Washoe County Library System

Relates the ordeals faced by a group of pioneers on their journey from Illinois to California in 1846.

Describes the journey of the ill-fated Donner Party, ninety pioneers who became stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846-47.

Follows a wagon trail to California in 1848 as hundreds of pioneers endure great hardships while traveling 2,000 miles of wilderness.

"An account of several families and individuals making the long and often dangerous trek across the United States from Missouri to the West Coast in the 1800s"--

"You're living in the United States during the time of the Westward Expansion. Settlers are heading west on the Oregon Trail as they seek better lives. Will you: Go west with your family as part of a wagon train? Serve as a trail guide for a group of settlers? Try to cope with the changes in your way of life as a western American Indian? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead...

"In the winter of 1846-47, a group of eighty-seven pioneers heading from the Midwest to California found themselves snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountain range with no way forward and no food or supplies. While forty-eight of the group members survived,the others perished due to extreme weather, starvation, and illness. To survive, the remaining people resorted to extreme measures . . . including cannibalism. Learn about the many miscalculations,...

This whimsical recounting of one family's journey to their new homestead will give readers an appreciation of the hardships faced by all those who signed up for the great migration. These include hunger, thirst, sickness, hostile American Indians, and even deceit and thievery on the part of fellow travelers. The book also shows the ingenuity, skill, and trickery used to overcome such challenges.

Charts the journey of those who followed the Oregon Trail in the first half of the nineteenth century, describes the obstacles and dangers they encountered, and discusses the Trail's eventual decline with the introduction of the cross-country railroad.

Describes the history of American westward expansion, including the exploration of the frontier to the Pacific Ocean, the establishment of the Lone Star State and the Mormon kingdom of Deseret, Manifest Destiny, the California gold rush, the population of the plains, and the legacy of the American frontier.