California National Historic Trail
Details: Follow in the footsteps of over 250,000 emigrants who traveled to the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840s and 1850s: the greatest mass migration in American history. The California National Historic Trail is over 5,000 miles long and covers portions of 10 states. Step into history along more than 1,000 miles of ruts and traces from travelers and their overland wagons.
Due to the length of the California National Historic Trail, be sure to consult local weather sources for the region you'll be visiting. Check out the forecast with the National Weather Service and search for the area you'd like to visit: weather.gov
Directions: Those portions of the California National Historic Trail authorized by Congress include nearly 2,000 miles of historic trail that was once the primary "road" taken by farmers, enterprising business managers, gold-seekers, and fortune hunters who chose to make a new life on the California frontier. The route passes through ten states from Missouri to California.
1864 Indian Raids
The 1864 Uprising was a series of American Indian raids made by the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes in an attempt to drive emigrants from their lands. A Nebraska State Historical Society interpretive marker provides more information about these raids. There is also a granite marker a half mile to the mile north across the Little Blue River. From the state marker, look east toward the hillside to see a series of parallel wagon ruts heading toward your location. These wagon ruts, which are on private property, are remnants of the Oregon Trail.
The sign reads, "1864 Indian Raids. During the Civil War, many regular troops were withdrawn from Plains military posts to fight in the east. The Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho, seizing this opportunity, attempted to drive white settlers from their land.
Beginning on August 7, 1864, the Indians made concerted attacks on stage stations and ranches along the Oregon Trail, hitting nearly every settlement for 400 miles from Julesburg to Big Sandy. Travel ceased for two months.
The most severe attacks were along the upper Little Blue River where about 100 people were killed. Several died at Oak Grove, but others escaped and Pawnee Ranch was successfully defended. At 'the Narrows' the Eubanks families were attacked and seven killed. Mrs. Eubanks, two children and Miss Laura Roper were taken prisoner and held captive for months. Teamsters were killed, wagon trains burned and ranches were smashed or burned. Settlers fled east to Beatrice and Marysville or northwest to Fort Kearny on the Platte for protection. Troops and local militia companies attacked and drove back the Indians in the battle of the Little Blue on August 17, 1864. Major raids ceased but skirmishes continued through the fall."
Site Information
Location (State Highway 14 near Nelson, Nebraska)
Safety Considerations
3 Trails Greenway, Hickman Mills School District Segment, Kansas City
This 2,000-foot trail segment, located on the property of the Hickman Mills School District, begins just northeast of the district’s administration building (at 9000 Old Santa Fe Road, near Eastern Avenue). No ruts or swales are visible, and the exact route along this corridor is not precisely known, but it passes to the north of the building and follows a gently meandering route that ends near the corner of 91st Street and Old Santa Fe Road.
Site Information
Location (The segment begins northeast of the district administration building at 9000 Old Santa Fe Road, Kansas City, MO)
The trail segment includes a developed walking trail, interpretive exhibits, and wagon silhouettes on Hickman Mills School District property. It also connects to a large, two-mile-long trail project.
Safety considerations
A Second Cliff-face Billboard
A second Cliff-face Billboard is painted on the rock wall at the base of the Steamboat Rocks. One of the ads promotes Salt Lake House, a stagecoach stop and comfortable hotel on downtown Salt Lake City’s Main Street.
Site Information
Location (On Echo Canyon Road, about one mile from the 1-80 Echo Interchange.)
Pull into the turnout marked by Summit County tour sign No. 4. Look on the right, at the foot of the Steamboat Rocks, to see the faded billboard.
Safety Considerations
More Site Information
Administration Building Ruins (1885)
Headquarters and the post school were moved here in 1885. Concerts, religious services, dances, plays, and lectures were held here in the post theater.
Alcove Spring
Alcove Spring was hit by a tornado in June 2022. The area received significant damage; some trails are impassable and there are many downed trees and unstable rocks. Consider delaying your visit. As always, your safety is your responsibility, please recreate responsibly. Contact the Alcove Spring Preservation Association for more information
Alcove Spring was a favorite trail campsite near the Independence Crossing of the Big Blue River. Often, emigrants would spend several days here, waiting for the swollen waters of the river to drop to levels that were safe for fording. They found the area picturesque, with the spring originating in an unusual rock formation and falling over a rock ledge into a pool below.
Emigrants carved their names in the rocks surrounding the spring, and many of these carvings are still visible. The ill-fated Donner Party camped here in 1846 and gave the spring its name. It was also the location of the Donner Party's first recorded death, Sarah H. Keyes, who died from consumption.
Emigrant Remarks
Edwin Bryant, traveling with the ill-fated Donner-Reed Party, wrote a detailed description of the spring on May 27, 1846:
"We found a large spring of water, as cold and pure as if it had just been melted from ice. It gushed from a ledge of rocks, which composes the bank of the stream, and falling some ten feet, its waters are received into a basin. . . . A shelving rock projects over this basin, from which falls a beautiful cascade of water, some ten or twelve feet. The whole is buried in a variety of shrubbery of the richest verdure. . . . Altogether it is one of the most romantic spots I ever saw. . . . We named this the 'Alcove Spring' and future travelers will find the name graven on the rocks, and on the trunks of the trees surrounding it."
Site Information
Location (6 miles South of Marysville on the East River Road)
Today, the spring is part of a 300 acre park. To reach it, follow the quarter mile, easy trail that starts at the parking lot. The park also contains several other hiking trails.
Safety Considerations
Alcove Spring Swales
Alcove Spring was hit by a tornado in June 2022. The area received significant damage; some trails are impassable and there are many downed trees and unstable rocks. Consider delaying your visit. As always, your safety is your responsibility, please recreate responsibly. Contact the Alcove Spring Preservation Association for more information.
The hilly area around Alcove Springs made travel difficult for emigrants. Heavy wagons being pulled forward by livestock dug into the ground, creating ruts. These ruts were deepened and lengthen by wagons wet from river crossings, which made the ground muddy. The ruts were maintained, and grew, by the thousands of wagons that traveled through this area. When the Oregon Trail stopped being used, grasses and other plants slowly covered over the ruts, turning them into smooth depressions in the ground called swales. These trail swales cans still be seen today. Across the road from the parking lot for Alcove Spring are informative signs that point out the nearby swales.
