getting to the gold rush

Information in this post was adapted from the Sacramento Bee gold rush website that is no longer published.

As news of James Marshall's 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill spread, people from around the world began making the trek to California to seek fortune. In 1849, the steady stream of people from within the United States had established three main routes to California. 

The  overland  route

Map adapted from Tentotwo, Wikimedia Commons

TRAVEL TIME:  about 4 months
DISTANCE:  approximately 2,000 miles
COST:  $600-$700 for a family of four

Travel often began by steamboat up the Ohio or Mississippi River to reach the trailheads. The most common "jumping off" point was Independence, Missouri. The Oregon trail had been traveled by fur trappers for decades.

1. Chimney Rock - A 500 ft. tall column marked 550 miles from Independence, Missouri.
2. The Platte River - The river was sometimes difficult to cross. In 1849, rains made this especially difficult.
3. Fort Laramie - In the first six months of 1849, more than 39,000 people were recorded passing through Fort Laramie. It is likely that several thousand more passed through unrecorded.
4. Independence Rock - A rock with hundreds of pioneer names carved upon it.
5. South Pass - Overland travelers had to cross the continental divide. The South Pass was the easiest place to pass through the Rocky Mountains. At the continental divide, rivers on the east side of the mountains eventually flowed to the Atlantic Ocean, while rivers on the west side eventually flowed to the Pacific. This marked the beginning of the most difficult portions of the trail.
6. The Humboldt Basin - This 40-mile stretch of desert had no food or water. It was extremely hot and the sand was deep enough to trap oxen. It was littered with heavy items from wagons as travelers, seeking to lighten their load, dumped things they no longer felt was necessary in order to survive the ordeal of crossing.

Forts along the way could provide food, tools, and other supplies. If, however, the wagon train before you had cleaned out the fort's supplies, you were out of luck.

Landmarks such as Chimney Rock and Independence Rock were almost mythical places that weary travelers looked forward to sighting. This meant they were on the right path.

Dangers

Sickness
The biggest killer along the trail was disease. According to the National Parks Service, of the 350,000 people who traveled by land, they estimate 30,000 people died of disease over the 20-25 years the Emigrant Trail was active. The most common was cholera—a bacteria that caused severe diarrhea and dehydration killing many. Some got it and died before even leaving Independence. Dysentery, from dirty drinking water, also killed many.

Guns
A common fear was attack from the Native People, though this almost never happened. This fear, however, meant the overland travelers were well armed. Inexperience with guns and cheaply made weapons were a problem, and gunshot wounds were common. Hunting along the route was necessary (and often done just for fun, too) so hunting accidents occurred and diaries of the journey often mention someone shooting themselves while mishandling their own gun.

River crossings
At that time, most people didn't know how to swim. Many died from drowning at river crossings as they tried to get animals and wagons across. If it had recently rained, rivers would be larger and more dangerous, so wagon trains sometimes waited for several days for the river's flow to lessen.

Accidents
Gunshot and drowning weren't the only accidents that happened. Walking 10-15 miles per day, every day, for months, meant people and animals were exhausted, which made them careless. Examples of other accidents that happened include being kicked or dragged by oxen or horses or crushed by wagon wheels.

Weather
The weather on the plains could be severe. Tornadoes, prairie fires, lightning, and hailstones big enough to kill a man were recorded. Crossing the desert meant incredible heat and dehydration. The mountain crossings meant even more problems as snow often occurred, even in summer months.

Supplying your wagon train

Most overland travelers joined a wagon train, banding together for safety and to share resources. They often made sure to have people from many different occupations and abilities along so they would have experienced people to do things like hunt, repair broken wagon wheels, or set a broken bone.

©This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1927.

Supplies might include: Cooking stove made of sheet metal, cows, bacon, ham, rice, dried fruit, molasses, packed butter, bread, coffee and tea, tools for mining, farming and repairing wagons, vegetable and flower seeds, medicines, quilts, musical instruments, guns, ammunition, awls, needles strengthened for mending clothes and tents, bedding, including buffalo robes, waterproof india rubber blankets to keep things dry, lock chains to hold wagons back on steep hills.

Plates, silverware, pots and pans were kept in a special box on the back of the wagon.

Space in the wagon was limited, so hooks and ropes tied to the wooden frame of the canvas covering the wagon or the outside of the wagon itself held milk cans, guns, etc. The sloshing milk in the can even churned butter as the wagon rumbled along the trail!

Some brought chickens. Eggs were stored in flour barrels, where they were safe from breaking as long as they didn't touch.

A bucket of grease was hung between the wheels. It was used to lubricate the wheels and axles of the wagon.

Most people walked because, not only was there little space in the wagons, but the ride was incredibly bumpy and uncomfortable. Typically, only the very sick, small children, or pregnant women rode in the wagon.

On the prairie, wood was scarce. Pioneers discovered that buffalo chips (the dried poop from the thousands of wild bison)  created a hot, smokeless and odorless fire.

A woman with a wheelbarrow of bison chips.

Two routes by sea

#1 Around  the  horn

Traveling by ship by going "around the horn" meant sailing all the way down the eastern shore of South America, and around the southern tip of the continent, known as Cape Horn. Costs and travel time varied greatly depending on circumstances. Nicer rooms that weren't as far below deck sold for more than hammocks strung between beams amongst dozens of other (usually) men. As demand for the sea route increased, so did prices. Travel time varied depending on the weather. Storms could mean an additional month at sea. Sometimes, when wind and currents were not favorable, ships would have to travel as far a Hawaii (then known as the Sandwich Islands) before being able to travel northward to San Francisco. This could add months to the trip.

Most of the ships along this route were not designed as passenger ships. They were cargo ships that were quickly converted to carry passengers as more and more people began trying to get California.

