Rush Tarquin
Gone Fishin'
So is it possible for the Mormons to not settle in Utah but continue on to California? If so, what happens?
Unless they're prepared to settle for control of just the southern end of [Upper] California -- and perhaps part of Baja California, too -- they get brought firmly under US authority even more quickly than happened in Utah IOTL. There's no way that they'd be left as effective owners of such valuable 'real estate' as either the goldfields or San Francisco bay.So is it possible for the Mormons to not settle in Utah but continue on to California? If so, what happens?
Unless they're prepared to settle for control of just the southern end of [Upper] California -- and perhaps part of Baja California, too -- they get brought firmly under US authority even more quickly than happened in Utah IOTL. There's no way that they'd be left as effective owners of such valuable 'real estate' as either the goldfields or San Francisco bay.
More LDS die on the Mormon Trail, as it'll be longer. Thousands more. When they reach California, the Gold Rush will start up, bringing in non-Mormons who no doubt will eventually persecute the Latter-day Saints. The LDS will be driven either back east towards the Great Basin or to the south to settle the Los Angeles region. In any case, their numbers will be much fewer than OTL.