Route of the California Trail and Hastings Cutoff in the western United States, artist, date unknown. Larger.
In the 1840s, overland emigrants to Oregon and California traveled the Oregon Trail west from Missouri. A journey of over two thousand miles, it's easy to fathom why pioneers were always interested in a short cut.
The California route, from Fort Hall to the Sacramento river, lies through alternate plains, prairies and valleys, and over hills, amid lofty mountains; thence down the great valley of the Sacramento, to the bay of St. Francisco, a distance from Fort Hall, of nine hundred miles. The Indians are, in many places, very numerous; yet they are extremely timid, and entirely inoffensive. Wagons can be as readily taken from Fort Hall to the bay of St. Francisco, as they can, from the States to Fort Hall; and, in fact, the latter part of the route, is found much more eligible for a wagon way, than the former. The most direct route, for the California emigrants, would be to leave the Oregon route, about two hundred miles east of Fort Hall; thence bearing west southwest, to the Salt lake; and thence continuing down to the bay of St. Francisco, by the route just described.
One of the groups to try Hasting's Cut-Off was the Donner Party, whose slow progress en route to the Sierras contributed to their tragedy.
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