 |
From 1843 until 1859, and to a lesser extent until 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was completed, the Humboldt River was the highway across Nevada.
It has been estimated that some 200,000 people took this arduous route to California between 1840 and 1860, the greatest peacetime migration in history. By comparison, 53,000 people traveled the Oregon Trail during that same period.
|
DISCOVERY
The Humboldt River was first seen by non native Americans on November 9, 1828 when Peter Skene Ogden and his party of fur tappers stumbled upon the river in the vicinity of present day Winnemucca. Originally called Mary’s River, the Humboldt was renamed by John Charles Fremont.
First taken in 1833 by a rough and tumble group of trappers under the command of Joseph Walker, the route along the Humboldt was both salvation and damnation — salvation for the water and feed along its banks; damnation for the poor water, meandering channel and alkali dust. Oh, how they cursed the dust and the terrible alkali water!
CALIFORNIA BOUND
The journey to the promised land of California usually began at Independence, Missouri around the first of May. If travelers left too early, the roads would be too muddy, the rivers too full and the grass too immature to sustain the livestock; too late, and the feed would be all eaten and trampled by those who started earlier, and there was danger of being trapped in the Sierras by an early snowfall — the fate that befell the Donner party in the winter of 1846-47. The rule was, be over the Sierras no later than October 1. That meant they had about 123 days to go 2200 miles .
Ironically, nature saved the worst for last. In the early stages of the trip fresh men and fresh teams had only the flatlands of Nebraska to deal with. Later, with the oxen starving and worn out, and the men bone weary and gaunt, they faced poor water, alkali deserts and finally the terrible challenge of the Sierras. Nearly one fourth of the entire trip was taken up crossing Nevada. It is a miracle that any of them made it at all.
The first of the emigrants of any given season would arrive in the Battle Mountain area sometime around early July, peak in August and peter out by mid September. The Donner party, delayed by having to cut their own road through the Wasatch Mountains and following the longer Hastings "cutoff" around the south end of the Ruby Mountains, came through this area around October 4, 1846.
When the
wagons reached the site of present day Carlin (A), a decision had to be made. The
usual course was to stay close to the Humboldt River, for here was water and hopefully
grass for the hungry oxen. But just below Carlin is Palisade Canyon (B), with steep
basalt cliffs towering 800 feet into the sky just a few feet from the river’s edge.
Once past the cliffs, the river cut for 12 miles through a rugged range of mountains with
little grass, and no place for a wagon except in the river channel itself. For obvious
reasons, few chose this route except in the driest of years.
Instead, most of the emigrants chose to leave the river as it swung south into Palisade Canyon, and head almost due west, climbing higher and higher until they crossed over Emigrant Pass (C), just as Interstate 80 does today. Just over the summit was Emigrant Springs (today just a clump of willows on the south side of the freeway). From Emigrant Springs, the trail led down into a canyon and then climbed again before cresting the final ridge. Before the exhausted travelers was a wide panorama - the river off to the left some 5 or six miles, down a shallow draw; ahead, low rolling hills and finally the river again, this time as it turned almost due north to sweep around the northern edge of the Shoshone range.
While straight ahead would be the shortest route, the wagons almost always turned to the left and made a bee-line for the river. Men and animals were exhausted by the last few days climb, and the feed had been scarce — time to find a place to rest the animals!
The trail struck the river at one of the major landmarks on the Emigrant trail — Gravelly Ford (D). Here the river had a good solid bottom of gravel, where the heavy wagons could cross with no fear of bogging down in mud or quicksand. Across the river was excellent grassland, and a little further down the river on that same side was what was later named Whirlwind Valley — full of grass and springs. A perfect place to let the exhausted teams recoup.
THE MAIDEN’S GRAVE
Here too was a cemetery; across the river, up on a small knoll. Here in 1863 Lucinda Duncan was buried. She was a grandmother, and died with her family gathered about her. Her grave would have been lost to history were it not for the Central Pacific railroad that came through this very area in 1869. The grave was found and a large cross, visible from the passing trains, was erected. A legend grew up that this was the Maiden’s grave, a poor young thing who died a tragic death on the way to California — it sold booklets and brought tears to the lady passengers’ eyes — and was a total fabrication!