Site Information
Location (6 miles South of Marysville on the East River Road)
Safety Considerations
Alexander Majors House
Situated on the border between Missouri and Kansas, the Alexander Majors house was home to both the Majors family and one of his freighting companies called Russell, Majors, and Waddell.[1] The company was a venture with merchants William H. Russell and William B. Waddell who joined Majors in an attempt to gain a government contract to supply western forts.[2] Already an experienced Santa Fe Trail dealer, Majors had the knowledge and equipment, while Russell and Waddell had the capital, to secure the government contract. For a short time, the company had a “virtual monopoly of the army freighting business in the west and southwest.”[3]
The 300-acre farmstead was dissected by the westernmost US border, making part of the property outside US jurisdiction and, thus, untaxable. The company’s barns, mule sheds, grazing lands, wagon and blacksmith shops, and other business-related entities were located on the portion of property located in the Kansas Territory.[4] A caravan camp was used to load the heavy freight wagons which would travel the trails.[5]
The home was built in 1856, most likely using the labor of enslaved people.[6] The “T” shaped floorplan with recessed front porch makes it a unique iteration of the Greek revival style in Kansas City.[7] Today, it is one of the oldest buildings in Kansas City, as one of only 4 pre-Civil War buildings left standing.[8] Though the house remains, many of the other original structures are gone and the land has been divided into distinct plots. Among the lost structures were living quarters for the 16-17 people enslaved by the Majors’.[9]
In 1930 Louisa P. Johnston, Majors’s great grand-daughter, travelled to visit her ancestral home and found the house abandoned. She bought the house in 1932 and, for the next forty years, worked to preserve the property. In 1984 the Alexanders Majors House Museum was opened to the public for tours and events. In 2010 the house partnered with the John Wornall House and Museum to create one nonprofit dedicated to preserving both properties.
Site Information
Location (8201 State Line Road (east side of road near 85th Street), Kansas City)
Safety Considerations
[1] Marc Simmons, Following the Santa Fe Trail: A Guide for Modern Travelers (Santa Fe, NM: Ancient City Press, 1984), p. 61.
[2] Martha Kusiak, “Alexander Majors House,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form. Jefferson City: Missouri State Park Board, 1970. Retrieved from National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63819493#.XzbZ-YDvsb0.link
[3] Kusiak, “Alexander Majors House,” p. 9.
[4] “The Majors House,” Wornall Majors House Museums, accessed August 14, 2020.
[5] Simmons, Following the Santa Fe Trail, p. 62.
[6] “The Majors House.”
[7] Kusiak, “Alexander Majors House,” p. 11.
[8] “The Majors House.”
[9] “The Majors House.”
Ash Hollow State Historical Park
Sweet spring water made Ash Hollow State Historical Park an important spot for American Indians. Centuries ago, a ferocious battle between the Pawnee and Lakota Sioux took place here for control of the valley. Years later, this valley, and its spring water, also became an important stop for emigrants making their way west. They would camp and rest at the springs before proceeding on their journey. As they left, their wagons etched ruts that are still visible, into the bluffs surrounding the spring.
Ash Hollow continues to be a popular place for travelers. The 1000 acre park features a visitor center, a historic school house, and trail ruts and swales.
Site Information
Location (East side of Highway 26, south of Lewellen, Nebraska)
Amenities
Interpretive waysides, nine miles of hiking trails, picnic tables and grills. The history, archaeology and paleontology of the area are interpreted at the visitor center. There is also watchable wildlife, horseback riding, and the Ash Hollow Cave.
To view Trail Ruts, see Ash Hollow State Park- Windlass Hill Area.
Safety Considerations
Ash Hollow State Park- Windlass Hill Area
Windlass Hill is scarred by deeply eroded ruts cut by thousands of wagons sliding downhill with their wheels locked on the emigrant trails. Due to the steepness of the grade, the wagons could easily travel at speeds that were not good for them or the livestock pulling the wagons. They were slowed by locking the wheels, which prevented the wheels from turning and increased friction. A paved, but steep, walking trail with outdoor exhibits leads visitors along the ruts to the top of the hill. From there, hikers are rewarded with a scenic vista of Ash Hollow and the Platte River.
Site Information
Location (West side of Highway 26, south of Lewellen, Nebraska)
Amenities
Other actives include bird watching, wildlife viewing, and picnicking.
Visit Ash Hollow State Historical Park for more area information.
Safety Considerations
Barnes Enclosure and Cave Spring Interpretive Center
This Barnes Enclosure and Cave Spring were made famous by overland travelers who mentioned it in their letters and diaries. Cave Spring, on the National Register of Historic Places, was a noted midday rest area for travelers heading west. Imagine that much of the Jackson County countryside, even in the early trail days, was owned by private landowners who had substantial estates.
At least two 1846 first-hand accounts mention the Barnes Enclosure-Cave Spring. Susan Shelby Magoffin, one of the first women to travel along the Santa Fe Trail to Mexico, wrote in her diary of “traveling with her husband, Captain Magoffin, a trader, and spending the night in the Barnes home. Also, in a letter to his sister, William Glasgow, a Santa Fe trader, stayed overnight with the Barnes in 1846. A few days later a Susan Magoffin and her maid also stayed overnight with the Barnes Family. Magoffin’s diary also mentions meeting these brothers on the trail.
Site Information
Location (8701 E Gregory Blvd., Kansas City, MO)
Safety Considerations
Bedlam Ruts
The Bedlam Ruts are a fine stretch of Oregon Trail ruts and swales that visitors can walk. This Trail segment is on 40 acres of undeveloped public lands jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service (Ft. Laramie National Historic Site).
Site Information
Location (On unpaved Road 50, west of Fort Laramie National Historic Site. Inquire at the Visitor Center for more information.)
The setting is natural and quiet. Onsite interpretive signs tell the story. Reaching the site requires driving on an unpaved road that is usually suitable for passenger sedans when dry.
Safety Considerations
Bessemer Bend National Historic Site
Bessemer Bend National Historic Site , also known as Red Buttes Crossing, is one of the places where travelers forded the North Platte River, then 300 yards wide, for the last time and started the push toward the Sweetwater River. This crossing was used mostly in the early years of the emigration. After 1847, ferries were available between Casper and Glenrock (Deer Creek). The Red Buttes Pony Express station and an Overland Stage station also were located in this vicinity. Wayside exhibits along a short interpretive trail at this Bureau of Land Management site tell the story. While visiting the site, look towards the east to see the Red Buttes, the noted emigrant-era landmark that gave the crossing its name.
Site Information
Location (south of Casper, Wyoming)
Directions
Travel 8.1 miles south of Casper from CY Ave./Wyoming Blvd. intersection on WYO-220, turn right and take the Bessemer Bend Road west for 2.1 miles to the bridge.
Available Facilities
There is a Bureau of Land Management interpretive site at the crossing. This site has a parking area, picnic tables, a vault toilet and an interpretive trail. It is a non-fee area and is ADA accessible.
Safety Considerations
Big Mountain Pass
Big Mountain Pass provided emigrants their first happy glimpse of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. But reaching the valley required a hair-raising descent: wagons, with high centers of gravity, could not switchback down unimproved side-hill slopes for fear of toppling over and crashing down the mountainside. Also, oxen cannot balance nor wagons brake effectively when traveling “sidling” along a hill. Most emigrants locked their wheels with chains and skidded their wagons straight down the mountainside.
Walk to the edge of the parking area and look west to see the grand view once shared by emigrants on the Hastings Cutoff and Mormon Pioneer Trail. Now look at the ground beyond the edge of the parking area. The deep scars that dive straight down the mountain are wagon ruts, gouged into the earth by skidding, iron-sheathed wheels and deepened by years of erosion. Today’s UT-65 twists and turns down the mountain, crossing and recrossing the old trail scar. Watch for those crossings, marked with signs, as you continue along the highway.
