In all the sagas of human migration none can top the drama of the journey by mid-Western farmers to Oregon & California in the years 1840-49. Seeking the promised land these travellers trekked two thousand miles by covered wagon from Missouri to their destination on the Pacific. Although they used mountain men as guides they went almost literally into the unknown braving dangers from hunger thirst disease drowning & Indians. Left far behind them were the extended family schools doctors churches stores & the rule of law. The early overlanders got through only after Herculean efforts but later in the decade complacency set in & the result was disaster especially in the case of the Donner party marooned in the snows & reduced to cannibalism. Using the original diaries & memoirs Frank Mc Lynn underscores the incredible heroism & dangerous folly on the overland trails. His year-by-year narrative
Includes:: many thematic investigations: the wagons & animals used by the pioneers the role of women relations with Indians crime & punishment beyond the pale of civilisation & much else. The narrative builds to a climax with the dreadful tale of the Donner party but achieves closure with the triumphant story of Brigham Young & the Mormons. Sandwiched between the era of the fur trappers & the post-1849 gold fever this account of the pioneering years in the overland trails highlights & explains a unique experience both in American & world history.