. The story of Montana . r tradershave the whole country if they wanted it. But nowit was different! Gold was scarce. No one ever hadenough, and here it was to be had in California, andall one had to do was to go out and shake it outof the sand! Many men took their families along,and there was a stream of people travelling West-ward from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. The trail of the emigrant. — They did not takethe Missouri River route, because that was too farnorth. They went instead over a road which hadbeen found by explorers and fur traders to be mucheasier; up the Platte and across to
. The story of Montana . r tradershave the whole country if they wanted it. But nowit was different! Gold was scarce. No one ever hadenough, and here it was to be had in California, andall one had to do was to go out and shake it outof the sand! Many men took their families along,and there was a stream of people travelling West-ward from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. The trail of the emigrant. — They did not takethe Missouri River route, because that was too farnorth. They went instead over a road which hadbeen found by explorers and fur traders to be mucheasier; up the Platte and across to the Mormoncountry in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, then WESTERN EMIGRATION 121 across Nevada to the Sierras and down to the road was called the Great Salt Lake DeSmet said it was as smooth as a barnfloor, swept by the winds. Not a blade of grasscould shoot up on it on account of the continualpassing. The Indians thought that every one musthave left the East with such a stream of people com-. Kindness of Montana Historical Society Library The Great Salt Lake Trail ing from the rising sun. They called the road ^^TheGreat Medicine Road of the ^Miites. Prospectors. — At first all the emigrants werebound for California, but many stopped before theyreached there, sometimes because their oxen andother beasts of burden gave out and sometimes be-cause they came to a country which thej^ thoughtwould make a good home. There were many men,who had no families with them, who liked the soli-tudes best. Some of these turned out of the beatenway, thinking to find an Eldorado of their own. n2 THE FIRST SETTLERS These last men called themselves prospectors, andin time they came to be as important a class as thefur traders themselves. They prospected all throughthe Rocky Mountains, in Colorado, in Utah, and inIdaho, and some went even as far north as Montana. 2. Gold in Montana Earliest Montana prospectors. — Thus in the yearsfrom 1850 to 1860 a gradual change to
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