The Great Westward Migration

More than 400,000 people took part in the Great Western Migration, packing their goods and dreams and traveling long distances over wagon roads like this in what was the largest voluntary movement over such a distance in history. Timing was crucial, because migrants who did not start by May faced the danger of early winter snows in the Rocky and Sierra Mountains. The journey lasted seven months and covered 1600 miles, though many pioneers later remembered it as the defining adventure of their lives despite its hardships. Catherine Haun recalled that in January 1849, during a period of national hard times, she and others decided to emigrate to California in hopes of finding enough gold to pay their debts. She remembered the apprehension of crossing the treeless, alkali region of the Great Basin, with worn wagons, weakened animals, dwindling food and stock feed, and no chance to replenish supplies. Graves, animal carcasses, and abandoned wagons were common sights, and discarded wagons even provided firewood where sagebrush was scarce and unsatisfactory.

Idaho · United States