James Beckwourth discovered a pass in 1850 which proved to be the lowest in the Sierra and one of the least dangerous. It left the present day Reno/Sparks area to head northwest to present day Highway 70, then west to Quincy and Marysville. The end of the trail, Bidwell's Bar mining camp, is now covered by Lake Oroville.

		Blakeless Creek Area
		Fireweed Along the Beckwourth Trail
Photo by Norine Kimmy		Grizzly Ridge Ascent "The ... road was very steep ... Mrs. Corbin, my two children and I went on ahead. It was too hard work to carry both children at the same time, and so I carried my baby ahead about a hundred yards and made a sort of cache for her, and placed her in it, then I returned and carried my little boy on up the hill a hundred yards beyond the other child and cached him the same way, and so on up the long, weary mountain." Mary Variel, Grizzly Ridge, September 14th, 1852
		1994 CA/NV Outing-- About 2/3 of this group dropped out from the climb. "Passed up the Mountai 4 miles, & then down 6 miles... This is a mountain what is a mountain -- the ascent and descent most of the way is just about as steep as the roof of a house & in some places quite rocky." John E. Dalton, 8/27/52
		Second Level of the Climb "It took a long time to ascend, it was so steep, but that proved child's play to the descent." William H. Woodhams, 7/21/54
		Wagon Traces -- Note the rocks that have been pushed aside to make way for the wagons.
		Looking Down on Quincy from Grizzly Ridge
		Ruts in Soapstone Soapstone Hill - Wagon ruts cut into stone below this marker and a deep swale extending eastward for a mile mark the mule trail of 1850 and the emigrant wagon road of 1851 and later.
		Lush Meadow Alongside Trail at Soapstone Hill
		Rich Bar "Gold first found here July 1850 by miners coming over mountains from the Yuba Diggins. Much production during early fifties along this east branch of the Feather River's North Fork. Here 'Dame Shirley' (Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe) wrote her 'letters from the California mines,' one of the foremost classics of the Gold Rush." Registered Historical Landmark No. 337
		Variel Home Joshua Hutchins Variel married Mary A. Casey. In 1852, they left Indiana on an arduous 6-month trip to California. Joshua built this home in 1878. Situated behind the Plumas County Museum in Quincy, it is now known as the Coburn-Variel Home.
		Joshua Hutchins Variel, 1816 - 1898