National Trails Intermountain Region

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

National Historic Trails

Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

Across Nevada

California National Historic Trail

Pony Express National Historic Trail
By the time they reached the Humboldt Sink, or Forty-mile Desert, 

many emigrant pioneers had little food, exhausted livestock, and 

broken wagons.

[Cover photo] Forty-mile Desert
NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS

AUTO TOUR ROUTE 

INTERPRETIVE GUIDE

Across Nevada on the Humboldt Route and 

The Central Route of the Pony Express

Prepared by

National Park Service

 National Trails Intermountain Region

www.nps.gov/cali

www.nps.gov/oreg

www.nps.gov/poex

www.nps.gov/mopi

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

April 2012
Table of Contents

‘MOST CORDIALLY I HATE YOU’: 

 THE HUMBOLDT RIVER • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2

THE GREAT BASIN • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4

SEEKING MARY’S RIVER • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5

APPROACHING THE HUMBOLDT • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 11

PRELUDE TO MURDER • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 15

THE HUMBOLDT EXPERIENCE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 18

WEST TO STONY POINT • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 21

THE POLITICS OF HUNGER • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 24

A FLASH OF THE BLADE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 27

‘HEARTILY TIRED OF THE JOURNEY’ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 29

THE HUMBOLDT SINK • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 33

THE Forty-mile DESERT; or, 

 HOW TO KILL AN OX • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 35

INTO THE SIERRA NEVADA • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 42

THE PONY BOYS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 44

CHANGE IN THE GREAT BASIN • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 51

Sites & Points of Interest: 

 Setting Out • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 53

Navigating the California Trail Across Nevada • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 54

Tips for Trailing Across Nevada • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 56

AUTO TOUR SEGMENT A: 

 WEST WENDOVER AND JACKPOT, NEVADA, TO CALIFORNIA 

 (California Trail) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 58

AUTO TOUR SEGMENT B: 

 BLACK ROCK DESERT, RYE PATCH RESERVOIR TO GERLACH, NEVADA 

 (Applegate and Nobles Trails) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 77

AUTO TOUR SEGMENT C: 

 WEST WENDOVER, NEVADA TO CALIFORNIA BORDER 

 (Pony Express Trail and Carson and Walker River-Sonora

 Routes of the California Trail) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 86

FOR MORE INFORMATION: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 102
Introduction

Many of the pioneer trails and other historic routes that are important in our nation’s past have been 

designated by Congress as national historic trails. While 

most of those old wagon roads and routes are not open 

to motorized traffic, visitors can drive along modern 

highways that either retrace the original route or closely 

parallel it. Those modern roads are designated as Auto Tour Routes. 

They are marked with “National Historic Trails” highway signs to help 

today’s travelers follow the routes used by the pioneers who helped to 

open the American West.

This interpretive publication guides visitors along the Auto Tour 

Routes for the California and Pony Express national historic trails as 

they cross the state of Nevada from east to west. Site-by-site driving 

directions are included, and an overview map is located inside 

the back cover. To make the tour more meaningful, this guide also 

provides a historical overview of the two trails, shares the thoughts 

and experiences of emigrants who trekked to California, and 

discusses how the westward expansion impacted native peoples of 

what is now Nevada.

Individual Auto Tour Route interpretive guides such as this one are 

in preparation for each state that the Oregon, California, Mormon 

Pioneer, and Pony Express trails pass through. In addition, individual 

National Park Service brochures for the four national historic trails 

are available at many trail-related venues and can be requested from 

the National Trails Intermountain Region Salt Lake City Branch 

Office at ntsl_interpretation@nps.gov. Each brochure includes a 

color map of the entire trail and provides an overview of information 

about each of the trails. Additional information can also can be found 

on individual trail websites. For links see page 102.
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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2

‘MOST CORDIALLY I HATE YOU’:

THE HUMBOLDT RIVER 

The four great rivers that led covered wagon pioneers into the far 

West each had a personality all its own. 

There was the gritty prairie Platte, cantankerous but dependable; 

the brooding, basalt-shrouded Snake, menacing as a stranger with a 

hostile stare; and the broad-shouldered Columbia, the Big River of 

the West, confident and athletic, striding purposefully toward the 

Pacific Ocean.

But the Humboldt.

The Humboldt was sullen and spiteful, a mocking mean joker that 

lured emigrants deep into the desert, swindled them of all they 

possessed, and left them abandoned at last on a dead lake floor of 

silt and salt. Along its twisting course across today’s Nevada, the foul 

Humboldt River drove many California-bound travelers to despair 

and at least two to bitter poetry.

Meanest and muddiest, filthiest

Stream, most cordially I hate you

—Dr. Horace Belknap, 1850 

Farewell to thee! Thou Stinking turbid stream

Amid whose waters frogs and Serpents gleam

Thou putred mass of filth farewell forever

For here again I’ll tempt my fortunes never

—Adison Crain, 1852 

The Humboldt was, as Western historian Dale Morgan wrote, “the 

most necessary river of America, and the most hated.”

Hated for its deep, reedy sloughs, which trapped and drowned thirstcrazed livestock. Hated for the stinking broth of mud and decay that 

dawdled down its meandering channels. Hated for the buzzing, biting 

insects and raucous coyotes that mobbed its banks. Hated for its willow 

thickets that concealed expert archers with poison-tipped arrows. 
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Oxbows along the Humboldt River.

3

Yet necessary, because the Humboldt River ambled in a curving 

diagonal from northeastern Nevada toward the gold fields of 

northern California. Necessary because it was a long, reliable (if 

repulsive) drink of water across some 300 miles of desert. Necessary 

because it enabled thousands of Americans to go west and help build 

a nation stretching from coast to coast. 

Necessary, too, for the survival and independence of the native 

peoples who lived, hunted, and harvested along its length. The 

Humboldt and its marshes, meadows, and lake were beautiful, not 

baleful, to the Shoshones and Paiutes. These waters provided them 

drink, a bounty of waterfowl, fish, and food plants to feed their 

families, and willows to make baskets and dwellings.

For gold seekers and emigrating settlers, the Humboldt River was a 

necessary evil. For the native people of the Great Basin, it was lifegiver and home. 
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Humboldt River Valley, by Daniel 

Jenks, ca. 1859. Courtesy Library of 

Congress.

4

THE GREAT BASIN

Mountain men who probed the country between the Rocky 

Mountains and the Sierra Nevada recognized the region to 

be a vast, bowl-like depression—a basin. Within that Great Basin 

rise hundreds of north/south-trending mountain ranges separated 

by broad valleys of sagebrush, greasewood, and saltbush. “A barren 

country,” observed the mountain men, “a Country of Starvation.” 

Explorers had more bad news for pioneers seeking a wagon route to 

California: the legendary Buenaventura River was just that—a legend. 

Early mapmakers had conjectured that the unknown interior would 

be drained by a great river, the “Buenaventura,” flowing west out of 

the Rocky Mountains and emptying into San Francisco Bay. But in 

fact the streams of the Great Basin are landlocked. Not one has an 

outlet to the sea. Instead, they all drain to the basin floor and pool 

into lakes and marshes or gradually dwindle and finally expire in 

mudflats known as sinks. 

Then too, most of the Basin’s streams run north or south, parallel to 

the mountain ranges and not in the direction emigrants wished to go. 

The only river to thread its way west among the ramparts of Nevada 

is the maligned Humboldt, also known to 19th-century trappers 

and emigrants as the Unknown, the Swampy, the Barren, Paul’s, 

and Ogden’s River. It was best known as Mary’s River until 1845, 

when explorer John C. Frémont renamed it after the distinguished 

German geographer Alexander von Humboldt. Whatever its name, 

this watercourse is not the lusty 

Buenaventura of mapmakers’ 

imaginations, for it is basinbound and dies a desert death 

miles short of the Sierra Nevada. 

But it is wet and it is westerly, 

and so in 1841 the first 

California-bound overland 

emigrants followed the 

Humboldt River across the 

Great Basin.
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“Emigrant Party On The Road To 

California” Courtesy Library of Congress.

5

SEEKING MARY’S RIVER

Barely beyond the Great Salt Lake Desert, about two-thirds of the 

way from Missouri to California, the emigrants of the BidwellBartleson Party found themselves undeniably, agonizingly, belly deep 

in trouble. These 32 men, one woman, and a child were lost in the 

desert near today’s Utah/Nevada border. It was mid-September 1841. 

Their provisions were gone, their draft animals failing, their summer 

spinning alarmingly toward autumn, and some 500 miles yet lay 

between them and their destination. 

As the first coveredwagon pioneers to 

strike out overland 

for California, they 

had no wagon trail 

to follow and no 

useful map of the 

route. Mountain man 

Thomas Fitzpatrick 

had guided them 

safely from the 

Missouri River to Soda Springs 

in present-day Idaho, but he 

was not going on to California. 

The emigrants would have to 

continue west on their own, and best of luck to them, for few white 

men had yet explored the country between the Great Salt Lake and 

the Sierra Nevada.

Fitzpatrick and the trappers from nearby Fort Hall could offer only 

hearsay about the region. They knew nothing of any Buenaventura 

River, which the emigrants had hoped to float from the Great Salt 

Lake to California. The mountaineers had heard of Mary’s River, 

and they offered some vague and ominous advice on how to find its 

headwaters: first go south, then turn west, and turning in the wrong 

place would mean extreme peril and likely death in the wilderness.
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John Bidwell became one of 

California’s leading citizens. 

Courtesy Utah State Historical Society.

6

One month and 200 miles after bidding farewell to Fitzpatrick at Soda 

Springs, the Bidwell-Bartleson Party was in desperate straits. Ben and 

Nancy Kelsey, parents of a baby daughter, left their two wagons on 

the desert near present-day Lucin, Utah, on September 12 because 

their oxen were too weak to pull. They continued on with pack 

mules, driving their cattle along as beef-on-the-hoof. Four days later, 

near today’s I-80 at Oasis, Nevada, the other emigrants prepared to 

abandon their wagons, as well. 

As the men crafted packsaddles for their mules, horses, and oxen, a 

joyful old Indian man, likely Goshute, walked into camp and told by 

gestures that he had dreamt of their coming. Charmed, the emigrants 

made him gifts of items they could not pack, and Nicholas Dawson 

later recounted that the men “helped” the laughing stranger to put 

on unfamiliar articles of clothing “hind-part fore [and] upside down 

until they could get no more on.” Taking no offense in the horseplay, 

the elderly man accepted each precious gift with a broad smile and a 

lengthy prayer of thanks. It was a happy meeting of mutual goodwill 

that, sadly, would not set the tone for intercultural relations in the 

years to come.

We signed to our aged host that the wagons and everything 

abandoned were his, all his, and left him circumscribing the 

heavens—the happiest, richest, most religious man I ever saw.

—Nicholas “Cheyenne” Dawson, 1841

Now the emigrants urgently needed to make 

their way to the mysterious Mary’s River and 

over the Sierra to California. The first task at 

hand was to load necessities onto the livestock. 

John Bidwell claimed that none of the men had 

so much as witnessed a horse being packed 

(experienced packers know that balancing and 

securing an awkward bundle onto the back of 

an animal is harder than it looks). Cinching a 

pack to an ox is especially difficult because, 

unlike horses and mules, oxen lack welldefined withers, the high, bony prominence 

between the shoulder blades that keeps a 
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Pioneer wagon road through the dry 

uplands between the Humboldt Range and 

the Ruby Mountains.

7

saddle from slipping to one side. Predictably, the men’s first efforts 

resulted in a bucking, bawling, braying brawl.

It was but a few minutes before the packs began to turn; horses 

became scared, mules kicked, oxen jumped and bellowed, and 

articles were scattered in all directions.

—John Bidwell, 1841 

Dawson noted grimly: “There was one thing we had no trouble to 

pack—our provisions.” That is because they had none. The party had 

finished off the last of their supplies before reaching the Great Salt 

Lake several weeks earlier. Since game was scarce in this country, the 

emigrants had begun butchering their weakest oxen. Now about 20 

cattle remained. When those were gone, they would have to eat the 

mules and horses.

As the group resumed their westward march, those emigrants who 

packed their belongings on the backs of plodding oxen fell to the 

rear of the caravan while those with horses and mules rode miles 

ahead, too fast for the cattle to keep up. This inequity soon would 

fuel resentments and eventually split the party, but for now they all 

focused on moving west, deeper into the Great Basin, toward the 

elusive Mary’s River. 

Range after range of 

mountains forced the 

migrating band to stairstep anxiously south, 

west, and south again, 

until the emigrants 

found themselves in a 

dry camp at the foot of 

the Ruby Mountains in 

today’s eastern Nevada. 

They gazed worriedly 

into the wasteland. 

Trappers from Fort Hall 

had warned of a dangerous 

desert to the south. Could 
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The Humboldt River drains into the desert south of 

Lovelock, Nevada.

8

this be it? Had they gone too far? In desperation, the party turned 

abruptly west, pushed over the Rubys at Harrison Pass, and then 

followed a creek northward to regain their course. On September 24, 

eight days after abandoning their wagons in the desert, the emigrants 

struck a larger stream. Although they did not know it, this was the 

south fork of Mary’s River, of the soon-to-be Humboldt. A week 

later the party emerged from the mouth of a twisting canyon about 

eight miles west of present-day Elko, where their stream emptied into 

a west-flowing channel. It was, at last, their necessary river and the 

future route of the California Trail. 

Day by day the river led the travelers deeper into the barrens. Grass 

and game were in short supply. The worn-out oxen, those walking 

commissaries, were growing too weak to carry their packs and too 

skinny to make a good meal. It was early October, the Sierra lay ahead, 

the emigrants were hungry, and Mary’s River itself appeared to be 

drying up.
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9

The country on both sides appeared a desert. The river seemed to be 

dwindling instead of receiving big tributaries to swell its flood and 

guide us onto the plains of California and on to the Pacific, where 

our suffering and troubles would end, and where we could eat, eat, 

eat—and something that had some fat in it.

—Nicholas “Cheyenne” Dawson, 1841

Those of the party who rode horses and mules grew increasingly 

frustrated with the doddering ox-drovers. They wanted, needed, to 

move quickly and reach California before starvation or winter put an 

end to them, but the famished, lumbering oxen had only two speeds: 

slow and stop. Neither love nor loyalty bound the band together; it 

was a simple matter of economics. The ox-drovers owned the food. 

Their oxen were the food. In desperation, eight men of the party, led 

by wagon master John Bartleson himself, commandeered the lion’s 

share of a fresh-butchered ox, mounted up, and made tracks for the 

mountains, leaving their comrades standing aghast in the desert dust.

The 26 emigrants left behind gathered up their remaining cattle and 

plodded onward. Helpful Paiute Indian guides piloted the group 

on down Mary’s River, through the marshy Big Meadows at today’s 

Lovelock, and past the Humboldt Sink, where the stream surrenders 

at last to the sun. The travelers next made passage across the brutal 

Forty-mile Desert and then turned south toward the west fork of the 

Walker River. 

On October 15, ten days after splitting up with Bartleson’s riders, 

the ox-party made camp at the foot of the Sierra in the vicinity of 

present-day Wellington, Nevada. Their Paiute guides, unable or 

unwilling to lead them into the Sierra, slipped into the night, leaving 

the emigrants to determine their own fate. Several of the emigrant 

men were preparing to scale nearby heights, hoping to spot a likely 

passage through the mountains, when Captain Bartleson rode up and 

sheepishly asked for beef. His outriders had not found a way through 

the Sierra Nevada and had been living for days on pine nuts bartered 

from local Indians. Meat was given. Three oxen remained.

The next morning the reunited company began climbing into 

the mountains, not knowing what lay ahead. On October 18th the 
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“Summit of the Sierras,” by 

 Thomas Moran. 

 Courtesy Library of Congress

10

emigrants—down to their last two oxen and carrying most of their 

remaining belongings on their own backs—stood deep among the 

peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Despite the odds against them, the 

Bidwell-Bartleson Party had reached California. They had yet to 

reach safety. 

A frightful prospect opened before us—naked mountains whose 

summits still retained the snows perhaps of a thousand years.

—John Bidwell, 1841 

Ahead lay the steepest, most 

dangerous terrain of the trip. The 

Bidwell-Bartleson Party would 

spend two desperate weeks picking 

a way down the rugged west slope 

of the Sierra before staggering, halfstarved, into bountiful San Joaquin 

Valley.

These emigrants had packed a third 

of the way to California, arriving 

on horseback and on foot. Over 

the next few years, other pioneers 

would muscle their desiccated, 

rattling wagons all the way down 

Mary’s River and over Truckee Pass 

into California’s Central Valley. 

A complete wagon trail stretched 

from Missouri to California by 

1844, three years after the first 

wagon party set off for California.
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City of Rocks National Reserve.

11

APPROACHING THE HUMBOLDT

The Bidwell-Bartleson Party’s meandering route from Soda 

Springs to the Humboldt River was not one that later emigrants 

cared to follow. Two other approaches to the river soon developed.

Most California-bound traffic approached the Humboldt River using 

a wagon trail blazed in 1843 by mountain man Joseph Rutherford 

Walker. Walker’s route went directly southwest from Fort Hall, Idaho, 

to the City of Rocks, near today’s Idaho/Utah border. Later cutoffs 

across Idaho and up from Salt Lake City merged with Walker’s trail 

near City of Rocks. Wagon traffic passed among the fantastic granite 

monoliths of the “silent city” of stone, then crested Granite Pass 

at the rim of the Great Basin. There, travelers paused to take in an 

expansive view of the landscape ahead. 

A prospect bounded only by the power of vision, now burst upon 

the sight ... a vast amphitheater, of mountains, rising in successive 

chains behind each other, the most distant, overlooking the whole, 

and appearing like the faint glimpse of a cloud, with pointed 

summits stretching along the horizon.

—Franklin Langworthy at Granite Pass, 1850 
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12

Still, California called. Emigrants locked their wagon wheels with 

chains, took a deep breath, and plunged over the divide into the Great 

Basin. The surviving wagons skidded to a halt at Goose Creek, two 

miles and some 2,000 vertical feet below the pass. Sometimes the 

descent destroyed not only wagons but also bonds of companionship 

and love that were already frayed from the friction of the journey. 

Although breakups happened all along the trail, they became routine 

as wagon parties struggled across the Great Basin.

Sutton and his wife drove two yoke of oxen. They quarreled, cut 

the wagon box in two and made two carts. Each took one yoke of 

oxen and had a divorce right there without judge or jury, or even a 

lawyer.

—George J. Kellog at the descent to Goose Creek, 1849

From there, the main California Trail enters the northeastern corner 

of Nevada, crosses wind-lashed Thousand Springs Valley, and 

continues down rugged Bishop Creek Canyon. Walker’s original 

route meets the Humboldt River west of Wells, Nevada. A popular 

alternate, developed in 1845, bypasses Bishop Creek and goes directly 

to Humboldt Wells.

Humboldt Wells, at today’s town of Wells, was a milestone on the 

emigrant road to California and is widely regarded as the headwaters 

of the Humboldt River. The “wells” were bell-shaped springs, 

about six feet in diameter at the mouth and widening toward the 

bottom. Most were 10 to 20 feet deep, although one curious traveler 

plumbed a well with 120 feet of rope and chain and claimed that he 

never struck bottom. These waterholes, now altered by agricultural 

activities, once dimpled the valley floor. Humboldt Wells was 

a pleasant spot where emigrants (and generations of Western 

Shoshones) liked to camp.

Sometimes a thirsty ox would slip headfirst into a well and drown like 

a bug in a jug. Welcome, pilgrims, to the Humboldt River.

