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Emigrant diaries recounted the torturous multiple crossings required through this 3 mile canyon, where wagons spent much of the passing in the rocky-bottomed Pit River. The trail, blazed by Peter Lassen while leading a wagon train of pioneers to California in 1848, was used by thousands of goldseekers and emigrants for nearly a decade.
The Hudspeth Cutoff, which was opened in 1849 by the wagon train captained by Benoni Hudspeth and guided by John Myers, joined the California Trail about a mile south of Marker C-4 where the trail turned west to go up Cassia Creek.
The 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.
If you’re fascinated by the covered-wagon era, then this is the organization for you. Trails West has over 700 markers delineating over 2000 miles of emigrant trails stretching from southern Idaho and Utah, across Nevada, and into California and Oregon.
- Mapping The Trails!
- First Wagon Train to Reach California
- First Oregon Settlers
- Other Related Resources
Here are some landmarks of the trails for each of those early groups that set out from Independence, Missouri. Encourage your students to find photos of these places, and describe the terrain. You can have them mark a map, like ourTRAILS WEST map,which shows all the major routes that crossed our country. Click this image above to see this map in mo...
The settlers heading to California had to Cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains before reaching of Tuolumne County in California. Their route, after leaving Missouri, went like this: Followed the north shore of the Great Salt Lake Reached Mary’s River now called the Humbolt River Traveled to what is now Lovelock Nevada Followed the Walker River Crossed...
The other group of Oregon settlers took a 2,000 mile route. This trail that became known as the “Oregon Trail”. This is a condensed list of landmarks along their trail: Started on the banks of the Missouri River Crossed the land of Kansas Crossed the southern Sand Hills in southern Nebraska. Followed the south shore of the Platte River Passed throu...
For more maps to share with your students, see this linkfrom the National Park Service. Firsthand written accounts of taking the Oregon Trail HERE. See our popular TRAILS WEST map HERE! See our USA, Regions of Native American Culture map HERE!
The Southern Emigrant Trail was a major land route for immigration into California from the eastern United States that followed the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico during the California Gold Rush. Unlike the more northern routes, pioneer wagons could travel this route year-round, as the mountain passes were not blocked by snows.
Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage Trail, was a major land route for immigration into California from the eastern United States that followed the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico during the California Gold Rush.
