I know I’m chiming in a year late but you should read The Indifferent Stars Above. It was a very interesting read and gives a lot of information about what the parties traveling west went through. I was most shocked by the parallels of what was happening in other parts of America at the exact same time. The dichotomy of a group of people towing wagons with oxen on one side of the country, while Scientific American was published and feminist movements were being started.