To avoid conscription into the military, two young Prussian teens leave their home and travel by sea, railroad, and wagon train to meet their uncle in Sacramento, California in the mid-1800s.

Based on a true story of the same family in "Beyond the Farm" screenplay.  "Leaving Prussia" is available on Amazon. 

SYNOPSIS:

In 1863 Trier, Prussia, a father and mother with a large family loose two sons in the military. To avoid conscription of their next two sons, they decide to send them to America. The two boys, Robert and Wally, don’t want to leave home, but are told to go to Sacramento to live with their Uncle John. Several days after Christmas, their adventure starts. Wally just turned 13 and Robert will celebrate his 15th birthday waiting to board the steamer for America. But before leaving, their father tells Robert to take care of his adventurous brother and tells Wally to do as his older brother tells him. Wally complains as he is nearly as old, but his father makes him promise. In the port of Hamburg, it doesn't take Wally but a day to adventure out on his own while Robert sleeps. When Robert wakes, he searches for Wally. After finding him, he reminds Wally of his promise to their father.

Onboard the ship, they travel in steerage and are befriended by a family with four young children. Wally is nearly washed overboard during a winter storm, but is saved by their newly made friend who had lost all his money to English Roughen thieves on the ship. Wally steals back some of the money. The thieves suspect Wally and on arrival to New York City, they follow them. Luckily in Germantown they are protected by locals. After two months of menial jobs in New York City, they board a train heading west. At one point, the train comes off the tracks, their car rolls over and they heroically help the injured. When they reach Council Bluffs, they are told that the stagecoach to Sacramento no longer runs. They are stuck in Iowa.

Soon they learn that wagon trains going west are forming up near the Missouri river outside of town. After several days of frustrating attempts to join a wagon, they are able to join a family with two daughters. Their adventure on the wagon train not only includes killing buffalo, fighting Indians, and monotonous travel, but also Robert falls into puppy-love with the wagon master's daughter. Robert wants to go to Oregon with her family, but remembers his promise to his father to go to Sacramento with his brother. At Fort Hall in Idaho, Robert and Wally switch wagons and go south on the California trail. After a difficult time of traveling and adventures with the wagon master’s twin boys, they arrive in Sacramento. On their first night in Sacramento, they find plenty of opportunity for trouble, but both are reminded of their father's request to use their best judgment.

The next day their uncle has them write letters. In Germany, their parents gleam with pride as they read their letters.

The nearby painting, by Charles Christian Nahl, "Crossing the Plains" (11 feet by 17 feet, circa 1856), was once hung in their uncle's saloon in Sacramento, California and is now located at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.