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Though the yearlong standoff was uneventful, tensions led to Mormons attacking and killing more than 100 innocent people in a wagon train bound for California.

It was followed by “The Oregon Trail,” with Radcliffe as an uptight preacher, Viswanathan as another character bored by societal restraints, and Buscemi as the fugitive outlaw leading their wagon train west.

Once Americans had supplanted plodding wagon trains with swift rail travel, the drama and the grandeur of the California coast were irresistible for railroads and passengers.

“What was it like for the people who were on those wagon trains going to Oregon back in the day?”

He came overland from New Mexico with a wagon train expedition called the Rowland Workman party; he was a tailor and a rifleman, both handy skills in the new frontier.