The Big Mountain Pass rest area is on the left side of the road 5.4 miles past the turnoff for Jeremy Ranch Road. Hikers and bikers on the Little Emigration Canyon recreation
trail will enter from the north side of the rest area.
A second segment of the hike-and-bike trail begins on the south side of the Big Mountain Pass parking area west of the restroom. This trail approximates the pioneer route down the mountain for about 2.7 miles to Affleck Park and then continues another 2.7 miles to the north end of Little Dell Reservoir. Hikers and bikers can make private arrangements for pick-up at either location. Along the way, the trail intersects UT-65 at an uncontrolled crossing on a hairpin curve with limited visibility; use caution when crossing the highway.
Site Information
Location (Emigration Canyon, Utah; The Big Mountain Pass rest area is on the left side of the road 5.4 miles past the turnoff for Jeremy Ranch Road.)
Safety Considerations
Bingham-Waggoner Estate
Missouri’s famous painter and statesman, George Caleb Bingham, purchased the Lewis homestead and lived in this home during the Civil War where he painted, perhaps, his most famous masterpiece, “Martial Law,” or, “Order No. 11,” depicting the Union Army’s militarization of this area and depopulation of four counties along the Missouri-Kansas border in 1863.
Trail ruts or swales, preserved on this site, are visible reminders of the hundreds of thousands of overland travelers who passed by on the Santa Fe, and later Oregon and California trails. Here surviving swales align with modern roads.
With the constant roll of time, travelers saw this modest home expand around its original nucleus into a mansion that is open to the public today as a house museum with guided tours.
Site Information
Location (313 W Pacific Ave Independence, MO)
Safety Considerations
Black Rock Site
It is likely that the first European Americans to encounter the Black Rock were the Bryant Russell party in 1846, the first travelers of the infamous Hastings Cutoff. While they do not specifically mention the Black Rock itself, they do describe crystalline springs just to the east, and the natural landscape would have forced them to travel within a few hundred yards of the geologic feature on their way westward (Madsen/Fuller 1983: 87).
It is more noteworthy however, that the English name of “Black Rock” has two points of origin, but both are connected to prominent patterns of American Western history. According to James F. Reed in 1871, the ill-fated Donner Party named “Black Rock” as they passed that location during their journey along the Hastings Cutoff in August of 1846. From the Pacific Rural Press (1871:188), Reed notes “We then followed [Hasting’s] road around the Lake without incident worthy of notice until reaching a swampy section of the country west of Black Rock, the name we gave it. Here we lost a few days on the score of humanity.”
Site Information
Location (13698 W Ieightywest Fwy, Salt Lake City, UT 84116. 1.4 miles southwest of the Great Salt Lake State Park Visitor Center (40.7254 N, -112.2276 W))
Amenities include a designated parking area and gravel walking path. The gravel path is level but not fully ADA.
At present, a gate keeps vehicles from proceeding beyond the gravel parking area, but visitors are invited to walk or bike the remaining 0.4 mile to the Black Rock formation.
Safety Considerations
Blue Mills
Though not standing today, the mill once located at this intersection may have served traders involved in international commerce and travelers heading to or returning from the west. The filling station of the 19th century was the grist mill where needed commodities of flour and cornmeal could be procured and would sustain travelers over an 800-2,000 mile journey as they walked along the westward Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails as well as nearby forts and local residents. The road, “of great utility to the neighborhood as well as the surrounding County,” was dedicated by the county legislators as a “public highway” in November 1843, and led directly to Independence Square.
Site Information
Location (3101 Lentz Rd., Independence MO)
Safety Considerations
Bonneville Salt Flats Special Recreation Management Area
The Bonneville Salt Flats are a 30,000 acre expanse of hard, white salt crust on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake basin in Utah. This Special Recreation Management Area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The salt flats are about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide with total area coverage of just over 46 square miles.
From the BLM: Trapper and frontiersman Jedediah Smith crossed the Salt Flats while returning to Utah from an expedition to California in 1827. John C. Fremont and his U.S. government-sponsored expedition crossed the heart of the Salt Flats in 1845 while trying to find a shorter overland route to the Pacific Ocean.
The next year Fremont’s route across the Salt Flats would become known as the Hastings Cutoff as part of the California Trail. Promoted by Lansford Hastings as a faster, easier route to California, Hastings Cutoff proved to be just the opposite for the Donner- Reed Party of 1846. What contributed to the party’s infamous winter survival in the Sierra Mountains was the delay the emigrants
experienced while crossing the Salt Flats. Their wagons became mired in mud just below the thin salt crust. Artifacts from the Donner-Reed Party, and other
emigrants that crossed the trail, are on display in the Donner-Reed Museum.
Site Information
Location (Interstate 80, mile 4, Utah)
Motor vehicle use is limited by seasonal closure during the spring when the salt is moist or has standing water on the surface. Closure dates may vary and will be posted by sign. For more information contact the Salt Lake Field Office.
Restrictions
No overnight camping on the salt flats. No driving vehicles on salt flats when wet or flooded.
Safety Considerations
Broad Hollow
Before Broad Hollow, wagons followed Dixie Hollow, the ravine to the right side of today’s paved road. The hollow bristled with brush and its boulder-choked bottom was too narrow for wagons to pass. The Donner-Reed wagon party grubbed a dangerous sideling trail along the sloping bank before dropping, exhausted, into their first camp beyond the Weber River. Mormon pioneers improved the rough track, but despite their efforts, many wagons over the years tumbled sideways off the trail. Dixie Hollow narrows and becomes impassable to wagons.
Broad Hollow, which drains into Dixie Hollow near the Donner-Reed campsite of August 11, provided a detour around the Dixie Hollow chokepoint. The pioneers veered northwest up Broad Hollow, turned west across a wide bench, and then dropped south again to East Canyon Creek and through today’s East Canyon State Park.
A monument marks the location where pioneers turned west. Some researchers think the two-track to the right of the monument may be the original trail alignment, but it might be a more recent ranch road.
Site Information
Location (Southwest of Henefer, Utah)
Safety Considerations
More Site Information
Burnt Ranch/9th Crossing of the Sweetwater River
Burnt Ranch, known historically as South Pass Station and Last or Ninth Crossing of the Sweetwater River, is located at the center of the South Pass landscape of Wyoming on the shared corridor of the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express National Historic Trails. The Lander Cutoff, a government wagon road explored and developed in 1857-1860 by topographical engineer Frederick W. Lander, diverged from the primary route of the California Trail at present-day Burnt Ranch, following older paths used by American Indians and trappers of the fur trade. Western historian Will Bagley estimates that more than 100,000 overland emigrants crossed this region by way of the Lander Cutoff. The graves of two known overland emigrants (Joseph Barnett, d. 1844, and Charles H. Miller, d. 1859) and as many as six unidentified burials of the trails era are located on the ranch. Many more emigrant graves are believed to exist at and around the site.
During the 1800s, this location was the site of extensive Shoshone Indian villages; trading post, stagecoach, mail, and telegraph operations; a military outpost; emigrant and military encampments; and armed conflicts between the US Army and the Sioux and Cheyenne. In fact, Burnt Ranch takes its name from the burning of a stage station at Ninth Crossing during the Utah War in 1857, and by Sioux warriors in 1866 and 1868. It has been the headquarters of cattle ranching operations since the 1880s and remains so today.
