Tuesday, July 24
Heading out of Casper Wyoming
Jack and I have migrated throughout the Southwest in the relative comfort of an air conditioned convertible Jaguar. We have occasionally suffered boredom as we crossed long stretches of prairie. But we suffered no starvation (hardly!), no lack of shelter from the harsh elements, or loss of life. Today we visited a small museum in Casper that described the early migration of pioneers from the east to the west in the middle of the 19th century. Casper sits on the Platt river and it appears that no matter the eastern starting point or the ending point in west, all the trekkers past over this river. Thus it was a natural place for the Bureau of Land Management to have a center interpreting the largest non-forced migration that may have ever occurred.
Casper's roots are buried in commerce. The town began as a ferry site on the Oregon Trail in 1847, when a group of Mormon immigrants who were camping realized that there was money to be made by boating travelers across the North Platte River. The idea caught on, and in the early 1850s a toll bridge was built; soon a military post was established to protect the span and its traffic. The town's real asset, however, was not discovered until 1889, when the first well in the Salt Creek oil field was tapped; by 1915 the town was in an oil boom that matched the frenzy of the California, Colorado and Montana gold rushes.
The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center uses state-of-the-art technology to allow the visitor to experience what pioneer life was like for the early emigrants traveling on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail, Bozeman Trail, Bridger Trail and Pony Express Trail. We explored a unique piece of western history in one geographic spot and got to better understand an era that really cultivated or developed the western part of our country. I never fully appreciated this phenomenon: close to 1/2 million people trekked by foot across the country to settle in the west.
The highlight of the center is an audiovisual presentation illustrating the lives and times of early pioneers, including the Native American history of that era. In particular, it focused on
(1) the early explorers, including Lewis and Clark, early trappers and missionaries; (2) people who followed on the Oregon Trail; (3)The California trail followed by those seeking gold in the 1849 gold rush; (4) the Mormon trail from Illinois to Salt Lake City; and (5) the Pony Express whose work only lasted 18 months (because of the new technology called “telegraph”). The advent of the cross-continental railway put an end to the foot and carriage trails of this close to 50 year period of our history.
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was the only practical way for early pioneers to get across the mountains into the Western United States and what is now Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho and Utah. The largest migration along this route took place in the 1840's with travel continuing until the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. Travel was difficult and pioneers encountered many hardships. In fact, one in ten people died during the 2,000-mile journey. Wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail still exist today
California Trail
Used by over a quarter of a million people, The California Trail carried farmers and those in search of gold to California during the 1840's and 1850's. Over 1,000 miles of wagon ruts can still be seen today in the rugged landscape between Casper, Wyoming and the West Coast. California Trail history provides a fascinating perspective on the massive migration to and through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and California.
Mormon Trail
Led by Brigham Young, over 70,000 Mormons traveled along the Mormon Trail from 1846 to 1869 to escape religious persecution. Beginning in Nauvoo, Illinois, the Mormon Pioneer Trail crossed Iowa, connected with the Great Platte River Road at the Missouri River, and ended near the Great Salt Lake in Utah, nearly 1,300 miles later. An integral part of Mormon history, tens of thousands of Mormon emigrants passed through five states during this mass migration and resulted in a new home in the Great Basin. This area later became the State of Deseret, then the Utah Territory, and finally the State of Utah.
Pony Express Trail
Though in operation only eighteen months between 1860 and 1861, The Pony Express Trail is a colorful part of our nation's westward expansion. Known as the route for the horse and rider relay system that carried our nation's mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, the Pony Express Trail was the nation's means of carrying communications from east to west before the advent of the telegraph. The journey took ten days and showed the feasibility of overland transportation across the central United States. Much of the original trail no longer exists and the actual route and length is open to debate by historians.
We found this center to be fascinating and while Jack recalled much of this history (as a retired teacher), I feel like I learned it for the first time. The center offered an understanding of what life was like for these people walking, pulling carts or sitting on wagon trains for thousands of miles. What pioneers they were! Seeking a better life in the wild west. They really formed the western “can do” mentality that repeats the experience of those who formed our country 100 years or so before that. Our contemporary entrepreneurs follow in that tradition.
