Passport to Your National Parks

The City of Rocks National Reserve is a National Historic Landmark associated with the mass overland westward migration. Emigrants traveling the California Trail would reach Circle Creek in the City of Rocks and nooned or camped. Some of these emigrants left their names on the rocks along the trail within the Reserve. The reserve is a great place to view wildlife along the trail.

Follow in the footsteps of over 250,000 emigrants who traveled to the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840s and 1850s: the greatest mass migration in American history. The California National Historic Trail is over 5,000 miles long and covers portions of 10 states. Step into history along more than 1,000 miles of ruts and traces from travelers and their overland wagons. The Trail is administered by National Trails Office Regions 6|7|8 in Santa Fe, NM.

Fort Kearny was the first Western military post built to protect emigrants on the trails west, and it later served as the headquarters for a number of small outposts along the emigrant trails. The fort was also a place where emigrants could resupply and a Pony Express station.

The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center is operated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is a public-private partnership between the BLM, the National Historic Trails Center Foundation, and the City of Casper, Wyoming. It tells the stories of American Indians, early explorers, and the Oregon, Mormon, California, and Pony Express trails.

Jim Bridger established Fort Bridger in 1843 as a fur trading post. It was composed of two double-log houses about 40 feet long that were joined by a pen for horses. The fort soon became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails and expanded in size. I

Between 1841 and 1869, up to 250,000 people sold their belongings, packed wagons, and set out for California. The California Trail Interpretive Center offers dioramas and interactive exhibits that immerse the visitor in the trail experience of those who endured the 2,000 mile trek.

Homestead National Monument of America, managed by the National Park Service, remembers the Homestead Act of 1862 and the lives of those affected by it. The Act brought about significant changes to the United States, including opening up federal land to a diverse group of people.

The historic trails passed through this area in the field that is directly across from the National Frontier Trails Museum. Evidence of the trails can still be seen in the field in the form of swales, which marks the exact route used by emigrants as they traveled westward. The museum is currently temporarily located at 416 W. Maple Ave., Independence, MO 64050.

Historic Truman Courthouse is the official start of the Oregon Trail, where wagons were outfitted through much of the emigration era. The original building on the site went up in 1836 in the Colonial Revival style.

The Shawnee Mission was one of many missions established as a manual training school attended by boys and girls from Shawnee, Delaware, and other Indian nations from 1839 to 1862.