Links for Further Discovery about the Pioneer Trails & History
Oregon-California Trails Association is your primary resource and starting point for information on trails or OCTA. This extremely rich site is designed for both the casual and focused visitor. Go there often because the OCTA webmasters have so much information to share that in some areas of the site they provide a constantly changing smorgasbord of materials. If you are interested in trail publications and products check out the OCTA Store. Discover other interesting online resources in the next section.
UTAH History
"The Utah Collections Multimedia Encyclopedia is a continuing series of CD-ROM volumes as well as an ever-expanding world wide web site whose contributors include many institutions, organizations and agencies throughout Utah. Utah Collections serves as a storehouse of multimedia items which educators, professors and students can freely use in lesson plans, reports and projects without fear of copyright infringement."
Utah Division of State History. Interactive Maps & More.
- Utah Historical Society
- UTAH Chapter Trails Blog
- 1997 Original UT Crossroads Chapter Website Design by Steve Berlin - See the Archived Site!
Santa Fe Trail
Official website.
Well-done site by Nancy Sween covers history and modern-day interest in this historic trail through Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, & New Mexico. Site is highly interactive and has a wealth of reference information available.
From the home page: "'The Wet/Dry Routes' was a section of the Santa Fe Road that ran from just northeast of Larned, Kansas, in the area of Ash Creek Crossing and Pawnee Rock, Kansas to Fort Dodge, Kansas and The Caches."
"Along the Dry Route there were very few places that water could be found, a few small creeks but nothing major."
This useful website is heavy on information and light on graphics. There are detailed auto tour pages and years of the chapter's quarterly newsletter, Traces. Excellent.
Mormon Trails
This site is the official Kindergarten - 12th Grade Mormon Trail sesquicentennial celebration Web site sponsored by the Utah State Office of Education, the BYU-Public School Partnership and UtahLINK a service of the Utah Education Network. Far more than succeeding as an educational site for public school students, "this is the place" for anyone interested in the 150th anniversary Mormon Trail reenactment wagon train.
The association is an active organization sponsoring several events per year, usually including lectures and field trips.
"The mission of the National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers is to honor the Pioneers, who entered the Utah Territory prior to May 10, 1869, by promoting educational, historical, and social activities that will preserve their history and artifacts and perpetuate their ideals."
- NPS Mormon Pioneer Trail Map & Guide
Official map and guide of the Mormon Pioneer Trail with Large Print. Download, print or view the PDF brochure.
Download a copy of the official Map.
pony Express
This comprehensive Pony Express Express site belongs to Tom Crews of Walnut Creek, CA. If you're looking for the Pony Express on the internet, this is the place to be.
Hiking Trails
Bonneville Shoreline Trail
For those interested in building, biking and hiking a modern trail, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail is a 90 mile pedestrian and hiking trail being built along the eastern shoreline of Lake Bonneville which will eventually stretch from Brigham City to Nephi. If you find yourself getting some exercise along this route you might try infecting some of its other visitors with a little of your enthusiasm for the old emigrant roads as well.
Online Books
This internet-accessible 1859 book is a wonderful source of trails how-to information on every aspect of organization, supplies and travel for the pioneer-era emigrant as well as for the military on the overland trails. From the Kansas Collection website created by Lynn Nelson, Professor of History at the University of Kansas. "The Kansas Collection. Letting the voices of the past be heard . . . "