Editing Oregon Trail (section)

===Mormon emigration===
{{Main|Mormon Trail}}

Following persecution and mob action in [[Missouri]], [[Illinois]], and other states, and the assassination of their prophet [[Joseph Smith]] in 1844, [[Mormon]] leader [[Brigham Young]] led settlers in the [[Latter Day Saints]] (LDS) church west to the [[Salt Lake Valley]] in present-day Utah. In 1847 Young led a small, fast-moving group from their [[Winter Quarters, Nebraska|Winter Quarters]] encampments near [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska, and their approximately 50 temporary settlements on the Missouri River in [[Iowa]] including [[Council Bluffs]].<ref>{{Cite web |url = http://winterquarters.byu.edu/pages/settlements.htm |title = Mormons in Iowa towns |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719155702/http://winterquarters.byu.edu/pages/settlements.htm |archive-date = July 19, 2011 |access-date = January 5, 2009 }}</ref> About 2,200 LDS pioneers went that first year; they were charged with establishing farms, growing crops, building fences and herds, and establishing preliminary settlements to feed and support the many thousands of emigrants expected in the coming years. After ferrying across the Missouri River and establishing wagon trains near what became Omaha, the Mormons followed the northern bank of the Platte River in [[Nebraska]] to [[Fort Laramie]] in present-day Wyoming. They initially started in 1848 with trains of several thousand emigrants, which were rapidly split into smaller groups to be more easily accommodated at the limited springs and acceptable camping places on the trail. The much larger presence of women and children meant these wagon trains did not try to cover as much ground in a single day as Oregon and California-bound emigrants, typically taking about 100 days to cover the {{convert|1000|mi|km}} trip to Salt Lake City. (The Oregon and California emigrants averaged about {{convert|15|mi|km}} per day.) In Wyoming, the Mormon emigrants followed the main Oregon/California/Mormon Trail through Wyoming to [[Fort Bridger]], where they split from the main trail and followed (and improved) the rough path known as [[Hastings Cutoff]], used by the ill-fated [[Donner Party]] in 1846.

Between 1847 and 1860, over 43,000 Mormon settlers and tens of thousands of travelers on the [[California Trail]] and Oregon Trail followed Young to Utah. After 1848, the travelers headed to California or Oregon resupplied at the Salt Lake Valley, and then went back over the [[Salt Lake Cutoff]], rejoining the trail near the future Idaho–Utah border at the [[City of Rocks National Reserve|City of Rocks]] in Idaho.

Along the Mormon Trail, the Mormon pioneers established several ferries and made trail improvements to help later travelers and earn much-needed money. One of the better-known ferries was the Mormon Ferry across the North Platte near the future site of [[Fort Caspar]] in Wyoming which operated between 1848 and 1852 and the [[Green River, Utah|Green River]] ferry near Fort Bridger which operated from 1847 to 1856. The ferries were free for Mormon settlers while all others were charged a toll ranging from $3 to $8.