An Artist on the Overland Trail

An Artist on the Overland Trail. "...In the summer of 1849, artist James F. Wilkins traveled overland by wagon train from near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to the northern California gold fields, a 151-day voyage that he captured in water-color sketches and in notations in his diary. The sketches became the foundation for an enormous panorama depiction of the route known as 'The Moving Mirror of the Overland Trail.' While the panorama has been lost to history, 50 of Wilkins' sketches, a unique pictorial sequence of drawings, have survived, and are the featured gallery this month from the Society's online image database, Wisconsin Historical Images."