Alt Text Map of California National Historic Trail, which starts along the Missouri River and sprawls west via various routes over the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and over California’s Sierra Nevada mountains and Oregon’s Cascade Range. Western areas are beige and shaded to show terrain, while the Midwest is pale green. Extended Description The trail is composed of dozens of routes, represented by red lines that tend to parallel rivers. The routes are dotted with points that mark scores of stations, graves, junctions, and crossings, and red flags label major points and alternate routes. Alternate routes are delineated with dashed red lines, while solid red lines represent the National Historic Trail’s designated routes. This description will work from the east by region, tracing the designated routes west as well as some alternate routes. Points From the Missouri River: Council Bluffs Road, the Oxbow Trail, St. Joe Road, Independence Road, and the Cherokee Trail Four main designated routes start along the Missouri River, with 17 additional alternate routes labeled. One alternate flagged route, the Cherokee Trail, emerges from the bottom of the map from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and heads west through Kansas, above Wichita, and follows the Arkansas River near Great Bend. From Omaha, along the Missouri River, a handful of routes branch out west above the Platte River, which meets the Missouri near Plattsmouth. These routes converge near the Crossing of the Elkhorn River, which feeds into the Platte River, and the path continues west above the river as Council Bluffs Road. From Nebraska City, the Oxbow Trail heads northwest, joining Council Bluffs as it approaches the Platte River, past present-day Lincoln, Nebraska. Between Omaha and Nebraska City, a cluster of seven trails (Upper and Lower Bellevue Routes, Upper and Lower Plattsmouth Routes, Woodbury Cutoff, Road from Old Wyoming, and Nebraska City Cutoffs) branch out from the Missouri River. Most eventually converge with designated routes, but Nebraska City Cutoffs holds out the longest of these, joining the Oxbow Trail near Grand Island. Farther down the Missouri River, trails from Amazonia and St. Joseph, Missouri, converge as St. Joe Road, which continues west towards Marysville, Kansas. From Kansas City, a designated route scoops down below the Missouri River, then the Kansas River, joining with St. Joe as Independence Road just past Marysville. Between Amazonia and Kansas City, eight alternate routes depart from the river. Most join up with each other, but the Ft. Leavenworth-Big Blue River Route makes it to St. Joe Road up at Marysville and the Fort Leavenworth-Kansas River Route joins Independence at the Kansas River Crossing. Routes Through the Great Plains From the Murdock Site near Grand Island, Nebraska, Council Bluffs Road travels west on the north side of the Platte River, up toward the Rocky Mountains. From Marysville, Independence Road follows the Little Blue River, then takes the south side of the Platte River at Susan Hale Grave, near Kearney, Nebraska, to head west. Independence Road continues over the Great Plains, and splits around California Hill. One leg continues along the North Platte River and the other leg, labeled Julesburg Cutoff, curves around the namesake city and rejoins the other leg just beyond Amanda Lamin Grave at Courthouse Rock/Jail Rock. The Cherokee Trail continues above the Arkansas River, crossing through Dodge City and Garden City, Kansas, then crossing La Junta, Colorado, and heading north at Pueblo along the Rockies. Routes Over the Rocky Mountains Council Bluffs passes through Scottsbluff, Nebraska, following the North Platte River. Approaching the Laramie Range in Wyoming, the route is labeled Childs Cutoff. It continues along the Platte River above the Laramie Range, through Wyoming and above the Great Divide Basin. The two paths traveling along the north edge and south edge of the Platte River start to join near Casper, Wyoming, at the Fort Caspar/Upper Platte Ferry and Ford. The route continues mostly as one, splitting at the Great Divide Basin as Seminoe Cutoff, then rejoining below the Wind River Range. The Cherokee Trail continues north along the Rockies, splitting into a northern and a southern route around Denver. The routes rejoin near Fort Collins, then split again near Laramie. The southern route goes over the top of the Park Range and joins a main route at Fort Bridger. The northern route goes through the Great Divide Basin, joining the main route at Granger. Great Salt Lake and Snake River Plain Routes After the Seminoe Cutoff, the route splits into three main offshoots which then split off further and join other offshoots, like roots. The Lander Road offshoot continues west, crossing the Wyoming Range, then into southern Idaho, following the Snake River and then heading down to the Utah border. The other offshoot heads west, and one of its offshoot routes near the Bear River is labeled Sublette Cutoff. That route goes over the Bear River Range, crossing above Utah, and is labeled Hudspeth Cutoff after the Sublett Creek Canyon. It later rejoins the Lander Road path near