From Wells the trail continues along the north side of the river, 

south of modern-day I-80, past present-day Elko to Carlin Canyon. 

Approaching the canyon, wagons crossed to the south side of the 
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Map of the various emigrant wagon routes to California: 1840s to 1850s.

13

Humboldt and joined incoming traffic from the Hastings Cutoff. 

The Hastings Cutoff, established in 1846, was the second approach 

to the Humboldt River corridor. The cutoff splits away from the 

main trail at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, weaves through the Wasatch 

Mountains, and crosses the throat of Utah south of the Great Salt 

Lake. West of Nevada’s Ruby Mountains it merges with the old 

Bidwell-Bartleson pack trail to the Humboldt River. 

The Hastings Cutoff avoided the main trail’s northerly sweep 

toward Fort Hall and after 1847 had the added advantage of passing 

through Salt Lake City, where travelers could buy provisions. This 

“shortcut” across the Great Salt Lake Desert, though, proved to be 

more harrowing than Walker’s wagon trail to the Humboldt, and in 

the end it saved no time. After the initial rush to California in 1849-

50, the Hastings Cutoff was abandoned. The bulk of the California 

emigration followed Walker’s trail from City of Rocks.

Whichever approach they took, by the time emigrants reached the 

Humboldt River their oxen, horses, and mules were revealing their 

architecture. Spines protruded like weary ridgelines. Bony hips jutted 

over hollowed flanks, and ribs pushed up hard beneath dust-dulled 

hides. After months of drawing heavy wagons along the trail, the 

beasts were raw-boned and bone-tired. Those faithful draft animals, 
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14

the engines of the emigration, would suffer more and perish in greater 

numbers in the Great Basin than anywhere else on their overland 

journey west. 

Here, on the Humboldt, famine sits enthroned, and waves his 

scepter over a dominion expressly made for him.

—Horace Greeley, from his 1859 trip west by mail wagon 

and coach

Our cattle are so poor it takes two to make a shadow.

—William Swain on the Humboldt River, 1849 
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Valley of the Humboldt River at Lassens Meadows. 

Courtesy Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

15

PRELUDE TO MURDER

Life on the trail just wore a man down. 

It was all too much for much too long: months of hardship, pain, 

labor, and loss; of worry, drudgery, fear, and exhaustion. And there 

was the forced intimacy with traveling companions who grew more 

contrary and contemptible with each miserable mile, no escaping 

them day or night, their opinions, their voices, at last even their 

mere presence, rubbing, abrading, grinding away like an Arkansas 

whetstone until a fellow’s temper was honed blade-sharp. The 

Bidwell-Bartleson Party felt it in 1841. So did the ill-fated DonnerReed Party in 1846. 

Some among that company of 87 souls blamed James Frazier Reed 

for their troubles. Back at South Pass in western Wyoming, Reed had 

argued for leaving the proven trail to California to follow instead a 

newly blazed shortcut around the Great Salt Lake. This, the Hastings 

Cutoff, was supposed to be much faster than the established trail 

through City of Rocks; but once on the route the party, guided by 

Reed, spent weeks grubbing passage through the Wasatch Mountains 

of present-day Utah. Next the travelers found themselves facing 80 

miles of salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. Reed lost all but two 

of his cattle during that dry crossing. He abandoned two wagons 

in the desert and then pressed the other emigrants to lend him 

a second yoke of oxen to help draw his family’s remaining large 

vehicle. All of that aside, Reed simply grated on people. He was a 
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James Frazier Reed, Donner-Reed 

Wagon Party. Courtesy Utah State 

Historical Society.

16

well-off businessman who spent his money in conspicuous ways, 

riding a flashy mare, bringing a comfortable camper-style wagon 

along on the trail, and hiring others to tend his livestock, drive his 

wagons, and cook his family’s meals. Reed was smart and capable, 

a devoted husband and father 

who volunteered for the party’s 

most difficult jobs. He also was 

opinionated, proud, and strongwilled to the point of arrogance. 

He had grit and he had a temper.

James Frazier Reed was a 

whetstone, but he was a blade, 

too. 

Now here they all were, following 

Lansford W. Hastings’s cussed 

cutoff on a muddy, six-day detour 

around the Ruby Mountains. In 

fact, these emigrants were on the 

old track of the Bidwell-Bartleson 

Party along the alignment of today’s Nevada Highway 788, but the 

Donner-Reed wagons could not follow the Bidwell pack train over 

the Ruby Mountains. Instead, they continued south and crossed the 

range at a lower spot, now called Overland Pass, south of the Ruby 

Lake wetlands. 

Worry gnawed the emigrants. It was late September and several times 

already they had encountered snow. Their oxen were nearly played 

out and they had yet even to reach the Humboldt River. Worst of all, 

the emigrants realized they did not have food enough to last them to 

their destination. Two of the company’s men were riding ahead to 

California for provisions, but when would they return? Or would they 

return at all? 

Once west of the Rubys, the party followed the combined Hastings 

Cutoff/Bidwell-Bartleson trail north along Huntington Creek 

(approximated by today’s Nevada Highway 228 and White Pine 

County Road 1) and on to the South Fork of the Humboldt River. 
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Hastings Cutoff turns southwest through Ruby Valley.

17

The river’s canyon is a twisting, narrow gorge that James Reed called 

“a perfect Snake trail.” After dark on September 26, the DonnerReed Party emerged from the eight-mile canyon west of today’s Elko. 

The wagons swung west and in five miles more intercepted the main 

California Trail on the Humboldt River. To their immense relief, the 

emigrants were finished with the Hastings Cutoff. 

The most recent emigrant wagons had passed here nearly three weeks 

earlier. The Donner-Reed Party was the last of the year, bringing up 

the very tail of the 1846 emigration.

And now members of the party began to form factions, coagulating 

into clots of self-interest that pulsed westerly along the artery of the 

Humboldt River. 
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18

THE HUMBOLDT EXPERIENCE

Most emigrants reached the Humboldt River in late August or 

September, after several hot, dry months had reduced its flow. 

Expecting a big river like those they knew in the East, travelers found 

instead a channel 30 to 40 feet wide and about three feet deep. Their 

surprise turned to contempt as they followed the stream west, for its 

quick, clear flow gradually turned lazy and foul. Along much of its 

length, the Humboldt ambled blood warm, turbid and soapy with 

alkali, down meandering channels. Instead of shady cottonwoods, 

its banks were plumed with willow thickets; and aside from a few 

large meadows that were overgrazed during the heaviest emigration 

seasons, there was little grass for the draft animals. Where grass did 

grow along the river, it often was too salted with alkali for livestock.

[The] Humboldt is not good for man nor beast...and there is not 

timber enough in three hundred miles of its desolate valley to make 

a snuff-box, or sufficient vegetation along its banks to shade a 

rabbit, while its waters contain the alkali to make soap for a nation.

—Reuben Cole Shaw, 1849

The Humboldt twists along countless looping turns or meanders 

called oxbows, so named for their resemblance to the wooden, 

U-shaped pieces that secure a heavy yoke onto the necks of oxen. 

Although the river spans about 300 land-miles, a twig drifting 

downstream along its myriad meanders between Humboldt Wells 

and the Humboldt Sink would easily travel twice that distance. The 

few emigrants who experimented with floating the tortuous stream 

soon gave up, finding that they quickly fell miles behind the wagons 

on the trail.

This is the crookedest stream that I ever saw. I believe it runs a 

thousand miles in the distance of three hundred. It sometimes runs 

2 or 3 miles and gets not over 30 rods [about 500 feet] from where 

it started.

—Alonzo Delano, 1849 
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The Humboldt River slowly meanders west toward the Sierra Nevada 

through the Lassens Meadows area.

19

The river constantly creates new oxbows and cuts off old ones. An 

abandoned meander that holds standing water is an oxbow lake, but 

emigrants called these stagnant, curved river remnants “sloughs.” 

Through the centuries the shifting stream has filled its valley edge 

to edge with overlapping sloughs, forming a complex of marshy 

moats between dry ground and the active river channel. Careful 

emigrants did not allow their livestock to approach the treacherous 

river bottoms to drink and graze, but carried water and grass to the 

animals instead. Many an untended ox or mule mired and drowned 

while trying to reach a hard-earned swallow of soapy water. Decaying 

carcasses polluted the sloughs, but people drank from them anyway. 

Picking a way to the active river channel to reach “fresh” alkaline 

water was nearly impossible.

For about ten days the only water we had was obtained from the 

pools by which we would camp. These pools were stagnant and 

their edges invariably lined with dead cattle that had died while 

trying to get a drink. Selecting a carcass that was solid enough to 
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20

hold us up, we would walk into the pool on it, taking a blanket 

with us, which we would wash around and get as full of water as 

it would hold, then carry it ashore, [where] two men, one holding 

each end, would twist the filthy water out into a pan, which in turn 

would be emptied into our canteens.

—Gilbert L. Cole, 1852 

Few emigrants recognized their own part in degrading the Humboldt 

River valley. John C. Frémont, who explored there in autumn 1845, 

wrote that it was “beautifully covered with blue grass, herd grass, 

clover, and other nutritious grasses,” and that scattered cottonwood 

trees grew along the stream banks. But in 1849 alone, some 21,000 

people and 50,000 head of livestock tramped and camped along the 

river, and tens of thousands more followed over the next few years. 

Discovery of silver on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada during 

the late 1850s brought still more heavy traffic. All of those campfires, 

hungry mouths, and heavy hooves stripped the land of vegetation and 

compacted the earth. Derelict wagons and debris cluttered the valley. 

Carrion and bodily waste tinctured the river and assaulted the air. 

Suffering travelers denounced Frémont as a liar and cursed the 

polluted Humboldt and the landscape they unwittingly had helped to 

ruin. This river of many names earned still more, including “Humbug 

River” and others less charitable.
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Hikers follow a long ascent through a historic emigrant pass. 

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WEST TO STONY POINT

West of Elko, the Humboldt River has cut deep gorges through 

some of the mountain ranges in its path. One of these is 

Palisade Canyon, a narrow chokepoint that forces the trail and 

today’s interstate highway to leave the river for an 18-mile climb 

through the Tuscarora Mountains. The bypass includes a mule-killing, 

seven-mile ascent to Emigrant Pass. Today’s I-80 overlies the old 

trail corridor through the pass for two and a half miles. John Clark, 

crossing in 1852, called this trail segment “the steepest, roughest, and 

most desolate road that can be imagined.” 

Beyond Emigrant Pass, the trail turns south away from the freeway 

and descends by various routes. It approaches the river in the vicinity 

of Gravelly Ford, about six miles south of the highway. Emigrants 

stopped there, despite a pestering plague of mosquitoes, to rest and 

graze their draft animals.

Could not sleep, although I had my sun-bonnet on, and a large silk 

handkerchief pinned closely down over my face, boots and gauntlets 

on, and closely wrapped in the blankets; yet on the morrow was 

looking as though I had the measles.

—Nellie Phelps, at Gravelly Ford, 1859 
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Although travelers griped to their journals about petty discomforts, 

the trail experience along the upper Humboldt River had not been 

unduly miserable for most. However, beyond Palisade Canyon the 

river further dwindled, its water grew increasingly salty, the ashy trail 

dust became ever deeper, and grass all but disappeared. To spare 

their draft animals, emigrants tossed belongings from their wagons: 

tools, stoves, heavy chains, mining equipment, even bedding and 

clothing. Travelers had discarded many items, including food, back 

on the plains, but here on the Humboldt nobody threw away bacon, 

flour, or beans. After months on the trail, many parties were running 

dangerously low on provisions. 

From Gravelly Ford, wagon traffic rattled along both sides of the 

Humboldt. The trails follow the winding river northerly between 

mountain ranges, intercepting I-80 again near present-day Dunphy. 

There the Humboldt River turns sharply west. The trail corridor is on 

the right as the freeway approaches the town of Battle Mountain.

Across the Humboldt and in the distance to the right, Stony Point 

slopes down toward the Humboldt sloughs. Wagon parties on the 

north-side trail liked to camp there at the point of the mountain, 

where the teams could find good forage. 

A raiding party of Shoshones and white outlaws struck emigrant 

families encamped at Stony Point on August 12th and 15th, 1857. 

Most of the targeted victims were killed in the attacks, but several, 

including a woman who played dead as she was scalped and 

brutalized, survived and were rescued by oncoming wagon parties. 

Farther down the trail, one of the survivors recognized a passing 

white “mountaineer” as one of the attackers, and the man was caught 

with $500 in English gold coin stolen from a victim’s wagon. Trailside 

justice put an abrupt end to the marauder’s criminal career. White 

desperadoes, thinly disguised as Indians, joined in and probably 

instigated the worst atrocities along the emigrant trails. Unscrupulous 

white traders, too, encouraged young warriors to raid wagon parties 

for goods and livestock that could be sold at profit to other emigrants, 

ignorant of their source. 

The ultimate cause of trouble between native people and emigrants 
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Stony Point descends toward the west and a series of sloughs on the 

Humboldt River.

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crossing the Great Basin, though, was hunger, not greed. Resources 

were limited along the sinuous green line of the Humboldt River. One 

full belly meant another might go empty.

The Indians claim that we have eaten up their grass and thereby 

deprived them of its rich crop of seed which is their principal 

subsistence during winter. They say too that the long guns of the 

white people have scared away the game and now there is nothing 

left for them to eat but ground squirrels and piss-ants.

—Utah Territorial Indian Agent Garland Hurt to Brigham 

 Young, Governor of Utah and Superintendent of Indian 

 Affairs, August 27, 1855
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24

THE POLITICS OF HUNGER

Emigrants routinely encountered Western Shoshone people 

along the Humboldt across central Nevada. Shoshones often 

gave advice and answered questions about the country ahead, and 

sometimes they offered their own food to starving pioneers.

The Shoshones generally had little to share. Bighorn sheep, deer, 

and antelope were scarce in the region, so the native people hunted 

mostly ground squirrels, rabbits, reptiles, insects, and birds of all 

kinds. When the Humboldt ran high and clear from spring snowmelt, 

and before the hordes of late summer emigrants arrived each year, 

they took cutthroat trout from the river. They also dug roots and 

collected pine nuts, chokecherries, and grass seed. Most did not keep 

horses, which would eat up their seed grasses. Theirs was a smart, 

diverse strategy that had enabled native peoples to survive hard 

times in the Great Basin for thousands of years. But many emigrants 

scorned the Shoshones as pesky paupers, resented their dogging the 

wagons, and contemptuously called them (and the Paiutes) “Diggers.” 

[The Western Shoshones] were absolutely naked, poor and 

hungry, and quite in keeping with the character of the country. . 

. . Their faces were pinched and careworn, while the most abject 

misery seemed stamped on every feature.

—Reuben Cole Shaw, 1849 

Shoshones, or Newe, held the emigrants in similar regard. Lying 

concealed on the hillsides above the river, they had watched in 

alarm as the first wagons rolled into their country. A Shoshone 

account, passed down across generations, relates that the Newe tried 

traditional rituals for driving off intruders, but these did not work 

on the emigrants because white peoples’ souls were full of holes, 

like a sieve. The powers of the ritual had nothing to push against; so 

the emigrants, called by the pejorative name Taibo, came on in great 

numbers. The Taibo treated the Newe with disrespect, cut Newe pine 

nut groves, took their best campsites, and competed for scarce game. 

Their livestock ate Newe seed grasses, trampled their wild crops, and 

contaminated their water. Life had never been easy here, but once the 

gold seekers began their four-year rush to California in 1849, native 
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25

resources were quickly depleted and famine indeed “sat enthroned.”

On the other hand, the Taibo brought beef into the hungry Newe 

homeland.

Imagine the emigrants’ outrage when the humble people they 

scorned managed to outfox them, silently driving off or shooting 

poisoned arrows into five, 20, even 50 oxen and mules in a single 

night’s work. Imagine, too, their gut-wrenching horror, for emigrants 

were vulnerable in this harsh country. The loss of their draft animals 

meant travelers would be forced to cross the desert and mountains 

on foot with only those supplies they could carry. It could be a death 

sentence.

We begin to think these Diggers are somewhat dangerous neighbors.

—Franklin Langworthy, 1850 

Farther west along the Humboldt the Numa, or Paiutes, faced the 

same problems—and arrived at the same solutions. They, too, drove 

off livestock in the night or crippled the draft animals with poisoned 

arrows so that they would be left behind when the wagons rolled out 

the next morning. 

And why not take what they needed? White men did the same. 

Emigrants took the rivers for their wagon roads, fouling the water 

with carrion and disease and destroying the native foods that grew 

nearby. Settlers took the valleys for their ranches and towns and the 

mountains for their mines, fencing off the meadows and springs, 

cutting down the pinyon trees, and digging up the earth like squirrels. 

Besides, white men’s livestock were the biggest packages of protein 

on the landscape. Of course they would become targets for hungry 

native people.

A few outraged emigrants vowed to shoot every Indian on sight. Some 

searched out Shoshone and Paiute encampments and destroyed 

their shelters, food, and belongings. One angry doctor, finding his ox 

full of arrows, poisoned the animal’s offal with strychnine and left 

it for the Indians to eat. But each act of vengeance brought another 
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Paiute Woman and Traditional House. Courtesy University of Nevada, Reno 

Library, Special Collections, Margaret M. Wheat Collection.

26

in retaliation, creating a cycle of violence that played out along the 

Humboldt trail. Innocent people of both races often paid the price 

for others’ misdeeds. The aim, after all, was not justice but revenge.

Sometimes hunger is simply a lack of food. Sometimes it is much 

more complicated.
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27

A FLASH OF THE BLADE

River, trails, and the modern freeway all curve northwestward 

beyond Battle Mountain and cross a long plain between 

mountain ranges. Many travelers here complained of the dreary 

landscape and the caustic alkali dust that burned skin and eyes. Each 

day served up the same menu of miseries.

The heat is fiery, intense, sultry, oppressive, suffocating, parching 

and scorching earth, and water and air and every green thing 

(Californians included).

—Israel Shipman Lord, 1849 

The road is the dustyest that I ever saw. We eat it, drink it, (it don’t 

taste good) & we breath it.

—John Francis Freeman, 1852 

Bah! This is a monotonous, barren country hereabouts.

—Nellie Phelps, 1859 

Discomfort, hunger, exasperation, and exhaustion honed travelers’ 

nerves to razor edge. Near the end of the long valley, where the 

south-side trail crosses a butte called Iron Point, tempers flashed one 

autumn day and a minor traffic snarl turned fatal for the DonnerReed Party.

On October 5, 1846, ox teams belonging to the James Reed and 

Franklin Graves families became entangled as they started up the 

sandy slope of Iron Point, east of present-day Golconda. The Graves 

family’s driver, John Snyder, uncharacteristically exploded in rage and 

(eyewitness accounts vary) either began beating his oxen or fighting 

with Reed’s teamster, Milt Elliot. When Reed intervened, Snyder 

struck him several times with the butt of his whip, accidentally hitting 

Mrs. Reed in the fray. James Reed, bloodied, lashed out with his 

hunting knife. Snyder fell with a mortal wound to the heart. 

The Graves family, who blamed Reed for their troubles on the 

Hastings Cutoff, furiously demanded justice on behalf of the wellliked Snyder; and Louis Keseberg propped up his wagon tongue 
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Wagon road continuing west near 

Stony Point, the location where John 

Snyder lost his life.

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and proposed to lynch Reed on the spot. Two of the accused man’s 

friends stepped to his defense. To avoid a showdown, the group 

decided to banish Reed from the wagon party. They would send him 

alone into the desert, away from his sickly wife and four hysterical 

children, without weapons or supplies. For good measure he was to 

be expelled on foot, but in the end Reed rode away on his mare. 

