A special element of the westward migration along the Oregon Trail is not complete without inclusion of the Mormon emigrants heading to the Great Salt Lake in Utah.  At Fort Laramie in Wyoming, the Mormons crossed the south side of the North Platte River and joined the Oregon Trail.  After 1847, over 20,000 Mormons moved along the trail in wagons and handcarts.  From 1856 to 1860, 3,000 Mormons with 653 carts in ten different groups made the trip to Utah.  

These carts were wooden framed and of a wheel base-designed to fit wagon tracks.  Each car could carry about 500 pound consisting of provisions and a few personal possessions.  They were pushes and pulled by hand.  All but two of the companies (the Martin and Willie Companies) completed the trip with few problems.  Trapped by blizzards, these two companies lost hundreds to exposure before they could be rescued.  The sites of these rescues are marked along the Oregon Trail.  Over 6,000 Mormons died during their immigration along the trail.  Their story is a special portion of the history of the western immigration and these markers can be visited by short trips south of Riverton.