Home > Westward Expansion > Settling the West

• Josiah Gregg
• Henry N. Copp
• Fanny Kelly
• Elise Amalie

Between 1800 and 1870, nearly half a million Americans set out across the frontier on the many trails that led westward. Using the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon-California Trail, the Mormon Trail, or one of the many other trails, these trappers, traders, farmers, and families set out on a journey of discovery. For many the western frontier represented the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to take control of their lives, to strike it rich, to make their own rules, or to claim their own land. Lured by...