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WESTERN TRAILS






In the middle 1800s thousands of people were traveling to the same place, but they called it by different names. To Native Americans, it was home. United States citizens called it theWest—the land of opportunity. Some Americans thought of it as the “Promised Land,” where they could find freedom from slavery and religious prejudice. Mexicans living south of the Rio Grande called it el Norte. To Chinese immigrants sailing across the Pacific Ocean, the West was called “Gold Mountain.” What exactly was this place? Why were so many people going there?

Groups of families as well asindividuals in the East traveled to the Oregon Territory and other parts of the West in the middle 1800s. Both the United States and Great Britain claimed the Oregon Territory. In 1846 the two countries agreed to divide it.

People made the journey west for many reasons. Some people sought religious freedom. Others wanted to make their fortunes in gold. Many—perhaps most—wanted to find cheapland where they could build new lives as farmers or ranchers.

The Oregon Trail had the largest share of travelers moving west. Between 1840 and 1860, almost 300,000 people traveled on the Oregon Trail. So many wagons made the trip that in some places the deep ruts of the wagon wheels are still visible today.

MIGRATING WEST

In 1836 two missionary couples set out on the Oregon Trail. Marcusand Narcissa Whitman and Henry and Eliza Spalding hoped to teach the Cayuse people in the Oregon Territory about Christianity. After traveling about six months, the Whitmans set up their mission near the Columbia River. The mission also served as resting place for travelers.

In letters to her family, Narcissa Whitman described the rich farmland, dense woodlands, and mountains. “It is indeed, alovely situation,” Whitman wrote. Her letters were later published and helped encourage Americans to settle in Oregon.

The Mormons

Early in 1847 anther group of religious followers headed west. More than 14,000 travelers left from Nauvoo, Illinois, along a route called the Mormon Trail. The trail got its name form the people who traveled it. They were part of a religious group called theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. Because of mistreatment in Nauvoo, the Mormons decided to move west.

The Mormon leader Brigham Young led the long march. The Mormons’ wagons crossed ice covered rivers as they followed the Oregon Trail. Near Fort Bridger the group left the trail and headed south into lands claimed by Mexico. Finally, in July 1847, the first group of Mormonsreached a large lake now known as the Great Salt Lake. The region’s inhabitants included the Ute and Shoshone peoples. The present-day state of Utah got its name from the Ute.

“Everything looked gloomy, and I felt heartsick,” wrote a Mormon traveler named Harriet Young after her first view of the dry land. The Mormons decided to use irrigation to grow crops of potatoes, grain, and apples. SaltLake City, one of the first Mormon settlements, grew rapidly. By 1850 there were about 5,000 Mormons living in the town.

THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH

One January morning in 1848, a carpenter named James Marshall stood beside the American river in California. The morning sun caught the gleam of something shiny in the water. “I reached my hand down and picked it up,” remembered Marshall, “it mademy heart thump, for I was certain it was gold.”

Marshall was right. By early 1849 people from all over the world raced along yet another western trail, the California Trail to reach the west. This trail led through the Rocky Mountains to California and then to Sutter’s Mill. Sutter’s Mill was the name of the sawmill in the Sacramento River valley where Marshall first saw gold. So many people...