The traffic to California was so heavy that in two years these settlers, combined with those coming by wagon from Salt Lake City (Salt Lake was not yet a city, by any means; it was a "new" settlement, where the Mormon leaders had taken their people with the hope of living in peace, free from outsiders), Utah to Los Angeles in winter, the travelers down the Gila River trail in Arizona. (See Notes:) to make it the 31st state. All land routes were restricted to the seasons where travel was feasible. The trip by wagon was a four- to six-month ordeal across over of land from a Missouri River town to California or across the deserts of Arizona or Nevada to California. Those going by wagon train could not leave until the snow melted and the trails were dry and enough grass had started to feed their livestock—usually early May. Most of those traveling by wagon already lived in the mid-west and many already had a wagon. The Salt Lake City, Utah to Los Angeles trail was usually restricted by lack of water to winter. vast majority of the early travelers came from the settlements near the Missouri River who left the river in the Spring when dangers of snow had passed, and traveling by wagon, cart, or mule (more durable than horses) they moved westward.