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. 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 or sites where the migrants found something important to write about. The diarists' tell of adventures, hardships, desires, concerns, deprivations, sicknesses, and 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.
- ISBN10 0786413638
- ISBN13 9780786413638
- Publish Date 31 December 2003
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 24 April 2009
- Publish Country US
- Imprint McFarland & Co Inc
- Format Paperback
- Pages 280
- Language English