Dry, Soft, Sandy Washes and Stair-Stepped Valleys: An Historical Overview of the Southern Overland Trail from Yuma Crossing to Warner’s Ranch Part II: Gold Rush Migration – International Boundary and Railroad Surveys, 1848-1855 by Stephen R. Van Wormer. Desert Tracks, February 2021 (original) (raw)
2021, Desert Tracks: Publication of the Southern Trails Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association
This is the second of a two-part series for Desert Tracks on the development and use of the Southern Overland Trail between Yuma Crossing and Warner’s Ranch in the San José Valley, from its inception during the late 18th century through the emigrations of the Gold Rush in the mid-1850s. Part I, which appeared in the August 2020 issue, covered the period up though the American invasion of Mexico in 1846-47, ending with the arrival of Colonel Cooke and the Mormon Battalion at Warner’s Ranch in January 1847. Part II will explore the journeys of various groups that used the trail from the beginning of the Gold Rush in 1848 until the mid 1850s. [Editor’s Note: Also see an earlier article which can in some ways be considered “Part 3,” “How the West Was Linked or ‘From Ocean to Ocean in Stage Coaches’: The Establishment of the First Transcontinental Overland Mail,” by Stephen R. Van Wormer and Sue A. Wade in the June 2011 issue of Desert Tracks.] Travel accounts west of the Colorado River have been considered some of overland Gold Rush emigration’s most distressing. The river crossing at Yuma and the journey through the Colorado Desert constituted two of the journey’s most difficult obstacles (Figure 1). This story has been told many times before. Many notable historians have provided narration. Yet, like any really-good tale of the triumph of human perseverance over insurmountable barriers, be it the Odyssey, the Iliad, the Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood, or Zorro, this one is worth revisiting one more time.
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