How long did it take to travel to California by wagon?

In the mid-1840s, the overland trip took 5 – 6 months. The first wagons to come into California arrived at Sutter's Fort in 1844 with the Stephens-Murphy Party. After abandoning several wagons in the Sierra, the Stephens-Murphy Party crossed the mountains and traveled to the Fort with only five or six wagons.



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Emigrants usually formed into wagon trains for security. Almost everyone preferred to walk rather than ride in dusty, bumpy wagons. They had to average 11 miles (18 km) to 17 miles (27 km) per day to reach California in four to six months. To leave too early risked muddy trails and too little grass for livestock.

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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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The classic overland trip from the Midwest to Oregon and California was lengthy and very difficult. It was approximately a 2,000 mile trip. In good weather, a wagon train would complete the journey in five months. However, heavy rains were known to make the typical trip last around six months.

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Wagons traveled between 10 and 20 miles per day, depending on weather, terrain, and other factors. Some wagon trains did not travel on Sunday while others did.

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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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Surprisingly, considering how many wagons went West, very few faced attacks by the Indians. A well-led and disciplined train was more likely to get through without problems. The opposite was often true for small trains where discipline was lacking.

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Some travelers continued to take wagons over the old trail as late as the 1920s. Why? Usually because they didn't have the money to buy train tickets to take their families west, or they had livestock that needed herding along, but sometimes just because they loved the old-timey adventure of it.

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Travelers used grass or leaves or just plain dirt. Bark was also a paper substitute. It wasn't pretty, but no worse than many other realities pioneers faced on the emigrant trail.

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Answer and Explanation: A wagon train could contain any number of wagons, although most averaged between ten and thirty families. There were some larger wagon trains that had up to 200 wagons traveling together. Many of these wagon trains had large numbers of sheep or cattle traveling with them as well.

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