Trail remnants and historical remains of the developments and activities at Burnt Ranch have been determined to be nationally significant and eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Site Information
Location (Located approximately 8 miles SE South Pass City, Wyoming)
Available Facilities
No cell service. Poor roads. Prior Planning with an organized group is a must.
Safety Considerations
Oregon National Historic Trail
California Hill
California Hill reveals the difficult decisions emigrants had to make when choosing their route to Oregon. Near North Platte, Nebraska, the Platte River splits into two major forks, with the South Platte running towards Denver and the North Platte heading northwest towards Fort Laramie. Emigrants knew that at some point they had to cross the South Platte and start following the North Platte. Several crossing sites were used, but the Upper Crossing was the most important because it led to the best approach to the North Platte. However, this meant traveling over California Hill, which necessitated a steep climb of 240 feet in 1½ miles. Deep ruts, which are still plainly visible today, were created as the wagons were dragged up the hill. Feel free to hike the ruts and enjoy the panoramic views.
Site Information
Location (north side of U.S. 30, approximately 4.5 miles west of Brule, Nebraska)
California Hill and the marker were gifts to the Oregon-California Trails Association by Malcolm E. Smith, Jr. in memory of Irene D. Paden who dedicated much of her life to retracing and writing about the Oregon and California Trails. The acquisition was facilitated by the generous cooperation of Ivor D. and Carol A. Dilky, the Farmers Home Administration and the Adams Bank and Trust.
Safety Considerations
California National Historic Trail
During the 1820s and 1830s, California was a province of Mexico, largely ignored by Americans, and virtually all travel to and from the province was by sea. In May 1841, however, the first group of emigrants, the Bidwell-Bartleson party, met near Independence, Missouri and blazed their way west. At Fort Hall, in present-day Idaho, about half of the party opted to take the Oregon Trail, but the rest vowed to reach California. They abandoned their wagons in eastern Nevada. On horseback and on foot, the party staggered across the Fortymile Desert and entered California via the Walker River. Starving and nearly naked, they finally reached the Central Valley in November. Three years later, the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party followed suit; they also crossed Nevada along the Humboldt River to the Fortymile Desert but decided to ascend the Truckee River. Eventually they ascended the Sierras via Emigrant Gap and stumbled down to Sutter’s Fort. Soon afterward, in 1846, came the infamous Donner-Reed party, which crossed western Nevada on route similar to the one traveled by the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party. The Sierra snows, however, forced the party to halt near present-day Truckee, California where they endured several months of suffering, starvation, death, and some cannibalism until rescuers could reach the survivors.
Throughout this period, only a trickle of emigrants made their way to California by going overland. The January 1848 discovery of gold, however, turned all eyes toward California. Soon afterward, tens of thousands of “Forty-Niners” and other emigrants rushed hastily toward the gold fields, many of them over Carson Pass. (Thousands of others, meanwhile, headed there by sailing either around Cape Horn or by taking a ship to Panama, negotiating a trail across the narrow isthmus, and waiting for a Pacific coast sailing ship heading north.) At the same time, California was making abrupt political changes. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in February 1848, brought California under U.S. control, and in 1850, Congress made it the 31st state as part of the Compromise of 1850. Westbound traffic over the California Trail was heavy for the next several years, gradually shifting over to the Donner Pass route; meanwhile, other routes to California – over the Lassen, Nobles, and Beckwourth trails along with the Walker River-Sonora Route – opened up. After 1852, traffic over the California trail subsided, and the number of people heading east often equaled the ones going west, with many of those going to Oregon instead. Various California Trail routes remained active, however until the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.
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Captain's Quarters
Planned as the Commanding Officer's quarters, this building became a duplex for company-grade officers.
Carson City, Nevada
Carson City is rooted in the history of the California and Pony Express Trails, which both pass through the town that was founded in the 1850s. Explore the architecture in the historic district, learn more about the history and take a step back in time on the trails.
Site Information
Location (Carson City, Nevada, near the border with California)
Safety Considerations
Cavalry Barracks (1874)
Fort Laramie's largest building was built to add housing during the Indian Wars. Soldiers slept in two large squad bays upstairs. The kitchen and mess room were downstairs.
Chimney Rock National Historic Site
Visible for miles, Chimney Rock was more than a wonder of nature. It was also a significant landmark in measuring the emigrants' progress west. This natural feature was a "grand and splendid object" to emigrants who had never seen the geology of the American West. As they traveled alongside the North Platte River, they peered eagerly ahead for their first view of the rock. As such, it was mentioned in more emigrant diaries than any other landmark on the Oregon Trail!
Emigrant Remarks
On June 27, 1849, Elisha Perkins was humbled and awed by his visit to this remarkable curiosity when me wrote,
". . . camped opposite to & about 1 mile from Chimney Rock. I had some curiosity to see this . . . Imagine a pyramid standing alone though surrounded by rocky precipices some 150 feet high & at its base 20 feet through . . . No conception can be formed of the magnitude of this grand work of nature until you stand at its base & look up. If a man does not feel like an insect then I don't know when he should."
Site Information
Location (1.5 miles south of Highway 92 on Chimney Rock Road near Bayard, Nebraska)
The Nebraska State Historical Society now manages Chimney Rock as part of a historic site. Viewing the rock is available from several places, including from the site's visitor center. This center houses a museum with interpretive and interactive exhibits about this natural feature and the emigrant trails. It also contains a small theater with a video presentation about the great migration West and a bookstore. Modest admission is charged.
Safety Considerations
City of Rocks National Reserve, the California Trail
Although there may have been some visitation to the area by Europeans and Americans during the fur trade and exploration-era, the establishment of the California Trail through the City of Rocks is what brought the first significant number of European-Americans to what is now the Reserve.
The City of Rocks National Reserve is a National Historic Landmark associated with the mass overland westward migration. Emigrants traveling the California Trail would reach Circle Creek in the City of Rocks and nooned or camped. Some of these emigrants left their names on the rocks along the trail within the Reserve.
Emigrant Remarks
"Last eve went to the City rocks. They are at the junction of the California & Salt Lake roads. They are white & about 300 ft high running up to a peak. They are composed of a substance resembling salts & are in a state of decomposition. A few more years & then will be leveled with the ground. They look at a distance like a ruined city."
- Lucena Parsons - April 23, 1850
Site Information
Location (Near Almo, Idaho)
Safety Considerations
Commissary Storehouse
This lime-concrete building served as a food warehouse for the army. It now houses park offices and the visitor center.
Courthouse and Jail Rocks
Courthouse and Jail Rocks are massive monoliths made of Brule clay and Gering sandstone. Over time, wind and water erosion slowly sculpted the rocks into their current courthouse or castle appearance. The rocks were first noted by Robert Stuart in 1812 and quickly became guiding landmarks for fur traders and emigrants. Travelers on the south side of the Platte river had a close-up view of these celebrated landmarks, which made them a popular item for emigrants to write about and sketch in their diaries.
