California Trail - Sweetwater River - Crossing The Sierra Nevada - Carson Trail

The much used Carson Trail (est. 1848) (also called Mormon Emigrant Trail) took about 40 miles (64 km) to cross Forty Mile Desert by leaving the Humboldt Sink and skirting the western edge of the Carson Sink and hit the Carson River near modern-day Fallon, Nevada. The Carson Trail was named after Kit Carson, scout for John Charles Fremont who had guided the Fremont party over the Sierras on what became called Carson Pass in February 1844. The trail across the desert had the usual 6–12 inches (15–30 cm) of loose sand on the west end that is blown west from where it is deposited by the Carson River. This loose sand made traversing the desert very hard on their often very tired and worn out draft animals. The Carson Trail crossing of Forty Mile Desert also had water in about the middle, Salt Creek, but it was poisonous to drink. The trail across the desert was soon cluttered with the usual discarded supplies, thousands of dead and dying animals and abandoned wagons, and hundreds of emigrant graves typical of Forty Mile Desert. Some estimated that only about half the wagons that started the trip across Forty Mile Desert got to the other side.

The emigrant wagon route normally used through Carson Pass was initially developed by about 45 discharged members, including one woman, of the Mormon Battalion. They were driving 17 wagons and about 300 head of horse and cattle east to Salt Lake City in 1848. The wagons were veterans of the 1846 or 1847 emigration as California had at that time no facilities for building anything besides simple solid wheeled ox carts. They followed Iron Mountain ridge on the Sierras east of what is now Placerville, California (there were essentially no settlements east of Sutter's Fort in 1848) before hitting Tragedy Spring near Silver Lake. Here they found three of their scouts murdered by what appeared to be Indians. From there they ascended to 9,050 feet (2,760 m) West Pass and then dropped down from this summit to Caples Lake and a few miles further was 8,650 feet (2,640 m) Carson's pass. The only way down to the valley below was very steep ridge requiring many changes in direction with ropes and chain before they reached Red Lake at the head of Hope Valley. To get across the Carson Range of mountains the trail then followed the Carson River, traveling about six miles (10 km) in a very rough stretch of the Carson River canyon. The canyon was filled with boulders and rocks that had often fallen over a thousand feet into the canyon carved by the river through the Carson Range. In some places the canyon had to be widened enough for wagons to pass and impassable boulders removed by the Mormons headed east. They found that if they started a fire (driftwood was easily available) on boulders or impassably narrow canyon walls the hot rocks became easily breakable when doused with cold water and hit by picks and shovels. After several applications of fire, water and industrious pick use, the parts of the trail that were formerly impassable were opened up. In about 1853, the road through the canyon was converted intermittently to a toll road and made much easier to use when even more large boulders were removed and two permanent bridges were constructed.

Travelers heading west in 1848 and later, crossed Forty Mile Desert, then followed the trail blazed and carved by the Mormons in 1848 up the Carson River valley from what is now near Fallon, Nevada, in 1850 the town was called "Ragtown". Then, to get over the Carson Range, it was a very rough road through Carson River Canyon where the wagons had to be wrestled over the boulders by ropes, pry bars, levers and a few improvised bridges before the wagon trains finally entered beautiful 7,100 feet (2,200 m) Hope Valley. Westward travelers from Hope Valley had to climb a steep, rocky and tortuous paths over the back wall of a glacier carved cirque to get over the Sierras south of Lake Tahoe. The section of trail at the end of Hope Valley near Red Lake is called "The Devil's Ladder" where the trail has to climb over 700 feet (210 m) of very steep mountain in the final half mile (1 km). Today, a hiker's careful eye can still find notches, grooves and rust marks left by iron rimmed wagon wheels. Nearby, the trees scarred by ropes, chains and pulleys used to haul the heavy wagons up the precipitous slope, can be seen. Travelers could get to the top of the pass in about one day of hard work, an acceptable trade off for many emigrants. The trail crossed the Sierra Crest through 8,700 feet (2,700 m) Carson Pass.

At that time, the trail forward was blocked by the Carson Spur, a sharp ridge passable for wagons only by going over it on West Pass (now part of Kirkwood ski resort). To proceed, the Carson trail had to follow the path blazed by the Mormons and make a sharp turn South at what's now Caples Lake (reservoir) and ascend 9,500 feet (2,900 m) West Pass before finally making it over the Sierras. The half day path up over West Pass was easy compared to the climb to Carson Pass and was used by thousands of wagons from 1848 to 1863. The Carson trail was a straight forward push to Placerville and the heart of the gold country and was the main route for many emigrants for many years. A better route was finally blasted out of the face of the cliffs at Carson Spur in 1863 by the Amador and Nevada Wagon Road—a toll road around Carson Spur. Over time the Carson Trail developed many branches and toll roads for freight wagons, emigrants and miners going both ways over the Sierras.

One of the major drawbacks of the Carson Trail was its elevation, with many sections of the trail over 9,000 feet (2,700 m) and snow covered for virtually all winter and well into the spring season. The Placerville route (Johnson Cutoff) became the preferred trail, as it was lower and extensively improved. It could be used much of the winter season for at least horse travel.

The present highway route—California State Highway 88 has bulldozed and blasted many of the difficult sections of the trail to straighten it out, avoid the high mountain passes, and make it passable year-round by today's cars. It still uses the route through Carson River Canyon used by the original trail. The highway (CA 88) roughly follows the route of much of the Carson Trail until it joins the road called Mormon Immigrant Trail/Iron Mountain Road, which goes to Pollock Pines, California and from there on to Placerville, California. Kirkwood Mountain Resort and ski area now occupies some of the higher parts of the original Carson Trail.

Read more about this topic:  California Trail, Sweetwater River, Crossing The Sierra Nevada

Famous quotes containing the words carson and/or trail:

    I think those Southern writers [William Faulkner, Carson McCullers] have analyzed very carefully the buildup in the South of a special consciousness brought about by the self- condemnation resulting from slavery, the humiliation following the War Between the States and the hope, sometimes expressed timidly, for redemption.
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)

    Perhaps of all our untamed quadrupeds, the fox has obtained the widest and most familiar reputation.... His recent tracks still give variety to a winter’s walk. I tread in the steps of the fox that has gone before me by some hours, or which perhaps I have started, with such a tip-toe of expectation as if I were on the trail of the Spirit itself which resides in the wood, and expected soon to catch it in its lair.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)