I had cried until I had hardly the strength to walk, but when we 

reached camp and I saw the distress of my mother, with the little 

ones clinging around her and no arm to lean upon, it seemed 

suddenly to make a woman of me. I realized I must be strong and 

help momma bear her sorrow.

—Virginia Reed Murphy, reminiscences of the 1846 Donner-

 Reed Party 

Thirteen-year-old Virginia Reed slipped out of camp that night 

with loyal Milt Elliot to carry guns, ammunition, and provisions 

to her father. Thus supplied, Reed soon caught up with the party’s 

lead wagons, which were traveling a day ahead of the others. He did 

not mention the death back at Iron Point, but said he was riding in 

advance for supplies. Reed’s 

second teamster, who had been 

traveling with the lead wagons, 

volunteered to join him. 

Between them, Reed and Walter 

Herron shared one horse and 

about three days’ provisions.

For awhile Reed left signs along 

the trail—a note stuck in a 

bush, scattered feathers from 

a hunting kill—to let his family 

know he was safe. Eventually 

they found no more signs. 
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‘HEARTILY TIRED OF THE JOURNEY’

From Iron Point the Humboldt River cuts south toward presentday Golconda, where emigrants enjoyed camping near a cluster 

of hot springs. A short distance downstream was another popular 

camping area: a five-mile “island,” thick with native grasses, between 

the river and the sloughs. The island and other meadows like it were 

prime pasture for emigrant livestock. Northern Paiutes depended on 

those grasses, too, for their annual seed harvest. 

The river begins to arc southwest from today’s Winnemucca, and 

the next 45 miles of trail were especially disagreeable: worse water, 

more dreary brown hills, deeper dust, and scant forage for the draft 

animals. Extreme hunger among the emigrants was a common 

problem along this stretch, especially in 1849 and 1850. Many were 

packing at this point, having lost too many cattle to continue with 

wagons. Starving travelers begged other emigrants for bits of moldy 

bread, rotten bacon, or a cup of weak coffee, and offered any price for 

a biscuit or a pound of flour. The lucky ones received a few crumbs, 

for few had provisions to spare. 

We have been no little troubled today with starving emigrants 

begging for provisions. There is some that is tetotelly out; others 

say they have not tasted meat for fifteen days; some complaining 

of being very weak with hunger; some of them that is suffering or 

complains of suffering we divide with but if we was to listen to all 

we would not have a mouthful of provisions in two days. God only 

[k]nows what they are to do.

—Thomas Christy, 1850 

Men who once, secure in their stores of bacon, had remarked in 

wondering disgust on the diets of native people now were grateful to 

eat lizards, coyotes, ground squirrels, and whatever else they could 

catch to eat.
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I killed & skinned & gutted about fifty frogs an inch & a half long & 

fried them with our hawk this noon & eat them

Shot a Fisher (shitepoke) [a heron] & had him & his gravy for 

dinner with burned-biscuit coffee very good

—Charles Darwin, 1849

Many ate things that were much worse.

I have noticed several dead horses, mules and oxen by the roadside, 

that had their hams cut out to eat by the starving wretches along the 

road.

—Eleazer Stillman Ingalls, 1850 

The burning thrill of the overland adventure was turned to cold ash. 

“Who says ‘hurra for California’?” wondered Israel Shipman Lord in 

1849. “Not many here, for most are heartily tired of the journey.”

West of present-day Imlay, about 210 miles downstream from the 

Humboldt headwaters at Wells, the river swung south in a great bend 

and then fingered out across a wide plain. Today the area is drowned 

by Rye Patch Reservoir, but then it was the welcome grazing-ground, 

thick with wild rye, that became known as Lassen’s (now Lassens) 

or Lawson’s Meadows. John Bidwell saw Northern Paiute people 

encamped here when his party passed through in 1841.

Perhaps it was here that little Thocmetony, daughter of the Northern 

Paiute leader Winnemucca, first encountered emigrants. Just four or 

five years old, she had been warned by her mother that white people 

ate humans—a rumor that was circulating widely among Great Basin 

peoples. One morning as the women were grinding grass seed in 

the meadow, word flew through camp that wagons approached. 

Thocmetony, who would grow up to be the teacher, author, and 

popular lecturer known as Sarah Winnemucca, later recalled:

My poor mother was carrying my little sister on her back, and 

trying to make me run; but I was so frightened I could not move my 

feet, and while my poor mother was trying to get me along my aunt 

overtook us, and she said to my mother: ‘Let us bury our girls, or we 
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Studio portrait of 

Sarah Winnemucca, 

ca. 1880s.

31

shall all be killed and eaten up.’ So they went 

to work and buried us, and told us if we heard 

any noise not to cry out, for if we did they 

would surely kill us and eat us. So our mothers 

buried me and my cousin, planted sage bushes 

over our faces to keep the sun from burning 

them, and there we were left all day.

The little girls lay hidden there for hours, 

unmoving under the hot sun, terrified of 

the passing emigrants, until their mothers 

returned. Meanwhile, Sarah Winnemucca 

related in her 1883 book, the emigrants 

viciously burned up all the seed that the 

women had collected for the winter. She 

believed that the vandals were members of the 

Donner-Reed Party. 

The Donner-Reed Party continued to 

disintegrate while approaching the meadows at the Big Bend of the 

Humboldt River. Its members abandoned an old man, unable to walk, 

to die alone in the desert. Paiutes shot at them. Along the trail through 

the meadows they found a final note from James Reed, warning of 

troubles ahead. 

There at the Big Bend the Donner-Reed Party also found a brand 

new wagon trail branching off to the right toward Oregon. The faint 

track, the Applegate Trail, was a grueling route blazed earlier that 

summer by established Oregon pioneers for the benefit of oncoming 

emigrants. This “Southern Route” to Oregon was supposed to be 

more direct and safer than the old Oregon Trail to the north, but 

those who first tried it in 1846 did not find it so. J. Goldsborough 

Bruff and Jessy Quinn Thornton left excellent first-person accounts 

of their troubles on the Applegate Trail that year.

By 1849, the Nobles, Lassen, and other trails branched off the 

Applegate to carry traffic to the gold fields of northern California. 

Wagon companies paused at the Lassens Meadows junction to 

drop mail into a red barrel and to debate which way to go. Many 
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Lassens Meadows.

32

who chose the right branch soon enough regretted their decision, 

for it was a hard, hard road. Journals tell of parties who followed 

the Applegate deep into the bleak Black Rock Desert and then, 

despairing, backtracked to the relative safety of the Humboldt River. 

The Humboldt was horrid but it was liquid, mostly. 

Today the trail junction, most of the ryegrass meadows, and several 

miles of the north-side trail along the Big Bend lie beneath Rye Patch 

Reservoir. Beyond Rye Patch the river continues its southwesterly arc. 

After rounding the bend, wagons rolled another 40 hot, dusty trailmiles to the last Humboldt pasture, Big Meadows.

I saw three or four lizards, one or two flies; one must pity them.

—John Edwin Banks, 1849 

The farther we traveled the worse [the river] became. During the 

last eight or ten days it seems to have been mixed up with everything 

nauseous.

—Margaret Frink, 1850 

Our great want, now is: water! Water!! Water!!! Good spring 

water, good well water, good snow water, good river water. Our 

dreams are of water, clear and cold, spouting from the earth like a 

geyser.

—John Hawkins Clark, 1852 
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THE HUMBOLDT SINK

Approaching its celebrated end, the Humboldt River spreads 

out in one last green flourish of sloughs and marshes that the 

emigrants called Big Meadows. Today the community of Lovelock 

nestles near the north end of Big Meadows and farm fields occupy 

the rest.

Travelers laid over here for several days to rest and strengthen their 

cattle. Several hundred wagons might encamp at the meadows on 

a typical day. As the draft animals grazed, emigrants cut hay for the 

terrible desert crossing ahead and purged their wagons, once more, 

of belongings. At times the meadows were as busy, cluttered, and 

noisy as a city.

Paiutes used the area heavily, too, had done so for countless 

generations, and often camped among the emigrants while hunting 

and food collecting. In the early years of the emigration, some 

Paiutes, such as the leader that white men called Chief Truckee (Sarah 

Winnemucca’s grandfather), directed or guided emigrant parties from 

here across the Sierra Nevada to California. Some advised travelers 

where they would find water along the way. Some hired themselves 

out to cut hay or collect firewood. 

Others found more profit in running off the emigrants’ livestock. 

During their first night at Big Meadows, the Donner-Reed Party lost 

18 oxen and a milk cow to Paiute raiders. On their second night in the 

area, several more oxen were shot with arrows. Paiutes, though, were 

not to blame for the loss of a mare that bogged down in the marsh. 

So hostile were the party members toward one another that no one 

would help the horse’s owner pull her out. She suffocated in the mud.

In wet years the dregs of the Humboldt River drain another 12 miles 

south from Lovelock and bleed onto the desert floor at the foot of a 

natural dike called the Humboldt Bar. The resulting pool, Humboldt 

Lake, can be seen today from I-80. Here, and in the salt flats beyond, 

is the Humboldt Sink. 
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Water from the Humboldt River gradually dwindles under the hot 

Nevada sun.

34

In place of a great rent in the earth, into which the waters of the 

rivers plunged with a terrible roar (as pictured in our imagination), 

there was found a mud lake ten miles long and four or five miles 

wide, a veritable sea of slime, a ‘slough of despond,’ an ocean of 

ooze, a bottomless bed of alkaline poison, which emitted a nauseous 

odor and presented the appearance of utter desolation.

—Reuben Cole Shaw, 1849 

A stinking pool of water between two hills. 

—Heinrich Lienhard, 1846

I am rejoiced to see it; to see the end of the infernal Humboldt... 

struck down to the parching sands of an immense Desert, and 

buried in eternal oblivion.

—James Evans, 1850 

This is the end of the most miserable river on the face of the earth. 

—Margaret Frink, 1850 

At the sink on October 13, 1846, the Donner-Reed Party lost another 

21 oxen to poisoned arrows. The losses forced a young German 

emigrant to abandon his wagon here. He lingered behind the 

departing party to cache his valuables, and his wife never saw him 

again. Paiutes took the blame for his disappearance. Months later a 

fellow emigrant, facing his own death in the Sierra Nevada, would 

confess to the young man’s murder. 
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“A Desperate Situation” by Charles Nahl. From Across the Plains 

 in the Donner Party, by Virginia Reed Murphy.

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THE Forty-mile DESERT; or, HOW TO KILL AN OX

Expect to find the worst desert you ever saw and then find it worse 

than you expected.

—John Wood, 1850 

As they skirted Humboldt Lake, travelers stopped to camp and top 

off kegs and jugs (nobody carried the heavy barrels portrayed in 

Western movies) from waterholes gouged in the lakeside mud.

The thermometer indicates 140 on this arid plain. . . . The whole 

atmosphere glows like an oven.

—Niles Searls, 1849 

Dead horses and oxen, in great numbers, with steaks cut out 

of their flesh, lay scattered over the land; and men, without a 

morsel to eat, were begging from wagon to wagon, offering all they 

had for a little dry bread.

—John T. Clapp, 1850 
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The Forty-mile Desert ahead would devour the weak. Some emigrants started into it already half-chewed.

Toward the start of the drive, near the Humboldt Bar, the trail 

forks. The right branch is the Truckee Route, named for the kindly 

Northern Paiute chief who first directed emigrants along the north 

edge of the desert and through the Sierra Nevada in 1844. This trail 

shares the corridor of modern I-80 across the desert and meets the 

gushing Truckee River near present-day Wadsworth. The left branch 

is the Carson Route, which opened in 1848 and carried most of the 

emigrant traffic thereafter. It skirts the south edge of the desert, 

roughly paralleling US 95, and intercepts the Carson River west of 

Fallon. Either way, right or left, Truckee or Carson, emigrants faced 40 

miles of desolation ending with a tough pull through eight to 10 miles 

of deep sand before reaching the salvation of a stream.

The Forty-mile Desert is as welcoming as a hot griddle. There is no 

shade. A friable crust of salt and silt crunches underfoot. In places, 

shadscale and greasewood anchor mounds of windblown dirt, and 

wet-season playas glimmer with alkali water. Ironically, this terrible 

desert once lay at the bottom of a deep ice age lake that covered much 

of western Nevada. Lake Lahontan’s ancient shorelines are etched 

into nearby mountainsides 500 feet or more above the desert floor. 

But in the 19th century this was a dry lakebed, churned by hooves 

and wheels into drifting, caustic clouds of dust that choked man and 

beast alike.

Many emigrants started into the desert in the evening, hoping to 

be nearly across the exposed flats before the sun reared up and 

punished them for the cheat. On moonless nights, travelers set fire 

to abandoned wagons along the trail in order to light their way. The 

ghastly bonfires flickered over dead oxen, mules, and horses whose 

dry staring eyes glittered, lifelike, with salt. Death perfumed the air. 

The trail twitched with maggots. Brittle bone crackled beneath the 

wagon wheels.

Burning wagons render still more hideous the solemn march; dead 

horses line the road, and living ones may be constantly seen, lapping 

and rolling the empty water casks (which have been cast away) for 
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Pools of warm spring water, some as hot as 1750 F, are sparsely scattered 

across Nevada.

37

a drop of water to quench their burning thirst, or standing with 

drooping heads, waiting for death to relieve them of their tortures, 

or lying on the sand half buried, unable to rise, yet still trying. 

—Eleazer Stillman Ingalls on the Carson Route, 1850

At intervals could be seen wagons ... with two to four yoke of cattle 

lying dead, with the yokes on their necks, the chains still in the rings, 

just as they fell and died, most of them with their tongues hanging 

from their mouths.

—Gilbert L. Cole on the Carson Route, 1852 

About 20 miles into the desert, emigrants on the Truckee Route 

reached the dubious relief of Boiling Springs. Here, more than a 

hundred boiling mineral springs simmered in the hillside. (Today a 

geothermal power plant occupies the site, which can be glimpsed 

from I-80 south of Exit 65.) Thirsty draft animals, literally dying to 

drink, charged to the water and scalded their tongues and muzzles. 

Dogs, including a spaniel beloved of frontiersman James Clyman, 

leaped eagerly into the welcoming pools and died astonished. Rarely, 
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38

an emigrant arriving in the dark might stumble into a bubbling 

ground-cauldron and hideously perish. Most travelers stopped here 

just long enough to cool some water for their livestock and then 

pressed on. Too soon the morning sun would scowl from the horizon, 

illuminating the full extent of the trailside devastation and the 

suffering of the animals.

Morning comes, and the light of day presents a scene more horrid 

than the route of a defeated army; dead stock line the roads, 

wagons, rifles, tents, clothes, everything but food may be found 

scattered along the road. ... men scattered along the plain and 

stretched out among the dead stock like corpses, fills out the picture.

—Eleazer Stillman Ingalls on the Carson Route, 1850 

Our feelings were touched as [our oxen] constantly looked at us, as 

if entreating for water and food. They were panting rapidly, and 

their long protruding tongues hung from their open mouths.

—Charles Frederick True, age 16, on the Carson Route, 1859 

Oxen shifted forward on heavy legs, their great heads swaying 

with each short step, mouths gaping, moaning their distress. Mules 

and horses stumbled on with drooping heads and listless ears, 

too dry to sweat. Those animals that dropped and could not rise 

settled eventually into the dust and, mercifully, died. The sun fired 

their exposed hide into a hard carapace and insects took the soft 

underside. There lay the victims in horrible, hollow bas relief, 

marking the trails for years to come.

The desert passage 

was hard on 

people, as well. 

Most managed the 

crossing but some 

perished in the 

attempt. There were 

suicides. A few went 

raving mad from 

the unrelenting 

heat, from hunger 
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39

and thirst, or perhaps from the surrealism of the whole experience. 

Suffering and fear brought out the worst in their humanity. Among 

the Donner-Reed Party, an emigrant bearing water in his family 

wagon denied drink to William and Eleanor Eddy, who, having 

abandoned their wagon at the sink, were carrying their young 

children in their arms through the Forty-mile Desert. 

The hot earth scorched our feet; the grayish dust hung about us 

like a cloud, making our eyes red, and tongues parched, and our 

thousand bruises and scratches smart like burns...Sometimes we 

found the bones of men bleaching beside their broken-down and 

abandoned wagons.

—Luzena Wilson on the Carson Route, 1849

But the sight of the dead is not so fearful as the living dying. God 

of heaven! Could human suffering appease [thy] wrath, the world 

would soon be forgiven.

—John Wood on the Carson Route, 1850 

When my little one, from the wagon behind me, called out, 

‘Mamma I want a drink’—I stopped, gave her some, noted that 

there were but a few swallows left, then mechanically pressed 

onward again, alone, repeating, over and over, the words, ‘Let me 

not see the death of the child [she survived].’

—Sarah Royce on the Carson Route, 1849 

On a quilt by the side of the cart lay a man, woman, and two 

children. They had completely given out and were sick and starving. 

—Henrietta Catherine McDaniel on the Truckee Route, 1853 

But no one stopped to gaze or to help. The living procession marched 

steadily onward, giving little heed to the destruction going on, in 

their own anxiety to reach a place of safety. 

—Margaret Frink on the Carson Route, 1850 

The Carson and Truckee dune fields, miles of deep, loose sand that 

sucked at hooves and wheels, posed the final test. While yet five or six 

miles from water, livestock could scent the rivers and they picked up 

the pace; some teams, still yoked to their wagons, tried desperately to 
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40

run the last few miles through the sand. The Donner-Reed Party lost 

three yoke of oxen among the Truckee Dunes. 

The sand hills are reached; then comes a scene of confusion and 

dismay. Animal after animal drops down. Wagon after wagon is 

stopped.

—Eleazer Stillman Ingalls on the Carson Route, 1850 

I thought I would never get through and I laide down to kick the 

bucket; but I thought of home and it give me a little more grit and I 

would get up and stager along.

—Andrew Orvis on the Truckee Route, 1849

The amount of suffering on the latter part of the route was almost 

incalculable. No one except those who saw or experienced it, can 

have any idea of its extent—sights, the thoughts of which, would 

make the blood chill in any human breast.

—James D. Lyon on the Truckee Route, 1849 

California traders hauled water out from the Carson River and sold it 

to emigrants for one dollar or more per gallon. Some travelers, having 

reached the safety of the rivers, carried water back to family, friends, 

and strangers. James Evans, while struggling through the Truckee 

dunes in 1850, encountered a compassionate Paiute man carrying a 

pail of water. “Watty, watty!” he cried to Evans, urging him to drink, 

“Oh! White man—watty!” That same year California miners donated 

funds to create relief stations in the desert, and in 1852 the California 

legislature established at least four government relief stations there to 

help emigrants along.

People and livestock alike celebrated their arrival at the Truckee and 

Carson rivers. The rushing streams of cool, fresh water and shady 

cottonwood trees seemed like paradise. Some emigrants spent several 

days along the riverbanks, recovering from their desert ordeal. On 

the Carson River, east of today’s junction of US 50 and US 50A, 

California traders had erected a tent city known as Ragtown. There, 

desperate travelers could buy provisions, usually at desperate prices. 

Fresh water, grass, and shade were blessedly free. 
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41

It is wonderful to see cattle rush in the water. They drink, they 

stand, now taste it. O how delicious! I know it was to me.

—John Edwin Banks on the Truckee Route, 1849 

The Forty-mile crossing was over, but the experience would haunt 

emigrants for a lifetime.

The desert! You must see it and feel it in an August day, when legions 

have crossed it before, to realize it in all its horrors. But heaven save 

you from the experience.

