Expedition 2007: The Western Trails Heritage Expedition

The 2007 Flight of Discovery Western Trails Heritage Expedition will be following four (4) National Historic Trails across the Western United States:

• The Oregon Trail - opened 1841
• The California Trail - opened 1844
• The Mormon Trail - opened 1847
• The Pony Express Trail - April 3, 1860 - November 20, 1861

The Oregon and California Trails

It took nearly forty years after Lewis and Clark's epic journey in search of the Northwest Passage for the first Great Migration of settlers to push westward from the Midwest. In 1843 the Oregon Territory was the focus of a dispute between the British and California was still part of a foreign country, Spain. However, emigrants were spurred westward by a number of factors including the economic panic of 1837-42; the prospect of bill passed by Congress which would donate Oregon land to settlers; Britain's ceding over what is now Oregon and Washington State to the United States in 1846; the conclusion of the Mexican War and the California Gold Rush of 1849.

Leaving out of present-day Independence, Missouri settlers followed a trail up the Platte River to South Pass in Wyoming Territory. At that point the Trail forked northwestward towards Oregon or southwesterly towards California. Initially, more settlers chose the route to Oregon, but within a few years, there were four times the number of emigrants traveling to California, most likelihood due to the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill.

The Mormon Trail

The Mormon Trail was opened by Brigham Young and his Pioneer Company of Latter-day Saints in 1847 who were attempting to flee westward to avoid persecution for their religious beliefs. The Trail is generally considered to have begun at Nauvoo, Illinois and run roughly parallel the Oregon-California Trail to South Pass, thence on to Salt Lake City, Utah..

On July 24, 1847 Brigham Young, ill with mountain fever, was carried to the mouth of what is now known as Emigrant Canyon and announced "This is the right place." Young has proven to be a Prophet in more ways than one: Salt Lake City eventually bestrode the routes of the Pony Express, the Transcontinental Telegraph and eventually the Transcontinental Railroad.

The Pony Express Trail

Would it surprise you to know that the Pony Express lasted only nineteen months - from April 1860 to November 1861? Along almost 2,000 miles of dangerous trail, young mail riders helped hold a nation together while the Transcontinental Telegraph was being constructed. A poster from 1860 advertising job openings for riders read like this:

Similar advertisements were placed in western newspapers and the wage offered was $25 per week.

The route began on the western border of Missouri, around St. Joseph and ran westward through the present-day states of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. The trail basically followed the Oregon-California, Mormon Trails along the Platte River. At any one time during its brief operation there were between 160 and 190 stations along the route. Famous Pony Express riders include Buffalo Bill Cody and Richard Erastus Egan, a Bishop of the Mormon Church and an ancestor of the Flight of Discovery's Ecologist, John Egan.

The Flight of Discovery and the Western Trails Heritage Expedition

The Flight of Discovery is proposing to follow the main trunk of the Oregon-California-Mormon and Pony Express National Historic Trails along the Platte River to South Pass. As of this writing (February 2006) it has not been decided how the Expedition will branch off after passing the Continental Divide, but it is anticipated that at the very least, a portion of the group will fly on to Oregon City, while a separate group travels to Salt Lake City then on to Sacramento, CA. It is anticipated that the actual starting date for this expedition will be August of 2007.

As with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, photographic and scientific collections will augment the actual flight activities and Trunks of Discovery will be distributed along the route of flight to expand an understanding of the natural resource and cultural issues that may affect future conservation and preservation of the Trails.