The California Trail, 1841: Dead Ends and Gold Fields

Рет қаралды 43,820

Жыл бұрын

Despite one of the shortest routes westward, the California Trail contained nothing but obstacles for its travelers. The desert and mountain tested the resolve of emigrants stricken by the wanderlust of the 1840s. The journey demanded decisive action if the wagons were to cross the deserts and summit the Sierra Nevada before the winter snows. Donner stands as a byword for dawdlers. The land, religion, opportunity, and finally gold drew Americans across deserts and over mountains to the rainbows end, California.

Пікірлер: 53

@jakemarlow8998 Жыл бұрын

I am very inspired when watching these awesome, informative videos. It's amazing how soft our culture has gotten a mere 150 years later. Today, kids sit on their butts all day glued to a phone/device while becoming obese and/or diabetic. Pedal bikes are way too inconvenient. Luckily they all ride ebikes. Good times!

@bruceburch8301 Жыл бұрын

Great little history story.amazing how these people went on a mission un prepared.

@ALIVE8455 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting, I live in the little town of sonora, an old mining town. The sonora pass is very beautiful, go up there all the time

@MichaelMcCausland-pg6qs 20 күн бұрын

My family made that trip several times with the last being an 1851 and the diary I have tells a fascinating story of the power of young women to hold together the group of travelers

@doorusthewalrus6903 16 күн бұрын

Save that diary! Transcribe it and cherish your ancestors, my friend! I love hearing stories like this.

@francisebbecke2727 Жыл бұрын

Some years ago my wife and I arrived late in winter time to the area of where the Donner Party were camped. We got to our hotel, but the restaurants were closed and, like the Donner Party, we also had a hard time finding something to eat. We did not have it so hard as the Donner Party. Read a good book about their experience written by an author who had talked to some of the survivors in the early 1900s. A horrible experience.

@Betonrg 7 ай бұрын

In winter?

@YahshuaLovesMe Жыл бұрын

nice summary thank you, we should all know about these people and their treks.

@rebelcounty2078 Жыл бұрын

well done 😀👍

@nooneyouknow699 Жыл бұрын

John Bidwell wrote a journal during his trip across the country in 1841, very insightful about day to day life on that early trail

@bobbysnow5478 7 ай бұрын

He left from Greenville Ohio…really no Idea what was ahead!

@dfirth224 6 ай бұрын

The city park in Chico, CA is named after him. It's very large, I think he donated the land.

@nooneyouknow699 6 ай бұрын

@@dfirth224 true. One of the largest city parks in the country. Beautiful place

@slowburn678 5 ай бұрын

You can tour The Bidwell Mansion in Chico, Calif. I spent most of an evening there. Quite interesting.

@annamosier1950 Жыл бұрын

very good work

@YahshuaLovesMe Жыл бұрын

Donner Pass to me was/is one of the most beautiful teraine on Earth.

@YahshuaLovesMe Жыл бұрын

Walker was a hero, and a true mountain man.

@johnklinger943 4 ай бұрын

I am born and raised in TRUCK-EE you are saying it wrong. But great job other than that. Thanks

@clarktabor9317 Жыл бұрын

Go to Reno NV and ask how they pronounce the river that runs through their Town. A interesting piece of geology , break out your map of Nevada and follow the river that comes from Lake Tahoe and ends in Pyramid Lake. Which ,by the way, has some of the largest cutthroat trout .

@n164bj 7 ай бұрын

I was thinking the same thing. 😢

@NickB83 7 ай бұрын

Had*

@kalidilerious 5 ай бұрын

me no understand? Now it's pronounced TRUCK-EE. no big deal. right?

@gregsummerson6524 Жыл бұрын

How amazing is it that those new Californians in less than ten years discovered they were walking on gold.

@mariedelozier2530 Жыл бұрын

Walker river on the east side’a th’ Sierras useta be world class fishin’..

