EXHIBITS
Dinosaurs
Fossils
Prehistoric People
Native Americans
Mountain Men
Oregon-California
Trail
Mormon Trail
Pony Express
Cherokee &
Overland Trail
Stagecoaches
Union Pacific
Railroad
John Wesley Powell
Coal & Trona Mining
Oil & Gas Booms
Mormon War of
1857
Chinese
Massacre
U.S. Army in Wyoming
Outlaws & Lawmen
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Big Nose George
Cattle Ranching
Sheep Herding
Riverboats
Lincoln Highway
Aviation
Amelia
Earhart
Women's History
Wyoming General Hospital
Nursing
Firemen
Rialto Theater
Home
Entertainment
Wild Horses
Offsite Exhibits
Chinese Dragon
Parade
OREGON-CALIFORNIA TRAIL
Between 1803 and
1848 the United
States acquired
more than two
million square
miles of new
territory in the
west, tripling
the size of the
nation. The
great American
westward
migration was
just a trickle
when it first
began in the
1830s. However,
in just a few
years, it changed
to a flood of
people passing
through Wyoming
on their way to
the gold fields
of California or
to farmland in
Oregon. One of
the most
significant
events of their
journey was
passing through
Wyoming’s South
Pass – the
emigrants were
now on the
western side of
the continent.
The
Oregon-California
Trail passed
through
Sweetwater County
just north of
Green River.
Traveling the Oregon-California Trail was not an easy venture; the trip took at least six months by wagon. Furthermore, as many as ten percent of the travelers never reached their destinations. It has been estimated that over 20,000 graves lie along the Oregon Trail. In this museum diorama, a woman weeps as her husband lowers their child into its grave along the Oregon Trail. As a preacher says a few words, other wagons continue their westward journey.
Artifacts found on the historic trails that once crossed Sweetwater County are on display.