California

For a variety of different reasons, people sought to move to westward. Despite varying motives to travel west, there was always one common goal: a new beginning. The westward drive lasted roughly from 1806 to 1912. Two of the major parties of immigrants to settle the west were the Donner Party and the Stephens Party. In 1846 the Donner party began their trek from Illinois. They carried with them a sort of ‘guidebook’ which unfortunately did not contain very accurate advice. This misfortune led to the group getting lost and becoming stuck in the snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As a consequence, along the way certain desperate members of the party resorted to cannibalism in order to stay alive.

The Stephens party was led by Elisha Stephens, who was elected because of his experience as a mountain man and a beaver hunter in the Pacific Northwest. Stephens guided ten families from present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa to California in 1844. This expedition became most famous for being the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevadas.

The primary means of expansion to California at this time was travel via the California Trail. Stretching nearly 2000 miles, the California Trail was used by western settlers traveling from Mississippi to California. The Trail was used predominantly between 1841 and 1869. Despite the sometimes harsh conditions encountered during the settling the west, roughly 3000 people reached California between 1840 and 1848.

The Gold Rush of 1848 caused an even greater boom in Californian population. Discovered by Henry William Bigler at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, the unexpected discovery of gold led to an inrush of immigrants, with numbers nearing 300,000. The scores of settlers who came to look for gold became known as ‘Forty-Niners’, signifying the year 1849.

In conclusion, one may say that California was a beautiful, rich target for western civilization and today it remains a primary tourist attraction to both native and foreign visitors.

The information was gathered in part from an article in Sparknotes.com and Wikipedia.com, the pictures are all from

google.com:

www.sparknotes.com/history/american/westwardexpansion/section8.rhtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephens-Townsend-Murphy_Party

pictures: http://www.sites.si.edu/images/exhibits/Art%20of%20the%20Stamp/images/CA-Gold-Rush_jpg.jpg

A special thanks to Katy for providing the picture in the banner at the top of the blog! -Administration

-Katy