Westward Ho!

It was bound to happen...In the late 18^th century, this young nation wasn’t content to be confined to the boundaries of the original thirteen colonies, so some eighty years after the Pilgrims landed, exploration shifted into high gear and thus began what was termed “manifest destiny,” the expansion across the continent. Several trails were blazed. People packed up their belongings and headed west. The historic trails reached their peak between 1830 and 1870. During that time period upwards of two-thirds of a million pioneers and traders used them. It took the pioneers six months to do what we can do in a few days. And we do it free of all the hardships and in relative comfort. We have no rivers to ford, no Indians to fight, no disease to contend with, and no shortage of food and water to suffer through. Best of all, we don't have to walk most of the way.

   In addition to the pioneer trails, I’ve added four other trails: the two that were developed so that goods could be brought for trade to new settlements in the southwest, the route used by the Pony Express and finally the all important first transcontinental railroad route.

Lewis and Clark Trail 
”The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 was perhaps the most important in the history of American exploration. It opened up vast new territories to American knowledge. After the Louisiana Purchase, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were sent to explore the new American territory. They sought a land route to the Pacific, and along the way they made many scientific observations, collected many specimens of flora, and studied the Indians.” 




The Oregon Trail  The first serious attempt by a group to emigrate west along the Oregon Trail took place in 1841. The trail ran from the Missouri River in Kansas City, across Nebraska and Wyoming, on to southern Idaho, and finally into Oregon. Here we have a bit of a puzzle. The map I looked at had it ending in Vancouver, but I have seen a sign in Seaside, OR on the coast west of Portland, which says that that was the end of the trail.  Finally according to Wikipedia the terminus is Oregon City. When asked the question, Where does the Oregon Trail begin and end? WikiAnswers had this to say:

    Well, that depends on how you look at it. Officially, according to an act of Congress, it begins in Independence, Missouri, and ends in Oregon City, Oregon. To the settlers, though, the trail to the Oregon Country was a five-month trip from their old home in the East to their new home in the West. It was different for every family. Some people got ready to leave the East, or "jump off" as they called it, in towns like St. Joseph or Council Bluffs, and others jumped off from their old homes in Illinois or Missouri and picked up the Oregon Trail in the countryside. Along the way, they could choose to take shortcuts or stick to the main trunk of the Trail, and the end of their journey didn't really come until they settled a claim somewhere in the vast Oregon Country.

The Mormon Trail  The trail began in Nauvoo, IL, the year was 1846. Harassment, antagonism, and persecution forced the Mormons out of Nauvoo. The trail’s route ran 256 miles across Iowa to the Missouri River and then 1032 miles across the Great Plains following pretty much the same path as the Oregon Trail until eastern Wyoming where the trail headed southwest to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Over a twenty year period, 70,000 Mormons traveled by wagons and handcarts along this route. 

The California Trail  The trail followed, generally speaking, the same course as the Oregon and Mormon Trails. Near American Falls, Idaho, it headed south across Nevada, over the Sierras and into the golden state.

The Santa Fe Trail   William Becknell was a trader who wanted to take his goods to Santa Fe to sell. He felt the new settlers in New Mexico, who were lacking essentials, would welcome his business, which turned out to be true.

The Old Spanish Trail  The trail was used as a trade route linking Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles. It had a brief, but active heyday between 1830 and 1848. Traders took goods west and returned with mules and horses.

The Pony Express  The Pony Express was a brave enterprise. It took a lot of guts for the young riders to brave the environment, the Indians, and the weather. It was a job filled with danger. An advertisement recruiting riders asked that recruits be expert riders, willing to risk their lives. "Salary, $25 a month and Orphans Preferred," read the handbills. From St. Joe to Sacramento in ten days was the promise, and they did it. Remarkable! It only lasted 18 months (April 1860 to October 1861) because by that time transcontinental telegraph lines stretched across the continent, and as a result the Pony Express was forced out of business.

Transcontinental Railroad  By 1869 the transcontinental railroad was completed, Leland Stanford pounded in the golden spike (supposedly) and travel over the various pioneer trails declined. I’ve read that old man Stanford tried three times to hit the spike and missed all three times. Finally a railroad employee did the deed and history was made at Promintory Point, north of Salt Lake City.