Why did settlers travel on the trails heading west and how did they travel?

Answer 1

Settlers went by wagon train, especially if they were poor, which many were and couldn't afford the long trek by boat around South America or through the Panama isthmus (there was no canal back then so it was a perilous trek through the jungle to the Pacific side). Several wagon trails went either through the Sierra Nevada mountains (think Donner party) or through the deserts to Southern California (Mojave Desert, Death Valley). Why'd they go? For various reasons, land, gold, start a new life, running from the law, to get away from the overpopulated (and polluted) cities in the east. In the case of the Mormons it was for religious freedom. Most road in wagons, or walked on foot w/ their wagons. It was a long, grueling and dangerous voyage, settlers were often attacked by indians and bandits or even Mexicans and Mormons in the case of the Mountain Meadow Massacre (September Dawn movie). Disease, starvation and death from exposure to the elements also occurred.