Almo, Idaho. The third offshoot passes through Granger, then the Bear River and into Utah. After this, it is labeled the Hastings Cutoff and continues below the Great Salt Lake, crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert and heading into Nevada. An alternate route that branches off near Big Mountain Pass crosses over the Wasatch Range toward the Great Salt Lake is the Weber Canyon Route-Hastings Cutoff. That route appears to tangle with several others near the mountains, and from that point the alternate Bidwell-Bartleson Route continues north of the Great Salt Lake, rejoining the Hastings Cutoff near Donner Spring. From Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake to Southern California Road (alternate route) heads south along modern-day Interstate 15, passing through Fillmore and then heading off the bottom of the map. Great Basin Routes The route from Almo enters Nevada diagonally toward the Ruby Mountains. An alternate offshoot labeled Bishop Creek Route briefly cuts off and rejoins around Wells. Alternate Route Greenhorn Cutoff circles around Carlin Canyon, rejoining the route soon after. From Donner Spring, Hastings Cutoff enters Nevada and crosses below the Ruby Mountains, but the Bidwell-Bartleson Route crosses the mountains. They rejoin and then join the northern route at Carlin Canyon. From there, the path splits in two at Gravelly Ford, on either side of the Humboldt River, which winds west through the Great Basin. Past Winnemucca, the path splits, with one leg going north toward the Black Rock Desert. The route splits again, with one going north as the Applegate Trail or Southern Road to Oregon and the other going through Gerlach as the Nobles Trail, toward the Sierra Nevada. Back on the Humboldt River, the lower leg continues through Lovelock and along modern-day Interstate 80 as the Truckee Route, passing through Reno toward the Sierra Nevada. The Carson Route, following the Humboldt’s south side, goes toward Fort Churchill and splits in two: one leg goes through Carson City toward Sierra Nevada and the other crosses into those mountains at a lower point. Sierra Nevada and Cascade Routes The Applegate Trail continues into northern California, with one leg splitting in the Warner Mountains as the Lassen Trail. Lassen continues, then is connected to Applegate by the alternate route Burnett Cutoff near Hanging Rock. Applegate continues west, crosses the Cascade Range, then continues up the Coast Ranges of Oregon, to Grants Pass and then north to Roseburg, up modern-day Interstate 5, ending at La Creole Creek Complex at Dallas. Just before the Cascade Range, the alternate route labeled Yreka Trail continues over the Cascades and Mount Shasta to Yreka, California. The Nobles Trail heads through Susanville, crossing with the Lassen Trail near Feather Lake. Nobles crosses Lassen Peak, then ends at Shasta in Redding, just past Interstate 5. Lassen crosses the Sierra Nevada and ends at Lassen Ranch on the Sacramento River, north of Chico. From Reno, the Truckee Route splits: one leg crosses through the mountains as the Beckwourth Trail and ends at Bidwell Bar, near Oroville. Truckee continues through the mountains, ending at Johnson’s Ranch, just above Sacramento. The Carson Route crosses the mountains, passing Placerville, then ends at Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento. The other route from Fort Churchill crosses the mountains as the Walker River-Sonora Route, ending at Sonora. Between Beckwourth and Walker River-Sonora there are 11 additional routes that split from those main routes over the mountains: Henness Pass Route, Nevada City Route, Placer County Road, Sacramento-Coloma Road, Georgetown Trail, Johnson Cutoff, Georgetown/Dagget Pass Trail, Luther Pass Trail, Grizzly Flat Cutoff, Volcano Road, and Big Trees Road. Legend In the top left corner of the map, the legend is titled “California Trail” and reads as follows: Red line for Designated routes of the California National Historic Trail, and Red dashed line indicates Additional routes. Text below reads, “Scale varies in this north-looking perspective view spanning about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from east to west. Topography derives from GTOPO30 digital elevation data. Vertical exaggeration is used.” Two more numbered lists appear on the map. The first is titled “Additional California Trail Routes: Missouri River” and it appears to the right. Upper Bellevue Route, Lower Bellevue Route, Upper Plattsmouth Route, Lower Plattsmouth Route, Woodbury Cutoff, Road from Old Wyoming, Nebraska City Cutoffs, Ft. Leavenworth-Big Blue River Route, Amazonia Road, Route from Atchison, Fort Leavenworth-Kansas River Route, Union Ferry Route, Gum Springs-Fort Leavenworth Route, Westport-Lawrence Road, Westport Road, Road from Lower Independence Landing, and Blue Ridge Cutoff. The second numbered list appears near the lower left corner and is titled “Additional California Trail Routes: Sierra Nevada.” Henness Pass Route, Nevada City Road, Placer County Road, Sacrament-Coloma Road, Georgetown Trail, Johnson Cutoff, Georgetown/Dagget Pass Trail, Luther Pass Trail, Grizzly Flat Cutoff, Volcano Road, and Big Trees Road.