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What were some struggles on the Mormon Trail?
The journey along the Mormon Trail (as it later became known) was treacherous, and many pioneers were met with disaster. Rattlesnakes, blizzards, confrontations with Native Americans, and starvation were just a few of the challenges they faced.
What was Mormon pioneer life like on the trail to Utah?
It was a safe place in the wilderness for people who were fleeing from vengeful mobs. Unfortunately, they lived in log cabins, sod houses, and dugouts without enough food and supplies. When spring arrived, more than six hundred lay buried in the cemetery on the hill.
Why were people traveling on the Mormon Trail?
They chose to travel on the north side of the Platte River in order to avoid competition for forage and food with the emigrants on the Oregon Trail across the river. They met and talked with several mountain men along the trail who gave them varying opinions about the prospect of settling in the Salt Lake Valley.
What happened on the Mormon Trail?
The Mormon Trail broke south just to the west of the Continental Divide, and it terminated to the southeast of the Great Salt Lake, in what is today Salt Lake City. The route was designated a national historic trail by the U.S. National Park Service. Mormons on their trek from Illinois to Utah, 1846.
Why was the Mormon Trail used?
The Mormon pioneer run began in 1846, when Young and his followers were driven from Nauvoo. After leaving, they aimed to establish a new home for the church in the Great Basin and crossed Iowa. Along their way, some were assigned to establish settlements and to plant and harvest crops for later emigrants.
How old is the Oregon Trail?
The Oregon Trail was laid by fur traders and trappers from about 1811 to 1840, and was only passable on foot or by horseback. By 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall, Idaho.
How did the pioneers travel the Mormon Trail?
The pioneers mostly traveled the Mormon trail by foot as they pushed handcarts or drove wagons pulled by a team of oxen to carry their meager possessions. Take a tour of the Mormon trail by following this map of The Pioneer Story. The trail runs from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Great Salt Lake Valley.
How many miles long was the Mormon Trail?
The Mormon trail was almost 1,300 miles long and crossed great plains, rugged lands, and the Rocky Mountains. The pioneers mostly traveled the Mormon trail by foot as they pushed handcarts or drove wagons pulled by a team of oxen to carry their meager possessions. Take a tour of the Mormon trail by following this map…
Where did the Mormon wagon train go?
Between 1846 and 1869, some 70,000 Mormons traveled west on the trail. Some 3,000 of them pulled handcarts. The trail crossed parts of five states: Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah. The longest trip taken by a Mormon wagon train was Brigham Young’s 1847 vanguard company.
How did the Mormons get to Utah?
Mormon Trail Map. The Mormons used many trails in crossing the Plains and through the Rockies to their haven by the inland salty sea. The States of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming were gutted and rutted with many different trails of wheel-marks made by their caravans when the first settlers came to present-day Utah.