Central Overland Route
Encyclopedia
The Central Overland Route (also known as the "Central Overland Trail", "Central Route", "Simpson's Route", or the "Egan Trail") was a transportation route from Salt Lake City, Utah
south of the Great Salt Lake
through the mountains of central Nevada
and the Basin and Range Province to Carson City, Nevada
. For a decade after 1859, until the First Transcontinental Railroad
was completed in 1869, it served a vital role in the transport of emigrants, mail, freight, and passengers between Nevada
, California
and Salt Lake City, Utah
The route was initially scouted in 1855 by Howard Egan, and used by him to drive livestock between Salt Lake City
and California. The trail Egan used led straight thorough the high mountain ranges that most earlier explorers had worked so hard to avoid. Egan discovered that a series of mountain passes and mountain springs were aligned to allow an almost direct path across the middle of Utah and Nevada. The Schell Creek Range
could be crossed at Schellbourne Pass, the Cherry Creek Range
at Egan Canyon, the Ruby Mountains
at Overland Pass, the Diamond Mountains
at another Overland Pass, the Toiyabe Range
at Emigrant Pass, and the Desatoya Mountains
at Basque Summit (all of these place names came later). Although many smaller ranges and two large deserts also had to be traversed, the reduction in length over the 'standard' California Trail
route along the Humboldt River
by about 280 miles (450.6 km) made this route about two weeks faster for emigrants getting to (or from) California. After it was developed many California emigrants and returning emigrants used this route.
In 1858, hearing of Egan's Trail, the U.S. Army sent an expedition led by Captain James H. Simpson
to survey it for a military road to get supplies to the Army's Camp Floyd
in Utah. Simpson came back with a surveyed route that was about 280 miles (450.6 km) shorter than the 'standard' California Trail
route along the Humboldt River
. The Army then improved the trail and springs for use by wagons and stagecoach
es in 1859 and 1860. When the approaching American Civil War
closed the heavily subsidized Butterfield Overland Mail
south western route to California along the Gila River
George Chorpenning
immediately realized the value of this more direct route, and shifted his existing mail and passenger line from the "Northern Humboldt Route
" along the Humboldt River
. In 1861 John Butterfield
, who since 1858 had been using the Butterfield Overland Mail
route through the deserts of the American Southwest, also switched to the Central Route to avoid possible hostilities during the American Civil War
. The various stage lines, by traveling day and night and changing their teams at about 10 miles (16.1 km) to 20 miles (32.2 km) intervals, could get light freight, passengers and mail to or from Missouri River
towns to California in about 25-28 days. Gold
and Silver
mined in California and Nevada was often part of the cargo going east as the Civil War consumed vast sums of money. Nearly all stage lines were heavily subsidized to carry the mail. After the American Civil War
, Wells Fargo & Co.
absorbed the Butterfield stage lines and ran stage coaches and freight wagons along the Central Route as well as developing the first agriculture in the Ruby Valley
in Nevada to help support their livestock.
The Army established Fort Ruby at the southern end of Ruby Valley
in Nevada to protect travelers against marauding Indians along the road. The Army abandoned Camp Floyd in 1860 as the soldiers were reassigned back east to fight the Civil War
--many deserted to fight for the south.
In 1860 the William Russell
's Pony Express
used this route across Utah and Nevada for part of their fast 10 day mail delivery from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California
. In 1861, soon after the completion of the First Transcontinental Telegraph
, the Pony Express was discontinued as the Transcontinental Telegraph now could provide quicker and cheaper communication from the East to the West.
Under pressure and subsidizes from the U.S. Congress to establish rapid east-west communication in 1860 Hiram Sibley
, the president of the Western Union
Company, formed a consortium between Western Union
and the telegraph companies in California to construct the First Transcontinental Telegraph
. The telegraph line was authorized and subsidized by the U.S. Congress and went from Omaha, Nebraska
to Carson City, Nevada
. The newly consolidated Overland Telegraph Company of California, which had already built a telegraph line to Carson City, would build the line eastward from Carson City using the newly developed Central Route though Nevada and Utah. At the same time, the Pacific Telegraph Company
of Nebraska was formed by Sibley. It would construct a line westward from Omaha, Nebraska
along the eastern part of the California
and Oregon Trail
s. The lines would meet at a station in Salt Lake City, Utah
.
