Introduction
Many different groups of people were heading west to explore the newly aquired territory of the Louisanna Purchase after 1806. Some people traveled west to find natural resources such as gold and silver. Others traveled west to find opportunities for work in trading, trapping, mining, and railroad expansion. Some went to find land to establish new settlements.
It's 1846 and you are about to embark on a journey westward with the Mormon Pioneers who traveld west to find land in order to establish a safe settlement. They found Utah a place where they wanted live in peace free from religous persecution.
On this journey you will be traveling west from Illinois to Utah. You will encounter many different landscapes, people, and animals. You will have to decide what supplies to take, look at maps to choose the best route, and write letters to home describing your adventures along the way.
Let's beging the Journey to Utah!
Task
You will now begin your journey by reading the information below and following the link to look at a map of the trail. You will need to record some important information about the trail in your journal.
- Led by Brigham Young, roughly 70,000 Mormons traveled along the Mormon Trail from 1846 to 1869 in order to escape religious persecution. The Pioneer Company of 1846-1847 established a route from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Salt Lake City, Utah, covering about 1,300 miles that would include construction of new ferries and bridges, and the placement of markers for others to follow. Congress designated the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail in 1978.
- Go to the link below and draw the trail route in your journal. Also, record in your journal what year it is, where you are leaving from and where you are going, how many miles you will travel, and what some of the obsticles you might face are.
- http://imgis.nps.gov/viewer/Viewer.html?Viewer=National%20Historic%20Tr…