Mormon Pioneer Handcarts

From Nebraska to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah is more than a thousand miles. It must have felt much longer for those who walked. Hurrying as quickly as possible, before supplies ran out and before the big snowstorms come.
A unique feature of the Mormon migration was their use of handcarts. The two-wheeled carts were pushed and pulled by hand. The handcarts were seen as a faster, easier and cheaper way to travel. The handcarts were made of wood, 6 to 7 feet long and just wide enough to span a narrow wagon track. The small boxes affixed to the carts were 3 to 4 feet long, but only 8 inches high. They could carry around 500 pounds.

Although they did not invent this method of crossing the plains it became the most remarkable travel experience.

The handcart era lasted only five years, bringing about three thousand pioneers to the Valley.

• The Dominguez-Escalante Expeditions Journal:

Through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in 1776

• I Walked to Zion:
- Young Pioneers on the Mormon Trail

• The Gathering of Zion:
- The Story of the Mormon Trail

• National Geographic's Guide to:
- Lewis and Clark Trail

• Hiking Historic Trails
- Utah's Favorite Hiking Trails

• Scenic Driving - Travel guides
- Scenic Driving in Utah

• Historical reading
- The Old Spanish Trail

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