Today, the rocks are open to the public. Reaching them requires traveling on an unpaved road that is suitable for most vehicles when dry. At the end of the road is a hiking trail that leads to Courthouse Rock. Note, this trail used to lead to the top of the rock, but large sections of the trail have since eroded away. Use extreme caution when hiking. Open year-round, daylight hours. No tourist facilities at the site nor staff presence.
Emigrant Remarks
In November of 1841, Rufus B. Sage recorded,
"A singular natural formation, known as the Court House, or McFarlan's Castle . . . rises in an abrupt quadrilangular form, to a height of three or four hundred feet, and covers an area of two hundred yards in length by one hundred and fifty broad. Occupying a perfectly level site in an open prairie, it stands as the proud palace of Solitude, amid here boundless domains. Its position commands a view of the country for forty miles around and meets the eye of the traveler for several successive days, in journeying up the Platte."
Site Information
Location (five miles south of Bridgeport, Nebraska on Highway 88)
Safety Considerations
Death's Rock
This site is named for a fatal incident that occurred when a Mormon militiaman, during horseplay, shot and killed a fellow militiaman who was standing on the rocky crag. The victim was the only Mormon to die in the 1857 troubles between Utah Territory and the federal government. (The only U.S. Army death, which occurred in Wyoming, resulted from a heart attack.)
Site Information
Location (Echo Canyon, Utah)
Traveling southwest (toward Echo), look for a turnout on the right marked by Summit County’s brown tour sign No. 5. Standing at the sign, turn around and look back up the canyon in the direction of Wyoming. The outcrop where the death occurred is on the left (west) side of the road.
Safety Considerations
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Defensive Breastworks, the Mormon Pioneer Trail
Before modern highways were built, this segment of Echo Canyon was narrow, forcing wagon traffic to travel single-file. For the Mormon militia, this seemed a strategic location to stop or delay approaching federal troops. Defensive Breastworks (Echo Canyon) positioned along the rim of the cliff to the right are barely visible in several places from the canyon floor. Mormon militiamen, fearing an attack on Salt Lake City by the U.S. Army, built the low rubble walls above the emigrant road in 1857. The breastworks would protect the defenders as they fired down on approaching federal troops. Because they are made of local sandstone from the cliffs and were meant to be unobtrusive, the structures can be difficult to see.
Site Information
Location (Echo Canyon, Utah)
Pull into a turnout on the right side of the road to view a large wooden sign that describes the Mormon defense preparations in Echo Canyon. Continue to the next turnout, 1/4 mile beyond, and pause at Summit County’s brown tour sign No. 7 for Billboard Bluff. From the turnout, look up at the base of the cliff face to see 19th century roadside advertisements painted directly onto the rock. (These are unassociated with the Utah War.)
Travel 1/10 mile, watching for brown Summit County tour sign No. 6 on the left. From the tour-stop sign, face the cliff to the right of the road and look along the rim to see a low stone wall. Then turn and look east across the freeway to the bluffs on the opposite side of the canyon. Just below the alignment of telephone poles that crosses the slope, a faint horizontal line in the earth is sometimes visible, depending on the quality of the light and vegetation. The line is what remains of a defensive trench dug by the Mormon militia. Approaching federal troops were to be caught in crossfire from between the cliff-top breastworks and the entrenchment.
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Devil's Gate Interpretive Site
Devil's Gate is a 370 feet deep, 1,500 feet long, and only 50 feet wide canyon that was created by the Sweetwater River when it cut through a ridge of solid rock. Many an emigrant wrote diary comments about this geological oddity. They walked and waded in the Sweetwater River through the gorge, while their wagons followed the trail through the pass to the east. The emigrants puzzled, why would the water chew directly through the rock instead of flowing around it?
Site Information
Location (Martin's Cove, 47600 West Hwy 220, Alcova, Wyoming)
Today's visitors can ponder that question at a Bureau of Land Management pullout on the north side of the highway. The pullout has an ADA paved walkway, interpretive exhibits, and a restroom. For a closer look at Devil's Gate, continue west to the Mormon Handcart Visitor Center.
Safety Considerations
Devil's Gate- Mormon Handcart Visitor Center
The Mormon Handcart Historic Site & Visitor Center, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is open to the public. Handcarts were not used by the initial 1847 Mormon expedition led by Brigham Young, but, rather, came later in the Trail's history. Thousands of emigrants on the Oregon and California trails shared the path with these handcarts.
Site Information
Location (Martin's Cove, 47600 West Hwy 220, Alcova, Wyoming)
You can experience handcart travel by using one of the visitor center's handcarts (no charge) to travel the site's trails. In addition, the visitor center contains several exhibits that tell the Mormon story and the emigrant trail story. Overnight camping and free tours are available. Also found at the site is Martin's Cove, the place where 500 Mormons took shelter from a deadly blizzard in 1856. The cove is reached by following a three to four mile round-trip hiking trail.
Safety Considerations
Donner Hill
Donner HIll hammered yet another nail into the Donner-Reed coffin. For 12 days the emigrants had gnawed a track through the rugged Wasatch wilderness, and now, at the very edge of the Salt Lake Valley, limestone outcrops and dense willows blocked their exit from the mouth of Emigration Canyon. The discouraged travelers pulled to the left out of the creek bottom and up the 200-foot-high ridge that thereafter would bear their name. The effort nearly used up the strength of their oxen. The next year Brigham Young’s vanguard pioneer party, having more men for the labor, opened a road through the blockage, avoiding the hill climb, in just 4 hours’ time. The current roadbed approximates their route.
Today, Emigration Canyon is widened and the top of Donner Hill has been leveled to make room for residential development. But the hill is still impressive and Emigration Creek, edged by willow and scrub oak, still runs along the south side of Emigration Canyon Road. Visitors can easily envision how this spot looked in 1846-47.
The evening of their arrival on July 22, the Donner-Reed Party encamped a short distance beyond the hilltop with the broad Salt Lake Valley stretched at their feet. A grassy park along the ridge, adjacent to Crestview Drive, is named Donner Park in commemoration of that campsite. The next day the emigrants descended the ridge and traveled across the valley to the Jordan River. From there, the Donner Reed Party continued along the south shore of the Great Salt Lake.
Site Information
Location (Emigration Canyon, near Rotary Glen Park)
On the right at odometer mile 20 is another small sign for Donner Hill. A stone monument commemorating Donner Hill is on the left where the road curves to the south. At that location the hill is in front of you, easy to see, with a condominium at the top. Use caution when crossing the oncoming lane to enter or leave the widened road shoulder at the monument. Then continue down Emigration Canyon Road around the S-curve. If traffic permits, turn left at odometer mile 20.6 into an unmarked entrance for Rotary Glen Park. If you miss the entrance, turn left onto the next paved road, Crestview Drive, and turn around at a safe location to return to the intersection. Turn right and make an immediate right turn into Rotary Glen Park. Now go left across the parking lot and follow the dirt access road to the east. End at a gravel parking lot.