Telegraph lines, insulators (shipped around Cape Horn
to California) and telegraph poles for the line were collected in late 1860, and rapid construction proceeded during the second half of 1861. Major problems were encountered in finding telegraph poles on the tree less plains of the Midwest and the nearly tree less deserts of the Great Basin
. The telegraph line from Omaha reached Salt Lake City on October 18, 1861, and the line from Carson City to Salt Lake City was completed on October 24 1861--about a year ahead of predictions.
Several accounts of travel along the Central Route have been published. In July 1859 Horace Greeley
made the trip, at a time when Chorpenning was using only the eastern segment (they reconnected with the Humboldt River trail
near present-day Beowawe
). Greeley published his detailed observations in his 1860 book "An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco" . In October of 1860 the English explorer Richard Burton
traveled the entire route at a time when the Pony Express was operating. He gave detailed descriptions of each of the way stations in his 1861 book "The City of the Saints, Across the Rocky Mountains to California". In the summer of 1861 Samuel Clemens (who only later used the pen name Mark Twain
) traveled the route with his brother Orion on their way to Nevada's new territorial capital in Carson City
, but provided only sparse descriptions of the road in his 1872 book "Roughing It
".
In 1869 the First Transcontinental Railroad
was completed using the more level route along the Humboldt River
to the north--along much of the original California Trail
route. Along side the railroad an telegraph line was also constructed where it was easier to maintain and supply operators, relay stations etc. The Central Route was now obsolete for the telegraph. After 1869 the stage and freight lines traffic was now carried cheaper and faster on the railroad. The stage and telegraph relay stations were abandoned, and the soldiers at Fort Ruby were transferred north to Fort Halleck to protect the railroad.
See Also: Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Pony Express Map Nevada's Northeast Frontie
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
south of the Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...
through the mountains of central Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
and the Basin and Range Province to Carson City, Nevada
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
. For a decade after 1859, until the First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
was completed in 1869, it served a vital role in the transport of emigrants, mail, freight, and passengers between Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
The route was initially scouted in 1855 by Howard Egan, and used by him to drive livestock between Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
and California. The trail Egan used led straight thorough the high mountain ranges that most earlier explorers had worked so hard to avoid. Egan discovered that a series of mountain passes and mountain springs were aligned to allow an almost direct path across the middle of Utah and Nevada. The Schell Creek Range
Schell Creek Range
The Schell Creek Range is a linear mountain range in central White Pine County, in east-central Nevada. Its length is approximately in a north-south direction....
could be crossed at Schellbourne Pass, the Cherry Creek Range
Cherry Creek Range
The Cherry Creek Range is a line of mountains, Basin and Range faulted, in northern White Pine and southern Elko Counties, in northeastern Nevada in the western United States. The range runs generally north-south for approximately 50 miles...
at Egan Canyon, the Ruby Mountains
Ruby Mountains
The Ruby Mountains comprise one of the many mountain ranges of the Great Basin in the western United States. They are the predominant range in Elko County, in the northeastern section of the state of Nevada. To the north is Secret Pass and the East Humboldt Range, and from there the Rubies run...
at Overland Pass, the Diamond Mountains
Diamond Mountains
The Diamond Mountains are a north-south mountain range in east-central Nevada northeast of Eureka. The range is along the Newark Valley and is part of the drainage divide demarcating the Little Smoky-Newark Watershed....
at another Overland Pass, the Toiyabe Range
Toiyabe Range
The Toiyabe Range is a range of mountains in central Nevada in the western United States. It starts in northwestern Nye County north of Tonopah, Nevada and runs approximately 120 miles north-northeast through eastern Lander County, making it the second longest range in the state...
at Emigrant Pass, and the Desatoya Mountains
Desatoya Mountains
The Desatoya Mountains are located in central Nevada in the western United States, approximately 117 miles east of Reno by road. The range runs in a southwest-northeasterly direction along the border of Churchill and Lander Counties, reaching a maximum elevation of 9,973 feet at Desatoya Peak...
at Basque Summit (all of these place names came later). Although many smaller ranges and two large deserts also had to be traversed, the reduction in length over the 'standard' California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
route along the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
by about 280 miles (450.6 km) made this route about two weeks faster for emigrants getting to (or from) California. After it was developed many California emigrants and returning emigrants used this route.