@pietkonijn5522 Жыл бұрын

I often wonder why the Donner's left the Mid West. They where well to do. The only reason might be the harsh winters there. And fate brought them to the bitter snow's of the Sierra's.

@mattmatt6572 Жыл бұрын

Many of them were escaping debt. Some of them were chasing gold. Their were those who couldn't afford land and wanted to make claims and though it might not be so in much of the Midwest most of Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota were unsettled except by French trappers until the late 1800s early 1900s. But the land was all bought up by big logging Peter wherehauser who was the richest man in the world for some time off of the lumber

@Tangento 3 ай бұрын

*FYI, no apostrophe is needed on those plurals.

@user-pg4iw1cm8c 8 ай бұрын

Sad part about the Donner party, they were surrounded by food that would have kept them all alive and they did not know it. Pine needles may taste like chit but they will keep you alive.

@cherimolina2121 Жыл бұрын

Don't think there are many today that could make that journey in a wagon regardless of which route they took...if they only used the amenities they could carry in a wagon. We used to have that grit. Morals were a lot stronger then as well. Something like that in this day and age would be a fight the whole way. What happened to us? Oh yeah....progress.

@andrefromelpasotexas3236 Жыл бұрын

Keep in mind that many settlers at that time left the comforts of their developed cities and countries to pursue the promise of a better life. They sacrificed the “progress” made in those places, and I have no doubt that if we were pushed in this time outside of the confines of our cities and comforts, either through the nature of our planet or our own nature as humans, that we could make a trip like this. That’s the fascinating thing about humans. Regardless of place or time, grit or resolve has won the continuation of our species. This is only made possible by the fact that grit and resolve are not attributes of a time and place in humankind, they are attributes of humankind that allow us to persist, regardless of time or place. We will do what we must, regardless of the circumstances.

@YahshuaLovesMe Жыл бұрын

Bidwell was a hero... and a Statesman.

@Halfdead211 10 күн бұрын

What ever happened to George Reed?

@SuperChriscunningham 3 ай бұрын

Truekay

@Vaquero4382 Жыл бұрын

Why do you have a picture of Grizzly Adams labeled as Caleb Greenwood on your thumbnail?

@doorusthewalrus6903 Жыл бұрын

Couldn't a picture of Caleb Greenwood.

@craigdutton6072 Жыл бұрын

Don’t think I’d of liked to be facing Indians on a revenge war path ! Great story! Ya would be a brave band of travellers 🧳 ❤

@YahshuaLovesMe Жыл бұрын

Reed family all survived their enemies.

@Samtzu 8 ай бұрын

Ya' might want to find out how to pronounce "Truckee"....

@creaturecaldwell9858 Жыл бұрын

And then the forty miners came in

@harrybond1485 6 ай бұрын

You mean 49 ers?

@clarktabor9317 Жыл бұрын

I will subscribe when you bother to research you language pronunciation. Truckee

@teenieneenie630 Жыл бұрын

I won't subscribe until you understand sentence structure, nouns, etc.

@kalidilerious 5 ай бұрын

That was/is the indian pronunciation

@YahshuaLovesMe Жыл бұрын

fortty niners killed all the huge herds of game, everything. Including other humans...

@chriswhite2151 Жыл бұрын

I don't think so

@markfrench8892 Жыл бұрын

It's pronounced Truck-e please.

@emadbagheri Жыл бұрын

every etymology source I checked says it's pronounced Truhk-ee, he did it perfectly .

@creaturecaldwell9858 Жыл бұрын

@@emadbagheri . true key ?

@emadbagheri Жыл бұрын

@@creaturecaldwell9858 no, more like truHck (heavy H) and then Eeee, stretched out ... kind of like saying chuck-eeee-cheese, with the E drawn out

@teenieneenie630 Жыл бұрын

@@emadbagheri The Natives spoke it like you, still do. When in Rome...haha!

@jimmym3352 6 ай бұрын

Us Nevadans tend to change pronunciations to suit our needs. As is the case with our state name.