The Road to California
I would like to illustrate not only the routes that people physically took to California, but what that journey meant to them. By giving emphasis to the words of women who traveled to California, I hope to showcase the strength of mind and body that these women showed in their determination to create a new world for themselves and their children in their new homes. I would also like to relate the experience of John Bidwell, one of the leaders of the Bartleson-Bidwell Party.
The men and women who traveled the long hard road to the west coast in their covered wagons in the period between the 1840’s until the building of the railroads, were tough and determined. There were several trails that folks who were striking out would use to travel. Missouri was the most popular starting point for the west; from St. Joseph to the north via the Bozeman Trail where it connected to the Mormon Trail and the Oregon/California Trail then north to Oregon, west to Sacramento, California or south via the Mormon Trail to Los Angeles, California.
The Oregon Trail, also called the Emigrant Trail and the Oregon/California trail, was established by an act of Congress to begin in Independence, Missouri and end in Oregon City, Oregon. But in actuality, pioneers could have started out from St. Louis, St. Joseph, Missouri or Council Bluff, Iowa. The establishment of the trail came at a time of the establishment of several trading forts in the west which later became military posts. Pioneers that were leaving from Independence would have traveled to Fort Kearney and Scottsbluff, Nebraska, then to Fort Laramie in Wyoming; to Soda Springs and Fort Hall Idaho. It is just past Fort Hall where those going to California would head Southwest and those heading to Oregon would continue north to Fort Boise and then into Oregon. Another option was to follow the Mormon Trail from Council Bluffs Iowa to Salt Lake City and continue from there to California.
“From the very first wagon train on, women would see and experience hardship like none they had ever imagined. They would also find out how strong a woman could truly be. Husbands often made the decision to start life over in the west without ever asking whether the wives thought this was a good decision or how it might affect them. Some wives did have a say though, and in a few instances, women not only influenced their husbands to go, but a few traveled westward by themselves.“ (Pioneer women: author unknown)
The Bartleson-Bidwell Party was a group put together by John Bidwell who a group of people together, assigning himself as Secretary of the group, to ensure that those who signed the agreement agreed to purchase the proper equipment to proceed and the Western Emigration Society, as they called themselves, would agree to ensure that they were properly advised as to how to reach California. The goal was 500 names on the document, which they met, and the agreement to rendezvous at Sapling Grove in the State of Kansas on the 9th of May, 1840.
Lydia Leaming Miller: “We didn't travel far the first day for with the picking up of families at various points, and really getting started, we didn't cover much territory, and it was not until the morning of the second day that we got into uninhabited territory. About noon of that day we met two men on horseback who were out scouting for additions to their train of twelve wagons which was ahead. The men told us they would go on until they could find water, then camp and wait for us. As soon as the next day dawned, two of the men climbed onto a wagon and reported they could see some black specks far ahead of us. They got on horses and said they'd ride ahead and make sure they were wagons. How happy we were when they returned with the good news they'd found the wagons. We reached them about noon and stopped long enough to elect a captain and to organize the train. Captain Cox, a member of the other train, was selected for captain. This was his second trip across the plains so we had confidence in his ability as a leader. We now had about two dozen wagons.“ (Migrating to Oregon in '66)
In his memoirs, John Bidwell admits that he knew nothing about the business of leading a wagon train across country except that they should point themselves west. Just before they left, he met and elected John Bartleson to lead them and he was elected as Captain of the group. They also met up with another group heading west, a priest and missionary nuns heading to the Indian territories in northern Idaho, and they were led by a mountain man named Captain Fitzpatrick, that had made the trip before. They proceeded on from Kansas, through Nebraska, Wyoming and on into Idaho to Fort Hall.
Lydia Leaming Miller: “The first weeks were like an outing to me and to the others as well. The weather couldn't have been better had it been made to order. The camp was awake and astir very soon after dawn. As soon as breakfast had been cooked and eaten - it was cooked on an outdoor oven heated over a campfire - we were on our way. We stopped at noon only long enough to prepare a hasty meal, and then drove until evening. Our captain had an emigrant's guidebook which told us where we could camp and find plenty of water and grass. When we made camp for the night the wagons formed into a circle. The horses were corralled inside, and all of the cooking was done within the circle. At night the guard was stationed outside, and in this way the people were protected from attacks as much as could be possible under the circumstances. Although we were very glad to come into the white settlement we stayed just long enough to replenish our provision wagons and attend to several other matters. Before we were allowed to leave, the government officials inspected the train to see if we were capable of defending ourselves. After inspection they told us that we were the best equipped train that had passed through Ft. Laramie for a long time.” (Migrating to Oregon in '66)
After Fort Hall, the Bartleson-Bidwell Group struck out alone heading southwest in the general direction that they had been told at the Fort to go. They had also been told to not enter the Sierra’s to far south because they would be in a desert with scrubland and little water; if they went too far north they would encounter rocky territory that would make it very tough for the animals and any people on foot leading the animals. They were a much smaller group since about 20 families/wagons had decided to wait and head back to Missouri.