—Eleazer Stillman Ingalls, 1850 

I wish California had sunk into the ocean before I had ever heard of 

it.

—James F. Wilkins, 1849

“Thirsty Oxen at a Water Hole,” by Frederic 

Remington. From Across the Plains in the Donner Party, by 

Virginia Reed Murphy.
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

Nevada

Rendition of Genoa, by Hildegard Herz. 

Courtesy University of Nevada, Reno Library.

42

INTO THE SIERRA NEVADA

Relief was short-lived for travelers on the Carson Route. Beyond Ragtown lay several more desert crossings where the trail took 

long, dry cutoffs between broad bends of the Carson River. Some 

emigrants claimed that these crossings, though shorter, were more 

severe than the Forty-mile Desert. One of these was a 26-mile dry 

drive along today’s US 50 corridor between Silver Springs and 

Dayton, where trail ruts and other historic remnants can be seen. 

Alternatively, from Silver Springs emigrants could follow a longer 

but more pleasant riverside trail to Dayton, a route that today is 

approximated by local roads. Starting in 1857, that trail passed 

Buckland’s Station, a ranch and drinking establishment with 

amenities for travelers. Buckland’s is located at the junction of the 

Carson Route and the Central Overland Trail used by the Pony 

Express, and the post later served as a Pony Express mail station, too. 

In July 1860, the U.S. Army established Fort Churchill a mile west of 

Buckland’s to help keep peace following the Pyramid Lake War with 

the Paiutes. Today both historic sites make up Fort Churchill State 

Historic Park. 

The main Carson Route continues southwesterly from Dayton to 

the 1850 Mormon Station trading post, now a state park at Genoa. 

Mormons were 

among the first 

white emigrants to 

this area, part of 

Brigham Young’s 

plan to colonize 

and control the 

entire Great Basin—

and for a time he 

succeeded, for 

Nevada was part of 

Utah Territory until 

1861. From Genoa, 
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43

the wagon trail continues up the Carson River into California. At the 

tiny settlement of Woodfords (which was a Pony Express station, 

too), the trail enters Carson Canyon. Here it begins climbing westerly 

toward Carson Pass and finally West Pass, the crest of the Sierra 

Nevada, to its destination in Placerville.

The Truckee Route was an entirely different experience. Instead 

of more dry crossings, this trail follows the Truckee River through 

a long, narrow canyon. After the perils of the Forty-mile Desert, it 

might at first have seemed like paradise, but the river did not make a 

good wagon road. The snow-fed stream is cold and deep, and its swift 

current and slick, submerged boulders make crossings hazardous. 

Wagons maneuvering up the narrow canyon had to ford the twisting 

channel 27 times.

After several days working their way up the canyon from Wadsworth, 

travelers emerged into Truckee Meadows, at present-day Reno and 

Sparks. The meadows belonged to the Wa She Shu, the Washoe 

Indian people, who called the place Welgonuh. To the Donner-Reed 

Party in late October 1846, it appeared vacant—but Wa She Shu were 

there, watching. The emigrants spent several precious days pasturing 

their cattle at the meadow and nervously eyeing the Sierra, unaware 

of being observed.

On October 25, the Donner-Reed Party was continuing raggedly 

up the Truckee River into the mountains when the lead wagons met 

an eastbound rider. It was Charles Stanton, one of two men who 

had ridden ahead from the Ruby Mountains weeks earlier to fetch 

provisions. Stanton brought a string of seven loaded pack mules and 

two Miwok Indian vaqueros, generously sponsored by John Sutter 

of Sutter’s Fort, California. Stanton also brought good news: James 

Reed and Walt Herron, along with Reed’s cherished gray mare, all 

walking skeletons, had crossed the mountains to safety. The rest of 

the Donner-Reed Party hoped they soon would do the same. They 

continued, strung out in clusters along the Truckee, toward the clear 

lake and mountain pass that soon would become grisly landmarks, 

named for them.
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

Nevada

The Central Overland Route across Nevada.

44

THE PONY BOYS

The Williams brothers ran a trailside stage station and grog shop on the Carson River, about four miles east of today’s Silver 

Springs, Nevada. In early May 1860, the three men kidnapped a 

pair of young Paiute girls, assaulted them, and kept them captive 

in a secret cellar under the barn. A visiting Paiute man heard the 

children’s muffled cries for help and galloped off with news of his 

discovery to Pyramid Lake, where Paiutes, Shoshones, and Bannocks 

had gathered for the annual fish run. On May 6, nine warriors 

returned to Williams Station. They killed the white men they found 

there, freed the girls, and burned the place down. Word of the 

killings, along with rumors of a widespread Indian rampage, reached 

the Comstock settlements the next morning.

Six days later a motley militia of 105 miners and townsmen, aiming 

to teach the Indians a lesson, followed Paiute decoys into a ravine 

a few miles south of Pyramid Lake. Some 300 warriors awaited 

them there. The stunned survivors, about 30 men who somehow 

escaped the well-laid trap, carried news of their bloody defeat back 

to the settlements. On June 2, over 750 regular and volunteer troops 

returned to engage the warriors in a second Battle of Pyramid Lake. 

Out-gunned, the Paiutes and their allies scattered into the desert. 

These events sparked a general, Basin-wide resistance that now licked 
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eastward from the Sierra toward the Great Salt Lake.

The Pony Express, a horse relay that carried mail between St. Joseph, 

Missouri, and San Francisco, California had been in operation barely 

five weeks when the Pyramid Lake War broke out. The Pony, as it was 

commonly known, had nothing to do with events at Williams Station, 

but it was an irritant to the people whose land, grass, and water had 

been snatched up for mail and stage stations. The Pony men took 

what they wanted without asking or paying, and their permanent 

structures and hurried comings and goings felt invasive to the people 

of the land. The people were fed up with takings and invasion.

The Pony Express largely followed the Central Overland Trail, 

opened across the western Great Basin by Army Captain James 

Simpson in 1859. The Central Overland runs many miles south 

of the Humboldt River, crossing the unpaved, remote territory 

between Ibapah, Utah, and Carson City, Nevada; its route is roughly 

approximated by today’s US 50, “The Loneliest Road in America.” 

Solitary riders, with their predictable schedules, were easy targets in 

that empty country. “Pony Bob” Haslam reported some close calls 

at the outbreak of the Pyramid Lake War while making a 380-mile, 

round-trip mail ride between Friday’s Station at Lake Tahoe and 

Smith Creek Station, southwest of Austin, Nevada. During his recordbreaking ride, said to be the longest in Pony Express history, Haslam 

evaded war parties and seems to have missed at least two attacks on 

stations by a margin of hours.

I kept a bright lookout, and closely watched every motion of my 

poor pony’s ears, which is a signal for danger in an Indian country. 

I was prepared for a fight, but the stillness of the night and the 

howling of the wolves and coyotes made cold chills run through me 

at times.

—“Pony Bob” Haslam, on his ride from Cold Springs 

to Sand Springs in May 1860

Haslam has been hailed as a hero of the Pony Express but, curiously, 

neither his name nor his exploits are among those eagerly reported 

by newspapers of the day. The story of Pony Bob’s epic ride, which 

he related to an interviewer decades later, was first published in 
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1908, where he had some key Pony Express names and facts wrong. 

Friday’s Station, where Haslam claimed to have started his ride, was 

only a relay station where riders switched horses, not a Pony Express 

home station where a rider would begin his route; and his roundtrip distance between Friday’s and Smith Creek is exaggerated by 50 

miles. Based on these and other errors, some researchers dismiss his 

story as a hoax. Was Haslam a fraud, like some others who claimed in 

their later years to be original Pony riders? Or was he just an old man 

with faded memories of events nearly a half-century past? 

Accounts mention numerous Pony riders who were killed during 

the outbreak that year, but multiple sources may be referring to the 

same unnamed rider, and some stories were clearly made up. So 

far, only three rider fatalities at the hands of warriors are securely 

documented. One was that of José Zowgaltz, a Hispanic rider who 

was ambushed as he crossed the thick aspen bottoms of Edwards 

Creek, north of Cold Springs Station. Suffering a mortal abdominal 

wound, Zowgaltz galloped into the station, which still stands about 

55 miles west of Austin, Nevada. He slipped bleeding from his saddle 

and soon died. The rider’s death was recorded by Assistant Station 

Keeper J.G. Kelley, who had to ride Zowgaltz’s return relay two days 

later. Kelley raced his pony through the leafy green tunnel of aspens 

“like a streak of greased lightning” and once clear, paused to look 

back. The bushes along the trail trembled. Kelley suspected they 

concealed warriors who had been unable to get a clear shot at him.

Not all of those who were attacked were killed. Rider George Scovell 

had a narrow escape a few months after Zowgaltz’s death. Scovell 

rode a sturdy Pony Express horse with a curious, question markshaped blaze on its face. He named the horse for its blaze, calling 

him “What?” Near dusk on October 19, 1860, horse and rider were 

picking their way warily down Telegraph Canyon west of Chokup 

Pass (today called Overland Pass, in the Diamond Mountains about 

27 miles north of Eureka).

I remember well how uneasy he seemed to be, his ears working 

forward and backward, and I could feel him try to halt.

—Pony Express Rider George Scovell, 1860
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

Nevada

What?, with Pony Riders 

Charlie Cliff and George Scovell 

(r). © Joe Nardone, Pony Express 

Collection/Dwight S. Ritter.

47

Suddenly a swarm of arrows zinged out of the trailside brush. Horse 

and rider lunged forward and pounded three miles down the trail to 

Diamond Springs Station; Scovell carrying two arrows in his leg and 

What? pierced by 11 more. 

I believe there were thirty or more [warriors], and they were right 

onto me. . . . Instantly I decided to make a run for the station and 

no pony on the line, I doubt, ever made faster time over the old trail 

than did that horse, even with arrows sticking from his side.

—Pony Express Rider George Scovell, 1860

Upon delivering his rider to the safety of the station, What? collapsed. 

Scovell sorrowfully put him down with a shot to the forehead. Dead 

livestock generally would be left to the scavengers, but George Scovell 

buried courageous What? next to the station and then quit his job. It 

was the last ride he ever made for 

the Pony Express. Scovell wrote of 

the events of that day in his journal 

and kept with it a photo of the good 

horse that had saved his life. A 

monument near the old Diamond 

Springs station site commemorates 

horse and rider.

The Pony’s isolated stations were 

attractive targets, too. They offered 

valuable plunder: fast horses 

outside, provisions, and gear inside. 

They were remote and defended 

by just a few men. Some stations, 

such as those at Cold Springs 

and Sand Spring (both located 

on public lands off US 50), were 

simple, roofless enclosures formed 

of stacked-stone walls. Warriors tried 

to slip up, shoot over the top, and 

duck away. Life in such circumstances 

was uncomfortable any day, but nights in those open-air rooms, with 

campfires glittering in the dark hills above, were unnerving. 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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Remnants of Cold Springs Station, 

Courtesy Bureau of Land Management.

48

It was a marvel that the 

‘Pony boys’ were not all 

killed. There were only 

four men at each station 

and the Indians, who 

were then hostile, roamed 

over the country in 

bands of from thirty to a 

hundred.

—J. G. Kelley, 

Assistant Station Keeper, 

Cold Springs Station

Parties of Paiutes, Shoshones, Goshutes, and Bannocks burned 

several Nevada stations between May and October 1860 and killed 

six station personnel. Stagecoaches, which also followed the Central 

Overland and sometimes shared stations with the Pony Express, came 

under attack as well. A handed-down Goshute account of an attack 

on a stage tells that their people were desperate for food—this was a 

summer of famine—but all they found in the coach was money that 

they could neither eat nor spend.

The troubles forced the Pony Express to shut down for 44 days, 

May 25 to July 7, 1860. Meanwhile, soldiers from Camp Floyd, 

located about 40 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, arrived in June to 

patrol the Central Overland between Deep Creek, at today’s Utah/

Nevada border, and Robert’s Creek, west of Eureka. In mid-July, 

believing the hostilities were over, the troops started riding east 

back toward Camp Floyd.

On July 16 some 80 warriors rode up to Egan Station, at Egan 

Canyon north of present-day Ely, and commanded station keeper 

Mike Holten and an off-duty rider named Wilson to give them food. 

The white men (according to one account) feverishly baked bread 

most of the day as the warriors feasted, taunted Holten and Wilson, 

and planned how they would dispatch the two Pony men later that 

evening. Or (according to a second account) they handed over a few 

bags of flour and sugar and barricaded themselves in the station to 

await their fate.
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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US Army Corps of Topographical Engineers at Pyramid Lake, ca. 1845. 

Courtesy Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript 

Library, Yale University .

49

Incoming eastbound Express rider Will Dennis was overdue that 

day. Holten and Wilson assumed he had been killed. But from a knoll 

behind the station, Dennis spotted the warriors milling around and 

knew there was trouble. On the way in, about five miles back down 

the trail, he had loped past the eastbound Camp Floyd detachment; 

by now the soldiers would be a mile or two closer to the station. 

Dennis rode back to summon help. As in a classic Western movie 

script, and both accounts agree on this, the U.S. cavalry charged to 

the rescue in the nick of time, just as Holten and Wilson were about 

to perish. Three US soldiers and 18 warriors died in the ensuing fight; 

Holten and Wilson survived.

The Pyramid Lake War formally ended that November, when Paiute 

leaders and an army special envoy met in the Black Rock Desert to 

negotiate peace. Some of the native people returned to their home 

at Pyramid Lake, but others retreated to northern Nevada and 

southeastern Oregon. A period of unrest and occasional skirmishing 

followed. Shoshone bands signed treaties with the US in the early 

1860s, and by 1869 the Great Basin conflict had mostly ceased.
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The number of Indian fighters who lost their lives defending their 

homelands during the 1860 hostilities is unrecorded. Costs to 

the Pony Express, on the other hand, are well documented: nine 

personnel killed, six stations burned, and some $75,000 worth of 

livestock, gear, and provisions lost. The operation continued, despite 

these and other financial setbacks, until the new transcontinental 

telegraph made the Pony obsolete. The telegraph was completed on 

October 24, 1861. The Pony Express announced that it was closing 

two days later.

The Pony had run its course.
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Military exploratory expedition at the Carson Sink, 1859. Courtesy Utah 

State Historical Society. 

51

CHANGE IN THE GREAT BASIN

The emigrant experience through the Great Basin evolved 

between 1841, when the Bidwell-Bartleson Party blazed the way, 

and 1869, when the transcontinental railroad brought the overland 

trail heyday to an end. In the early years of the emigration travelers 

had to be self-reliant, for they were entirely on their own. Most 

difficult were the years 1849 through 1852, when tens of thousands of 

people surged west along the Humboldt River to seek their fortunes 

in the California gold fields. By the late 1850s, trading posts, ranches, 

and mining settlements dotted the trail, and by the early 1860s the 

Pony Express, stage lines, and the telegraph were busily stitching 

West to East. The “country of starvation” was becoming a land of 

enterprise and industry.

However, changes that white settlers saw as progress came at great 

cost to the original people of the land. Great Basin lifeways that had 

developed over 12,000 years disappeared within a single generation. 

Indigenous peoples were forced to adapt almost overnight to new 

technologies, foods, languages, customs, and utterly alien notions 

of wealth and land ownership. The changes were traumatic, but 

the people are resilient and strong. The Northern Paiutes, Western 

Shoshones, Goshutes, and Washoes still reside in their Great Basin 

homeland. They want others to know they have not disappeared, 

and although they honor their cultural traditions, they are not quaint 

relics of the past. Rather, they are alive and well and living in the 

modern world, with sovereign governments that deal with today’s 
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52

complicated issues. They are here, and now, and then, and always.

US 50 roughly parallels the line of the Pony Express Trail across 

Central Nevada, while Interstate 80 carries travelers smoothly and 

comfortably along the Humboldt River corridor. These days the 

stream and its valley are so scenic that one can hardly imagine the 

devastation of the 1850s and 1860s. Away from the freeway, though, 

especially along the quiet back roads of Nevada, are places where the 

past penetrates the present. 

Walk in the footsteps of John Bidwell and James Reed, Truckee and 

Sarah Winnemucca. Enter a lonely Central Overland canyon and feel 

the lingering unease. Stand among ruins where men fought for their 

lives and livelihoods, and where some of them lost. Tread the crisp 

desert where an emigrant mother numbly contemplated the death 

of her only child, or the meadow where other mothers desperately 

hid their small daughters in the dirt. Taste the alkali kicked up by a 

passing dust devil; catch a whiff of sage and playa; hear the crunch of 

footsteps on an ancient lakebed; and feel the weight of the summer 

sun. Much has changed. Much remains the same.

My God, McKinstry, why do you write about this trip so you can 

remember it? All I hope is to get home, alive, as soon as possible so I 

can forget it!

—Unnamed companion to Byron McKinstry, 1850
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

Nevada

J. Goldsborough Bruff’s depiction of “Rabbit Hole Springs” along the 

Applegate Trail, from his Gold Rush Journals of 1849, Vol.1, Courtesy 

Huntington Library.

53

SITES AND POINTS OF INTEREST: Setting Out

Tour routes for the California and Pony Express national historic 

trails enter eastern Nevada at four locations:

To follow the California National Historic Trail west from Utah, begin 

on westbound I-80 at the state line between Wendover, Utah, and 

West Wendover, Nevada. Consult Auto Tour Segment A on page 58.

To follow the California National Historic Trail from Idaho, begin on 

southbound US 93 at Jackpot, Nevada. Join Auto Tour Segment A at 

stop A-4, Willow Creek, on page 60.

To follow the Pony Express National Historic Trail from I-80 at 

Wendover, Utah, consult Auto Tour Segment C, beginning on page 86.

To follow the Pony Express National Historic Trail from Ibapah, 

Utah, go north on Ibapah Road into Nevada. Turn south on US 93 

and join Auto Tour Segment C on page 86 at stop C-2.

Please note that facility hours and admission prices are 

subject to change without notice.
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54

Navigating the California Trail Across Nevada

The route of the Pony Express Trail was planned and used to carry 

mail efficiently between St. Joseph and San Francisco. Across 

Nevada, it is largely a single trail with an occasional short alternate, 

generally a temporary detour around some obstacle. The California 

Trail, on the other hand, is a network pieced together over more than 

a decade by separate parties traveling to different destinations. The 

main corridor of the California Trail enters the northeastern corner 

of Nevada from Idaho and joins the Humboldt River west of Wells. 

It then follows that indispensable lifeline across the Great Basin to 

the river’s end at the Humboldt Sink, beyond Lovelock. Numerous 

trail variants feed into and branch from the main corridor along the 

Humboldt River, particularly on the west end where fortune seekers 

fanned out toward the California gold fields.

Read ahead to decide which variant to follow into California, 

and consult the separate National Park Service “Map and Guide” 

brochure to the California National Historic Trail for an overview 

map. The brochure is available from many trail venues along this auto 

tour and also can be requested free from the National Park Service at: 

ntsl_interpretation@nps.gov or by calling 801-741-1012.

Variants of the California National Historic Trail in Nevada, listed 

from east to west, are: 

The Hastings Cutoff (est. 1846). The difficult “short cut” attempted 

by the Donner-Reed Party enters Nevada about 10 miles north of 

Wendover at the Utah border, meanders south around the Ruby 

Mountains, and turns north again to the Humboldt River. This 

winding cutoff twice crosses highways along the auto tour route 

before joining the main California Trail corridor near the California 

Trail Historic Interpretive Center west of Elko. Consult Auto Tour 

Segment A on page 58.

