California Trail at Golconda Traditional Cache
GeoCrater: I am regretfully archiving this cache since there's been no response from nor action by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note.
GeoCrater
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California Trail at Golconda
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THIS IS A SHORT DRIVE FROM I-80 (abot 2 mi) ACCESIBLE WITH ANY 2WD
VEHICLE. Take Golconda exit to Morrison st, Left at Stanford, 1.5
mi look for trail marker on left.
It is estimated that 250,000-300,000 people took this arduous route
to reach the gold fields and farm homesteads in California between
the 1840's and 1860's; the single greatest peacetime migration in
history. By comparison some 53,000 traveled the Oregon trail during
the same preriod.
The journey usually began at Independence or St. Joseph MO around
May 1st. If they left too early the roads would be muddy, the
rivers too full, and the grass too sparce to sustain
livestock.Leaving too late meant the feed would be eaten and
trampled by those who left earlier. Not to mention the dange of
being trapped in the Sierras by early snowfall- as were the
ill-fated Donner party in the winter of 1846-47. The goal was to be
over the Sierras by Oct.1st.That meant covering about 2200 miles in
about 123 days.With a 15 mile a day average for the wagon
trains,that meant there was no time to waste.
In the early stages of the voyage,the fresh men and teams had the
flatlands of Nebraska traverse. In the later stages,with the oxen
starving and tired, and the men weary and gaunt,they had poor
water, alkali deserts, and then the challenge of the Sierras.With
nearly 1/4 of the trip taken up crossing Nevada, it is a miracle
that any of them made it at all.
The most important stretch of what became the main part of the
California trail was the path of the Humboldt River,flowing some
400 miles across arid flatlands lying between mountain ranges of
the Great Basin.It provided water and grass vital to the emigrant
trains.
The first emigrants of any season would arrive in Battle Mt.around
early July,peak in August, and dwindle by mid September. The Donner
party came through around October 4 1846.
The original route encompassed over 5,000 miles of trails.Today
over 1,000 miles of rutted traces of the trail remain throughout
the Great Basin as evidence of the mass westward migration.
As you travel through this area, try to imagine what it was like
for the people and animals to make this arduous journey.
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