James H. Simpson
James Hervey Simpson was an officer in the U.S. Army and a member of the United States Topographical Engineers.-Early years:He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 9, 1813, the son of John Simpson and Mary Brunson. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1832 and was...
to survey it for a military road to get supplies to the Army's Camp Floyd
Camp Floyd
Camp Floyd was a short-lived U.S. Army post near Fairfield, Utah, United States. The site is now a Utah state park known as Camp Floyd / Stagecoach Inn State Park and Museum.-Camp Floyd:...
in Utah. Simpson came back with a surveyed route that was about 280 miles (450.6 km) shorter than the 'standard' California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
route along the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
. The Army then improved the trail and springs for use by wagons and stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
es in 1859 and 1860. When the approaching American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
closed the heavily subsidized Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
south western route to California along the Gila River
Gila River
The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...
George Chorpenning
George Chorpenning
George W. Chorpenning Jr. was a pioneer in the transportation of mail, freight, and passengers through the arid and undeveloped western regions of the United States...
immediately realized the value of this more direct route, and shifted his existing mail and passenger line from the "Northern Humboldt Route
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
" along the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
. In 1861 John Butterfield
John Warren Butterfield
John Warren Butterfield was an operator of stagecoach and freight lines in the mid-19th century in the American Northeast and Southwest. He founded companies that became American Express and Wells Fargo. Butterfield also founded the Butterfield Overland Express and from 1858 to 1861 operated a...
, who since 1858 had been using the Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
route through the deserts of the American Southwest, also switched to the Central Route to avoid possible hostilities during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The various stage lines, by traveling day and night and changing their teams at about 10 miles (16.1 km) to 20 miles (32.2 km) intervals, could get light freight, passengers and mail to or from Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
towns to California in about 25-28 days. Gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and Silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
mined in California and Nevada was often part of the cargo going east as the Civil War consumed vast sums of money. Nearly all stage lines were heavily subsidized to carry the mail. After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Wells Fargo & Co.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
absorbed the Butterfield stage lines and ran stage coaches and freight wagons along the Central Route as well as developing the first agriculture in the Ruby Valley
Ruby Valley
Ruby Valley is a large basin located in south-central Elko and northern White Pine Counties in the northeastern section of the state of Nevada in the western United States. From Secret Pass it runs south-southwest for approximately 60 miles to Overland Pass...
in Nevada to help support their livestock.
The Army established Fort Ruby at the southern end of Ruby Valley
Ruby Valley
Ruby Valley is a large basin located in south-central Elko and northern White Pine Counties in the northeastern section of the state of Nevada in the western United States. From Secret Pass it runs south-southwest for approximately 60 miles to Overland Pass...
in Nevada to protect travelers against marauding Indians along the road. The Army abandoned Camp Floyd in 1860 as the soldiers were reassigned back east to fight the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
--many deserted to fight for the south.
In 1860 the William Russell
William Russell
-Kingdom of England:* William Russell , Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1348 to 1374* Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, of Chippenham , English MP for Windsor...
's Pony Express
Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...
used this route across Utah and Nevada for part of their fast 10 day mail delivery from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. In 1861, soon after the completion of the First Transcontinental Telegraph
First Transcontinental Telegraph
The First Transcontinental Telegraph was a milestone in electrical engineering and in the formation of the United States of America. It served as the only method of near-instantaneous communication between the east and west coasts during the 1860s....
, the Pony Express was discontinued as the Transcontinental Telegraph now could provide quicker and cheaper communication from the East to the West.