The Applegate Trail (est. 1846). This trail branches off the main 

California Trail corridor about seven and a half miles northwest of 

Imlay, Nevada. It crosses the Black Rock Desert and enters California 

a few miles northeast of Cedarville, eventually ending at Oregon’s 
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55

Willamette Valley. The auto tour of the Applegate Trail in Nevada 

begins at entry A-13 in this guide. For a backcountry taste of the 

Applegate where it approaches the Black Rock Desert, consult Auto 

Tour Segment B on page 77.

The Nobles Trail (est. 1852). The Nobles Trail splits off the Applegate 

Trail at the eastern edge of the Black Rock Desert and ends at Shasta, 

California. This trail in Nevada crosses paved highway at Gerlach, but 

segments of it are accessible via backcountry dirt roads. Consult Auto 

Tour Segment B on page 77. 

The Truckee Route (est. 1844). The main corridor of the California 

Trail forks into two branches, the Truckee Route and the Carson 

Route, near the Humboldt Bar beyond Lovelock. The Truckee Route, 

taken by the Donner-Reed Party, continues along the north side 

of the Forty-mile Desert to Wadsworth. From there it follows the 

Truckee River through Reno, enters the Sierra Nevada, and ends at 

Johnson’s Ranch southeast of Yuba City, California. Directions for 

this route through Nevada begin at entry A22 on page 74.

The Carson Route (est. 1848). From the trail fork near the Humboldt 

Bar, the Carson Route turns south through the Forty-mile Desert 

toward the Carson River near Fallon. The trail follows the river into 

the Sierra Nevada south of Lake Tahoe and ends at Sacramento, 

California. Much of the Carson Route through Nevada coincides with 

the alignment of US 50. The auto tour of this route starts on page 75.

The Beckwourth Trail (est. 1851). This trail, established by African 

American mountain man Jim Beckwourth, branches from the Truckee 

Route in Sparks, Nevada. From there it crosses Beckwourth Pass and 

ends near Oroville, California. See Beckwourth Trail text on page 76.

The Walker River-Sonora Route (est. 1852). This route branches from 

the Carson Route at Fort Churchill, Nevada, and enters California at 

Topaz Lake. From there it follows the Walker River south and ends at 

Sonora, California. See Walker River-Sonora text C-19 on page 100.
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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Confluence of the South Fork of the Humboldt and the Humboldt 

River west of Elko where the Hastings Cutoff joins the main trail 

corridor.

56

Tips for Trailing Across Nevada

Many unfortunate emigrants found themselves stranded without 

oxen, wagon, water, or food, and hundreds of miles from help 

while following the California Trail through Nevada’s pitiless deserts 

and sagebrush barrens. Some of today’s Great Basin highways are still 

long and lonesome, and walking miles along the sun-baked roadside 

without food and water is an authentic trail experience most visitors 

do not relish. Before starting across Nevada, consult a road map to 

plan fuel and refreshment stops. Carry emergency supplies and refuel 

when your vehicle’s gas tank approaches half empty, especially when 

driving US 50. There is a reason why it is called “The Loneliest Road 

in America.”

However, Nevada is threaded with roads that are even lonelier. This 

guide notes opportunities for side trips on backcountry roads closer 

to and sometimes on the original California and Pony Express trails. 

Some of these dirt roads wind through empty expanses of rangeland, 

see little traffic, and are beyond cell phone service. Do not count on 

summoning help if your vehicle becomes disabled in the backcountry. 

Go prepared. Start with a full tank of gas, heavy-duty, off-pavement 

tires in good condition, and at least one full-size spare, properly 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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57

inflated and in good condition. Carry water, and travel with at least 

one other vehicle in case one breaks down. More specific advisories 

are provided among the individual tour entries.

While traveling the Nevada Auto Tour Routes, visitors will notice 

T-shaped markers made of steel railroad rail at many stops along the 

way. Mounted to the distinctive markers are metal plates inscribed 

with emigrant quotes about the trail. The markers are erected by 

Trails West, Inc., a nonprofit volunteer organization, to denote and 

interpret key sites and segments of the California Trail. Trails West, 

Inc. publishes a series of comprehensive driving guides, Emigrant 

Trails West, for its T-rail markers, with directions to many off-highway 

sites not described here. These and other useful guides are available 

from www.emigranttrailswest.org, www.shopblackrockdesert.org, 

and www.octa-trails.org. Numbers on the T-rail markers correspond 

to the Trails West guides, not to the numbered stops listed in this auto 

tour route guide.

Remember as you follow the pioneers that the ruts, swales, campsites, 

graves, and relics they left behind are touchstones to our nation’s 

past. Please avoid driving over abandoned wagon ruts and swales, but 

do explore them on foot. Unauthorized metal detecting, probing and 

digging for artifacts, and relic collecting are illegal on public lands, as 

well as on private lands without the owner’s permission. Leave the trail 

undisturbed for everyone to enjoy.
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AUTO TOUR SEGMENT A: WEST WENDOVER

AND JACKPOT, NEVada, TO CALIFORNIA 

(California Trail)

Begin on westbound I-80 at the Utah/Nevada border.

A-1. Nevada Welcome Center 

(735 Wendover Blvd., West 

Wendover, Nev.) offers state 

road maps, travel information, 

and restrooms. A small park with 

a playground is nearby. Open 

Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; 

closed weekends and holidays.

Directions: Take I-80 Exit 410 

and turn left onto Florence Way to cross under the freeway. At the 

intersection go straight across Wendover Boulevard and turn left into 

the welcome center parking lot. Interpretive exhibits about the trail 

are located at the Victory Highway Interpretive Park Center west of 

the welcome center and directly north of the historic, giant cowboy 

sign, “Wendover Will.”

A-2. Pilot Peak (I-80 west of 

West Wendover) can be observed 

from two highway pullouts just 

off the freeway. The first pullout 

has a Nevada state historical 

sign; the second, an interpretive 

pavilion with information about 

the significance of this important 

landmark on the California Trail.

Directions: Return to westbound I-80. Take Exit 398, about 12 

miles from the Utah/Nevada border, and turn right at the stop sign. 

The pullout with the state historical sign is on the right. Continue 

along the paved road to the interpretive pavilion, also on the right. 

Afterward, return to westbound I-80.
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Stop A-3 is 15 miles north of the primary tour route on I-80. To bypass 

this site and continue along the freeway, skip to entry A-4. 

A-3. Willow Creek (US 93 north 

of Wells, Nev.) is a stretch of 

original wagon trail on a public 

easement. There are no interpretive 

exhibits or historical signs at this 

location.

Directions: From the Pilot Peak 

stop, continue westbound on 

I-80 toward Wells, about 60 miles 

west of the Utah border. Take Exit 352B and turn right onto US 93 

toward Twin Falls, Idaho. Reset your vehicle’s trip odometer at the 

turn. In 14.4 miles, turn right onto an unpaved road, marked with a 

wooden BLM directional sign for Willow Creek and Hunter Draw. 

For travelers southbound on US 93 from Idaho, this signed turnoff is 

54 miles south of Jackpot and on the left (east). On the other side of 

the boundary fence, park at the informal turnout on the left. East and 

south of the road, original trail is marked with white fiberglass posts 

and is visible as a faint track through the sagebrush. Please do not 

drive on original trail remnants.

Also of Interest: About 12.2 miles farther north along US 93, 

visitors will see signs for the California Trail Back Country Byway. 

The unpaved byway route closely parallels the original California 

Trail to the northeast corner of Nevada, where it splits. One 

branch of the byway curves west again, away from the historic 

trail, and emerges onto US 93 at Jackpot, Nevada. From Jackpot, 

visitors can drive south on the highway and resume the tour at 

Wells (stop A-4). The unpaved portion of the loop is about 100 

miles long and takes about three 

hours to complete. The other 

branch of the byway continues 

northeast along the historic trail 

route toward the Utah border, 

where the designated byway 

ends (although the historic trail 

corridor continues across the 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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60

northwestern corner of Utah and into southern Idaho). For more 

information about the byway, see www.byways.org/explore/

byways/68964/, stop by the Bureau of Land Management’s 

California Trail Historic Interpretive Center west of Elko, or 

phone the center at 775-738-1849. High-clearance vehicles are 

recommended for this drive; some segments of the road into 

Utah may require four-wheel drive. 

To continue west on the Auto Tour Route across Nevada, return 

to Wells; or to join the Oregon Trail across Idaho, go north on 

US 93 to Twin Falls, Idaho and consult the Auto Tour Route 

Interpretive Guide Across Idaho.

A-4. Humboldt Wells (Radar 

Road, Wells, Nev.) was a cluster of 

springs or “wells,” the headwaters 

of the much-maligned Humboldt 

River that travelers followed across 

Nevada. The waterholes were 

scattered across an area of about 

two square miles that served as a 

major emigrant campground. This 

stop has no interpretive exhibits but offers an opportunity to hike a 

short segment of the original emigrant trail across public land.

Directions: If approaching on I-80, take the first exit (352B for 6th 

Street/Business I-80) into Wells, cross US 93, and continue northwest 

on 6th Street/Old Highway 40. If approaching from southbound 

US 93, turn right onto 6th Street. From 6th Street, turn right onto 

Lake Avenue and cross the railroad tracks. Turn left onto 8th Street. 

Pass Starr Avenue and at the next intersection turn right onto Wells 

Avenue and head northeast out of town. Where the road splits about 

0.4 mile from town, turn left and set your trip odometer. Continue 

up the hill toward a radio facility, keeping on the main bladed road. 

The road crosses a wetland area (part of the “wells” locale) and 

passes a private development on the right. At the fork just beyond the 

development, continue straight ahead on the main road; watch on 

the left for a T-rail marker at odometer mile 1.7. Park near the marker 

and walk down the unimproved two-track, which is a remnant of the 

California Trail, for about a mile to view the valley. The waterholes or 
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wells used by emigrants were located on the valley floor, which is now 

cultivated. Visitors may continue to hike along the trail down the hill 

as far as the fence, which marks the boundary between public and 

private property. Please do not trespass. 

Return to town via Wells Avenue. Where Wells Avenue ends, 

turn right onto 8th Street and then take the first left and cross the 

railroad tracks. Turn right onto 7th Street and follow it to Pioneer 

Park (at the end of the street) to view interpretive wayside exhibits 

about the trail. To resume the tour, follow 6th Street southeast to US 

93 and I-80.

Stop A-5 on the Hastings Cutoff is about 27 miles south of I-80. To 

bypass this side-trip and continue the tour west along the freeway 

corridor, return to westbound I-80 and skip to entry A-6.

A-5. The Hastings Cutoff (US 93 

south of Wells, Nev.) was the route 

taken by the Donner-Reed Party on 

their way to disaster in the Sierra 

Nevada. Looking northeast from 

the interpretive pullout toward 

Snow Water Lake, the original 

cutoff route passes south of the 

lake, turns south and parallels 

today’s US 93 past Warm Springs (visible as a low grove of trees north 

of the pullout). It swings west again here, where it crosses the modern 

highway. At this pullout, visitors can park and walk west along original 

trail ruts over public land for about two miles.

Directions: From Wells, follow US 93 south for about 27 miles. A 

road sign for Hastings Cutoff, with a California National Historic 

Trail logo, denotes the pullout on the right side of the highway. 

White fiberglass markers identify the trail west of the highway and a 

T-rail marker is located at the boundary fence. The Bureau of Land 

Management invites visitors to cross the fence and hike this segment 

of the original cutoff. Drivers can pick up hikers by continuing south 

about a mile and turning west on NV 229 toward Secret Pass and the 

Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The trail intercepts the highway 

at a gravel pullout 2.2 miles west of the turn, near milepost 48.
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62

From the pullout, continue on NV 229 through Secret Pass. Go 

through Halleck to I-80 and enter the westbound lanes.

A-6. Northeastern Nevada 

Museum (1515 Idaho Street, 

Elko, Nev.) exhibits an original 

log building from the site of the 

Ruby Valley Pony Express Station. 

The museum also has an extensive 

Western art and photography 

collection and exhibits on the 

California Trail, Paiute and 

Shoshone Indians, and historic guns and saddles. Open Tuesday–

Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday 1–5 p.m.; closed Mondays. Open 

all holidays except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. 

A modest admission is charged, but the museum is open free on the 

last Sunday of each month. A short distance down Idaho Street stand 

original log buildings, constructed after 1880, that originally were part 

of the Sherman Station ranch and stage station. Visitor information is 

available there at the Chamber of Commerce.

Directions: Take I-80 Exit 303, turn left at the end of the ramp, and 

cross under the freeway. At the traffic signal, turn right onto Idaho 

Street (the main street in Elko). Pass College Avenue on the right; turn 

right on the next street, Chris Sheerin Way, and enter the city park. 

The museum is on the left. The building from the Ruby Valley Pony 

Express Station site is located outside at 

the front entrance; Nevada state historical 

signs about the history of Elko are on the 

west side of the museum; and interpretive 

exhibits about the trail are located in the 

park west of the museum, near the Basque 

sculpture.

A-7. The California National Historic 

Trail Interpretive Center (west of Elko) is 

a new Bureau of Land Management facility 

featuring trail art, excellent interpretive 

exhibits, and programs, special events, and 

meeting space. Currently open summers 
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63

only, but the schedule is subject to change. For hours, call 775-

738-1849 or go to www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office.html

and click on the trail center link. Trail etiquette information and 

interpretive exhibits are provided at the interpretive kiosk.

Directions: From Elko drive west on I-80. Take Exit 292, turn right, 

and then follow the entrance road to the center.

A-8. Carlin Canyon (23 miles 

west of Elko) is a deep, winding 

river gorge that provided passage 

through the mountains for 

thousands of emigrants and 

treasure seekers heading for 

California. The scenic canyon looks 

much the same as it did during 

the emigration era. Two historical 

wayside kiosks describe its history and geology. On the opposite side 

of the river, white fiberglass markers identify California Trail ruts.

Directions: From westbound I-80, take Exit 282 (East Carlin), 

located about five miles west of the I-80 tunnel. Turn left at the end 

of the exit and cross over the freeway. At the next stop sign, turn 

left onto the frontage road (Chesnut Street) and drive back toward 

the freeway tunnel. As the frontage road approaches the tunnel, it 

curves sharply to the northwest, crosses under the highway, and 

enters Carlin Canyon. Near the mouth of the canyon, a kiosk on the 

left provides information about the area’s geology. Continue up the 

canyon, watching for white fiberglass trail markers across the river. 

Two miles up the canyon and on the right is a pullout with a second 

interpretive kiosk and a T-rail marker. 

To view interpretive wayside exhibits in Carlin where emigrants 

stopped to rest and camp, follow the frontage road, NV 221/

Chesnut Street, back (west) into town. Turn left (south) on 10th 

Street and drive three blocks to Hamilton Street. Turn right and 

continue through the residential area. An exhibit is in the city park 

on the left as you approach B Street. Then drive back two blocks 

to 2nd Street and turn left (northwest). Drive through town to NV 

221/Chesnut Street and turn left (west). Continue approximately 

one mile to the intersection with NV 278. An interpretive exhibit 
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64

is in the Chinese Garden Park at the highway junction.

Now return to westbound I-80 via interchange 279, immediately 

north of the Chinese Garden. If the interchange is closed for 

construction (as scheduled through 2012), return to Carlin, turn left 

on 10th Street, and enter the freeway at interchange 280.

Ahead, the Humboldt River bends southwesterly and winds 

through Palisade Canyon, a chokepoint too narrow for wagon 

passage. To detour around that obstacle, the California Trail 

leaves the river west of Carlin and climbs through the Tuscarora 

Mountains at Emigrant Pass. Today’s I-80 is on the trail corridor 

over Emigrant Pass between Exit 271 and Exit 268. Then the trail 

turns south to rejoin the Humboldt at Gravelly Ford, eventually 

intercepting the freeway once more west of Exit 261. An 

interpretive wayside exhibit about the condition of emigrants at 

this point in their travels is located at the Beowawe rest area just 

beyond Exit 261.

From Gravelly Ford, wagons traveled along both sides of the 

Humboldt River. I-80 closely 

follows the south side trail 

corridor.

On approaching highway 

milepost 240, look north across 

the river toward the Sheep Creek 

Mountains. The southern tip of 

the range is Stoney Point, said 

to be one of the bloodiest landmarks along the Humboldt River 

because several attacks on wagon parties occurred near this 

location in 1857. 

Approaching Exit 205, look toward the line of hills ahead and to the 

right. At the far end of that range, wagons faced a steep climb over 

Iron Point. There in 1846, James Reed of the Donner-Reed Party 

fatally stabbed a fellow emigrant.
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65

A-9. Button Point (east of 

Winnemucca, Nev.) offers a good 

view of the lush meadows in the 

Humboldt River Valley, where 

native people collected grass seed 

and emigrants cut wild hay for 

their livestock. Nevada historical 

signs and wayside exhibits at the 

roadside rest area tell about the 

Humboldt River and 19th-century international politics along the 

watercourse. A T-rail marker is located near the restroom.

Directions: Take Exit 187, turn right, and follow the entrance road 

back to the rest area. On leaving the rest area, turn right and continue 

one mile on the frontage road, past the interstate entrance/exit, to the 

end of the pavement. Continue ahead a half-mile on the dirt road to a 

T-rail marker on the right, where the trail drops into a gully. Return to 

westbound I-80.

Also of Interest: The Humboldt 

Museum (Jungo Road & Maple 

Avenue, Winnemucca) has 

exhibits about local history and 

prehistory, including the skeleton 

of a prehistoric mammoth that 

was excavated from the Black 

Rock Desert. Open Monday–

Friday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. and 

Saturday by appointment. Call 775-623-2912. No admission fee is 

charged, but donations are appreciated.

Directions: Take I-80 Exit 178 into Winnemucca. Turn left at 

the end of the off-ramp, cross under the freeway, and continue 

into town on 2nd Street/Winnemucca Blvd. At the second traffic 

light, turn right onto US 95/Melarkey Street. At the corner of the 

intersection, an enormous log and a T-rail marker commemorate 

a trails-era trading post that stood near the river. Continue along 

US 95/Melarkey Street and cross under the freeway and over the 

Humboldt and Southern Pacific railroad track. Turn left at the 

next street, Jungo Road, then immediately bear right onto Maple 

Avenue. Museum parking is on the left.
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Advisory! West of Winnemucca, visitors will have the option of 

following part of the Applegate and Nobles trail variants of the 

California Trail into the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon 

Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area (NCA). The area 

is remote and threaded with unsigned roads. Before leaving 

Winnemucca, travelers planning to explore the trail through 

the NCA should top off their gas tanks and stop by the Bureau 

of Land Management (BLM) office at 5100 E. Winnemucca 

Boulevard or phone 775- 623-1500 to purchase 1:100,000 BLM 

Surface Management Status maps of the area or to request a free 

Black Rock NCA eBook on CD. The CD can be requested by email 

at wfoweb@blm.gov and can be downloaded (without maps) 

from www.blackrockdesert.org/ebook/. Many other detailed 

maps and guidebooks for the area are available for purchase 

at www.shopblackrockdesert.org/mapsandbooks.html, www.

emigranttrailswest.org, and www.octa-trails.org. While at the BLM 

office, pick up a free guide to the Lovelock Cave Back Country 

Byway, which begins at Lovelock.

Wayside exhibits at the Cosgrave rest area, about 20 miles west of 

Winnemucca at I-80 Exit 158, interpret the California Trail.

A-10. The Dry Cutoff (northwest 

of Mill City, Nev.) is a segment 

of wagon trail in a largely natural 

setting.

