California dreaming in 1841

In 1841, John Bidwell and John Bartleson led the first American emigrants to undertake a wagon crossing from Missouri to California. While Oregon was the main destination for early westward-bound pioneers, stories of California's warm weather and lack of blizzards and tornadoes were drawing interest. Near Sheep Rock, Idaho, the party split, and one-half of the group of 69 men, women, and children continued on the more-traveled Oregon Trail. The remaining members turned south to Utah and the Great Salt Lake, then continued west to Nevada before finally arriving in California. John Bidwell later wrote that their ignorance of the route was complete. A group of Jesuit missionaries also traveling west, guided by mountain man Thomas Fitzpatrick, agreed to join them, and Bidwell believed that decision likely saved the party from failing to reach California because of their inexperience.

Idaho · United States