California-bound emigrants crossed the same country seen here, though without the towns and ranch meadows and at a far slower pace, taking as much as a month to reach California through thick alkali dust and sand as they pushed on day after day toward dreams of gold or a new life. The California Trail began at several points along the Missouri River and followed several variant routes across the Great Basin and over the Sierra Nevada mountains into California. After the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, most travelers made the journey by rail.