Look across the small reservoir toward Donner Hill, the ridge to the northeast. The emigrants ascended the ridge on the north side of the condominiums. From this vantage, the steepness of the climb is evident. Take the opportunity here or at the picnic area to the west to explore Emigration Creek.
Safety Considerations
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Donner Springs
The spring was the first water encountered by travelers on the Hastings Cutoff beyond Redlum Springs. Donner Springs, and several other area springs are fed from rain and snowmelt from Pilot Peak Range.
Site Information
Location (This site is privately owned and not open to the public.)
Safety Considerations
Echo Canyon Road
Echo Canyon Road evolved from an Indian trail into a wagon road, an early automobile highway (the Old Lincoln Highway), and a federal highway (U.S.-30). Today it is a narrow, winding frontage road. Proceed slowly and be prepared to stop along the road shoulder to view the historical features described in the entries below. Many of these historic features are on private land; please observe them from the public right-of-way.
Site Information
Location (Leave westbound I-80 at Exit 178, Emory)
A more detailed, full-color guide to all of the historic sites along Echo Canyon Road is available free from the Summit County Historical Society. Numbered brown signposts along Echo Canyon Road correspond to the Summit County historic sites guide. Also along this stretch of road are numbered red, white, and blue signposts that correspond to a separate Lincoln Highway tour guide. Copies of both guides are available from the Summit County Courthouse at 60 North Main Street in Coalville, Utah, about 8 miles south of Echo on I-80 (Exit 162). To request copies by mail, call (435) 336-3015.
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Elko Hot Hole
The hot spring in front of you is known as Hot Hole, named after its round and reportedly deep shape. This geologic wonder has been known about longer than Elko has been a town! It was noted in reports, dated as early as the 1830s, by explorers that passed through the area. Later, emigrants and miners following the same paths, which were now known as the California Trail, wrote about the Hot Hole in their journals.
They also wrote about the other hot springs they discovered that are less than a quarter mile from here. To the south, and up the hill, lies Elko Hot Springs, a cluster of springs that was the site of a resort in the late 1800s. To the northeast of the Hot Hole, on the banks of the Humboldt River, lies another three hot springs. They are positioned in an east to west line, forming a ribbon of springs. None of these “ribbon” hot springs are named, but all of them, and Elko Hot Springs, were visited by California Trail travelers.
Site Information
Location (Currently, Elko Hot Springs is located on private property. Respect this and do not enter without permission from the landowner. The cluster of unnamed hot springs has neither directions to them nor their locations marked. Also, some of the land is private property. For information about these springs, contact the California Trail Interpretive Center.)
Safety Considerations
Emigration Square/Washington Square Pioneer Campground
For several years, emigrants on their way to California corralled their cattle and camped here during their stay in Salt Lake City. Later, the livestock pens were moved outside of the city. The 1894 City and County Building occupies the site today, and a monument commemorating the Mormon pioneers is located at the northwest corner of the square. (The monument is erroneous in stating that the vanguard Mormon pioneers camped at this location — the 1847 vanguard pioneer company camped on the banks of City Creek, southwest of what is now Exchange Place, the nights of July 23-25, 1847. The area is now occupied by buildings and the creek is channeled through an underground conduit.)
As the Mormon pioneers approached the Salt Lake Valley, they split into four groups: a party of scouts at the front; a party of roadbuilders; the main camp of pioneers; and then Brigham Young, who was sick with Mountain Fever, with a caretaker, two days later. The scouts, roadbuilders, and main camp merged at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, where they had to break through the limestone ledge that had forced the Donner Party to crawl up out of the canyon. They entered the valley together the following day, July 22, and then moved to City Creek (downtown) on July 23. Brigham Young didn’t reach the valley until July 24.
Curbside parking is available on the streets bordering Washington Square.
Site Information
Location (400 South Street and State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah).
Safety Considerations
This site is on the Salt Lake City Itinerary. Each site provides the opportunity to experience and learn about Salt Lake City, a pioneer waystation as well as a destination, and its rich combined history of the Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express, and California national historic trails.
Folsom Museum
The Folsom Museum is located near the Pony Express and California National Historic Trail in Folsom, California. The museum has exhibits on early California history, including Gold Rush era and the Pony Express.
Site Information
Location (823 Sutter St, Folsom, CA 95630)
Safety Considerations
Fort Bridger State Historic Site
Jim Bridger established Fort Bridger in 1843 as a fur trading post. It was composed of two double-log houses about 40 feet long that were joined by a pen for horses. The fort soon became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails and expanded in size. In 1857, during the Utah War, Mormons set fire to the fort to prevent the U.S. Army from using it. However, the army rebuilt the fort a year later and used it as a military post until 1890. In the 1860s, it also served as a Pony Express station.
Today's Fort Bridger State Park contains 37 acres of grounds, 27 historic structures, and four historic replica structures. The park offers self-guided tours of the fort, living history demonstrations, open archeological excavations, museum exhibits, and a civilian cemetery.
Site Information
Location (Fort Bridger, Wyoming)
Safety Considerations
Fort Churchill State Historic Park
Pony Express Nevada No. 32 Home Station (used after Indian Wars started)
An integral part of the history of Nevada and the American West, Fort Churchill was built in 1860 to provide protection for early settlers and westbound emigrants and guard the Pony Express and telegraph lines. Today the ruins are preserved in a state of arrested decay within Fort Churchill State Historic Park, and visitors can walk designated trails to observe the ruins. The park also includes the renovated Buckland Station, an important way station in the 1800s for pioneer travelers on the Overland Route. Situated along the Carson River, the park is an idyllic place for camping, hiking, bird watching and canoeing.
Site Information
Location (10000 Hwy 95A, Silver Springs, NV 89429)
Safety Considerations
Fort Kearny State Historical Park
Fort Kearny was the first Western military post built to protect emigrants on the trails west, and it later served as the headquarters for a number of small outposts along the emigrant trails. This military post was strategically located at a junction where various eastern feeder trails merged into one. This broad and vast single trail followed the Platte River 330 miles west to Fort Laramie. Fort Kearny was also a place where emigrants could resupply and a Pony Express station.
Emigrant Remarks
J. Goldsborough Bruff recorded his impressions on June 17, 1849,
"I visited the Fort . . . . This place is as yet merely the site of an intended fort; it has some adobe embankments, quarters of adobe & frame, and a number of tents & sheds. Is on the bank of the Platte, where Grand Island makes a narrow branch of the river between it and the shore."
Site Information
Location (Southeast of Kearney, Nebraska)
Today, the park offers an interpretive center with trail-era artifacts, exhibits on the fort's history, uses over the years, and its residents. In addition, there are 40 acres of grounds with walking paths and reconstructed sod and adobe buildings. Modest admission is charged; Nebraska state park passes can be purchased at the interpretive center.
Safety Considerations
Fort Laramie National Historic Site, the Oregon Trail
Fort Laramie once stood sentinel over the Oregon, California, and Mormon emigration trails; was a stop on the Pony Express route; and served as a staging ground for both peaceful and hostile dealings with Plains Indians. Its association with important figures, including Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, and historic events makes Fort Laramie an icon of the American West. The one-time Army post, now managed by the National Park Service as a national historic site, looks much as it did 150 years ago.
