After finally finding the Humbodlt, they continued slogging west and continuing to struggle through most of November 1841 getting over the Sierra—gradually killing and eating up their oxen for food as their food supplies dwindled. The Comstock Lode mines would require millions of dollars of investment to buy and ship in thousands of tons of mining supplies, food and firewood to supply the mines. The Johnson Cutoff, from Placerville to Carson City along today's U.S. Route 50 in California, was used by the Pony Express (1860–61) year-round and in the summer by the stage lines (1860–69). The trail down the western slope of the Sierra from Donner pass had enormous granite boulders and numerous rocky outcrops and steep slopes before passing through Emigrant Gap (California). Additional food like pickles, canned butter, cheese or pickled eggs were occasionally carried, but canned goods were expensive and relatively heavy to carry and food preservation was primitive, so few perishable items could be safely kept for the four to six-month duration of the trip. Upon arrival in the Sweetwater valley, the trail encounters one of the most important landmarks on the trail, Independence Rock. The trail on the north side of the river was much better, allowing an easy miss of the Reese River sink. From the Humboldt Sink it crossed Forty Mile Desert to the Carson River and then went almost due south to the Walker River, which it followed to the Sierra before making the very steep (about 26 degrees in parts) and rugged ascent to 9,625 feet (2,934 m) Sonora Pass. Crossing rivers were probably the most dangerous thing pioneers did. After the ford, the trail divided into two branches, following the north and south banks of the river. One of the main enduring legacies of the Oregon and California Trails is the expansion of the United States territory to the West Coast. A typical stage trip took approximately 18 hours from Placerville to Virginia City with an 18-hour return. Western scout Kit Carson reputedly said, "The cowards never started and the weak died on the way." The completion of the Panama Railroad in 1855 along with fast steamboats traveling to both the Pacific and Atlantic ports in Panama made shipping people and supplies from Europe and the east coast into California and from there to new gold and silver mining towns reasonably inexpensive. These toll roads were also used to carry cargo west to east from California to Nevada, as thousands of tons of supplies were needed by the gold and silver miners, etc. The details of the Humboldt River and how to get to it was known to only a few trappers. Many were discouraged by the cost, effort and danger of the trip. By following the crooked, meandering Humboldt River Valley west across the arid Great Basin, emigrants were able to get the water, grass, and wood they needed for themselves and their teams. The trip from Omaha, Nebraska, to California became faster, cheaper, and safer, with a typical trip taking only seven days and a $65 (economy) fare. Cholera causes vomiting and severe diarrhea, and in places where human wastes contaminate water supplies the causal bacteria, Vibrio cholerae, could easily spread among travelers. At river crossings their food usually had to be removed and carried across on a boat or raft to keep it dry—one of the reasons toll bridges or ferries were popular. Fremont and his topographers/cartographers did not have time (it would take literally decades of work to do this) to make extensive explorations of the entire Sierra Nevada range or Great Basin. In 1848, the Salt Lake Cutoff was discovered by returning Mormon Battalion soldiers and others from the City of Rocks (in the future state of Idaho) to the northwest of the Great Salt Lake and on to Salt Lake City. The trail across the Forty Mile Desert had the usual 6–12 inches (15–30 cm) of loose sand that made traversing the desert very hard for the often tired and worn out draft animals. [90] Despite the better conditions for livestock, the mountainous terrain and unpredictable weather made passage sometimes difficult and required continuing federally funded maintenance on the mountainous road—not a sure thing just before, during and after the American Civil War. It was named after trapper Basil LaJeunesse who was referred to as Seminoe by the Shoshone Indians. Death and Danger Along the Trails Dangers Along the Trail The Oregon Trail is this nation’s longest graveyard. A better route variation 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. The even more rugged glacier and river scarred eastern slopes are typically much more precipitous, rising to the rugged Sierra crest from their about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) base in the Great Basin in many places in less than 10 miles (16 km). It was discovered by some hurrying travelers in 1849 (before the experience of the 1846 travelers was widely known) that during a wet year, wagons could not be pulled across the Great Salt Lake Desert; it was too soft. [43] Horses were often found to be incapable of the months of daily work and poor feed encountered without using supplemental grain (initially unavailable or too heavy), and thousands were recorded as dying near the end of the trip in the Forty Mile Desert. "Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789–1945"; Lyman, George D. John Marsh, Pioneer: The Life Story of a Trail-Blazer on Six Frontiers, pp. Eventually the party re-discovered the Humboldt River crossing much of present-day Nevada. A Central Pacific Railroad agent (J. R. Atkins) estimated, after counting all Placerville toll road traffic in August and September 1862, that the freight charges to Virginia City over the Placerville route would have been about $5,000,000, which delivered roughly 20,000,000 pounds (9,100,000 kg) of freight in eight weeks. The trail crosses the Sweetwater three more times and encounters a large hill known as Rocky Ridge on the northern side of the river. The Hudspeth Cutoff and the Salt Lake Cutoff all rejoined the California Trail near the City of Rocks (For maps see NPS map California Trail:[97]). 1848) in Nebraska. These wagons could be easily pulled by 4 to 6 oxen or 4 to 6 mules or horses. If they started in Iowa or Nebraska, after getting across the Missouri River, most followed the northern side of the Platte River from near its junction on the Missouri River ferrying across the Elkhorn River and the wide and muddy Loup River, which intercept the Platte River. The National Oregon/California Trail Center and the City of Montpelier, Idaho are located on the historic Oregon/California Trail, mid-way between Jackson/Yellowstone and Salt Lake City. Flint and steel or matches were used to start fires. National Oregon/California Trail Center They, together with one woman, were driving 17 wagons and about 300 head of horse and cattle east to Salt Lake City in 1848. Most of the wagons[41] had a large toolbox, mounted on the left side, usually containing an ax, wagon jack, ropes, short handled shovel, wheel chains for securing the wheels for steep descents and extra chain to hook up another team if double teaming was required for steep ascents and other tools often needed or used. Here they found three of their scouts murdered. The eastern side lies in a rain shadow getting much less rain than the western side. Another hazard was getting pulled under the wagon wheels by loose clothing getting caught in the wheels. ; "From Trails to Freeways"; California Highways and Public Works; 1950; (Centennial Edition); p66. The Humboldt River with its water and grass needed by the livestock (oxen, mules horses and later cattle) and emigrants provided a key link west to northern California. Kirkwood Mountain Resort and ski area now occupies some of the higher parts of the original Carson Trail. Treatments were almost always ineffective and sometimes hastened death. Volunteer members of John C. Frémont's California Battalion assisted the Pacific Squadron's sailors and marines in 1846 and 1847 in conquering California in the Mexican–American War. The more knowledgeable also brought dried fruit and vegetables to provide some variety (and Vitamin C) and were a known (to many) scurvy prevention. Traffic in the California-Nevada area was often two ways as the fabulously rich mines like the Comstock Lode (found in 1859) in Nevada and other gold and silver discoveries in eastern California, Nevada, Idaho and Montana needed supplies freighted out of California. The California Trail from the junction followed the Raft River to the City of Rocks in Idaho near the present Nevada-Idaho-Utah tripoint. 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