Once recovered from the climb over Emigrant Pass, the teams were hitched once again. Some recrossed the river at Gravelly Ford and headed northwest, leaving the river briefly, and then rejoining it as it rounded Shoshone Point (E) [See Map 4]. Others stayed on the south side of the Humboldt, traveling across the mouth of Whirlwind Valley, and then turning north with the river as it reached the flank of the Shoshone Mountains.
WHICH SIDE OF THE RIVER?
As the river rounded Shoshone point, it again turned westward. Here most of the emigrants crossed the Humboldt, regaining the north bank of the river. The trail on the north side of the river was by far the best, for ahead, the river would swing far to the south and then cross the alkali flats formed by the Reese River sink. Those on the south side would have to detour far to the south to get around the river, and then have to cross the dusty dry sink where the Reese River usually petered out in the heat of summer without reaching the Humboldt (F).
Once across
this dry, dusty valley on this southern route, fresh water could be found at what came to
be known as Blossom Springs (G), and further along the trail, more water was
available at Stone House (H).
Stone House got its name from a small stone building that was built above the spring, probably around 1851 or 52 by men running pack trains of mules carrying the U.S. mail between Sacramento and Salt Lake City.
Just across
the river from Stone House is a little hill called Treaty Hill (I), which is
traditionally held to be the dividing line between the lands of the Paiute (to the west)
and the Shoshone (to the east). Other sources hold that the line was along the crest of
the Edna Mountains just to the west. A little further along this southern route, the
travelers reached Emigrant Canyon (J), a narrow gap through the Edna Mountains. The
pass is so narrow that there is no room on the south side for a wagon route, so the trail
turned up a canyon to the south that led over the top of the mountains and then back down
into the valley at Golconda.
THE NORTH SIDE
Meanwhile, those travelers who had remained on the north side of the river had it far easier, but equally dusty. One emigrant wrote:
Towards sundown the air becalms and the dust after rising a few feet high overspreads the plain like a lake of smooth muddy water. Along our line of wagons some are completed submerged in it. Others show only their tops, which seem to go floating along like little boats in the water. Here and there the heads of the men on foot stick up and glide along in rows and groups like ducks on a pond.
As the river
swung south just past Argenta Point (K), they would leave the river and travel
west, cross a point of land jutting down from the Sheep Creek range, and then rejoin the
river after it had once again swung northward.
STONY POINT & THE INDIAN ATTACKS
This little point of land was called Stony Point (L) since it is littered with volcanic rock. Here, in the summer of 1857, a number of "Indian" attacks took place, making Stony Point one of the bloodiest landmarks along the Humboldt River portion of the California trail, and probably giving rise to the name "Battle Mountain."
During that horrific summer a number of Indian battles occurred within a short period of time. On August 13, a small group of 6 wagons came under siege. Five men were killed and one escaped. A woman, Mrs. Holloway, and her child were struck by arrows and fell to the ground, the child dead and the woman feigning death. Mrs. Holloway was then scalped, and despite the agony of the act, she uttered not a word and made no movement to show that she was still alive. She was rescued soon thereafter by an upcoming group of wagons. She survived the ordeal and later settled in California.
The next attack came only 11 days later (August 24) when a small group of government surveyors under the command of James Kirk of Placerville, California, the newly appointed Superintendent of the California trail, now designated a Federal Wagon Road, was attacked by a band of 55 to 60 Indians. The eight surveyors had separated from the larger party of 65 men to follow a trail more to the north of the river and suddenly discovered the Indians hiding in a draw (M). A running battle ensued as the surveyors worked their way back toward the rest of their party. The 2 ½ hour fight resulted in one dead, three wounded — all horses! Many believe this incident gave rise to the name "Battle Mountain."
THE INDIANS AND THE "INDIANS"
And just who were these bloodthirsty Indians that scalped women alive? Many were probably not Indians at all, but whites masquerading as Indians.
