Carson Pass Kit Carson Pass | |
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![]() The Carson Pass (foreground) overlooks Red Lake to the east. | |
Elevation | 8,574 ft (2,613 m) |
Traversed by | ![]() |
Location | Sierra Crest, Eldorado National Forest, Alpine County, California, United States |
Range | Sierra Nevada |
Coordinates | 38°41′38″N119°59′15″W / 38.69389°N 119.98750°W |
Location in California | |
Official name | Kit Carson Marker |
Reference no. | 315 |
Carson Pass is a mountain pass on the crest of the central Sierra Nevada, in the Eldorado National Forest and Alpine County, eastern California.
The pass is traversed by California State Route 88. It lies on the Great Basin Divide, with the West Fork Carson River on the east and the South Fork American River on the west.
The historic pass was a point on the Carson Trail during the California Gold Rush and was used for American Civil War shipping to California until the completion of the First transcontinental railroad. The Pacific Crest Trail traverses the Carson Pass summit, which has California Historical Landmark #315 at CA 88 postmile 6.09 where Kit Carson carved his name into a tree. [1]
The 1844 Frémont Expedition turned south from northern Nevada. When encamped at Nevada's Carson Valley on January 31, 1844, Frémont decided to detour west during the winter conditions to Sutter's Fort in California for supplies. Local Washoe Indians told them of a route through the mountains, but warned them not to proceed through the snow. Frémont duly ignored the advice and directed the group westward. The Washoe were right in that they were not able to find food or game, and they ended up resorting to eating dogs, horses, and mules just to survive. On February 14, Frémont and his cartographer Charles Preuss made it up Red Lake Peak and became the first recorded white men to see Lake Tahoe in the distance. On February 21, the expedition made it through the now-named Carson pass west of Red Lake and arrived at Sutter's Fort on March 6 with no fatalities. [2]
In the summer of 1848, Mormons leaving California for Utah built what would become known as the Carson Trail across the Sierra from Sly Park, California, to the Carson Valley via Carson Pass. The Carson Trail became one of the primary routes across the Sierra used by overland immigrants to California in the Gold Rush era. Brigham Young evacuated Mormon settlers around Carson Pass in July 1857, shortly after the breakout of the Utah War.
Maiden's Grave | |
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Location | State Highway 88, Kirkwood, California |
Coordinates | 38°37′54″N120°10′16″W / 38.6318°N 120.171233°W |
Reference no. | 28 |
In 1850, the young Rachel Melton was buried west of Carson's Pass. Her family was traveling from Iowa when she became ill. The family camped out with a goal to improve Rachel's health, but she died. The site is a California Historical Landmark. [3]
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Carson Pass has a dry-summer subarctic climate, abbreviated "Dsc" on climate maps.
Climate data for Carson Pass, California, 2006–2020 normals, extremes 2004–present | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 61 (16) | 60 (16) | 64 (18) | 68 (20) | 71 (22) | 79 (26) | 81 (27) | 82 (28) | 82 (28) | 72 (22) | 65 (18) | 60 (16) | 82 (28) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 52.1 (11.2) | 52.9 (11.6) | 56.0 (13.3) | 61.5 (16.4) | 66.0 (18.9) | 73.4 (23.0) | 77.0 (25.0) | 76.3 (24.6) | 74.0 (23.3) | 66.6 (19.2) | 59.5 (15.3) | 51.4 (10.8) | 78.1 (25.6) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 38.7 (3.7) | 39.0 (3.9) | 41.8 (5.4) | 46.9 (8.3) | 52.7 (11.5) | 62.1 (16.7) | 69.8 (21.0) | 69.0 (20.6) | 64.7 (18.2) | 53.5 (11.9) | 44.4 (6.9) | 36.9 (2.7) | 51.6 (10.9) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 30.3 (−0.9) | 29.8 (−1.2) | 32.2 (0.1) | 36.7 (2.6) | 42.7 (5.9) | 51.2 (10.7) | 58.6 (14.8) | 58.1 (14.5) | 53.1 (11.7) | 43.8 (6.6) | 35.8 (2.1) | 28.8 (−1.8) | 41.8 (5.4) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 22.0 (−5.6) | 20.6 (−6.3) | 22.6 (−5.2) | 26.4 (−3.1) | 32.8 (0.4) | 40.3 (4.6) | 47.4 (8.6) | 47.0 (8.3) | 42.5 (5.8) | 34.1 (1.2) | 27.2 (−2.7) | 20.8 (−6.2) | 32.0 (0.0) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | 5.5 (−14.7) | 3.5 (−15.8) | 8.2 (−13.2) | 12.0 (−11.1) | 22.2 (−5.4) | 29.1 (−1.6) | 40.3 (4.6) | 38.3 (3.5) | 30.7 (−0.7) | 21.3 (−5.9) | 11.5 (−11.4) | 3.7 (−15.7) | −1.4 (−18.6) |