Site Information
Location (965 Gray Rocks Road, Fort Laramie, Wyoming)
A visitor center, museum, and 12 restored buildings help to tell its story. Audio-tour devices are available at the visitor center.
Safety Considerations
Fort Mitchell Site
A grouping of historical markers commemorate Fort Mitchell, which was constructed in 1864 to protect emigrants traveling along the Oregon/California Trails from attacks by Native American groups. The actual fort was located south of the markers on private property along the North Platte River. Please respect private property by viewing the site from the pullout.
Forgotten Outpost
During America’s westward expansion, the United States Army established hundreds of small outposts throughout the frontier to protect settlers, maintain communication with the West Coast, and serve as staging areas for military campaigns. Some of these posts have become an integral part of American history, such as Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley in Kansas and Fort Laramie in Wyoming. Most served less conspicuously and then faded into obscurity. One such outpost was Nebraska Territory’s Fort Mitchell.
Protecting the West
The American Civil War brought a new significance to the western territories. The great overland roads such as Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails continued to carry vast numbers of emigrants and tons of freight. Western gold fields were producing ore that helped finance the Federal government’s war effort, and the newly erected transcontinental telegraph lines helped bind westerners to the Union. But eastern battlefields drained regular Army soldiers from the frontier and left vital western territories unprotected.To provide a military presence in the West, the Federal government sent a few state raised volunteer cavalry regiments to garrison forts that had been vacated by the regulars. Among these volunteers were the 11th Ohio Cavalry, under the command of Colonel William O. Collins, who arrived in Nebraska territory in 1862. After marching west to Fort Laramie, they were immediately assigned the task of patrolling, escorting freight wagons and stage coaches, and maintaining the telegraph lines along the Oregon Trail in central Wyoming. Eventually, other units from Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas joined the Ohioans on the frontier.
Fight to Control the Plains
Traffic over the roads continued unabated until early August 1864, when the plains erupted in an Indian war that pitted the volunteer soldiers against Sioux, Arapaho, and Southern Cheyenne warriors. Determined to drive the Americans from their lands, plains warriors swept out of Kansas and attacked homesteaders, stage stations and freight caravans all along the Platte River. For several weeks, all traffic and communications over the Oregon Trail came to a halt. In response to these depredations, several military expeditions sought out the warring tribes, but failed to bring them into battle. This led Brigadier General Robert Mitchell to work to assure that the overland roads would never again be at the mercy of a hostile enemy.
A New Strategy
The general planned to fortify each stage station along the Oregon Trail and detail troops to protect them. He also decided to build two new forts at strategic sites along the Platte River. To help defend the road that branched off the Oregon Trail and followed the South Platte to Denver, the first post was built near Julesburg, Colorado. For the first year of its existence, this post was known as Fort Rankin, and had a garrison of soldiers from the 7th Iowa Cavalry. It proved its value by withstanding two Indian assaults in the early weeks of 1865, and later served to protect workers during the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. The second post was placed along the North Platte River near Scotts Bluff. Official records documenting Fort Mitchell’s history are meager, but construction had begun by September 1, 1864, the date General Mitchell visited the site. The general’s aide-de-camp noted that the men of the 11th Ohio’s Company F were hard at work building the sod structure. Captain Jacob Shuman, the first commander of the as yet unnamed post, gave General Mitchell a tour of the site and described his plans for a sod stockade he hoped to have finished before winter set in. By the end of October, most of the work had been completed and the post was named for the general who had ordered its construction.
Conflict Grows
Hostilities on the plains intensified after November 29, 1864, when Colorado volunteer soldiers killed several hundred Cheyenne and Arapahos at Sand Creek, Colorado. Rather than bringing an end to the conflict, the massacre at Sand Creek resulted in renewed warfare and bloodshed. Convinced that the southern plains were no longer safe, several Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho bands began to move north to spend the winter in the remote Powder River region of Wyoming. However, enroute they encountered military forces stationed along the overland roads. First, they crossed paths with the 7th Iowa Cavalry at Fort Rankin. On February 2, 1865, the Indians stripped the post of anything useful. Two days later, they attacked a fortified telegraph station at Mud Springs, Nebraska. The Indians failed to cut the telegraph wires, allowing the 11 desperate soldiers at the tiny outpost to signal Fort Laramie for help. The first cavalrymen to respond came from Fort Mitchell. The siege continued until February 5th, when additional support arrived from Fort Laramie. After some additional skirmishing, the Indian bands crossed the frozen North Platte River and continued northwest.
Seeking Peace
The spring of 1865 saw a short-lived attempt at peace on the frontier. Tired of warfare, the Brule Sioux came in to Fort Laramie and asked to be allowed to live in peace near that post. The Army welcomed the gesture, but was unwilling to support the Indians with rations this far west, and decided to move the band to Fort Kearny in central Nebraska. The wary Sioux were allowed to keep their weapons for the journey, while the cavalry escort was not issued ammunition in hopes of avoiding confrontation. Distrust and fear of being moved near their enemies, the Pawnee, led the Brules to flee just three days into the journey. While trying to prompt the Indians into striking camp, the commander of the escort was shot. A skirmish ensued, and reinforcements were sent for from Fort Mitchell. Before relief arrived, the Sioux escaped by crossing the North Platte River and the outnumbered soldiers did not pursue.
Life at the Fort
For the next two years, Fort Mitchell continued to serve as a reassuring force to travelers on the Oregon Trail. Hundreds of freight wagons, emigrant trains and stage coaches passed Fort Mitchell. Detachments from the fort safely escorted them all, despite the fact that the post’s garrison never exceeded 100 men. Conditions at Fort Mitchell were crude and demanding. Endless hours of patrol and escort duty were interrupted only by the constant maintenance of the fort’s sod walls and corrals. Poor sanitary conditions and a monotonous diet of hardtack and salt pork added to the soldier’s hardships. Despite the poor living conditions, only one man is known to have died at Fort Mitchell. Following the end of the Civil War, regular army soldiers returned to the West, and one company of the 18th Infantry was stationed at Fort Mitchell. These foot soldiers were helpless against highly mobile Indian warriors, and once suffered the indignity of having 112 mules stolen from a freight train camped within sight of the fort.
Fading into Obscurity
No official record of the post’s abandonment exists, but Margaret Carrington, wife of Col Henry Carrington, made one of the last accounts of Fort Mitchell as an active military post. The Carringtons stopped at the site in June 1866, and described it as follows: “This is a sub-post of Fort Laramie of peculiar style and compactness. The walls of the quarters are also the outlines of the fort itself, and the four sides of the rectangle are respectively the quarters of offices, soldiers, horses and the warehouse of supplies”. Soon after, Fort Mitchell faded into obscurity. The sod walls quickly deteriorated, and wind and rain removed all signs that the post ever existed. Today, plows turn up occasional reminders of Fort Mitchell in the form of rusted metal artifacts. Although no physical indications of the post remain, nearby Mitchell Pass preserves the name and serves as a reminder that for three years, Fort Mitchell stood guard along the Oregon Trail during an important period in American history.