Under pressure and subsidizes from the U.S. Congress to establish rapid east-west communication in 1860 Hiram Sibley
Hiram Sibley
Hiram Sibley , was an industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, and later resided in Rochester, New York. He became interested in the work of Samuel Morse involving the telegraph.In 1840, he joined with Morse and Ezra Cornell to create a...
, the president of the Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
Company, formed a consortium between Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
and the telegraph companies in California to construct the First Transcontinental Telegraph
First Transcontinental Telegraph
The First Transcontinental Telegraph was a milestone in electrical engineering and in the formation of the United States of America. It served as the only method of near-instantaneous communication between the east and west coasts during the 1860s....
. The telegraph line was authorized and subsidized by the U.S. Congress and went from Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
to Carson City, Nevada
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
. The newly consolidated Overland Telegraph Company of California, which had already built a telegraph line to Carson City, would build the line eastward from Carson City using the newly developed Central Route though Nevada and Utah. At the same time, the Pacific Telegraph Company
Pacific Telegraph Company
In 1860, the Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860 called for the facilitation of communication between the east and west coasts of the United States of America. Hiram Sibley of the Western Union Telegraph Company won the contract...
of Nebraska was formed by Sibley. It would construct a line westward from Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
along the eastern part of the California
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
and Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
s. The lines would meet at a station in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
.
Telegraph lines, insulators (shipped around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
to California) and telegraph poles for the line were collected in late 1860, and rapid construction proceeded during the second half of 1861. Major problems were encountered in finding telegraph poles on the tree less plains of the Midwest and the nearly tree less deserts of the Great Basin
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
. The telegraph line from Omaha reached Salt Lake City on October 18, 1861, and the line from Carson City to Salt Lake City was completed on October 24 1861--about a year ahead of predictions.
Several accounts of travel along the Central Route have been published. In July 1859 Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
made the trip, at a time when Chorpenning was using only the eastern segment (they reconnected with the Humboldt River trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
near present-day Beowawe
Beowawe, Nevada
Beowawe is a ghost town in Eureka County in northeastern Nevada in the western United States. Beowawe is a Paiute Native American word meaning "gate", so named for the peculiar shape of the hills close to town which gives the effect of a gateway opening to the valley beyond. The town is located at...
). Greeley published his detailed observations in his 1860 book "An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco" . In October of 1860 the English explorer Richard Burton
Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
traveled the entire route at a time when the Pony Express was operating. He gave detailed descriptions of each of the way stations in his 1861 book "The City of the Saints, Across the Rocky Mountains to California". In the summer of 1861 Samuel Clemens (who only later used the pen name Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
) traveled the route with his brother Orion on their way to Nevada's new territorial capital in Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
, but provided only sparse descriptions of the road in his 1872 book "Roughing It
Roughing It
Roughing It is a book of semi-autobiographical travel literature written by American humorist Mark Twain. It was written during 1870–71 and published in 1872 as a prequel to his first book Innocents Abroad...
".
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
was completed using the more level route along the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
to the north--along much of the original California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
route. Along side the railroad an telegraph line was also constructed where it was easier to maintain and supply operators, relay stations etc. The Central Route was now obsolete for the telegraph. After 1869 the stage and freight lines traffic was now carried cheaper and faster on the railroad. The stage and telegraph relay stations were abandoned, and the soldiers at Fort Ruby were transferred north to Fort Halleck to protect the railroad.
See Also: Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Pony Express Map Nevada's Northeast Frontie
Further reading
- "An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco", by Horace Greeley (1860). Chapter XXV available at http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/greeley/nevada1.html
- "The City of the Saints, Across the Rocky Mountains to California" by Richard Burton (1861). Available at http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AFK4700.0001.001
- "Roughing It" (Chapter 20), by Mark Twain (1872). Chapter XX available at http://www.mtwain.com/Roughing_It/21.html
- "The Overland Mail", by Leroy R. HafenLeRoy R. HafenLeRoy Reuben Hafen was a historian of the American West and a Latter-day Saint. For many years he was a professor of history at Brigham Young University .-Biography:...
(1929). A detailed account of the various mail lines.