The California Trail conjures up images of emigrants and gold seekers, mountain men and Mormons, as well as the hopefulness of new lands that boosters compared to the “deep, rich, alluvial soil of the Nile.”
Yet, the horrors of the trail humble even the modern traveler when reminded of the suffering and tragedy that befell so many in search of new beginnings in the promised land, such as befell the Donner Party: “Hunger and cold, deep snow!...firewood harder to get as the men grow weake
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