Trailblazers

Those who led the way to the Pacific were folks who saw
opportunities in fur trade and those who found it difficult to
live in their communities back east.
These folks would turn out to be conduits for travel to the
west and provide information on unknown geographical
lands.
Pioneer Life
Pioneer Life
Requirements
Planning
Substantial Equipment &
Supplies
Organization & Community
Effort
Leaders were chosen
Laws of the trail were given
Life on the Frontier
Travel was difficult &
dangerous
Fraught with ups and
downs. Births on the trail,
deaths of children, parents
and grandparents on the
way.
The Plains Across
The Movement Out West: Dealing with adversity & The Plains
Indians
By John Unruh
Going West!
Between 1840-1860 over 250,000 people moved out west.
40,000 Mormons moved to Utah during this same period.
There were so many pioneers in wagons that the route out
west became crowded. The wagon Trains we see in the
movies and on television are a myth!
The move to California, Oregon and The Rocky Mountain
areas were over-congested to the point where families
became separated.
Friction and tensions arose from the number of wagons and
wagon trains moving west.
Overlanders
2 types : Those who were going west and those who
returned east after realizing it was a mistake to go west.
The returning overlanders provided information to those
who were heading west.
Returning overlanders provided equipment, animals,
wagons and needed materials to the western bound folks.
Provided Information to the western bound overlanders on
Indian hostility or not and the shape of the mines.
Information Provided by
Returning Overlanders
Availability of the forts and
trading posts
Presence of ferries at river
crossings
Cost of river crosses
Location of buffalo herds

The Good & The Bad
Bad
Some eastern overlanders
were travelling back to the
east after a gold find.
There were murders of
these travellers which made
some easterners
apprehensive of western
bound travellers.
Good
Convey advice to friends,
relatives and travellers
Provide information
Implementation of the
roadside telegraph (notes left
on the side of a trail for
travellers).
Messages concerned alternate
routes, poisoned water and
fresh water.
Roadside Telegraph &
Mutual Cooperation
Messages served as warnings and information
Dealt with Indian situations warning about taking new routes
when needed.
Route changes that cut down the time of travel.
Information was shared amongst overlanders about low areas that
wagons could ford the rivers without paying the tolls or sharing
equipment that allowed others to ford the rivers.
Some would get together and provide security for each other at
night. Assisted in the sorting of cattle after a stampede or
rainstorm.
Mutual Cooperation
Assisted each other (west & east bound) in burial of
overlanders.
Shared of buffalo, deer and other meats.
Often scouts from travelling parties would go ahead to
sketch a path of travel, perform recon of the travel, hunt or
sleep. When not able to get back to their train they would
spend time with other overlanders.
Trade of mules, horses and oxen with others also occurred.
If trains were in proximity to one another on Sunday then
religious services would be conducted together.
Credits
Photos Courtesy of Library of Congress Pioneer Family
Weissert, NE 1887
United States Postal Service Wagons