Cholera outbreaks and pandemics
That year, cholera was transmitted along the California, Mormon and Oregon Trails as 6,000 to 12,000 are believed to have died on their way to the California Gold Rush, Utah and Oregon in the cholera years of 1849–1855. It is believed more than 150,000 Americans died during the two pandemics between 1832 and 1849.
Utter Party Massacre
The Utter Party Massacre was an attack by Native Americans on September 9 or 13, 1860, that killed or captured 29 of a group of 44 emigrants on a fork of the Oregon Trail in Washington Territory (modern day Idaho), United States. 10 survivors were found on October 24, 1860, emaciated and eating the disinterred remains of a party member. Historian Charles Henry Carey described the attack as "more atrocious than any that had preceded it". It was noted as a "rare [occasion] when Indians not only attempted but sustained a prolonged assault on encircled emigrant wagons".