Record low °F (°C) | −5 (−21) | −4 (−20) | −3 (−19) | 2 (−17) | 10 (−12) | 19 (−7) | 34 (1) | 30 (−1) | 23 (−5) | 13 (−11) | −2 (−19) | −4 (−20) | −5 (−21) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 6.41 (163) | 6.64 (169) | 6.91 (176) | 3.55 (90) | 2.13 (54) | 0.59 (15) | 0.39 (9.9) | 0.47 (12) | 0.67 (17) | 3.07 (78) | 4.13 (105) | 5.57 (141) | 40.53 (1,029.9) |
Average extreme snow depth inches (cm) | 62.1 (158) | 81.1 (206) | 97.0 (246) | 81.8 (208) | 53.1 (135) | 18.1 (46) | 0.9 (2.3) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.5 (1.3) | 3.1 (7.9) | 19.0 (48) | 40.2 (102) | 102.4 (260) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 9.7 | 8.8 | 11.2 | 8.3 | 6.1 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 5.5 | 8.1 | 10.1 | 76.2 |
Source: XMACIS2 [4] |
Christopher Houston Carson was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime through biographies and news articles; exaggerated versions of his exploits were the subject of dime novels. His understated nature belied confirmed reports of his fearlessness, combat skills, tenacity, as well as profound effect on the westward expansion of the United States. Although he was famous for much of his life, historians in later years have written that Kit Carson did not like, want, or even fully understand the fame that he experienced during his life.
Major-General John Charles Frémont was a United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the U.S. in 1856 and founder of the California Republican Party when he was nominated. He lost the election to Democrat James Buchanan when the vote was split by the Know Nothings.
Walker Pass is a mountain pass by Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada. It is located in northeastern Kern County, approximately 53 mi (85 km) ENE of Bakersfield and 10 mi (16 km) WNW of Ridgecrest. The pass provides a route between the Kern River Valley and San Joaquin Valley on the west, and the Mojave Desert on the east.
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about 1,600 mi (2,600 km) across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail followed the same corridor of networked river valley trails as the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, namely the valleys of the Platte, North Platte, and Sweetwater rivers to Wyoming. The trail has several splits and cutoffs for alternative routes around major landforms and to different destinations, with a combined length of over 5,000 mi (8,000 km).
Donner Lake, formerly known as Truckee Lake, is a freshwater lake in Northeast California on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of the much larger Lake Tahoe. A moraine serves as a natural dam for the lake. The lake is located in the town of Truckee, between Interstate 80 to the north and Schallenberger Ridge to the south. The tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad run along Schallenberger Ridge and closely follow the route of the original transcontinental railroad. The historic route of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across America and US 40 follows the northern shoreline, then climbs to Donner Pass from where the entire lake may be viewed.
State Route 49 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that passes through many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush and it is known as the Golden Chain Highway. The highway's creation was lobbied by the Mother Lode Highway Association, a group of locals and historians seeking a single highway to connect many relevant locations along the Gold Rush to honor the 49ers. One of the bridges along SR 49 is named for the leader of the association, Archie Stevenot.
The Old Spanish Trail is a historical trade route that connected the northern New Mexico settlements of Santa Fe, New Mexico with those of Los Angeles, California and southern California. Approximately 700 mi (1,100 km) long, the trail ran through areas of high mountains, arid deserts, and deep canyons. It is considered one of the most arduous of all trade routes ever established in the United States. Explored, in part, by Spanish explorers as early as the late 16th century, the trail was extensively used by traders with pack trains from about 1830 until the mid-1850s. The area was part of Mexico from Mexican independence in 1821 to the Mexican Cession to the United States in 1848.
Peter Lassen, later known in Spanish as Don Pedro Lassen, was a Danish-born Californian ranchero and gold prospector. Born in Denmark, Lassen immigrated at age 30 to Massachusetts, before eventually moving to California. In California, Lassen became a Mexican citizen and received the vast Rancho Bosquejo from Governor Manuel Micheltorena. He is the namesake of Lassen County, California, Lassen Peak, Lassen National Forest, and Lassen Volcanic National Park.
