Crossing Nevada to California

1841 - 1849

•Rich farm land

•Jobs

•Adventure

•More space

Wagons were pulled by mules or oxen.On a good day they could cover 10 miles.

Emigrants’ cows and horses were sometimes killed by bears or mountain lions.

The Forty-Mile Desert

Little water meant they had to lighten the load.

The Bidwell Bartleson Party crossed the Great Basin in 1841.

They could not get the wagons over the Sierra Nevadas.

Wagons sometimes had to be taken apart so they could be lowered down the high Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In 1844, the Stevens-Murphy-Townsend party became the first group to get their wagons to California successfully.

The Donner Party 1846 - 1847

• Trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains

• Huge snowdrifts

• Food ran out – ate their animals

• Only 47 of original 87 survived

1849 - Group led by Lewis Manly

• Took a shortcut through a valley

• Barely survived

• Gave Death Valley its name

THE END