I'm very curious as to what made some people choose the land option vs the sea option.
It seems that land routes had very obvious challenges that are well known - namely, crossing the Sierras before winter fell. But it seems like less is talked about the sea routes for getting to California - was this a safer option? Was it more expensive? Were there other reasons why some people chose one option over the other? Did the tragedy of the Donner party make more people less keen on taking the land route to California?
The extent of my formal education on this topic is from my elementary school education, and I was hoping to get more insight on this from historians!
There were several routes one could take from the Eastern states:
Overland across the territory of the United States. This was the least used because it was slow and dangerous at the time, but if you were in Missouri or someplace else in the Mississippi drainage area, this could make sense. If you weren't bring a family (most '49ers were not) you could make it more quickly across the expanse and cross the Sierra before winter snows closed the passes. The Donner Party was famous, but successes on this route in the 1840s far outnumbered the disasters - and like I said, if you weren't hauling a wagon, it could be quick trip. You would need to go with a group of '49ers to manage the trek safely. Most '49ers traveled in groups, regardless of the path taken.
Sailing to Mexico and overland to the Pacific for a ship to San Francisco: there was still the danger of the trip across Mexico, but it was relatively quick and cheap. And it was probably less dangerous than crossing the Northern American expanse in 1849.
Sailing to Panama for a quick overland trip to another boat to SF: This took a little longer. Panama was known for its diseases, but in general this wasn't a bad way to go - longer than Mexico and a bit more expensive, but with less danger than the overland Mexican trip.
Sailing around the Horn directly to SF. This could be time consuming and costly. The danger of rounding the Horn was not insignificant, but in general, it was probably the safest way to go, but also the longest and most costly.