Fremont County Pioneer Museum
Learn about the lives of people who were brought to Lander, Wyoming on the overland trails. You’ll discover stories about those who ended their journey here to established homes and those who simply passed through along their journey. Explore the Mechanical Gardens to learn about the machinery and tools that helped people build new lives in this unfamiliar territory and visit the museum exhibits to learn more about the different types of people who lived here throughout time: indigenous communities, miners, ranchers, railroad workers, and more!
Site Information
Location (1443 Main Street, Lander, WY 82520)
Located near the base of the Wind River Mountains in central Wyoming, the Fremont County Pioneer Museum contains collections on the many people who lived in the area, from indigenous communities to travelers on the overland trails.
The museum shares a site with the Museum of the American West, which includes a replica pioneer village featuring many restored historic structures to help interpret the history of the region.
A large parking lot in front of the building provides ample parking for visitors including those travelling in large vehicles like busses and trailers. The museum grounds also offer outdoor seating for the visitor’s convenience.
Safety Considerations
Gardner Junction Park
At Gardner Junction Park, the Oregon and California Trails split from the Santa Fe Trail. Each spring, west-bound travelers in Kansas would rush towards this junction and then take their "exit." Those heading to Santa Fe would continue southwest, while those heading to Oregon or California would turn and head northwest. The travelers going to Oregon were primarily emigrants- people relocating from their homelands to new territories in the West. However, the travelers going to Santa Fe were primarily traders who were trading goods between the United States and Mexico. As such, travelers who took the southwest exit would pass by here again, while travelers who took the northwest exit would never return here.
Site Information
Location (U.S. 56 and 183rd Street, Gardner, Kansas)
The junction is now a roadside park on U.S. 56. No physical traces of the junction remain, but the park does offer several interpretive waysides that tell its story, a walking path, and a historical marker.
Safety Considerations
Geyser Park
Geyser Park includes a gray-orange mound- one of the original soda springs described by passing emigrants- and a captive geyser that erupts every hour on the hour. This "luke-cool" geyser was released when drillers seeking hot water for mineral baths unintentionally tapped into an artesian well.
Now, it is a developed site with interpretive exhibits that tell the area's story. There is a boardwalk around the geyser and grassy areas with picnic tables and benches that can be used to view the geyser. Also, visitors can walk a 1.7-mile route from here that goes through town, along a canal at the end of Main Street, to Hooper Springs. It is a pleasant walk with a potential for viewing wildlife.
Site Information
Location (Geyser Park Street, in Soda Springs, Idaho)
Safety Considerations
Granger Stage Station State Historic Site
Granger Stage Station State Historic Site is located in the town of Granger, WY. It was built as a stage station along the Overland Trail in the 1850s. Fort Bridger State Historic Site oversees, maintains, and interprets the Stage Station. Many trails came through Granger including the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Pioneer Trail, Pony Express Trail, Overland Trail, and the northern route of the Cherokee Trail.
Granger Stage Station is located in southwest Wyoming approximately five miles off I-80 (exit 66). The site includes the station building, two interpretive signs, and a monument to the Overland and Pony Express trails.
Site Information
Location (110 Spruce St., Granger, WY 82934)
Safety Considerations
Grassy Mountain Rest Area
The rest area offers views of the Cedar Mountains to the southeast and the Grayback Hills to the northwest. On clear days Pilot Peak is visible, as well. Look back towards Hastings Pass, about 4.25 miles southeast of where you stand now. The trail crosses Interstate-80 about one mile west of here and crawls over the steep saddle of Grayback Hills.
West of the rest area an Auto Tour Route highway sign marks where the Hastings Cutoff crosses the freeway on the approach to the Grayback Hills, which are ahead and slightly to the right. Beyond the hills, the trail is about 6 miles north of Interstate-80, where the sun glares off the white salt crust and daytime temperatures can exceed 100 degrees. Some years, out on the salt salts, emigrant wagons bogged down in the mucky clay and salt beds. James Reed's (Donner-Reed Wagon Train) thirst-crazed oxen bolted into the desert and emigrants miserably stumbled along, desperate to reach water.
On the right at about milepost 22 stands the distinctive hooked peak of Floating Island, so named because atmospheric conditions often make it appear to float on hot air above the flats. The Hastings Cutoff crosses north of Floating Island and continues across the next basin toward Silver Island peak. From the Tree of Life sculpture along the freeway, the trails lies about 11 miles to the north.
Site Information
Location (Interstate- 80, Milepost 55, Exit 56, Utah)
An orientation panel at the rest area shows the location of the California and Pony Express Trails relative to the highway.
Safety Considerations
Hanging Rock Pony Express Station
Pony Express Utah No. 3 Contract Station
The Hanging Rock Pony Express Station (Echo Canyon), also called Halfway Station, was located near a spring about halfway down the canyon. Nothing remains of the relay station but a pony express marker post standing in a trowel-like wagon swale marks it’s approximate location. The "hanging rock" itself a small natural bridge is just around the curve to the south. The area was an immigrant campground.
Site Information
Location (Leave westbound I-80 at Exit 178 (Emory). Cross the bridge and continue in a southwesterly direction paralleling the freeway to stop about 2 miles ahead.)
From the cattle guard at Exit 178, enter Echo Canyon Road. Drive 2.3 miles and pull onto the right shoulder near a lone juniper by the side of the road. Look down off the road to the right about 25 feet to find the silver-colored steel post that marks the Pony Express station site. The trough where the post is located is emigrant wagon swale. Continue to odometer mile 2.5, just around the curve, to a turnout on the right marked with brown Summit County tour sign No. 9. Hanging Rock is the natural bridge to the right of the turnout. It is on private property; please do not trespass.
Safety Considerations
Harry S Truman National Historic Site, the Santa Fe Trail
The Harry S. Truman National Historic Site preserves the longtime home of Harry S. Truman and other properties in the Kansas City, Missouri, metropolitan area associated with him. Not only was Truman the thirty third president of the United States, he was also instrumental in the preservation of the Santa Fe Trail.
Truman served as president of the National Old Trails Road Association from 1926 to 1948. In the mid-1920s, Truman was tasked with determining the official route of the National Old Trails Road, which included the Santa Fe Trail. Between 1926 and 1927, he traveled the Santa Fe Trail many times for this purpose.
Eventually, the road ran coast to coast and was developed for car travel.
During this time, Truman also traveled the route several times to select the locations for the 12 DAR Madonna of the Trail Statues. This series of statues was dedicated to the spirit of pioneer women in the United States and were commissioned by the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). Many of these statues still stand today along the Santa Fe Trail.
Site Information
Location (Harry S Truman National Historic Site includes the Truman Home in Independence, Missouri, and the Truman Farm Home in Grandview, Missouri. Both units are within the Kansas City metropolitan area.)
At the Harry S Truman National Historic Site, you can experience the surroundings Truman knew throughout his life, take a tour, explore the collections, become a Junior Ranger, and more. While you are here, you can visit the historic Independence Courthouse Square, the National Frontier Trails Museum, Santa Fe Park, and the many other historic sites in the area.
Safety Considerations