The Great Western Migration to the Gold Fields of California, 1849-1850

This work draws heavily from the diaries of 17 men and women who made the four month, 2,000 mile trek to California during 1849 and 1850. The text is divided into three main parts. Part One covers travel from the Missouri River to Fort Laramie, Part Two covers Fort Laramie to Fort Hall and Salt Lake City, and Part Three covers the trek from there to the Sierra Nevadas. Each part has chapters that detail specific parts of the trail, sites, or locations where the migrants found something important to write about. The diarists' accounts tell of the adventures, hardships, desires, concerns, deprivations, sicknesses, deaths along the way, and of crossing the last great obstacle—the "Elephant," as many of them called it—the high ridge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.