactions did emigrants on the westward trails have with Native Americans?
- What can you tell about diarists' attitudes towards Native Americans?
- What reasons would Native Americans have had to be hostile towards the pioneers who came westward on the trails?
- What impact would the migration of emigrants during the 1840s and 50s have had on the land?