State Route 88 (SR 88), also known as the Carson Pass Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It travels in an east–west direction from Stockton, in the San Joaquin Valley, to the Nevada state line, where it becomes Nevada State Route 88, eventually terminating at U.S. Route 395 (US 395). The highway is so named as it crests the Sierra Nevada at Carson Pass. The highway corridor predates the era of the automobile; the path over Carson pass was previously used for the California Trail and the Mormon Emigrant Trail. The mountainous portion of the route is included in the State Scenic Highway System.
Pilot Peak is the highest mountain in the Pilot Range in extreme eastern Elko County, Nevada, United States. It is the most topographically prominent peak in Elko County and the fourth-most prominent peak in Nevada. The peak is on public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and thus has no access restrictions.
The Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party consisted of ten families who migrated from Iowa to California prior to the Mexican–American War and the California Gold Rush. The Stephens Party is significant in California history because they were the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada during the expansion of the American West. In 1844, they pioneered the first route at or near what was later named Donner Pass. The crossing was a year before the third expedition of John Charles Frémont, two years before the Donner Party, and five years before the 1848–49 Gold Rush. Three other known European exploration crossings of the Sierra Nevada had previously occurred at points south of this however, including Frémont's second expedition the previous winter, at Carson Pass.
Joseph R. Walker was a mountain man and experienced scout. He established the segment of the California Trail, the primary route for the emigrants to the gold fields during the California gold rush, from Fort Hall, Idaho to the Truckee River. The Walker River and Walker Lake in Nevada were named for him by John C. Frémont.
The Las Vegas Springs or Big Springs is the site of a natural oasis, known traditionally as a cienega. For more than 15,000 years, springs broke through the desert floor, creating grassy meadows. The bubbling springs were a source of water for Native Americans living here at least 5,000 years ago. Known as The Birthplace of Las Vegas it sustained travelers of the Old Spanish Trail and Mormons who came to settle the West. The springs' source is the Las Vegas aquifer.
George Karl Ludwig Preuss (1803–1854), anglicized as Charles Preuss, was a surveyor and cartographer who accompanied John C. Fremont on three of his five exploratory expeditions of the American west, including the expedition where he and Fremont were the first to record seeing Lake Tahoe from a mountaintop vantage point as they traversed what is now Carson Pass in February 1844. Preuss drew two important maps based on his records from Fremont's first two expeditions.
Red Lake Peak is believed to be the vantage point from which John C. Fremont and Charles Preuss made the first recorded sighting of Lake Tahoe by Europeans in February 1844 as Fremont's exploratory expedition made a desperate crossing of the Sierra Nevada through what is now Carson Pass on their way to obtain provisions at Sutter's Fort. The peak lies just north of the pass and generally northwest of the small lake east of the pass for which the peak is named. Lake Tahoe and Stevens Peak are visible to the north from the peak. Elephants Back and Round Top can be seen to the south.
Edward Meyer Kern was an American artist, topographer, and explorer of California, the Southwestern United States, and East Asia. He is the namesake of the Kern River and Kern County, California.
Hope Valley is a broad mountain valley in Alpine County, California, located on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada to the northeast of Carson Pass and south of Lake Tahoe. The valley served as a major thoroughfare for the passage of settlers and emigrants to and from California during the Gold Rush era. Sitting at an elevation of just above 7,000 feet (2,100 m) and framed by peaks reaching over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) high, Hope Valley is known for its wide vistas, fly fishing, fall colors, and winter activities.
Elephants Back is a 9,585-foot-elevation (2,922 meter) mountain summit located in Alpine County, California, United States.
The original inscription was cut from the tree in 1888 and is now in Sutter's Fort
Fremont and Jacob Dodson leave Long Camp on the 16th as an advance scouting party to determine their route over the pass then along the descent of the western slope. On the night of the 17th the two men return to Long Camp and are quite surprised to be greeted by Fitzpatrick and his party from Grover's. Fremont noted… "Here we had the pleasure to find all the remaining animals, 57 in number, safely arrived at the grassy hill near the camp." Two days later the entire second expedition had reached Long Camp. On February 21st the expedition passed over the summit of today's Carson Pass at a location just south of present day Highway 88. They began their descent and two days later Fremont wrote from their camp at present day Strawberry… "Here among the pines, the hill side produces but little grass---barley sufficient to keep life in the animals. We had the pleasure to be rained upon this afternoon; and grass was now are greatest solicitude. Many of the men looked badly, and some this evening were giving out." Although they still had some distance to cover the descent was much easier, the worst was behind them. On March 6, 1844 they reached Sutter's Fort without losing a single man.: 2 (italic text from expedition reports)