The indigenous population in this area were the Shoshone, and just to the west, the Paiute. The Shoshone were often disparagingly referred to as "Digger Indians" because of their diet of roots and grubs. They were not warlike, being far too busy trying to eak out a living in this harsh land; however, they were not above trying to run off cattle and oxen whenever possible.
The Piautes were not much more aggressive, although they did later wage war against the whites in 1861.
There was one band of Indians who did attack the emigrants every chance they got, and those were the Bannocks, a small band whose homelands were in southern Idaho. They were known to range as far south as the Humboldt River, and are probably the ones who attacked Kirk.
There also is extensive evidence that bandits, disguised as Indians, prayed on the hapless travelers. They would have been a mixed group of Californians, Mexicans and Indians who attacked for profit. Many of the victims of attacks reported that they heard the "Indians" speaking English, and others could plainly see that they were whites painted as Indians.
But all in all, Indian attacks were not a significant danger to the traveler — it has been estimated that between 1840 and 1860, only 362 whites were killed by Indians while 426 Indians were killed by whites. By way of comparison, the three leading causes of death on the trail were: disease, drowning, and accidental gunshot wounds.
FURTHER ALONG THE TRAIL
Once safely past Stony Point, the trail continued along the northern bank of the Humboldt River all the way to Emigrant Canyon. As on the southern side of the river, there was little or no room for the wagons to pass through without getting down into the river itself. While some chose the river during dry summers, others chose to swing briefly away from the river and cross over the low lying hills to the north, before rejoining the Humboldt near present day Golconda.
Some scholars believe that it was here in the area of Emigrant Canyon that the famous fight between John Reed and John Snyder occurred on October 5, 1846. Both men were part of the ill-fated Donner party. Reed killed Snyder while protecting his wife from blows being delivered by Snyder, angry over Reed’s wagon trying to pass Snyder’s. Reed was banished from the wagon train, and made it safely over the Sierras. He then spent months trying to organize a rescue party.
HIGHS AND LOWS
Traffic on the trail peaked in 1852 when an estimated 50,000 people took the trail west. In 1859, Captain Simpson surveyed a more southerly route that was about 250 miles shorter. (This is the route now taken by Highway 50.)
The new trail was quickly adopted and soon gained fame as the pony express route, and while use of the Humboldt trail dropped off, it did not cease all together. Then, in 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad (the western half of the Transcontinental railroad) chose the Humboldt route for their tracks, and traffic once again shifted back to the Humboldt River route.
1828, November 29: Peter Skene Ogden discovered the Humboldt River.
1833: Joseph Walker led a group of 65 trappers from the Green River to California and back, becoming the firt to use what was to become the California trial along the Humboldt River.
1841: The Bartelson-Bidwell Party is the first band of Emigrants to take the trail to California. The abandoned their wagons just west of present day Wendover, Nevada. Their party included the first white woman and child to make the trip.
1843: The Chiles-Waker Party became the first to take wagons across Nevada.
1844: The Stevens Party became the first to take wagons across the Sierras.
1846: The ill-fated Donner party pass through this area around October 4, enroute to their snowy entrappment in the Sierras.
1848: Gold is discovered in California at Sutter’s Mill, and the rush is on.
1849: 25,000 people take the overland trail
1851: Chorpenning and Woodward begin carrying the US mail by pack mules between Sacramento and Salt Lake City.
1857: The trail is made a Federal Wagon Road by Congress; James Kirk is appointed Superintendent of the western portion and he makes a formal survey of the route; numerous attacks occur in the area of Stony Point; and the name Battle Mountain is born.
1859: Captain Simpson surveys out a new trail between Salt Lake City and Carson Valley, saving 250 miles. Most, but not all, of the overland traffic switches to Simpson’s route, including the Overland Mail, the Overland Telegraph, and, in 1861, the pony express.
1868: The Central Pacific Raiolroad, the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad, begun in 1863, finally crosses Nevada, following the old Humboldt Trail route.