In ten groups from 1856 through 1860, some 3000 men, women and children walked the most remarkable migration ever seen in the United States -- they trudged over 1000 miles, pulling two-wheeled handcarts bearing their worldly possessions from Iowa City or the Missouri River to Salt Lake City. These handcart companies traveled through the fierce heat and powerful summer thunderstorms of the plains. They ate minimal rations and some were nearly starving before their arrival in Salt Lake City. The exhausting journey demanded everything the emigrants could give.

For the Willie and Martin Companies in 1856, the trip resulted in the greatest emigrant disasters in U.S. history, with over 200 people of those thousand travelers dying during fierce winter storms. They had left Iowa late, and early snowstorms caught them in Wyoming. Rescue teams from Salt Lake City had difficulty reaching them, but finally returned with the exhausted survivors.

The handcart routes were similar to the Oregon Trail in Nebraska, along the Platte River, and in Wyoming. At the Green River, the handcarts headed southwest and completed the journey over the trail into Salt Lake City.

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