"Compared to today, little information about California was available in the way of travel planning. People relied mostly on hearsay, letters, and reporters (often published in newspapers) that drifted back from the West. Basically, you went to Missouri - where the United States ended - and went on following the Oregon Trail until you turned left for California at a place called Fort Hall."
Chap. 1, p. 19

"In a wagon train or party that had joined forces for practical reasons, people couldn't ignore one another. They had to communicate and work together at certain tasks. Nonetheless, the original Springfield families and the newcomers kept a certain psychological distance from each other. Traveling together was basically a business arrangement."
Chap. 2, p. 41

"Hastings, a lawyer, was part visionary and part fraud. He had delusions of greatness. Born and raised in Ohio, he somehow decided he was meant to be the president...