TRAVEL TIME: about 5  months
DISTANCE:  18,000 miles
COST:  from $600 to more than $1,200 per person

dangers

Sickness
Cholera was a problem on this route, too. Some died, but not nearly as many as on the overland route. Scurvy—a disease caused by lack of vitamin C—made some very sick and killed a few. Sea sickness was a big problem, but almost no one died from just being seasick.

Hunger
Ship captains were trying to make as much money as possible, so the food provided was known to be awful. Around the equator, when temperatures increased, what food they had spoiled quickly. The bread often contained worms, and fresh water was difficult to find. Barrels of fresh water brought on board quickly became foul tasting.

Shipwreck
Rounding the cape was especially dangerous because of incredibly high waves, freezing water, and treacherous winds. Even very experienced captains could have difficulty rounding the cape. The image at right shows a ship rounding the cape.

©This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1927, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal.

Weather
Being out at sea meant there was no shelter from storms. Lack of wind was also a problem, which could leave a ship stranded for days or weeks. As food and water supplies were used up, this could quickly become a dangerous problem.

supplying  the  ship

Keeping the ship stocked with supplies was difficult. Supplies might include: Salt pork, salt beef, ham, hard bread, salt, 40 pounds of butter and cheese, tea, sugar and spices. One advantage of this route was that the ship could stop at ports along the way to resupply.

• Almost all ships at the time had rats that would get into and eat the food.
• Hot temperatures caused food to go bad and candles to melt.
• Butter and lard went rancid.
• Bread and flour had weevils.
• Wine turned to vinegar.

Public Domain Dedication from the NPS

#2 crossing the isthmus

To shorten the trip by ship, people began getting off the ship on the eastern coast of Panama, traveling by canoe or boat up the Chagres River as far as possible and then walking or riding mules to the Pacific side and catching a different ship to San Francisco. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land, between two bodies of water, that connects two larger land masses, so this was known as "crossing the isthmus."

TRAVEL TIME: at first, this route would take as little as 3 months, but by 1850 when ships were added along the Pacific coast, the trip was only 6 - 8 weeks
DISTANCE:  10,000 miles
COST:  the cost varied greatly—it was about $400 to get from New York City to the east coast of Panama and then across the isthmus to Panama City on the west coast. They sometimes had to wait weeks before a ship arrived with room to take them from Panama to San Francisco. Not only did they have to pay for this, which was sometimes very expensive, but they often had to wait weeks or even months for a ship came along with room to take them. While waiting, they had the additional expense of having to have a place to stay in Panama City.

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.

This is an 1850 illustration by Charles Christian Nahl of a boat taking travelers up the Chagres River in Panama.

dangers

Sickness
Like the other routes, disease was a major problem. Cholera and dysentery killed some, but crossing the isthmus also meant many got yellow fever or malaria from mosquito bites. Thousands died along this route of disease.

Afong, Lai. “Guangzhou, Chinese Boats by Lai Afong, Cа 1880.” Wikimedia Commons, 2015, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guangzhou,_Chinese_Boats_by_Lai_Afong,_c%D0%B0_1880.jpg. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.

“The American Experience | Wayback: Gold Rush | Journey of the Forty-Niners: Around Cape Horn.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kids/goldrush/journey_capehorn.html.

“Antiope.” Https://Npgallery.nps.gov/ , National Parks Gallery , 1893, https://picryl.com/amp/media/antiope-built-1866-bark-3m-commencement-bay-wa-circa-1893-1905-010fcb. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.
Bayer, Alicia. Around the Horn, 2010, http://magicalchildhood.com/games/aroundthehorn.htm.

Bonfield, Lynn A. “When Money Was Necessary to Make Dreams Come True: The Cost of the Trip from Vermont to California via Panama.” Vermont Historical Society, 2008. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjQrLrhvpb2AhV7IUQIHRloBQUQFnoECBgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvermonthistory.org%2Fjournal%2F76%2FVHS760202_130-148.pdf&usg=AOvVaw37S6RL8D-vF-xQW93EGoLH

“Cholera: A Trail Epidemic (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cholera-a-trail-epidemic.htm.

“Death and Danger on the Emigrant Trails (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/death-on-trails.htm.

Famartin. “Humboldt Basin.” Wikimedia Commons, 18 May 2015, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-04-18_15_36_28_Panorama_of_the_Humboldt_Sink_from_the_West_Humboldt_Range_in_Churchill_County,_Nevada.jpg. Accessed 22 Feb. 2022.

Ford, Dixon, and Lee Kreutzer. “Overland Journal.” 2015.
“Gold Rush.” Internet Archive, The Sacramento Bee, https://web.archive.org/web/20210114193358/http://www.calgoldrush.com/.

Kemble, John Haskell. “The Gold Rush by Panama, 1848-1851.” Pacific Historical Review, vol. 18, no. 1, 1949, pp. 45–56., https://doi.org/10.2307/3634427. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.

Nahl, Charles Christian. “Der Isthmus Von Panama Auf Der Höhe Des Chagres River.” Wikimedia Commons, 2008, Berkeley, California, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nahl_1850,_Der_Isthmus_von_Panama_auf_der_H%C3%B6he_des_Chagres_River.jpg. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.

Rydell, Raymond A. “The Cape Horn Route to California, 1849.” Pacific Historical Review, vol. 17, no. 2, 1948, pp. 149–163. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3635514. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.

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Unknown author. “Unidentified Tall Ship near Cape Horn.” Wikimedia Commons, National Library of Australia, 2011, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unidentified_tall_ship_near_Cape_Horn_-_Nla.pic-vn3299637-v.jpg. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.

Unknown author. “Wagon Train.” Wikimedia Commons, 19 Aug. 2007, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wagon_train.jpg. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.