This spring, as many as four wagon trains will retrace the steps of thousands of gold-hungry prospectors who stampeded west during the California gold rush, 150 years ago.
But the scale of the wagon trains on the California National Historic Trail may be smaller than the 1997 re-enactment of the Mormons' exodus across the plains 150 years earlier.The Bureau of Land Management, which is preparing an environmental study on wagon-train impacts to the historic trail through Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada, has said that on certain sections it will only allow water trucks, sanitation trailers, emergency vehicles and supply vans.
"They will not have their Winnebagos with them every day," said Jude Carino, Wyoming BLM historic-trails coordinator.
That's fine with Ben Kern of Evansville, Wyo., the leader of the California National Historic Trail Wagon Train, which will depart from St. Joseph, Mo., on April 26 and arrive in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 2.
"We did good on the Mormon Trail trip, but the closer we got to Salt Lake City, there were so many people and support vehicles it wasn't really a wagon train anymore," says Kern, who served as Wyoming wagonmaster during the 1997 Mormon Trail Sesquicentennial. "I've told all my people that we are going to wagon train, plain and simple, and if you're not used to roughing it, don't bother."
Kern's BLM permit application calls for a maximum of 10 wagons and 100 people, "but if I stay at five wagons that will suit me just fine."
Trail managers say Kern, 73, could become the first person in modern history to have retraced the Oregon, Mormon and California trails using horse-drawn transportation.
"I've always had a yen for working horses since I was a kid, but I never thought this is how I'd spend my retirement," Kern said.
The BLM also is processing a permit for the "Official California Trail Gold Rush Wagon Train of the 49ers," led by Morris Carter of Wyoming. Carter organized and led the sesquicentennial 1993 Oregon Trail Historic Wagon Train.
The "Going for Gold! America's Gold Rush Wagon Train" plans to leave Atchison, Kan., on April 3. It will be led by Russ Leger, a Nebraska man who participated in the Oregon and Mormon Trail reenactments.
A fourth group in the formative stages, "99ers Gold Rush Wagon Train," includes Joe Vogel, another Mormon Trail wagon-train veteran.
The competitive nature of the wagon trains -- some of which were formed after falling out with other organizers -- seems to be a repeat of history.
"That was how it was with the wagonmasters back then -- you don't like it my way, then start your own wagon train," said Jere Krakow, superintendent of the Long Distance Trails Office of the National Park Service in Salt Lake City.
The park service, U.S. Forest Service and BLM will sponsor a wagon in Kern's train, acting as a rolling observation station, giving land managers a chance to look at impacts to the trail.
"We see this as a good chance to not only call attention to and commemorate the trail, but also to be advocates for preservation," Krakow said.
Now the biggest threat to the California Trail is a legal one. In a decision that surprised Park Service officials, the Department of Interior's Office of the Solicitor in Salt Lake City released an opinion in October that essentially disqualified 36 splinters from the trail from protection under the California Trails Act.
It would take an act of Congress to add the routes to the system.