Southwest from Salt Lake in 1849

Abstract

Most summary accounts of the gold rush give the impression that the forty-niners moved en masse over a well defined trail to California. For the majority of the overland travelers such was the case. Bancroft's estimate is that five-eighths of the land travelers came by the Platte-South Pass-Humboldt itinerary, which was the first recommendation of the guidebooks, and that another fifth used the Santa F&-Gila-Yuma route.' With the major overland trails worked out before 1849 by Santa Fe traders and Oregon missionaries, by the fur trappers and the pioneer settlers, the men of the gold rush had little real need for anything but trail following. But one cannot read far in the journals of this great trek without finding numerous instances of departure from the beaten path, of search for short-cuts, of experimentation with new routes. Some of these experiments had comic results, as when Lewis Manly and his companions essayed to reach California by floating down the Green River. Others, for example Delano's venture on Lassen's Cut-off, are recorded with a sheepish recognition of the wisdom of experience. Still others, notably those connected with Death Valley, had tragic outcomes. No catalog of these optimistic ventures has been attempted. Nor could such a catalog pretend to completeness, because of the obviously fragmentary nature of our records. It appears, however, that for an adequate representation of the overland routes in '49 we need a network of lines across the western map, lines which should converge at Fort Laramie, South Pass, and Soda Springs or Salt Lake City, and for the southern route at Santa