Directions: Continue west on I-80 

to Exit 149 and turn right at the end 

of the ramp. Continue northwest at 

the intersection, across the frontage 

road and railroad tracks, keeping 

to the paved road. The road next crosses an irrigation canal and then 

the Humboldt River. Set your trip odometer at the river bridge. Just 

beyond the bridge, the road crosses the old Idaho Stage Road. About 

4.4 miles past the bridge, a bladed road that is part of the Dry Cutoff 

enters from the left. Turn onto the road and look for a T-rail marker 

on the right. Vehicles with high clearance can continue down the 

bladed road when it is dry, but the road may be closed about four 

miles beyond the turnoff.
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A-11. The Applegate Trail (west of Imlay, Nev.) provided one last 

chance for emigrants to turn toward Oregon. This variant, blazed 

in 1846, leaves the main California Trail across the Humboldt River 

about 7.5 miles northeast of today’s community of Imlay and heads 

westerly to the Black Rock Desert. The Nobles and Lassen trails, 

established later, eventually branch off the Applegate Trail toward 

California destinations. A Nevada state historical sign tells the story. 

No trail remnants are visible at this stop.

Directions: From the Dry Cutoff, return to westbound I-80. Take 

Exit 145 at Imlay and turn right at the end of the ramp. At the stop 

sign, turn left onto the frontage road, Old Highway 40, along the 

north side of the freeway. The state historical sign is on the right at an 

intersection about a mile from the turn.

From here the route continues along an unpaved county road past 

Rye Patch Reservoir—once the “Big Bend” of the Humboldt and on 

the Applegate Trail. When dry, the road to sites A-12 through A-15 

typically is negotiable by two-wheel-drive passenger vehicles. From 

stop A-15, vehicles unsuited for backcountry travel are advised to 

return to the highway. This out-and-back drive entails a round trip 

of about 22 miles over bladed dirt roads. 

To bypass these sites and stay on the pavement, skip ahead to entry 

A-16.

High-clearance vehicles with all-terrain tires and at least one 

spare in good condition will be able to continue on backcountry 

roads beyond A-15 toward Gerlach. Further driving directions are 

provided in Auto Tour Segment B.

A-12. Lassens Meadows (west of 

Imlay, Nev.), where the Humboldt 

River begins bending south toward 

its “sink,” is near the head of the 

Applegate Trail. The spot offered 

emigrants a welcome, wet place to 

camp at the end of the Dry Cutoff 

and provided an opportunity to cut 

meadow hay for livestock. Today 
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this part of the meadows is within Rye Patch State Recreation Area.

Directions: Reset your vehicle’s trip odometer at the Nevada state 

historical sign at Imlay and turn right onto the unsigned, bladed 

Imlay-Sulphur Road. At the first intersection, continue north on the 

main road and cross the railroad track. Where the road splits north 

of the track, bear left and follow signs toward the county dump. As 

the road crosses an irrigation ditch, it jogs slightly to the north and 

several dirt tracks split off to the left. Stay right on the main road. 

About 4.3 miles from the state sign, the road approaches the Callahan 

Bridge at the Humboldt River. Cross the bridge and cattle guard, park 

at the pullout on the right, and locate the brown T-rail marker on the 

knoll next to the road. The Dry Cutoff comes in from the right (east) 

as a dirt road and continues to the left (west) on a dirt road next to a 

fence, going along the river toward historic Lassens Meadows.

A-13. Applegate Trail remnants 

(Rye Patch Reservoir northwest 

of Imlay) are visible at this stop.

Directions: The unpaved road 

from the junction to this site is 

bladed and suitable when dry 

for two-wheel-drive passenger 

vehicles. From Callahan Bridge, 

follow the road as it turns 

southwest. About 1.4 miles from the bridge, as the road nears a gap 

between the river and the point of a mountain, watch on the right 

for a yellow curve sign. Opposite the sign, turn left and park at the 

livestock corral. A T-rail marker is located on the trail in the saddle of 

a sand ridge about 300 yards west of the corral. 

Continue northwest on the county road. Between Callahan Bridge 

and the point of the mountain, the emigrant trail runs along 

the south side of the road; at the mountain, the wagon trail dips 

beneath Rye Patch Reservoir, which once was part of Lassens 

Meadows. About 3.8 miles from Callahan Bridge is the entrance to 

the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Desert Emigrant Trails National 

Conservation Area (NCA). Note your odometer reading at the sign 

and consult driving directions to A-14.
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A-14. Applegate Trail Ruts (Rye 

Patch Reservoir) emerge from 

beneath the reservoir here. Up to 

two miles of original trail can be 

hiked in this area.

Directions: Approximately 0.6 mile 

past the NCA entrance sign (4.2 

miles beyond the bridge), on the 

west side of the reservoir where the 

river bends southward, watch along the left side of the road for a dirt 

road with a brown fiberglass trail marker. Turn south from the county 

road onto this secondary dirt road and continue 0.5 mile to a second 

fiberglass trail marker that identifies the crossing of the Applegate 

Trail. Park there. Hike east (to the left) along the trail for a half-mile 

toward the reservoir and end at a T-rail marker. Alternatively, hikers 

can walk west (to the right) from the parking spot along original, 

well-preserved Applegate Trail ruts, which intersect the county road 

again about two miles beyond this parking location. While hikers are 

walking west, a driver can return to the county road—do not drive in 

the ruts—and turn left to pick up hikers at stop A-15.

A-15. Haystack Butte (Applegate 

Trail west of Rye Patch 

Reservoir), an odd mound visible 

in the distance from the trail, was 

noted as a curiosity by emigrants 

crossing the valley.

Directions: Return to the county 

road from stop A-14. Turn left and 

drive west on the county road for 

2.5 miles. A T-rail marker denoting Haystack Butte is located at the 

northwest corner of the intersection where the trail crosses the road. 

The butte is seven miles north of the marker and the trail.

Advisory! Now the way grows rougher. Vehicles that are unsuited 

to rugged dirt roads should turn around here, retrace the route 

to I-80 at Imlay, and resume the auto tour to stop A-16, below. 

Otherwise, if continuing this backcountry tour of the Applegate and 
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Nobles trails, skip ahead to Auto Tour Segment B.

A-16. The California Trail along 

the Humboldt River (south of 

Imlay) was littered with the carcasses 

of livestock that had become mired 

and drowned in alkaline sloughs 

while trying desperately to drink 

from the river. A T-rail marker along 

the highway relates one traveler’s 

description, and wagon swales are located there. Please do not 

trespass on adjacent private property. The trail along the south side of 

the Humboldt River converges with the freeway south of the marker.

Directions: Continuing westbound on I-80 from Imlay, take Exit 

129 to Rye Patch Dam. At the end of the exit, turn right and cross the 

tracks. The T-rail marker is on the left side of the road about a halfmile from the freeway. 

A-17. The California Trail (Oreana, 

Nev.) crosses to the east side of 

I-80 at the Oreana interchange, 

then angles southwest between the 

freeway and Old Highway 40. A 

T-rail marker and swales are near the 

spot where I-80 and the old highway 

converge. The trail crosses the 

freeway alignment there.

Directions: Continue on westbound I-80 from stop A-16 and take 

Exit 119 at Oreana. At the end of the exit, turn right and follow the 

road as it crosses under I-80. At the next intersection, turn right onto 

Old Highway 40, which is not signed at that location. In 3.4 miles, as 

the road gradually converges with I-80, look on the right for a brown 

T-rail marker near the fence by the freeway. A narrow paved road that 

crosses under the freeway is about 50 yards south of the marker. 

Visitors can drive cautiously through the narrow underpass to the 

west side of I-80, turn left onto Upper Valley Road/Old Highway 40, 

and follow directions from Colado to stop A-18 below. Otherwise, 
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return to the on-ramp at Oreana and continue on westbound I-80 

to stop A-18.

A-18. Approaching Big Meadows 

(Lovelock, Nev.), starving livestock 

and exhausted travelers lifted their 

heads and picked up their feet, 

for they knew that relief lay just 

head. A T-rail marker is located at 

this stop on the approach to Big 

Meadows, and faint trail trace is 

visible there.

Directions: Take I-80 Exit 112 at Colado. At the end of the ramp, 

turn right onto Coal Canyon Road. At the road’s end a short distance 

ahead, turn left onto Upper Valley Road/Old Highway 40 and drive 

1.7 miles. The T-rail marker is to the right about eight yards off the 

road, just before the junction with Old Pitt Dam Road. 

A-19. Big Meadows (Lovelock)

was large and lush, absorbing 

much of the dwindling river as it 

approached the Humboldt Sink. 

Here travelers stopped to rest 

their livestock and cut meadow 

hay in preparation for the crossing 

of the Forty-mile Desert just 

ahead. Several commemorative 

and interpretive monuments are located near the Pershing County 

Courthouse. Most of the meadows are now agricultural fields; they 

can be viewed along the Lovelock Cave Back Country Byway (see Also 

of Interest, below).

Directions: From stop A-18, continue south on Upper Valley Road/

NV 396 into Lovelock. On the north end of town is a five-way 

intersection. At the stop sign there, bear slightly to the left onto 

Cornell Avenue/Business Route I-80/US 40 and continue south 

through town. Turn right onto Main Street (at the traffic light after 

11th Street). Go one block, cross Dartmouth Avenue, and bear right 

onto Central Avenue. The Pershing County Courthouse, a distinctive 
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72

round building, is to the left. Park at the lot between the courthouse 

and the library. A T-rail marker commemorating Big Meadows is 

located at the flagpole in front of the library, north of the courthouse 

parking lot. Other historical signs and trail monuments are located on 

the grounds, as well. 

Also of Interest: Lovelock Cave 

Back Country Byway. This 

Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) driving tour passes 

through the long-ago meadows 

and ends at Lovelock Cave, at 

the edge of the Humboldt Sink. 

Entries in the backcountry byway 

driving guide correspond to 

numbered signs at points of interest along the route. Traces of an 

alternate wagon route that skirts the east rim of the Humboldt 

Sink are visible along this drive. The BLM guide to the byway 

and a children’s activity book are available free at a kiosk at the 

Marzen House Museum, the first stop on the byway tour. To 

get there, drive southwest through town on Cornell Avenue/ 

Business Route I-80. As the street approaches an I-80 overpass, 

look on the right for Marzen Lane and a sign to the museum. 

Turn onto Marzen Lane and continue to the museum to pick up 

your guides at the kiosk.

A-20. The Humboldt Sink, which 

begins about 20 miles south of 

Lovelock, is a shallow basin that 

collects the last of the Humboldt 

River. A T-rail marker on the playa 

summarizes one traveler’s opinion 

of the place.

Directions: From the Pershing 

County Courthouse in Lovelock, 

take Main Street southeast toward I-80, cross the railroad tracks, and 

continue one full block to Amherst Avenue. Turn right onto Amherst, 

which becomes NV 397/399. As the road heads south of town, it 

passes among agricultural fields where emigrants once camped and 
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73

cut hay. Turn right at Westergard 

Road and continue west to the 

junction with Derby Airport Road. 

Turn right at Derby Airport Road 

and drive one mile. Look on the 

right, south of the tracks, for a 

T-rail marker denoting Granite 

Point. 

Now drive north toward I-80 and cross the railroad tracks. Turn 

left onto the frontage road (NV 401) and drive 4.2 miles. Beyond 

Toulon, turn right and enter the westbound lanes of I-80. At 

highway milepost 90, look east for a view of the Humboldt Sink. 

Lovelock Cave appears as a white, crescent-shaped ridge on the 

hillside across the playa.

Farther south, look east to see Humboldt Lake, the last of the 

Humboldt River flow. At the south end of the sink the freeway 

crosses the Humboldt Bar, a natural dike that separates the 

Humboldt and Carson-Truckee River drainages. The dike was 

created by the currents of prehistoric Lake Lahontan, which 

covered much of western Nevada during the last Ice Age. 

Emigrants, unaware of the bar’s origins, regarded it as just another 

hill to climb. Near the Humboldt Bar, the main California Trail 

corridor splits. One branch, the Truckee Route, goes along the 

northern edge of the Forty-mile Desert toward the Truckee River 

at today’s town of Wadsworth. The other, the Carson Route, 

skirts the southern edge of the Forty-mile Desert, then angles 

toward the Carson River at present-day Fallon. By either route, it 

is roughly 40 miles—about a day and a half of hard, continuous 

travel by ox and wagon—across 

the desert to the nearest river. 

A-21. The Forty-mile Desert 

(between Lovelock and Fernley, 

Nev.) was a 200,000 square-mile 

cauldron of heat and thirst. Here 

the trails were literally paved with 

dead livestock. Researchers have 
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74

determined that the Truckee and Carson routes diverge two miles east 

of the rest area rather than five miles southwest of it, as the historical 

sign at the rest area states.

Directions: Take I-80 Exit 83, follow the road under the freeway, and 

turn right into the Trinity rest area. Historical signs about the desert 

crossing are located in the picnic area. 

A-22. The Truckee Route

crosses US 95 here as the trail 

starts into the desert. A T-rail 

marker identifies the route, and 

faint trail trace is visible under 

certain lighting conditions as a 

discoloration of the soil.

Directions: From the Exit 83 

Trinity rest area, turn right onto US 

95 and drive 0.8 mile. A pullout and a T-rail marker that recounts an 

emigrant’s experience on Forty-mile Desert are on the left side of the 

road. 

Now the trail network begins to ravel into loose strands that fan out 

into different directions. Like the pioneers and 19th-century fortune 

seekers, today’s travelers must choose which way to go:

The Truckee Route continues westward through the Forty-mile 

Desert, gradually converging with I-80. Both trail and freeway 

pass through the Truckee Dunes, visible from I-80 on the 

approach to Wadsworth and Fernley. An interpretive wayside 

exhibit telling of emigrants’ relief upon reaching the Truckee is 

located at the Wadsworth rest area at I-80 Exit 43. From there, 

the joint trail-and-highway corridor follows the Truckee River 

upstream through Reno and into the Sierra Nevada, entering 

California north of Lake Tahoe. The 1846 Donner-Reed Party 

took this route into the mountains. To follow the Truckee Route, 

take westbound I-80 toward Sparks and Reno. 

In Reno, stop by the Nevada Historical Society Museum (1650 

N. Virginia Street) to visit the Passing Through exhibit, which 

explores the evolution of an Indian footpath into an emigrant 

wagon trail and finally into a modern interstate freeway, and the 
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Living on the Land exhibit, 

about native peoples of the 

Great Basin. The museum is 

open Wednesday–Saturday, 

10 a.m.–5 p.m. A modest 

admission charged, 17 and 

younger admitted free. To find 

the museum, take I-80 Exit 13 

and turn right on Virginia Street. 

Drive north for 0.8 mile, following University of Nevada signs. 

Just past the planetarium, turn right onto 16th Street and the 

University of Nevada-Reno Campus. The museum is on the left.

Return to the westbound lanes of I-80 and continue toward Truckee, 

California. Further directions will be provided in the future Auto 

Tour Route Interpretive Guide, California: Across the Sierra 

Nevada.

The Carson Route intercepts US 95 south of the I-80 Exit 83 rest 

area and then swings southwest toward US 50. The combined 

trail and highway corridor goes through Carson City and enters 

California south of Lake Tahoe. To follow this route, turn south 

onto US 95. About four miles south of the Exit 83 rest area, past 

the railroad crossing and on the left side of the highway, is a 

pullout with a T-rail marker indicating where the Carson Route 

crosses the highway. A few miles farther south, the emigrant trail 

veers southwest. To intercept the trail again, continue 28 miles on 

US 95 to Fallon and skip ahead to entry C-9.

The Applegate Trail crosses 

the Black Rock Desert 

and enters California near 

Cedarville, more than 150 

miles northwest of the I-80/

US 95 junction. The Lassen 

and Nobles trails branch off 

the Applegate and end in 

California. To join the Applegate 

Trail from here via paved roads, take westbound I-80 toward 
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Fernley. Leave the freeway at Exit 46 and turn right onto NV 427. 

At Wadsworth, turn right onto NV 447. Approaching Nixon, 

see entries B-11 and B-12 concerning the Pyramid Lake War. 

Continue north along the highway through Gerlach (where the 

Nobles Trail crosses the highway) to California. Further directions 

will be provided in the future Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide, 

California: Across the Sierra Nevada.

The Beckwourth Trail branches off the Truckee Route in the 

Truckee Meadows, a few miles west of Steamboat Creek. After 

crossing the Truckee River, the Beckwourth Trail heads northwest 

through present-day Reno, generally following today’s alignment 

of US 395 into California. A detailed driving guide to the 

Beckwourth Trail can be purchased at www.plumasmuseum.org/. 

Beyond US 395 Exit 73 for 

Golden Valley and about 0.2 mile 

past a shopping center on the 

right side of the highway, look on 

the right to see Beckwourth Trail 

swales. Approaching Exit 80 for 

White Lake Parkway, look ahead 

and to the right to see the White 

Lake playa. Emigrants crossed the 

playa when it was dry but passed south of it along today’s highway 

alignment when it was wet.

Continue on northbound US 95 to Bordertown, where the trail 

leaves Nevada. Further directions will be provided in the future 

Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide, California: Across the Sierra 

Nevada.
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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The Black Rock Desert is named for the prominent volcanic 

feature found at the southern end of the Black Rock Range.

77

AUTO TOUR SEGMENT B: BLACK ROCK 

DESERT, RYE PATCH RESERVOIR TO GERLACH, 

NEVada

(Applegate and Nobles Trails)

The Black Rock Desert/High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trail National 

Conservation Area (NCA), managed by the Bureau of Land 

Management, boasts some of the best wagon trail in the West. Here 

the emigrant road winds through empty, sun-blasted country that has 

changed little over the past 150 years. This tour, which takes visitors 

across the south end of the Black Rock Desert between Imlay and 

Gerlach, offers just a tantalizing taste of what the NCA has to offer. 

The tour route described here follows unpaved roads suitable in dry 

weather for two-wheel-drive vehicles with sturdy all-terrain (not 

all-weather) tires. High clearance is recommended. Gas, food, and 

drinking water are not available along the way. Cell phone coverage 

may be unavailable.

Segments of the road beyond Rabbithole Springs are considered 

“tire-shredders” because of sharp volcanic rocks that can puncture 
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78

sidewalls and treads. Trail buffs who regularly drive these roads 

warn visitors to be prepared to change a flat tire on this trip, so make 

sure tires are in good condition and the spare is fully inflated before 

continuing beyond stop A-15 into the Black Rock Desert. Consider 

carrying an extra spare. To help avoid tire punctures, drive slowly. 

Experienced trail hands further advise visitors to caravan with at least 

one other vehicle in case one becomes disabled and to inform others 

of your travel plans.

Detailed maps of the NCA are available from the Bureau of Land 

Management in Winnemucca, and excellent guides with GPS 

coordinates for T-rail markers along the Applegate and Nobles trails 

can be ordered from the Trails West, Inc., and Friends of the Black 

Rock/High Rock websites. With these maps and guides, visitors 

with high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicles and all-terrain tires 

can explore more of the desert and even drive the Applegate Trail to 

California.

Advisory! Mine tunnel entrances are visible from the road 

throughout this area. Old mines are dangerous. Do not enter!

Expect the drive described below to take most of a day. From Imlay, 

take I-80 Exit 145 and follow directions to stops A-11 through A-15 

above. Reset your trip odometer at stop A-15, Haystack Butte, and 

begin this backcountry tour at Willow Spring.

B-1. Willow Springs (Applegate 

Trail) was a muddy waterhole used 

by emigrants on the Applegate Trail, 

and later was the site of a freight 

and stage station.

