I'm sure I won't answer any questions; but I'll make a few comments which might have bearing on your questions.

"First, about Lassen in 1849. Did he have anything to do with goldrushers knowing about or taking the cutoff?"

Lassen was apparently at his ranch in the upper Sacramento Valley during the summer of 1849--not over at Lassen's meadows on the Humboldt. Responding to word of Lassen's arrival from the Humboldt River around the north end of the Sierra, the Army sent Capt. W.H. Warner off to investigate. In mid August 1849 his party arrived at Lassen's ranch and the report states that Lassen was there at the time. Lassen apparently joined the party and--according to Paden-- was with the party when the met the first of the 1849 emigrants via the "Lassen trail" in September and led them back to his ranch.

If memory serves me correct (and that is questionable) I have seen references to a testimonial given by those who accompanied Lassen in 1848 upon arrival at his ranch praising the route. I believe this was published--and doubtless if so ended up in eastern papers. However, I do not have a copy of such and suspect I've never seen it. If there was such a published report, it may be the source of the connection of Lassens' name to that route in the minds of the 1849 emigrants. Tracking down this piece of the puzzle might prove worthwhile.

"Irene Paden tries to explain the number by saying that Applegate's waybill listed the Sacramento River as being 20 miles beyond Goose Lake, where the California travelers parted from the Applegate trail. . . . (I don't know where the "Sacramento River" came from in the waybill)."

The Pit River was (and in some parts still is) called the Upper Sacramento River. I would think this caused considerable confusion. And the Pit does rise within a few miles of Goose Lake.

Third, was there a "middle route." I was very intrigued by Will Bagley's comment that Lassen claimed, in 1857, that he found Noble's Cutoff. When was he supposed to have found it? The reason this is important is that Swain wrote on September 17 from Lassen's meadow, about a "middle passage" that would take them over the mountains in a week.

I presume you mean September 17, 1849. That is interesting. "Middle passage" at that point in time MIGHT refere merely to the Truckee route--which was between Lassen's and the Carson route (I can't imagine anyone was thinking of Walker's pass--but who knows).

The Nobles road/pass/trail is of much interest to me, since it was the route assumed for the Pacific railroad (my primary focus) from the early 1850s until the the Comstock boom in 1860 caused everyone to look for a more direct path across the Sierra.

In 1854 William H. Nobles stated (in Minnesota) that he had explored all of the range from the southern end of the Sierra to within 100 miles of Steven's pass--which put him essentially at the Columbia River--looking specifically for a suitable route for a railroad through to the Pacific. Such is the claim.

We do know that in April 1852 Nobles showed up in Mt. Shasta town announcing his route and offering to lead interested parties over that route for a sum of money--which he did, and upon reaching the Humboldt Nobles continued home to Minnesota, while the party from Mt. Shasta began to promote the new route to westbound emigrants. Thus, the summer of 1852 SHOULD be the first time we see people using that route. (It is from this announcement of the route in Mt Shasta in April 1852 that the route became of interest to those promoting the Pacific railroad, and a couple years later Edward Beckwith led what was left of Gunnison's contingent of the Pacific Railroad Survey expedition west from Salt Lake just to see it.)

However, Nobles was actually promoting the route before 1852. In depositions relating to the case of Wilson and Wilson vs. Lassen and Gerke for title to Lassen's ranch, there is testimony that Nobles showed up at Lassen's ranch in the fall of 1851 making the same promotion for "his" new route.

If indeed Nobles had explored the length of the Sierra and Cascades, some time was clearly occupied by such an endeavor. It seem likely that Nobles' arrival at Lassen's ranch in the fall of 1851 represents the end of such a period of exploration--since he was then announcing his route as superior to all others. If so, it seems possible that Nobles was actually in the area the previous summer as well. Lassen indeed claimed to have shown Nobles how to get from Indian Valley to Honey Lake, and this seems to fit the summer of 1850 when Lassen--and others--were scouring the area looking for Gold Lake.

But what Nobles apparently discovered on his own was that one could get from Honey Lake to the Humboldt River. That really is the key to Nobles' route. It would seem that such a discovery (of the Honey Lake-Humboldt leg) would be after being shown the way to Honey Lake from the Feather River (since if he were working the other way he would have been at Honey Lake before running into Lassen. The time between passing Honey Lake (apparently heading east) and his arrival at Lassen's ranch in the fall of 1851 was presumably spent making further explorations and arriving at the determination that the Humboldt-Honey Lake route was superior to all others (as he claimed). After showing a company (including Lassen) his new route, but apparently not being satisfied with their response, he then went over to Mt. Shasta.

As an aside, it seems that Nobles' route--as he envisioned it--could run to Lassen's ranch as easily as to Mt. Shasta town. The point of the route was not--apparently--merely the pass around the north side of Lassen Peak (as it is now marked), but the passage from the Humboldt River to Honey Lake. That pass around Lassen Peak only satisfied the people at Mt. Shasta. The party from Lassen's ranch would have used Lassen's trail--or some variation of it.

It may be entirely possible that others had made their way from the Humboldt to the Sacramento via a "middle passage" before Nobles' discovery and/or announcement. However, if such was the case, it apparently did not make any impact. Warner was heading clear up to Lassen's Pass in 1849. There were, apparently, people drifting eastward to Honey Lake in 1850 (looking for Gold Lake), but I've seen no indication of people actually making the whole way to the Humboldt until Nobles.

Wendell Huffman