We left the wagons and got back in the Jaguar to complete this portion of our journey at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Boulder, Colorado. We arrived at a lovely hotel, the St. Julien Hotel in the heart of Boulder (a major college town) at the end of the afternoon and settled into our room for 5 days. We look out of our window at the front range of the Rockies!
Casper's roots are buried in commerce. The town began as a ferry site on the Oregon Trail in 1847, when a group of Mormon immigrants who were camping realized that there was money to be made by boating travelers across the North Platte River. The idea caught on, and in the early 1850s a toll bridge was built; soon a military post was established to protect the span and its traffic. The town's real asset, however, was not discovered until 1889, when the first well in the Salt Creek oil field was tapped; by 1915 the town was in an oil boom that matched the frenzy of the California, Colorado and Montana gold rushes.
The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center uses state-of-the-art technology to allow the visitor to experience what pioneer life was like for the early emigrants traveling on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail, Bozeman Trail, Bridger Trail and Pony Express Trail. We explored a unique piece of western history in one geographic spot and got to better understand an era that really cultivated or developed the western part of our country. I never fully appreciated this phenomenon: close to 1/2 million people trekked by foot across the country to settle in the west.
The highlight of the center is an audiovisual presentation illustrating the lives and times of early pioneers, including the Native American history of that era. In particular, it focused on
(1) the early explorers, including Lewis and Clark, early trappers and missionaries; (2) people who followed on the Oregon Trail; (3)The California trail followed by those seeking gold in the 1849 gold rush; (4) the Mormon trail from Illinois to Salt Lake City; and (5) the Pony Express whose work only lasted 18 months (because of the new technology called “telegraph”). The advent of the cross-continental railway put an end to the foot and carriage trails of this close to 50 year period of our history.
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was the only practical way for early pioneers to get across the mountains into the Western United States and what is now Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho and Utah. The largest migration along this route took place in the 1840's with travel continuing until the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. Travel was difficult and pioneers encountered many hardships. In fact, one in ten people died during the 2,000-mile journey. Wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail still exist today
California Trail
Used by over a quarter of a million people, The California Trail carried farmers and those in search of gold to California during the 1840's and 1850's. Over 1,000 miles of wagon ruts can still be seen today in the rugged landscape between Casper, Wyoming and the West Coast. California Trail history provides a fascinating perspective on the massive migration to and through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and California.
Mormon Trail
Led by Brigham Young, over 70,000 Mormons traveled along the Mormon Trail from 1846 to 1869 to escape religious persecution. Beginning in Nauvoo, Illinois, the Mormon Pioneer Trail crossed Iowa, connected with the Great Platte River Road at the Missouri River, and ended near the Great Salt Lake in Utah, nearly 1,300 miles later. An integral part of Mormon history, tens of thousands of Mormon emigrants passed through five states during this mass migration and resulted in a new home in the Great Basin. This area later became the State of Deseret, then the Utah Territory, and finally the State of Utah.
Pony Express Trail
Though in operation only eighteen months between 1860 and 1861, The Pony Express Trail is a colorful part of our nation's westward expansion. Known as the route for the horse and rider relay system that carried our nation's mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, the Pony Express Trail was the nation's means of carrying communications from east to west before the advent of the telegraph. The journey took ten days and showed the feasibility of overland transportation across the central United States. Much of the original trail no longer exists and the actual route and length is open to debate by historians.
We found this center to be fascinating and while Jack recalled much of this history (as a retired teacher), I feel like I learned it for the first time. The center offered an understanding of what life was like for these people walking, pulling carts or sitting on wagon trains for thousands of miles. What pioneers they were! Seeking a better life in the wild west. They really formed the western “can do” mentality that repeats the experience of those who formed our country 100 years or so before that. Our contemporary entrepreneurs follow in that tradition.
We left the wagons and got back in the Jaguar to complete this portion of our journey at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Boulder, Colorado. We arrived at a lovely hotel, the St. Julien Hotel in the heart of Boulder (a major college town) at the end of the afternoon and settled into our room for 5 days. We look out of our window at the front range of the Rockies!
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