Directions: From Haystack Butte 

(stop A-15), continue due west for 

six miles on the main road (passing 

numerous unmarked spur roads), 

toward a gap between the mountains. Where the main road forks, 

take the right branch and drive toward a green patch of vegetation, 

which signals the location of the springs in a wash. Please observe the 

springs from the road, as this is private property. 
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Advisory! The auto tour continues along this graded county road, 

which diverges from the Applegate Trail at Willow Springs. The graded 

road passes over Imlay Summit and rejoins the emigrant trail in 

about 15 miles, a short distance east of Rabbithole Springs. However, 

travelers with high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles can drive the 

actual Applegate Trail to that junction. To do so, return to the fork in the 

road east of Willow Springs. This time take the other (left) branch. This 

more primitive south road is the original Applegate Trail. Emigrant 

Trails West guides, published by Trails West, Inc., or Black Rock Desert 

guidebooks are recommended for that drive along the trail, as the route 

is shown inaccurately on the government surface management status 

map. 

B-2. Imlay Summit offers a grand 

view to the east, all the way back to 

Lassens Meadows. Look west, too, 

and imagine 19th-century travelers’ 

thoughts about the landscape 

before them.

Directions: From Willow Springs, 

continue northwest for three miles 

on the main graded road. The road 

makes a series of curves as it approaches Imlay Summit. 

B-3. Painted Canyon (Applegate 

Trail) takes its name from the 

colorful sedimentary layers that are 

exposed in the bluffs. Emigrants 

remarked on the canyon in their 

journals. The graded roads over 

Imlay Summit and the Applegate 

Trail from Willow Springs merge 

again here.

Directions: The drive from Imlay Summit to the Painted Canyon 

T-rail marker is 13 miles. From the summit, continue northwest 

toward the Kamma Mountains. Stay on the main road, disregarding 

unsigned secondary roads that branch off from it. About four miles 

past Imlay Summit, the road makes a series of curves and jogs due 

west; in another 1.7 miles, the road ends at an intersection. Turn 
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right. About 0.5 miles beyond the turn, the road curves broadly to 

the northwest and drops into a valley. Several prominent volcanic 

features come into view ahead. Continue on the main road up the 

valley, disregarding secondary branch roads; pass the volcanic 

features and enter scenic Rosebud Canyon. Past the west end of the 

canyon, another graded road turns off to the right toward Rosebud 

Peak: make note of your odometer reading there, but keep left and 

continue west down the valley. The road sweeps broadly to the 

southwest. About three miles from Rosebud Peak, an airstrip may be 

seen north of the road. Directly across from the airstrip, look on the 

left for the T-rail marker that indicates where the original Applegate 

Trail emerges from Painted Canyon. Traces of wagon swale are visible 

along the north side of the bladed county road.

B-4. Rabbithole Springs 

(Applegate Trail) was so named 

when Jesse Applegate’s 1846 party 

noticed dozens of rabbit trails 

converging on a green mound, 

which proved to be a series of small 

spring seeps. The water here did 

not taste good and there was not 

much of it—emigrants had to dig 

holes and wait for them slowly to fill—but it was better than nothing. 

The closest water lay 22 miles across the desert. The open pool at 

Rabbithole today is the result of modern development. The origin of 

the nearby stone ruins remains unresolved.

Directions: From the Painted Canyon T-rail marker, continue 

southwest on the main road for about 2.5 miles. The road leaves the 

valley and climbs a bench. The Rabbithole Springs are on the right as 

the road starts down off the bench, and more seeps are below on the 

left. Park and explore. A T-rail marker with emigrant quotes is located 

down a spur road to the left, overlooking the valley. 

Advisory! Drive slowly to avoid tire punctures.

B-5. The fork of the Applegate and Nobles trails is where a variant 

of the Nobles Trail branches off the road to Oregon and turns west 

toward California.
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81

Directions: Continue down the 

bluff, staying on the main road as it 

curves to the right. In 0.8 mile from 

the curve to the northwest, the road 

forks. A T-rail marker interpreting 

the Nobles Trail stands in the fork. 

The left fork of the road at stop B-5 

is the Nobles Trail. It is a primitive 

dirt track that crosses a playa—impassable when moist—on the 

way to Trego Hot Springs. The road is scored with many deep, jolting 

gullies. Do not attempt to drive this segment; bear right and stay on 

the Applegate Trail.

B-6. Rabbithole Creek 

(Applegate Trail) is more of a 

dry wash than a creek, and was 

crossed several times by emigrants 

on the Applegate Trail. The graded 

road is on the trail alignment as 

it approaches Rabbithole Creek. 

There the trail leaves the road and 

curves around a crescent-shaped 

sand ridge. A T-rail marker denoting the ridge is on the left, between 

the road and the sand ridge. Please do not drive this section of wagon 

ruts, but do explore them on foot.

Directions: At the fork of the trails (entry B-5 above), bear right and 

drive 2.1 miles to the wash. Careful—watch for gullies. 

The modern bladed road continues away from the wagon trail, 

which heads northwest. The wagon trail and modern road intersect 

again at stop B-7.

B-7. Rabbithole Creek to Black Rock Segment (Applegate Trail). 

The draft animals were suffering terribly from thirst and heat at this 

point; dead and dying livestock choked the trail.

Directions: Continue northward for 2.7 miles on the county road 

until it ends at the junction with BLM Road 2048/Jungo Road. Turn 

left and drive 1.9 miles to where the road approaches a sand ridge, 
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goes down a slight slope, and cuts through the ridge. Look on the 

right, at the top of the lower end of the dune, for a T-rail marker. The 

historic trail approaches this location from the east. 

From the top of the dune, look northwest across the desert. The 

black formation in the distance is the “black rock” for which the 

desert is named. Now the auto tour leaves the Applegate Trail, 

continuing southwestward on the bladed road to intercept the 

Nobles Trail.

B-8. Nobles Trail to Trego Hot Springs. Here the graded road again 

intercepts the Nobles Trail, which had branched off the Applegate 

just beyond Rabbithole Springs.

Directions: From stop B-7, continue southwest on Road 2048/

Jungo Road for four miles. There the road approaches a wash and 

the Nobles Trail emerges from a playa to the east. A T-rail marker 

denoting the Nobles Trail through desert country is on the trail left of 

the road. 

B-9. “Barren Ground” on the 

Nobles Trail made for a hard, 

smooth wagon road that was noted 

in many emigrant journals.

Directions: From the Nobles 

Trail T-rail marker at stop B-8, 

continue west on the graded road. 

In about 5.3 miles, BLM Road 

2062 intersects from the left, but 

continue driving west (straight) on Road 2048/Jungo Road as it curves 

around Pahsupp Mountain (following original wagon trail) and 

bends to the southwest. About 3.4 miles from the intersection with 

Road 2062 and off the north toe of the mountain, look on the right 

for a T-rail marker with text about “Barren Ground.” The marker is 

located on the wagon trail about 75 yards from the road.

B-10. At Trego Hot Springs (Nobles Trail) the water is sometimes 

hot, sometimes tepid. Either way, it was a welcome stop for thirsty 

oxen on the Nobles Trail. The amount of water was limited, however, 

and a dam was built to divert the flow into a large reservoir. Once 
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the water reached the reservoir, it 

was cool enough to use in cooking 

and bathing and for watering 

livestock. Today, Trego Hot 

Springs is a popular camping spot. 

Unfortunately, heavy use is taking 

a toll on the cultural and natural 

resources at the site. Please stay out 

of the sensitive dune areas, pack 

your trash, and confine campfires to existing fire rings.

Directions: From the “Barren Ground” site, continue southwest 

on Road 2048/Jungo Road, past Pahsupp Mountain and across a 

drainage at its flank. The road continues directly southwest. Ahead 

is the toe of Trego Mountain (labeled Old Razorback on some 

maps). The road turns gently to the west, curves sharply southwest 

again, and jogs west once more. As Jungo Road approaches the tip 

of Trego Mountain, a well defined dirt road enters from the right 

approximately four miles from stop B-9. Turn onto it and drive north 

toward the railroad track and the playa. South of the railroad track, 

the road intercepts another east/west road; turn right. The springs are 

ahead and to the left. 

Advisory! Do not enter the playa here via the uncontrolled 

railroad grade crossing near the springs, where the line of sight 

along the tracks is limited and trains travel in excess of 70 mph. 

Accidents occur here. To access the playa safely, follow directions 

below to Gerlach, turn north on NV 34, and enter at the 3-Mile 

Access road. Do not enter the playa if it is moist. Get out and test the 

ground to make sure it is solid, or your vehicle could break through 

the dry crust and sink into the wet clay. Once on the playa, avoid 

dark areas that indicate moisture. More information on playa 

driving is available at the Bureau of Land Management visitor 

contact station in Gerlach.

From Trego Hot Springs, continue west on Road 2086, past the 

flank of Trego/Old Razorback Mountain, for about 16 miles to the 

intersection of NV 447, a paved highway. From the intersection, 

it is three miles north to Gerlach and three miles south to Empire. 

For fuel, food, lodging, automotive services, playa access, and 
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information about the Black Rock Desert, turn right to Gerlach. 

B-11. Black Rock Station (NV 447 west of Gerlach) is a Bureau of 

Land Management visitor contact station that offers National Parks 

and Federal Recreation Lands Passes for purchase, and restrooms, 

maps, brochures, interpretive panels, and a small exhibit. Open May–

November, Wednesday-Sunday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. For more information, 

call the station at 775-557-2503.

To intercept the Applegate Trail ahead in California, continue 

north from Gerlach on NV 447. Gerlach is 50 miles from the state 

border and nearly 85 miles from the next services at Cedarville. 

Further directions will be provided in the future Auto Tour Route 

Interpretive Guide, California: Over the Sierra Nevada.

OR, to return to the main California Trail along I-80 and the 

Humboldt River, turn south on NV 447 toward Empire. Fuel and 

groceries are available there, but the community offers no other 

services. It is 53 miles from Empire to the next services at Nixon, at 

the south end of Pyramid Lake.

In recognition of the beauty of that area, part of NV 447 is 

designated as the Pyramid Lake Scenic Byway. 

B-12. Pyramid Lake Scenic 

Byway Cultural Center (709 State 

Street, Nixon, Nev.) is operated 

by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, 

whose ancestors resided in this 

region and battled militiamen and 

soldiers during the Pyramid Lake 

War. The center offers exhibits 

on Paiute culture and language. 

Summers, open Wednesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; closed 

Monday–Tuesday. Free.

Directions: Enter Nixon on NV 447 and cross the river. Continue 

through the community and turn right onto NV 446/Sutcliffe Way. 

The museum is a teepee-shaped building visible from the highway. 

Take the second right, toward the high school, then turn left 
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Pyramid Lake is named after the small pyramidshaped rock feature seen on the distant shoreline 

to the right of center from this vantage point.

85

and proceed to the cultural center on the bench overlooking the 

community. 

For a close-up view of Pyramid Lake, take an up-and-back drive 

along the NV 446 segment of the byway toward Sutcliffe. Return to 

Nixon and continue south on NV 447.

B-13. Two Battles of Pyramid Lake (south of Nixon, NV) were 

fought after white traders kidnapped and abused a pair of Paiute 

children. A Nevada historical sign tells the story.

Directions: Drive south from Empire for 59.5 miles, passing through 

Nixon. The sign is at a pullout on the left, overlooking the Truckee 

River.

From stop B-12, drive south 9.5 miles to Wadsworth. Turn right 

onto NV 427 and then enter the westbound lanes of I-80. To review 

your route options ahead, refer back to the Truckee Route and 

Beckwourth Trail descriptions on pages 74-76.
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AUTO TOUR SEGMENT C: WEST WENDOVER, 

NEVada, TO CALIFORNIA BORDER

(Pony Express Trail and Carson and Walker River-Sonora 

Routes of the California Trail)

Begin on westbound I-80 at the Utah/Nevada border. 

C-1. Nevada Welcome Center 

(735 Wendover Blvd., West 

Wendover, Nev.) offers state 

road maps, travel information, 

and restrooms. A small park with 

a playground is nearby. Open 

Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., 

closed weekends and holidays.

Directions: Take I-80 Exit 410 

and turn left onto Florence Way to cross under the freeway. At the 

intersection go straight across Wendover Boulevard and turn left into 

the welcome center parking lot.

Advisory! The next reliable opportunity to purchase fuel along this 

tour route is at McGill, 107 miles south of West Wendover.

From the welcome center, turn right onto Wendover Boulevard, 

then right onto US 93A, which eventually merges with US 93. 

Follow the highway south for 79.2 miles to Schell Creek Station.

C-2. Schell Creek Station 

(Schellbourne, NV) was a Pony 

Express relay station and a frequent 

target of raids in 1860. The original 

station site is several miles east of 

the highway on private property. 

No ruins or buildings associated 

with Pony Express use are visible 

there, but the site and associated 

events are interpreted at a rest stop along the highway.

Directions: This minimally developed rest area is about 79 miles 
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south of West Wendover, on the east side of the highway at the 

junction of US 93 and White Pine County Road 18. Two large wooden 

buildings—the only ones visible for miles along the highway—are 

directly across from the rest area. A Pony Express monument and 

interpretive exhibits are on the east side of the rest area.

The visit to stop C-3 entails a 23-mile round-trip drive on unpaved 

roads. When dry, the roads are negotiable by two-wheel drive 

passenger vehicles. To skip this stop and stay on the pavement, 

continue south on US 93 to Ely, turn west onto US 50, and consult 

entry C-4 for further directions.

Also of Interest. For eastbound travelers on the Pony Express 

Auto Tour Route, there is a Local Tour Route (LTR) that begins 

at Ibapah Road approximately 50 miles north of the Schell Creek 

Station, or about 25-30 miles south of Wendover, on US 93A. This 

route continues east to Ibapah, Utah, where travelers can follow 

the original Pony Express Trail east to Lehi and Salt Lake City. 

LTR highway signs are expected to be installed by summer of 2012 

on US 93A for this turnoff. 

Advisory! There are no fuel stops or convenience services along this 

route until Vernon, Utah, a distance of approximately 160 miles. 

Most of this road is sand and gravel. It is not maintained during the 

winter and can be unstable when wet. Come prepared for desert 

travel—bring extra water, food, and fuel.

C-3. Egan Canyon (about 40 

miles north of Ely), a twisting, 

narrow defile on the Pony Express 

route west of Schell Creek Station, 

was a worrisome ride for mail 

couriers, and for good reason: this 

is where US troops and Shoshone 

warriors clashed over two captive 

Pony Express station employees. 

Speculation abounds as to who lies buried in the small 19th-century 

graveyard beyond the head of Egan Canyon, but researchers agree 

that no Pony Express rider rests there. Please do not enter private 
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property and mining operations along the route.

Directions: On the west side of US 93, directly opposite the 

Schellbourne rest area, White Pine County Road 18/Schellbourne 

Road heads west past several buildings. Enter that bladed road and 

reset your trip odometer. In about 1.5 miles, the road crosses Duck 

Creek and swings northwest. At five miles, the road crosses a railroad 

grade, and a secondary road enters from the west; continue northwest 

on the main road. At 9.1 miles the road turns to the right, becomes 

graveled, and then bends northeast past a farm. At 10.5 miles the road 

makes a right-angle turn to the northwest and ends at a T-intersection 

with Egan Canyon Road/County Road 23. Turn left toward the 

mouth of the canyon. A Bureau of Land Management sign marks the 

turn and brown fiberglass markers denote the original Pony Express 

route. At 10.9 miles, bear left to stay on the main road and enter the 

canyon, following Bureau of Land Management directional signs. 

At 11.7 miles, look on the right for a concrete Pony Express marker. 

At 12.7 miles, the road emerges from the head of the canyon and 

splits. Nothing remains of the Pony Express station that stood in this 

vicinity. From here, the road to the cemetery is a more primitive dirt 

road; use caution if the ground is wet. Bear right, keeping to the main 

road across the valley, and continue another half-mile. The historic 

cemetery is a small fenced area on the right. 

Beyond the cemetery, the Pony Express Trail continues westward 

through the Cherry Creek Range and into the Butte Mountains. 

This rugged four-wheel-drive route is indistinct in places. Contact 

the Bureau of Land Management at 702 N. Industrial Way, Ely, or 

phone 775- 289-1800 for maps and information.

Otherwise, return to US 93. Turn right onto the highway and drive 

south of the trail for 40 miles to Ely. Fuel, food, and lodging are 

available there. The town’s historic steam engine railroad offers 

excursions weekdays Memorial Day through September and 

weekends from April through mid-November. At Ely, turn west 

on US 50, “The Loneliest Road in America,” and drive 77 miles 

to the historic mining town of Eureka. Fuel, services, and heritage 

attractions are available there, as well. Be aware that dining 

establishments often close early in these small towns.
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89

US 50 from Eureka to Austin, Nevada, parallels the route of the 

Pony Express National Historic Trail but lies many miles south of 

the original trail corridor. To intercept the trail in Diamond Valley 

north of Eureka, follow the directions to stops C-4 (about 33 miles 

one way, including 17 miles on bladed roads, no services) and/or 

C-5 (about 18 miles one way, all paved). Otherwise, continue west 

on US 50 through Austin and skip ahead to C-6.

C-4. Diamond Springs monument (northwest of Eureka)

commemorates the Pony Express horse “What?” and rider George 

Scovell. This visit entails a 66-mile round-trip drive, about half of 

that on bladed dirt roads that, when dry, are typically suitable for 

two-wheel-drive passenger vehicles. Nothing remains of the original 

Diamond Springs Pony Express station; however, Telegraph Canyon, 

where the attack on horse and rider occurred, is near the monument 

and can be explored.

Directions: Continue from Eureka on westbound US 50. If the 

ground is wet, skip to C-5; otherwise, to continue to the monument 

site, turn right on NV 278 and drive 16 miles on a long, northwesterly 

straightaway. Where the highway begins—a broad curve to the west—

look for an unpaved, bladed road (Pony Express Trail Road) on the 

right. If the road is dry, turn there and drive north four miles. The 

road forks; bear right, to the northeast. Follow this road 11 miles 

to its end. Turn left (north), and drive two miles to the Diamond 

Springs monument, on the right side of the road, across from a ranch 

headquarters. Please do not trespass on private property. From the 

monument, the Pony Express National Historic Trail branches off 

to the right and turns east into Telegraph Canyon, where the horse 

and rider were shot. This road into the canyon requires four-wheeldrive, but it can be explored on foot. After your visit, return to NV 

278. There, turn right and drive two miles to visit the Garden Pass 

interpretive site, stop C-5, or turn 

left to resume your tour along 

westbound US 50.

C-5. Garden Pass Interpretive 

Site (northwest of Eureka) was 

crossed by the Pony Express; 

interpretive exhibits at a roadside 
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kiosk tell the story. This is a 36-mile round-trip from US 50.

Directions: This site is on NV 278 about two miles beyond the 

turnoff to site C-4. From Eureka, take westbound US 50 to NV 278. 

Turn right and drive about 18.2 miles to the roadside interpretive area 

on the west side of the highway. Continue a quarter-mile north to 

the trail crossing, which is marked with a sign on the east side of the 

highway. Afterward, return to US 50 and turn right (westbound). 

Also of Interest: New Pass Station 

(25 miles west of Austin). This 

facility was built in 1862 for 

the Overland Stage & Mail and 

commercial freighters. Impressive 

ruins, fenced for protection, are 

visible just off the highway.

Directions: Continue west from 

Austin for about 25 miles. The site 

is on the right side of US 50. 

Now the trail route follows the alignment of modern US 50. A 

Nevada historical sign concerning the old stage road through 

Edwards Creek Valley is located 12.7 miles west of New Pass 

Station.

