The California Trail, 1841: Dead Ends and Gold Fields
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.

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Santa Fe Trail, 1821: First Trail Into the West

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The Rise and Fall of America's Most Lawless Gold Rush City: Bodie, California

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On the California Trail: Preserving Gravelly Ford

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How Men Built a Railroad Over the Highest Pass in the Rockies in Dead Winter

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Wagons West: The Bartleson Bidwell Party

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What's Left of the Oregon/California Trail on the Forty Mile Desert in Nevada?

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How America's Richest City Became a Town of 787 People: Virginia City, Nevada

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Oregon Trail: Nebraska - A Road Trip Back in Time

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American Treasure: The Story of the California Gold Rush | Documentary

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The Dark Story of America's Last Great Gold Rush: Cripple Creek Documentary

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Gila Trail, 1846

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Abandoned Milwaukee Road In Western Montana

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The Forgotten Oregon Trail Massacre: The Ward Party

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Where was the California/Oregon Trail from the Reno, Nevada area up to Donner Pass, California?

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What Was Life Like for the Average Tudor Peasant

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The Oregon Trail: Opening of the West

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Lake Tahoe In Depth (2011)

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Hastings Cutoff - Retracing the Footsteps of the Donner-Reed Party

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American Traditions - The Oregon Trail | Narrated by Red Steagal

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