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personnel consisting of 45 men and one woman under Samuel
Thompson driving wagons east on the California Trail to rejoin their families in Utah. On September 15, 1848 they found the junction of Hensley's pack trail near the rock formation called the Twin Sisters. Thompson's group with wagons followed
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south of the Great Salt Lake and finding the salt flats too soft (heavy rains that year) for passage he returned to Salt Lake City and discovered a route, north of the Great Salt Lake. His newly blazed trail (cutoff) went from Salt Lake City back to the Oregon Trail and/or
California Trail, rejoining
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valley portion of the
California Trail to return to the Oregon Trail. It provided a way to stop in Salt Lake City (the only significant city on the trail then) for repairs, fresh supplies, fresh livestock, etc. In later years it was used by tens of thousands of pioneers and miners going east and west
153:, followed them three weeks later and helped to further define the trail. Word spread quickly that a good road with good grass and water was known out of Salt Lake City back to the California or Oregon Trail.
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in 1849 and later. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 California- or Oregon-bound immigrants a year passed through Salt Lake City between 1849 and 1852. Thousands more followed every year before 1869 and the
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Hensley's pack trail back to Salt Lake City—converting it into a passable wagon road. Thompson's company traveled southeast into northern Utah, crossing Deep Creek near present-day
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it near the City of Rocks, Idaho—about 7 miles (11 km) north of today's Utah–Idaho border. This became known as the Salt Lake Cutoff and was about the same distance as the
160:, many thousands detoured to Salt Lake City to get new supplies and livestock. In Utah, ferries charging a few dollars per wagon were established at the Weber,
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133:. They found plentiful water and grass on the route just as Hensley had told them. With some difficulty they crossed the
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On the
Humboldt River portion of the California Trail route, Hensley met and talked with a party of former
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before traveling on to Salt Lake City. Ebenezer Brown, leading a party from the 1846 Mormon ship
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The Plains Across: The
Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West 1840-1860
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for about 180 miles (290 km) before rejoining the
California trail near the
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A map of the
California Trail including the Salt Lake Cutoff to the north of the
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of ten men on a quest to get back to the
California Trail. After trying
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Samuel J. Hensley, returning to
California in the summer of 1848, led a
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When the gold-crazy emigrants of 1849 heard of this new route to the
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still traveling south east. They then went to the tiny community of
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is one of the many shortcuts (or cutoffs) that branched from the
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218:; John D. Unruh; University of Illinois Press; pp 318-9;
296:; Logan Utah; Utah State University Press with
47:in the United States. It led northwest out of
68:on their way to or from the future states of
8:
327:, Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press
121:, City of Rocks route which it bypassed.
181:
7:
298:Oregon-California Trails Association
286:Oregon-California Trails Association
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282:S. J. Hensley's Salt Lake Cutoff
292:DeLafosse, Peter H. Ed (1994);
263:Arrington, Leonard J. (1958).
1:
273:University of Nebraska Press
373:
288:, Utah Crossroads Chapter.
171:Transcontinental Railroad
16:Path in the United States
145:where they crossed the
325:West from Fort Bridger
190:"The Salt lake Cutoff"
158:California gold fields
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294:Trailing The Pioneers
280:Bagley, Will (1992).
22:
311:Korns, J. Roderic;
265:Great Basin Kingdom
284:. Salt Lake City:
236:"Salt Lake Cutoff"
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55:and north of the
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357:Mormon Battalion
342:California Trail
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321:Harold Schindler
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238:. Archived from
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192:. Archived from
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126:Mormon Battalion
33:Salt Lake Cutoff
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257:Further reading
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131:Snowville, Utah
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57:Great Salt Lake
25:Great Salt Lake
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224:978-0252063602
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106:Hastings Route
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49:Salt Lake City
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61:City of Rocks
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45:Oregon Trails
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352:Oregon Trail
347:Mormon Trail
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244:. Retrieved
240:the original
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198:. Retrieved
194:the original
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173:completion.
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32:
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317:Will Bagley
166:Malad River
147:Weber River
143:Ogden, Utah
135:Malad River
115:Snake River
336:Categories
246:2008-12-29
200:2016-04-01
177:References
162:Bear River
139:Bear River
119:Raft River
102:pack train
90:Washington
70:California
65:Raft River
37:California
111:Fort Hall
323:(eds.),
315:(1994),
164:and the
151:Brooklyn
137:and the
76:, Utah,
269:Lincoln
96:History
82:Montana
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222:
86:Nevada
74:Oregon
41:Mormon
78:Idaho
302:ISBN
220:ISBN
53:Utah
43:and
31:The
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