Pioneer Woman.
Crossing the Great Plains in Ox-Wagons
Illinois to the California Goldfields in ’49
A Journey to Denver via the Butterfield Overland Dispatch
Mountain Meadows Massacre – Personal Account by Martha Elizabeth Baker Terry
Frontier: A region just beyond or at the edge of a settled area.
Since America was first settled, people have always been looking for land and opportunities. From the beginning, they began pushing westward from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Ocean and northward to Alaska.
Pioneer home, by Currier & Ives, 1867.
Utilizing several trails blazed throughout the years, including the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, and dozens of others, trappers, traders, and mountain men first made their way across the continent. Soon, they were followed by hardy pioneers who left civilization behind, faced numerous hardships and dangers, and found new and better lives for themselves.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated May 2025.
Also See:
American History Photo Galleries