How long did it take to travel from New York to California by wagon?

It normally took four to six months to traverse the length of the California Trail with covered wagons pulled by oxen. About 250,000 pioneers, the most of any American emigration trail, used it to reach California before the transcontinental railroad in 1869.



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1860s Steamship-Railroad-Steamship: 25-30 days. The New Orleans-San Francisco trip took twenty-five days, while the New York-San Francisco trip took 30 days.

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By 1850, the fastest and most popular sea route consisted of three parts: a steamship from New York to Chagres; overland across the Isthmus; and a steamship from Panama City to San Francisco. Over 6,000 miles and 33 to 35 days, travelers faced malaria, yellow-fever, and highway robbers.

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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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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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Was it possible to fly commercially non-stop from New York City to Los Angeles in 1950; and, if so, what airline(s) offered the service and how long did the flight take? United Airlines were operating nonstop flights LA to NY (and SF to NY) in 1954. Flight time was 7 hrs 15 min eastbound and 7 hrs 55 min westbound.

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The railroad, which stretched nearly 2,000 miles between Iowa, Nebraska and California, reduced travel time across the West from about six months by wagon or 25 days by stagecoach to just four days.

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Passenger train travel in the 1880s generally cost 2-3 cents per mile. Transcontinental (New York to San Francisco) ticket rates as of June 1870 were $136 for first class in a Pullman sleeping car; $110 for second class; $65 for third or “emigrant” class seats on a bench.

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By 1857, which is still within one lifetime from someone born around 1800, travel by rail (the fastest way to get around at the time — remember that the Wright brothers were not even born yet and air travel was far off in the future) had gotten significantly faster.

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