The Hastings Cutoff was an alternative route for westward

emigrants Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to travel to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, as proposed by Lansford Hastings in ''The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California''. The ill-fated

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...

infamously took the route in 1846.

Description

A sentence in Hastings' guidebook briefly describes the cutoff:

The most direct route, for the California emigrants, would be to leave the Oregon route, about two hundred miles east from Fort Hall; thence bearing West Southwest, to the Salt Lake; and thence continuing down to the bay of St. Francisco, by the route just described.

The cutoff left the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

Fort Bridger Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, C ...

in Wyoming, passed through the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...

, across the

Great Salt Lake Desert The Great Salt Lake Desert (colloquially referred to as the West Desert) is a large dry lake in northern Utah, United States, between the Great Salt Lake and the Nevada border. It is a subregion of the larger Great Basin Desert, and noted for wh ...

, an 80-mile nearly water-less drive, looped around the

Ruby Mountains The Ruby Mountains are a mountain range, primarily located within Elko County with a small extension into White Pine County, in Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The range reache ...

, and rejoined the

California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

about seven miles west of modern Elko (also Emigrant Pass). The west end of the cutoff is marked as

Nevada Historical Marker Nevada historical markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada's history. The Historic Marker Program was initiated by the Nevada State Legislature in 1967 to bring the state's heritage to the public's attention with on-site markers. ...

Trail use

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

led a small party overland late in 1845 and spent the winter in California. Significantly, his stay at

Sutter's Fort Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican '' Alta California'' province.National Park Service"California National Historic Trail."/ref> The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Hel ...

coincided with a visit by

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

, who had just explored the

and whose letter describing a new route to California would be widely published in Eastern newspapers. In April, Hastings set out with a few companions to meet the emigration of 1847. He stayed in the vicinity of the Sweetwater River while an eastbound traveler carried his open letter inviting emigrants on the California Trail to meet him at Fort Bridger. Between 60 and 75 wagons did so and traveled with Hastings on his cutoff. They endured a difficult descent down Weber Canyon, a waterless drive of 80 miles across the

, and a lengthy detour around the

. Despite the usual trials of overland travel, they arrived safely in California. The

, following in the wake of this initial party in 1846, had an unsuccessful experience with the Hastings Cutoff. They had arrived about a week early to travel with Hastings' party, and on his suggestion pioneered an alternate route to avoid Weber Canyon. The roadbuilding required through the Wasatch Mountains and the grueling

delayed them. When they had arrived at the

, they were delayed about a month. The party arrived at

Donner Pass Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake and Donner Memorial State Park about west of Truckee, California. Like the Sierra Nevada themselves, the pass has a steep approach from the east and a gradual appr ...

just as an early winter storm rendered it impassable. After becoming snowbound in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

, many died of starvation, and some of the emigrants resorted to eating their animals and the deceased members of the group. In July 1847,

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into se ...

leader

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as chu ...

led a vanguard company of emigrants from Winter Quarters, in what is now

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

, to the future site of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. The company chose to use the Hastings Cutoff passing through modern-day Emigration Canyon. Young's group made remarkable improvements to some parts of the cutoff on their journey so subsequent Mormon companies could more easily make it through to the Salt Lake valley. William Clayton, the company's

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

, stated in his journals that the company tried to follow the route left by the Donner Party the previous year, yet only occasionally could identify the tracks. The

California gold rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

created an enormous increase in westward traffic and several parties of 1849 and 1850 used the Hastings Cutoff. The year 1850 saw the development of a new route called the Salt Lake Cutoff that avoided the

west of the lake. Subsequently, the Hastings Cutoff was abandoned, except for portions east of Salt Lake City, where it remained as the end of the

Mormon Trail The Mormon Trail is the long route from Illinois to Utah that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled for 3 months. Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails System, known as the Mormon ...

References

Citations

General references

* DeLafosse, Peter H., ed. ''Trailing the Pioneers: A Guide to Utah's Emigrant Trails, 1829–1869''.

Utah State University Press Utah State University Press (or USU Press), founded in 1972, is a university press that is part of Utah State University. It publishes works in composition studies, folklore, Mormon history, Native American studies, nature and environment, and ...

, 1994. * Hastings, Lansford W.''The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California''. Bedford, Mass.:

Applewood Books Applewood Books is a publishing company which specializes in reissuing original versions of historical books, founded by Phil Zuckerman in 1976. Its popular reprints include a hardcover edition of the Constitution of the United States; Robert L ...

, 1994. (Facsimile of the 1845 ed.) * Kelly, Charles. ''Salt Desert Trails.'' Hastings Cutoff Sesquicentennial ed. Edited by Peter H. DeLafosse. Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1996. * Korns, J. Roderic, and

Dale L. Morgan Lowell Dale Morgan (December 18, 1914 – March 30, 1971), generally cited as Dale Morgan or Dale L. Morgan, was an American historian, accomplished researcher, biographer, editor, and critic. He specialized in material on Utah history, Mormon ...

, eds. ''West from Fort Bridger: The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails Across Utah, 1846–1850''. Revised and updated by

Will Bagley William Grant Bagley (May 27, 1950 – September 28, 2021) was a historian specializing in the history of the Western United States and the American Old West. Bagley wrote about the fur trade, overland emigration, American Indians, military histor ...

and

Harold Schindler Harold Moroni "Hal" Schindler (December 6, 1929 – December 28, 1998) was an American journalist and historian, known for his articles and books on the American west. Early in his career he also scripted episodes of the television series '' Deat ...

. Logan:

, 1994. * Knight, Hal, ''111 Days to Zion''. Deseret Press, 1978. * Morgan, Dale L.,'' Overland in 1846: Diaries and Letters of the California-Oregon Trail.'' Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Unive ...

, 1993. 2 vols. Reprint; originally published by Talisman Press in 1963. . * Spedden, H. Rush., ''The Fearful Long Drive: The 1846 Hastings Cutoff'' Overland Journal,

Oregon-California Trails Association The Oregon-California Trails Association is an interdisciplinary organization based at Independence, Missouri, United States. OCTA is dedicated to the preservation and protection of overland emigrant trails and the emigrant experience. OCTA Chapter ...

, Vol. 12, No. 2, Summer 1994. * Spedden, H. Rush., ''Hastings Cutoff: Bryant's Trail to Skull Valley'' Overland Journal,

, Vol. 23, No. 2, Summer 2005. * Spedden, H. Rush., ''The Donner Trail Across the Salt Lake Valley'' Overland Journal,

, Vol. 26, No. 1, Summer 2008. * Spedden, H. Rush., ''Lansford Hastings, Orson Pratt, Google Earth, and GPS'' Overland Journal,

, Vol. 28, No. 4, Summer 2010. * Tea, Roy D., ed. ''The Hastings Cutoff: Grantsville to Donner Springs, May 1996''. Salt Lake City, UT: [Utah Crossroads Chapter,

], 1996. * Tea, Roy D., ed. ''Hastings Longtripp: A Hastings Cutoff Trail Guide from Donner Spring to the Humboldt River''. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Crossroads,

, 1996. * Tea, Roy D., ed. ''The Hastings Cutoff: A Tragic Decision: The Weber Canyon Route''. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Crossroads,

, 2004.

External links