1. Crossing Nevada to California

2. Why they came West
Rich farm land
Jobs
Adventure
More space

3. Wagons were pulled by mules or oxen.
On a good day they could cover 10 miles.

4. Emigrants’ cows and horses were sometimes killed by bears or mountain lions.

5. The Forty-Mile Desert
Little water meant they had to lighten the load.

6. The Bidwell Bartleson Party crossed the Great Basin in 1841.
They could not get the wagons over the Sierra Nevadas.

8. Wagons sometimes had to be taken apart so they could be lowered down the high Sierra Nevada Mountains.

9. In 1844, the Stevens-Murphy-Townsend party became the first group to get their wagons to California successfully.

10. The Donner Party 1846 - 1847 Trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
Huge snowdrifts
Food ran out – ate their animals
Only 47 of original 87 survived

11. 1849 - Group led by Lewis Manly
Took a shortcut through a valley
Barely survived
Gave Death Valley its name

12. THE END