The Hastings Cutoff – Salty problems.
The traditional, well-marked Oregon Trail route would take emigrants up through Idaho. But the Hastings Cutoff brought travelers through Weber Canyon in Utah, Even after the mess at Weber Canyon, Hastings Cutoff emigrants had to slog through Utah’s salt flats around the Great Salt Lake. Wagon trains had to walk eighty miles across a salt desert with no water.
When there was water, it turned the flats into a mud trap, sucking in wagon wheels. Salt stung their eyes. They saw mirages. Oxen died of dehydration and exhaustion. Livestock died, threatening the emigrant’s livelihood when (if) they made it to California.
