Out along the old 1840s Emigrant Trail along the Truckee River Route – just west of the Humboldt Sink – was the most difficult terrain of the journey. Hot, dry, and sandy, covered with vast alkali flats, there was no water between the Humboldt Sink and the Truckee River some 40 miles distant. A rough wagon road was constructed by the late 1840s but travel was so difficult that by 1850 most chose to tackle the equally dreaded but easier travel of the Carson River Route through the 40-Mile Desert between the Humboldt Sink and the Carson Sink to follow the Carson River to the Sierra. The route split near what is/was Toulon, Nevada along I-80, just east of the following maps.
In today’s terms, travellers chose to follow US 95 from just west of Lovelock south to Fallon and US50 over the Sierra south of Lake Tahoe to Placerville rather than follow I-80 west to Fernley and beyond over Donner Pass north of Lake Tahoe to Sacramento. Both routes pretty much follow the original wagon trails of the 1840s. That’s long ago out this way.
Mrs DT laughs about that.
But the Truckee Route was not totally abandoned. Just a few miles west of where US95 cuts off from I-80 were deposits of almost pure salt. By 1864, the area was a significant source of commercial salt, annually producing several hundred tons of salt used in silver ore reduction. When the Central Pacific built past here in 1868, the White Plains station was built here, greatly reducing transportation costs. Prospectors in the area found deposits of silver – the nearby Desert Queen Mine is considered the oldest lode mine in northern Nevada. By 1879, the White Plains settlement had a post office. Salt production started to decrease, the railroad was re-routed to the south, and by 1909, the town of White Plains essentially ceased to exist.
However, not far north of White Plains, a significant gold deposit was discovered in 1908, causing a new mining boom town of Jessup to be established. For a short while, Jessup was home to around 300 people with saloons and grocery stores serving those that worked the 8 mines in the area. The boom was short-lived and by 1909, the mines had played out and by 1912, Jessup had faded away.
Well, one of those days very long ago when I was too ignorant to know how unprepared I was for being out so far that even the boonies were a long way away, I was wandering around some of the back corners of the Trinity Range west of the Jessup site. What’s missing from the picture is my wreck of a 1964 Chevy ¾ ton pickup that I was driving at random through the sage. At some point, I came across some old mine workings … and nearby was this old cabin. This cabin was so remote, blue-enameled pans were still hanging on pegs on the walls, an old stove nearby, and remnants of furniture were laying around inside the cabin.
I may have cut a trail others would follow. Didn’t think of that at the time. I left the pans hanging there but even though that was almost 50 years ago; who knows, maybe the cabin and pans are still there.
I put together a little video sequence overlaying the 1890, 1908, and “now” maps to show changes … and no changes. This region shows the region of the split in the California Trail between the Truckee River Route and the Carson River Route; the Truckee Route heading SW (I-80), the Carson Route heading S (US95).
One can still follow the wagon ruts through 40-Mile a mile or so off US95; old busted oxen shoes and other such metallic trash still lies buried in the sand; any graves though being long ago obliterated.
ghostsniper’s comment reminded me – I should have added these two views:
Looking up road to Jessup – other side of those hills on the left
Looking south at the north end of 40-Mile desert. US95 along base of hills to left
