The
California Trail was an
emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from
Missouri River towns to what is now the state of
California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail followed the same corridor of networked river valley trails as the
Oregon Trail and the
Mormon Trail, namely the valleys of the
Platte,
North Platte and
Sweetwater Rivers to Wyoming. In the present states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah the California and Oregon trails split into several different trails or cutoffs.