Diana Lucina Spicer Block: “I met Albert Block when I was twelve; he was eighteen. He came home with my father. When I was seventeen he "came a-courtin'." In 1887 when I was eighteen years old, we were married, He worked on the railroad and made a good living. (Through the rest of the story she refers to her husband as "papa".) Papa was a good hard-working man, but he liked to travel. A year later, we loaded all our belongings into the wagon and moved to Idaho Falls.
In 1891, I lost a pair of twins and nearly my life. Papa and I felt badly about losing our babies but I was young and strong and it wasn't long before I was well again. Lucy was born the following year, 1892. After her birth I was sick and run down. The doctor told us to move to Oregon. We turned our homestead back to the government and sold our improvements to the people who took it over. Again we loaded our wagon with our children and worldly possessions and started out.” (RootsWeb)
When they came up to the foothills of the mountains, they decided to abandon the wagons and load the animals with packs to carry their stores and other belongings. Unfortunately, as John Bidwell admits, packing an animal is an art, and there was no one in the group who really knew what they were doing. Putting packs on the horses and mules was pretty simple, because horses and mules are used to carrying people on their backs, the packs weren’t much different. But the oxen had a difficult time with the packs, and unless they were very carefully packed to distribute the weight evenly, they would jump around and belongings would fall off and slow everyone down. They learned by trial and error while they moved west. They also lost their way a couple of times, going too far south, then being concerned that they had gone too far north when they hit a rocky streambed to follow, but finally they found the Humboldt River that would help them find their way into and across the mountains by following the river through canyons until they found a place to cross.
Diana Lucina Spicer Block: “At American Falls we met a family by the name of Davis. They were headed for Santa Rosa, Calif., and we decided to go with them. It was early September and we wanted to get over the Sierra Nevada Mountains before winter set in. We followed the old Immigrant Trail. It was a long, hard trip. When we came to a settlement, we would find out how many miles it was to the next one. We planned for our food and water accordingly. But by November we had nothing more to sell. We were out of money and our food supply was nearly gone. It had been a long time since we passed through the last settlement and we had seen no one. Then came help...one day a cowboy rode into camp...right away he could see what a bad fix we were in. He told us he was working for a big ranch that was about five or six days travel ahead of us. If we could just hold out until we reached there, he was sure they would help us out.
We have just started out again when Mrs. Davis went into labor. It was the first baby I had ever helped deliver. We knew Mrs. Davis needed a day or so to rest but we were afraid to wait. When we finally reached the ranch, two or three days later, we were in a mighty bad way. After we set up our camp, papa and Mr. Davis went to the house to ask for help. The foreman told them they did not have supplies to give us. But they would give us enough food for our supper and we could replenish our water supply and spend the night. But papa didn't know we had callers while he was gone. A bunch of the cowboys had seen our camp and stopped to see what we were doing there. Something told me to show them our tiny baby. They were amazed and crowded in to see it. It was the first newborn baby some of them had ever seen. They left before papa and Mr. Davis came back. That evening we were sitting around our campfire trying to console each other, trying to find a way, when we saw a group of people coming to our camp. I believe it was every ranch hand on the place. The men who had been in our camp that afternoon had spread the story of our little newborn baby. When the foreman heard, he filled two big wheelbarrows with grub and was bringing it to us. We still had a long way to go. The baby died three months later. (RootsWeb)
After crossing the Humboldt River, Bartleson and a few men decided that they would abandon the group because they were moving too slowly. But after a couple of days they returned because they had eaten through their stores and decided it would be better to stay with the group. Also, during the night, the lights of Indian campfires could be seen all around in the foothills. Definitely a good reason to be with a larger group with its safety-in-numbers.
Continuing west, they crossed the Carson River to the Walker River and following the Walker River they entered the Sierra’s. One of the group hiked ahead to the summit and found a way down to a stream to follow down out of the mountains, which later turned out to be the source of the Stanislaus River. They had entered the San Joaquin Valley but they did not know that they were in California until they had traveled a day or so further and sighted a Rancho at the base of what would later be called Mt. Diablo, and were told that they were in the Spanish Territory of California.
Citations:
The Century; a popular quarterly Volume 0041 Issue 1 (Nov 1890) Title: Gold Hunters of California. The First Emigrant Train to California [pp. 106-130] Author: Bidwell, John, http://digital.library.cornell.edu (note: this is a fascinating book that you can read online; much like a Mark Twain adventure. It chronicles the first wagon train to establish the road over the Sierra’s in 1841and mentions seeing Mt. Diablo before entering the San Joaquin Valley; this all occurred before Fremont and Kit Carson)
Trails West: A Map of Early Western Migration Trails http://www.tngenweb.org/tnletters/usa-west.htm
Pioneer Women: History & Biographies: author unknown http://www.essortment.com/pioneer-women-20354.html
RootsWeb-Diana Lucina Spicer Block.......Her story: Related by Devona Block and Submitted by Gail Coutts http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nwa/block.html
Migrating to Oregon in '66: Lydia Leaming Miller: Her recollections of her journey from Iowa to Oregon as she related them to her daughter, Lois (Miller) Van Vleck http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nwa/leaming/lydia.html
