Wyoming State Law Library

In 1851 twelve-year-old Sarah is a free Black, happy living with her parents, grandparents, and brother on their own farm in Iowa. But her father has been bitten by the gold bug and wants to take the trail west to California. After some argument it is decided that the grandparents will stay on the farm, but the rest of the family will go. The journey will be difficult and dangerous, but if they survive extreme weather, difficult terrain, illness,...

The Donner Party expedition is one of the most notorious stories in all of American history. It's also a fascinating snapshot of the westward expansion of the United States, and the families and individuals who sacrificed so much to build new lives in a largely unknown landscape. From the preparation for the journey to each disastrous leg of the trip, this book shows the specific bad decisions that led to the party's predicament in the Sierra Nevada...

About the great migration west, Edna Ferber wrote, "I am not belittling the brave pioneer men, but the sunbonnet as well as the sombrero helped to settle this glorious land of ours." These westering foremothers take center stage in Walking West, Noelle Sickels's remarkable first novel of women and their families on a grueling wagon train journey across the United States. In the wet spring of 1852, a small band of Indiana farm families set off for...

While traveling west with her family in 1850, a young girl makes a patchwork quilt chronicling the experiences of the journey and reserves a special patch for her pet hen Josefina.

A rhyming story of a family's move by wagon train between Missouri and Oregon in the 1850's and their daughter's role in outwitting cattle thieves.

""Death Rides This Trail!" is the story of Jake and Emma Breslin, who had spent their early life together on a farm in settled country. That was before they packed up the covered wagon and headed West to find a new life. On the way they faced many hardships, beset by both brutal weather and violent humans. When Jake was shot and killed, everything changed for the Breslin family, except the determination to continue the journey. "Tower of Rocks" is...

Young Jesse and his family are with a wagon train traveling from Indiana to Oregon when they stop to celebrate the Fourth of July, but Jesse is too young to go hunting with the men so he comes up with his own contribution to the festivities.

"Stella is the oldest of three sisters and she's got a long history of being the one to protect and provide for her family. When a dangerous threat sent the Fairfax sisters on a wagon train journey west, Stella knew her best bet was to disguise herself as a man to keep herself and her sisters safe. Collin Mason has secrets of his own. And his family isn't short on drama either, not with his troublemaking twin and an older brother about to get hitched....

"August is a loner and prefers it that way. He only took the marriage wager to gain breathing room from his overbearing older brother. Besides, the wagon train still has a long journey before it reaches Oregon. Maybe he'll meet someone who turns his head. Felicity longs for love and family, someone to choose her above all. After a wagon train accident robs her of her voice and leaves her dependent on the kindness of strangers, she finds herself in...

When Hallie and her parents join a wagon train to Oregon and leave her grandmother behind, Hallie must learn to face the storms that frighten her so, as well as other, newer fears, with just her grandmother's quilt to comfort her.