Also of Interest: Transcontinental Telegraph Station (west of 

Cold Springs, Nev.). The transcontinental telegraph, which put an 

end to the Pony Express in 1861, operated a station here until 1869. 

Often, the telegraph operated out of existing Pony Express stations. 

In this case, soil conditions at the Cold Springs Pony Express Station 

were unsuitable for grounding the telegraph’s acid batteries, so the 

operation was moved to this site. The station ruins are now fenced for 

protection. A Nevada historic sign tells the story.

Directions: About 20 miles beyond New Pass, watch on the left 

for the small settlement of Cold Springs but do not turn there. The 

pullout is approximately 1.5 miles beyond the settlement, on the right 

side of the highway. 
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C-6. Cold Springs Pony Express 

Station (west of Cold Springs, 

Nev.) was roofless but had thick 

stone walls with gun ports for 

defense against attack. The station 

keeper was slain during one 

skirmish and rider José Zowgaltz 

also died here. A two-mile hiking 

trail leads from the roadside 

interpretive kiosk to the station’s ruins. Please do not climb on or try 

to repair the ruins.

Directions: Continue west on US 50 to milepost 80, about two miles 

beyond the settlement of Cold Springs and roughly a half-mile past 

the telegraph station. The kiosk pullout is on the left side of the 

highway. The trailhead is between the kiosk and the restroom. Carry 

water, and allow two hours for the walk and visit to the station ruins. 

C-7. Second Cold Springs Pony 

Express Station (west of Cold 

Springs Station) served the Pony 

Express for five months in 1861. 

The first station (see entry C-6), 

which was also a stop for the 

overland stage, was built on a hill. 

The operation was moved to this 

lower location to accommodate the 

daily arrivals and departures of the stage. Station ruins are fenced for 

protection.

Directions: From Cold Springs Station, continue west for 0.2 mile on 

US 50. The pullout is on the right side of the highway. 

About 10 miles west of Second Cold Springs Station, US 50 passes 

directly over the former site of the Middlegate Pony Express Station.

C-8. Sand Spring Station (Sand Mountain Recreation Area 

west of Middlegate), built in 1860, is a remarkable stone ruin near 

the foot of scenic Sand Mountain, an enormous white sand dune 

popular with all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts. Like the structure at Cold 
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92

Springs, this station was roofless 

and, according to one visitor 

at the time, “squalid.” Despite 

its deficiencies, the station also 

served the transcontinental 

telegraph, Wells Fargo and 

Company, and the Overland Mail 

Company.

Directions: Continue west from 

the mountain pass at Middlegate Station for about 21.5 miles. At the 

sign to Sand Springs Recreation Area, turn right onto the access road. 

A Nevada historical sign is at the entrance. At about 0.9 mile from 

the entrance, turn left into the parking area for the Pony Express 

site. Follow the trail about 100 yards to the stone ruins. Please do not 

climb on or attempt to repair the ruins; leave them for others to enjoy.

Continue west on US 50 to Fallon.

C-9. Churchill County Museum 

(1050 S. Maine Street, Fallon)

includes exhibits on the Carson 

Route crossing of the Forty-mile 

Desert, American Indian lifeways, 

and Native American basketry. 

Open December–February, 

Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.– 4 

p.m. and open March–November, 

Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.

Directions: From westbound US 50, continue past the hospital for 

seven blocks and turn left on Maine Street. From US 95 southbound 

on the Carson Route, continue south past the intersection of Williams 

Avenue. From either direction, the museum is 0.7 mile south of the 

Williams Avenue and Maine Street intersection and on the right at the 

corner of Maine and Tolas. 

C-10. Ragtown (US 50 west of Fallon), where the Carson Route 

reaches the Carson River, was the first water stop—and the first 

opportunity to wash clothing—after the crossing of the Fortymile Desert. Emigrant laundry spread over the sagebrush to dry 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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93

supposedly gave the spot its name. 

A Nevada historical sign tells the 

story.

Directions: From the museum, 

continue west on US 50. The sign is 

about eight miles west of Fallon on 

the left side of US 50.

 Stay on US 50 and continue along 

the Carson emigrant route to California. Where the highway splits, 

bear left to stay on US 50 and drive 17 miles toward Silver Springs.

At Silver Springs the Carson Route splits, with one route continuing 

along the river to Dayton and the other taking a 26-mile “dry 

route” along the alignment of US 50. The two alternates rejoin a few 

miles east of Dayton. To follow the river route from Silver Springs to 

Fort Churchill, turn left onto US 95A/Veterans Memorial Highway 

and consult entry C-11 below. To follow the dry route, continue 

southwest on US 50 and skip to entry C-13.

C-11. Fort Churchill State Park 

(1000 U.S.-95A, Silver Springs, 

NV) was built by the army in July 

1860, after the second battle of 

the Pyramid Lake War, to protect 

trail traffic and the Carson Valley 

settlements. It was Nevada’s 

first and largest military outpost. 

The Carson Route and the Pony 

Express Trail converged here. Today the site is both a state and 

national historic landmark. Visitors can take a self-guided tour 

through the fort ruins. Ranger-led living history tours, including black 

powder demonstrations of both muzzleloaders and the fort cannon, 

can be arranged in advance by calling the park at 775-577-2345. The 

park also offers a visitor center/museum (open year-round, daily, 8 

a.m.–4 p.m.), camping, picnicking, and an equestrian area. Entrance 

and campground fees are charged.

Directions: From the left turn onto US 95A at Silver Springs, drive 

eight miles south to Fort Churchill Road. Turn right and continue a 
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94

mile. The park entrance is on the left.

C-12. Buckland Station (near 

Fort Churchill State Park)

served the Pony Express before 

Fort Churchill was built, but no 

buildings from the Pony Express 

era remain. The two-story historic 

building standing at the site was 

constructed with material salvaged 

from the fort after its closure in 

1869. On the left side of the parking lot is a stainless steel post; the 

original Pony Express station was 231 feet northeast of the post. 

Across the street from Buckland Station is the former orchards and 

stables area, which today is a day-use picnic and exhibit area with a 

display of 19th-century farm equipment.

Directions: From Fort Churchill State Park, return to US 95A, turn 

right and drive 0.6 mile. The site is on the left side of the road before 

the bridge. 

 From Buckland Station you can:

Return to the US 95 intersection and turn left onto Road 2B/

Churchill Road toward Fort Churchill State Park. At the park 

entrance, stay right instead of entering the park, and drive 16 miles 

on the unpaved road along the Carson River to US 50. This road 

follows the Carson River wagon route. At US 50, turn left and 

continue into Dayton. Consult entry C-13 for further directions.

OR, to stay on pavement, turn right and go north on US 95A to 

Silver Springs. Turn left on US 50 and drive southwest toward 

Dayton. Proceed to stop C-13.

Dayton, the site of Nevada’s first gold strike, is full of historic 

properties. This auto tour route guide lists only those sites related 

to the Pony Express and emigrant trails, but a walking-tour guide 

to all the town’s historic properties, including buildings that 

existed when the emigrants and the Pony Express passed through, 

is available at the Dayton Cemetery. 
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95

C-13. Dayton’s historical past is commemorated by a monument 

and plaque honoring this “stopping place on the river for Californiabound pioneers,” and by a Nevada historical sign with information 

about 19th-century Chinese inhabitants of the town.

Directions: Drive south on US 50 to the traffic light at Main Street. 

The monuments are in front of a service station at the northeast 

corner (on the left) of the intersection. Main Street was once part of 

the wagon trail to California. 

C-14. All that remains of the 

Dayton Pony Express Station 

(Main Street, Dayton) is a 

freestanding rock wall. A Nevada 

historical sign is nearby and a 

granite Pony Express monument 

are across the street at the corner of 

Main and Pike.

Directions: Turn right (west, away 

from the river) onto Main Street at the traffic light; drive one block 

and park. Cross to the south side of Main and walk past the historic 

Union Hotel, then look in the narrow space between 85 W. Main and 

the adjacent building. The lone wall stands in the gap, perpendicular 

to the street. It is on private property; please do not trespass or 

disturb residents of adjacent buildings. The sign and monument are 

located at the parking lot on the north side of the street.

C-15. The California and Pony 

Express trails (Cemetery Road, 

Dayton) climb a bluff at the west 

edge of town. A gray T-rail marker 

is located at the top of the bluff, 

and trail swales are visible. This is a 

short but steep, rough climb on an 

unpaved road. Hike or use fourwheel drive.

Directions: Continue west on Main Street. Where Main curves 

to the left and becomes Cemetery Road, a Nevada historical sign 

commemorates an emigrant-era trading post called Hall’s Station. 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

Nevada

View Down Six-Mile Canyon, 

Virginia City. Courtesy University of 

Nevada, Reno Library.

96

Continue up Cemetery Road to its hairpin turn at the town water 

tower. There at the turn, an unpaved road—the Pony Express and 

emigrant trail—leaves the pavement and climbs the bluff. Follow the 

right branch of the gravel road to the top of the bench, where multiple 

wagon swales and ruts are visible. The trail corridor parallels the 

power line. Return to the pavement and turn right.

C-16. Dayton Cemetery (Cemetery Road, Dayton) was established 

in 1851 near the emigrant road. A Nevada state historical sign can be 

found at the entrance.

Directions: At the hairpin turn, stay on the pavement and continue to 

the end of the road. Explore the historic cemetery and pick up a free 

walking tour guide to the town.

Return to Main Street and turn 

right on US 50 toward Carson 

City.

Also of Interest: Virginia City, 

Gold Hill, and Silver City.

Discovery of Nevada’s rich 

deposits of silver and gold enticed 

thousands of fortune hunters, 

including Mark Twain, to travel the 

California Trail during the 1850s and 1860s. Virginia City—a Wild 

West mining town that grew up around the fabulous Comstock Lode, 

today—is a popular tourist destination. The scenic ghost towns of 

Gold Hill and Silver City are of interest, too.

Directions: From Dayton, drive westerly 3.5 miles on US 50. Turn 

right onto NV 341; where the highway splits, bear left, keeping to 

the main road, onto NV 342. Drive seven miles through Silver City 

and Gold Hill to Virginia City. Allow two to three hours to explore 

Virginia City. Afterward, return to US 50 and turn west to Carson 

City.

To view Pony Express markers and monuments at Carson City, 

turn left from US 50 onto Carson Street/US 395 and drive five 

blocks. The Nevada State Museum, a one-time U.S. Mint where 

$49 million of Nevada silver and gold was struck into coin, is on 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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97

the right at the southwest corner 

of Carson and Robinson. The 

markers and monuments are in 

front of the museum.

Continue south on Carson Street/

US 395. Just a few miles ahead is 

another decision point:

To leave the trails, drive along the shore of Lake Tahoe, and rejoin 

the Pony Express Trail at Stateline, Nevada. Go south from the 

state museum on Carson Street/US 395 for about 2.5 miles. After 

passing the junction with Snyder Avenue/NV 518, move to the 

right lane and bear right onto US 50, the Lake Tahoe-Eastshore 

Drive National Scenic Byway. Drive 20 miles to the junction of 

Kingsbury Grade and US 50, where the tour route rejoins the 

Pony Express National Historic Trail. About a half-mile beyond 

the junction, look to the left (opposite the golf course) to see a 

white two-story building that was part of Friday’s Pony Express 

Station. (The property is privately owned; please do not trespass.) 

On entering Stateline a half-mile ahead, watch on the left for 

the bronze Pony Express statue 

located in front of a casino. 

The Pony Express Trail crosses 

the state line into California 

just beyond the casino. Further 

directions will be provided 

in the future Auto Tour Route 

Interpretive Guide ,California: 

Across the Sierra Nevada. 

OR, to follow the Pony Express Trail and the Carson Route along 

the Carson River, continue south on Carson Street/ US 395 and 

follow directions for entry C-17 below. 

C-17. Mormon Station State Historic Park (2295 Main Street, 

Genoa, NV) is the site of a post established by Mormons in 1850 for 

trade with emigrants on the Carson Route. Nevada’s first permanent 

settlement, Genoa, soon grew up around “Mormon Station.” The 
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98

visitor center and reconstructed 

stockade are open mid-May to 

mid–October, Wednesday–Sunday, 

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Entrance to the 

stockade is free. Admission to 

the museum/visitor center, with 

exhibits on the California and Pony 

Express trails, is $1; children under 

age 13 are admitted free. A kiosk 

near the park entrance provides information about the Pony Express, 

the emigrant experience, and pioneer life, and a T-rail marker is 

nearby. An interpretive wayside exhibit describes emigrants’ relief at 

having crossed the Great Basin.

Directions: From the Nevada State Museum, drive south on US 395 

for about 11.5 miles. Turn right onto Genoa Lane and continue about 

four miles to Genoa. Turn right onto Main Street. The entrance to 

Mormon Station State Park is a half-block ahead on the right side of 

the street.

C-18. Genoa Courthouse Museum (2304 Main Street, Genoa)

exhibits cover the emigration experience, Pony Express, pioneer 

life, Washo Indian basketry, and more. Open daily, May–October, 10 

a.m.–4:30 p.m. A modest admission is charged; children under age 

seven are admitted free.

Directions: From Mormon Station, cross to the west side of Main 

Street. At the corner, in front of the volunteer fire department, note 

the granite Pony Express monument that commemorates the Genoa 

Home Station. Walk north to the museum; an older Pony Express 

monument is located there. 

Also of Interest: Snowshoe 

Thompson Monuments and 

Grave. John “Snowshoe” 

Thompson, who emigrated from 

Norway as a child, drove a herd 

of cattle to California in 1851 

when he was 24 years old. Instead 

of finding his fortune in the gold 

fields, he made his name as good as 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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99

gold by steadfastly carrying mail through the Sierra Nevada between 

Genoa and Placerville in the dead of winter for 20 years. Thompson 

made his 180-mile round-trip deliveries, alone and unarmed, two 

to four times a month on 10-foot-long homemade skis, thereby 

earning his nickname “Snowshoe.” A statue of Snowshoe stands at 

Mormon Station State Park at the corner of Main Street and Genoa 

Lane, and a plaque in his tribute is in front of the museum. His grave, 

with a marble headstone depicting crossed skis, is at the Genoa 

Cemetery north of town on Jacks Valley Road. Read the remarkable 

story of Snowshoe Thompson, “Viking of the Sierra,” at www.

snowshoethompson.org.

C-19. Walley’s Hot Springs (NV 

206, one mile south of Genoa)

was an expensive resort built 

in 1862 to cater to miners, who 

needed a hot soak after a hard day 

in the silver and gold mines around 

Virginia City. The Carson Route of 

the California Trail went through 

the springs area. Today the property 

remains a privately owned spa and timeshare. A Nevada historical 

sign near the entrance tells the story of the spa; trails-era buildings 

now serve as guest rooms and administrative offices. A Pony Express 

marker and a T-rail stand in front of the 1864 dinner house.

Directions: From Mormon Station, go south on NV 206/Foothill 

Road for about a mile. The resort is on the left side of the road. Go 

into the southernmost entrance and turn left into parking. During 

your visit, remember that this private resort is open to trail visitors by 

permission of the owner. Please be considerate of resort guests.

The Pony Express Trail splits beyond Walley’s Hot Springs. The 

south alternate continues south and enters California near 

Fredericksburg, then swings west and crosses the Sierra Nevada at 

Luther Pass. This route was used only during the first six weeks of 

the Pony Express operations. The north alternate, the main Pony 

Route, goes west up the Kingsbury Grade and over Daggett Pass 

to Stateline, on the Nevada/California border. The two branches 

rejoin south of Lake Tahoe near Meyers, California. Tour choices 
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

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100

here are:

To take a scenic 11-mile drive over Daggett Pass following the main 

(north) Pony Express route into Stateline, turn left from Walley’s 

Hot Springs and continue south toward Mottsville; then turn 

right onto NV 207. The route is paved but steep and twisting. At 

the junction with NV 207 with US 50, turn left and continue into 

Stateline. Note the Pony Express statue near the Nevada/California 

border at Stateline. Further directions will be provided in the future 

Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide, California: Across the Sierra 

Nevada.

OR, to follow the initial (south) Pony Express alternate and the 

Carson Route into California, continue south from Walley’s Hot 

Springs on NV 206 through Mottsville. Approximately seven 

miles south of Mottsville, beyond Sheridan, turn right onto 

Fredericksburg/Foothill Road and enter California. Drive three 

miles to NV 88 and turn right onto Emigrant Trail Road/Carson 

Pass National Scenic Byway. Further directions will be provided in 

the future Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide, California: Across 

the Sierra Nevada.

OR, to join the Walker River-Sonora Route into California, 

continue south from Walley’s Hot Springs on NV 206 for about a 

mile. Turn left onto NV 757, then right onto US 395. Just ahead, the 

highway splits. Bear left to stay on US 395 and conclude your trip 

with entry C-21.

C-20. Carson Valley Museum and 

Cultural Center (1477 US 395 

N, Gardenerville, NV) features 

American Indian murals depicting 

the lifeways of the Washoe people, 

and exhibits on the history of the 

Carson Valley. Open year-round, 

Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. 

A modest admission is charged; 

children under age seven are admitted free.
Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide

Nevada

J. Goldsborough Bruff’s 1849 drawing, “Descent from Mud Lake Basin to 

reach High Rock Cañon.” Courtesy Huntington Library.

101

Directions: Take US 395 southeast to Gardnerville. The highway 

becomes Main Street. Turn left on High School Street and enter 

the parking lot on the north side of the street. From Gardnerville, 

continue southwest on US 395 into California at Topaz Lake. Further 

directions will be provided in the future Auto Tour Route Interpretive 

Guide, California: Across the Sierra Nevada.

This ends the Auto Tour Route of the California and Pony Express 

National Historic Trails across Nevada.
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102

Credits:

Research & Text: Lee Kreutzer, Cultural Resources Specialist, 

National Trails Intermountain Region

Layout/Design, Editing & Graphics: Chuck Milliken, Park Ranger 

Interpretation, National Trails Intermountain Region

Map Graphic, Editing: Kimberly Finch, Park Ranger Interpretive 

Specialist, National Trails Intermountain Region

Graphic Images: All photo images used throughout this document 

are National Park Service except the following: pages 4, 5, & 10 

courtesy of the Library of Congress; pages 6, 16, 49, 50 & 51 courtesy 

of the Utah State Historical Society; pages 14 & 49 courtesy of the 

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University; pages 26, 

42, & 96 courtesy of the University of Nevada, Reno Library, Special 

Collections; pages 35 & 41 from Across the Plains in the Donner Party; 

page 47 courtesy of Mr. Joe Nardone, Pony Express Collection\

Dwight S. Ritter; page 48 courtesy Bureau of Land Management; 

pages 53 & 101 courtesy of Huntington Library, Art Collection, and 

Botanical Gardens, California.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

National Park Service

Please see our websites for our 

mailing address. 

Email:

ntsl_interpretation@nps.gov

California NHT

http://www.nps.gov/cali

Pony Express NHT

http://www.nps.gov/poex

Nevada Tourism

http://travelnevada.com/

Oregon-California Trails 

Association

http://www.octa-trails.org

National Pony Express Association

http://www.xphomestation.com

Trails West, Inc.

http://emigranttrailswest.org/
Glue the pocket for the folded map 

insert here. Pocket should be one-half 

inch shorter than the folded map so 

that the map sticks out of the pocket.

Did you find this interpretive guide useful? Is it engaging, are 

directions accurate? 

To help us improve these guides, please send your thoughts and 

suggestions to: Please see our websites for mailing address or 

email your thoughts to ntsl_interpretation@nps.gov.
National Trails Intermountain Region

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

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