Mormon Trail: Difference between revisions

Each of the following years until 1869 several areas in [[Nebraska Genealogy|Nebraska]], [[Iowa Genealogy|Iowa]], or [[Kansas Genealogy|Kansas]] were used as staging areas for the four-month trip on the Mormon Trail across the plains into the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains Rocky Mountains] to Salt Lake City. Several sets of new [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_trains wagon trains] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handcart_company handcart companies] came each year to Salt Lake City. By the time the [[First Transcontinental Railroad|transcontinental railroad]] was completed to Utah in 1869 about 70,000 pioneers had walked, pulled a handcart, or ridden a wagon or carriage to [[Utah Genealogy|Utah]].<ref name="PioSto" /> See also [[LDS Emigration and Immigration|LDS Emigration and Immigration]] and [[Handcart Pioneers|Handcart Pioneers]].<br>  

'''Other early routes to Utah.''' In 1846 a group of 43 from [[Monroe County, Mississippi]] planned to meet the Nauvoo Mormons on the Mormon Trail. They arrived in [[Independence, Missouri]] on 26 May and made their way to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Platte_River Platte River]. Not finding Brigham Young, these Mississippi Mormons mistakenly concluded they had fallen behind the main group, and from there hurried west. Past [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_Rock_National_Historic_Site Chimney Rock] in western [[Nebraska Genealogy|Nebraska]] they realized their mistake and agreed to go to Pueblo, Colorado to spend the winter. These Southern Mormons were not able to meet the main group until 3 June 1847 at [[Laramie County, Wyoming Genealogy|Laramie, Wyoming]]. Several served as scouts after joining the main group. The next year a few returned and led about 200 more Mississippians to Utah.<ref>Leonard J. Arrington, ''Mississippi Mormons'' at http://lds.org/ensign/1977/06/mississippi-mormons?lang=eng (accessed 9 July 2011).</ref>  

Some pioneers reached [[Utah Genealogy|Utah]] via [[California Genealogy|California]]. A group of over 530 men called the "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Battalion Mormon Battalion]" were recruited off the Mormon Trail into the U.S. Army to help fight the [[Mexican War, 1846 to 1848|Mexican War 1846-1847]]. Most of these men left their families at Council Bluffs, Iowa and marched to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Leavenworth,_Kansas Fort Leavenworth Kansas], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe,_New_Mexico Santa Fe New Mexico], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona Tucson Arizona], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego,_California San Diego] and [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles, California]] where they were honorably dismissed from service. A few of these men participated in the discovery of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush gold at Sutter's Mill] in 1848.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Mormon Battalion" in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Battalion (accessed 9 July 2011).</ref> <br>  

In 1846 another group led by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Brannan Samuel Brannan] with 237 other Latter-day Saints sailed for six months on the first family passenger ship to [[California Genealogy|California]], the [[Ship Brooklyn|''Ship Brooklyn'']], from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City New York City] around [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Horn Cape Horn] to [[Hawaii Genealogy|Hawaii]] to [[San Francisco County,California|San Francisco]]. Brannan published the Sutter's Mill gold strike to start the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush Gold Rush]. From [[California Genealogy|California]] most of these pioneers found their way to [[Utah Genealogy|Utah]] as individuals or in small groups. This included former soldiers hoping to reunite with the families they last saw in [[Iowa Genealogy|Iowa]].<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Mormon pioneers" in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_pioneers (accessed 9 July 2011).</ref>  

The Mormon Trail usually followed the north side of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Platte_River North Platte River] west through [[Nebraska Genealogy|Nebraska]] and [[Wyoming Genealogy|Wyoming]] to follow the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetwater_River_%28Wyoming%29 Sweetwater River] farther west. The trail went over [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pass South Pass], then worked its way through the mountains. Pioneers crossed the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_River_%28Utah%29 Green River] at [http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/trailsdemo/lombard_ferry.htm Lombard Ferry], headed for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bridger Fort Bridger], and forded the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_%28Utah%29 Bear River] before reaching [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Echo_Canyon.jpg Echo Canyon]. Their last camp on the trail was often near the Old Fort at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City. The Mormon Trail overlapped parts of the [[Oregon Trail]] and [[California Trail]] which normally stayed on the south side of the North Platte River. The Oregon Trail took [http://www.nps.gov/cali/parkmgmt/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=542813 a more northerly route] after the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_River_%28Utah%29 Green River] into [[Idaho Genealogy|Idaho]] and [[Oregon Genealogy|Oregon]]. The California Trail [http://www.nps.gov/cali/parkmgmt/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=542813 continued west] from Salt Lake City (or from the Oregon Trail at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hall Fort Hall, Idaho])<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "California Trail" in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Route (accessed 9 July 2011).</ref> into [[Nevada Genealogy|Nevada]] and [[California Genealogy|California]].  

:*[[Iowa Genealogy|Iowa]] (in later years sometimes [[Kansas Genealogy|Kansas]]) [[Image:Sites Along the Mormon Trail.png|thumb]]  

:*[[Nebraska Genealogy|Nebraska]]  

:*[[Wyoming Genealogy|Wyoming]]  

:*[[Utah Genealogy|Utah]]<br><br>

:*[[California Trail]] 1841 from western [[Missouri Genealogy|Missouri]] to central [[California Genealogy|California]] overlapped the Mormon Trail most of the way to [[Utah Genealogy|Utah]]  

:*[[Oregon Trail]] 1843 from western [[Missouri Genealogy|Missouri]] to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Valley Willamette Valley] of [[Oregon Genealogy|Oregon]] overlapped the Mormon Trail to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_River_%28Utah%29 Green River (Wyoming)] area  

Some Mormon Trail pioneers also settled in [[Idaho Genealogy|Idaho]], [[Arizona Genealogy|Arizona]], [[Nevada Genealogy|Nevada]], or [[California Genealogy|California]]. Local histories and biographies from those places may also include some pioneers to travelled the Mormon Trail. <br>  

'''Settlers along the trail.''' Only a tiny fraction of pioneers settled along the Mormon Trail before reaching Salt Lake City, mostly in [[Iowa Genealogy|Iowa]] or the [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]] area. Only a few may have stayed three to five years before continuing to [[Utah Genealogy|Utah]]. It was uncommon to remain much longer.