Carson Dunes

John McTurk Gibson wrote this description of the desert on August 24, 1859: " Now comes the tug of war, bones and wagon-irons lie in huge piles together, ..." "Nothing burnable however remains now, only the ironwork." "Occasionally the bleached and whitened bones would glisten horribly and ghastly in the fitful starlight,..." "No one can form any adequate idea of the almost fabulous destruction of property that has at one time or another occurred on the plains since the first discovery of gold in California. Every man must see it before he will believe it."

(see http://www.4w.com/pages/hoppe/journal/aug24.htm.)

Old colored glass, pottery pieces, and chain links

Square nail, old soldered can (which sometimes led to food poisoning)

Harnesss ring and flattened metal band probably from water barrel

Pottery shards

Ox horn

A sort of fastening staple, the metal prongs of which were heated and after they had been pounded into the wood, were bent back to form a hook.

Desert Primroses on the Carson Route where the trail comes out of the Forty-Mile Desert near Ragtown.

"...we arrived about 9 O.clock at night at the busy little city of Rag Town, on the Carson River, a completely used up set of mortals." (Henry Sheldon Anable, 1852)

Ragtown Crossing monument

From Ragtown, the trail heads toward the Carson Canyon, where many emigrants felt sure they were seeing the elephant.

One of most vivid descriptions came in a letter from Taylor (no first name.): "A Canon of five miles, the worst roads ever man took wagons over - if you would know what sort of road this is, just imagine you see five miles of road strewed with stones, varing in size from a whiskey barrel to that of a hogshead - the wagons having to run over these by more short turns than man ever saw - after you have made it out as bad as you think it could be, then just think it three times as bad, and you will have a faint idea of how bad it is."

Carson Valley

"Are now in Carson Valley.  This is a beautiful place.  Scattered all over the valley are gardens full of potatoes, peas, beans, onions, and all kinds of vegetables."  (Julia Newton Wood, 1853)

Carson River

"Rogers, Aug 28,th. 49"

- this axelgrease graffiti in the Carson Canyon only shows up in certain lights.

Snowshoe Thompson's Cave - '91 Post Convention Tour.

This rock shelter was used by John "Snowshoe" Thompson in severe weather during the years (1856-1876) he carried mail between Genoa and Placerville .

Devil's Ladder above Red Lake - Chapter cleanup crew, 1997. Imagine taking wagons up this steep, rocky hill!

"...of all the roads I ever read of this is the worst a man could
not believe that horses & wagons could ascend at all it is so steep that we have to take hold of rocks to climb up."  (Andrew Jackson Griffith, Aug. 14, 1850)
 

"- here we come to the foot of the first mountain here we begin to croll up the elephants tail..." (A. H. Thomasson, July 26, 1850)

Looking down and eastward on Red Lake and Hope Valley

"We went through the canon to-day and it was the roughest road that a white man ever traveled over; there was only room for a single wagon track between boulders, which would weigh several tons; the wheels would be up so high that we would have to hold on to the side to keep the wagon from up-setting. It was turn, twist and roll over all through it, the distance being six miles......The water in this stream, called the Carson River, is very good. Our cattle would mire down and would have to pull them out; then the wheels would come in contact with rocks which were from five to ten feet high, and we would have to pry them out. Got through the canon about four o'clock P.M., and were tired out. Camped in Hope Valley three miles from the head of the canon." (Patrick Henry Murphy, 1854)

Roundtop Mountain

View of Carson Pass West, highest (9600') wagon route, but easier than the Truckee or Walker River-Sonora Pass Routes.

William Booker wrote in 1850 that there were snow banks 50-100 feet deep.

Beehive Rock next to the trail at its summit

"And here I am on the top of a monstrous rock which stands on the summit of Sere Nevad Mountain writing.  Here I can see at one view the Sacramento valley the City and mountains on Mountains on every hand covered with snow."  (Andrew Jackson Griffith, Aug. 14, 1850)

Caples Lake as seen from the summit.

'88 Chapter outing heading up west side of Carson Pass West

"..went down a desent of 1-1/2 miles came to the elephants back. ..came about 1-1/2 miles further here we came to the elephants snout." (Dr. A. D. Thomasson, 1850)

Tragedy Spring

- gravesite of 3 missing Mormon scouts - where clear, delicious water is still available .

Leek Spring

Silas Newcomb was encamped in Leek Spring Valley in 1850 when he wrote:

"Did the reader ever hear the howl of the larger grey or black wolf? Under ordinary circumstances, it is a most unearthly sound but to us in our present location was enough to chill ones blood. First came one long, deep and mournful note from the dark recesses above us on the south which was answered in a different key, by a comrade away to the south east and higher up the valley but on the same side with the other. Not many seconds passed ere the note was taken up and most admirably handled, by one of the cliffs above as northward when such a chorus as h-ll never witnessed was set up by the whole crew. To appreciate the thing, the reader must take into consideration, the hour, the awful silence that reigned and our lonely and secluded situation."

Reuben Knox (who described a circular tent that withstood the wind better than square ones) wrote to his wife after reaching his arrival via the Carson Route: "You can never have any adequate conception of the exposures and hardships, difficulties and privations many have encountered on this route, and no one who has tried them once, if of sane mind would ever be willing, under any circumstances, to encounter them again." (1850)