The Coming of the Iron Horse

The Coming of the Iron Horse. . The historic California Trail was traversed by emigrants from the eastern United States en route to the gold fields or agricultural lands of California. On the trail, they traveled some 2,000 miles from the Missouri River to the Central Valley of California. Approximately 250,000 people made this journey during the years from 1843 to 1869, which took more than four months of walking. Wagons were for the elderly or infirm, but mainly used for hauling supplies., No part of the journey was easy, but the 400 miles across the high desert of Nevada in the month of August was particularly exhausting for people and animals. Seventy miles east of here, the emigrants had to choose which trail to follow – the Carson River route to the south or the Truckee River route now followed by I-80. Either route required crossing the barren, sandy, waterless Forty-Mile Desert, and the Truckee River route east of here presented 30 miles of the Truck River Canyon, with 22 dangerous river crossings., However, on July 1, 1862, there was a promise of change when Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act. In 1863 the Union Pacific Railroad began laying track west from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific Railroad began building east from Sacramento, California. The Central Pacific, with great difficulty, crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains and reached this valley, the Truckee Meadows, in early May of 1868. Thus Reno had its beginnings., On May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific met the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah Territory, and a golden spike was driven to mark the completion of the Pacific Railroad. The rugged journey to California shrank from four months of walking to a little over a week of riding on a train., “The last rail is laid, the last spike driven, the Pacific Railroad is completed. Point of Junction, ten hundred eighty-six miles west of the Missouri River and six hundred ninety miles east of Sacramento.” , Associated Press dispatch, telegraphed from Promontory Point, Utah, May 10, 1869, Grease Bucket , An essential requirement for the overland journey. The axles of the wagons required frequent lubrication to offset the effects of trail dust on moving parts., Prairie Schooner , These sturdy wagons were the primary vehicle on the trail west. They served as conveyances for both cargo and people and as shelter from the elements. , Axle and Hub , The wagon axle was carefully engineered to provide maximum-bearing strength. The outer end is conical and tapered with its bottom surface horizontal to the ground so that the turning spokes are perpendicular when they touch the ground. Both the axle and the hub are lines with iron at the points of greatest wear.