How did people travel to California in the 1800s?

A voyage from the East Coast to California around Cape Horn was 17,000 miles long and could easily take five months. There was a shorter alternative: sailing to Panama, crossing the isthmus by foot or horseback, and sailing to California from Central America's Pacific Coast.



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A voyage from the East Coast to California around Cape Horn was 17,000 miles long and could easily take five months. There was a shorter alternative: sailing to Panama, crossing the isthmus by foot or horseback, and sailing to California from Central America's Pacific Coast.

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“Our ignorance of the route was complete. We knew that California lay west, and that was the extent of our knowledge.” John Bidwell. “October and the wagons were too heavy to get up the steep mountains, so they were left behind. Pushing through the mountains with a lighter load, the brave group walked into California.

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At the beginning of the century, U.S. citizens and immigrants to the country traveled primarily by horseback or on the rivers. After a while, crude roads were built and then canals. Before long the railroads crisscrossed the country moving people and goods with greater efficiency.

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