Frémont and Companies' Route from Pyramid Lake to Bridgeport Reservoir
Peter
Lathrop, Carson City
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1/18 - The expedition "followed it (the river) down for about three hours, and encamped" most likely where the river comes out of the east end of the narrows, south of the present launching ramp at 39°24'16". Frémont had to "ride out to reconnoiter the county," so they couldn't have been in the flat country to the east. The "open valley of another to the eastward where it was impossible to tell which way the the main river ran" well describes the flat pre-Newlands Reclamation project Lahontan Valley. A piece of evidence that this valley was not visible from the camp is that Preuss, who did not go on this reconnoiter, did not include details of the topography of the basin, nor the mountains beyond on his map. 1/19 - On this date they "went out of [their] way in a circuit over a little mountain." This would have taken them through the Dead Camel Mountains, passing to the north of Red Mountain to rejoin the Carson River at the front bottom of the "S" at 30°l9 21". This site is also under the waters of Lahontan Reservoir. |
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1/21 -- "In that direction [they]
traveled the next day" for 24 miles to encamp on
"another large stream running off to the northward
and eastward." They had passed through the Adrian
Valley to the "broad bottoms, fine meadowland" of
Mason Valley. The campsite is a little north of
Yerington at 39°01'53" on the west side of the
Walker River. 1/22 - The expedition then followed on the west
side of the West Walker River south pass where the
East Fork branches off. After about 14 miles they
camped where a tributary forks off to the south
toward Pine Groove Hills. The latitude given,
38°49'54", does not match-up with the
confluences of the large arroyo up which they
proceeded the next day. It does agree with a
smaller tributary and would place the camp at the
foot of the ridge they climbed. Frémont with
unidentified companions climbed one ridge to the
main ridge of the Singatse Range, |
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1/23 - The southern end of Mason Valley's drainage patterns has been greatly altered by the demands of agriculture. It is therefore impossible to trace the natural patterns that existed in Frernoni's time. There is a large arroyo whose form indicates that it must have carried a large flow of water in times past. It drains north from Pine Groove Flat along which road 3C travels. This is most likely "the other branch" along "the course of" they "moved" "toward the southeast" on this date. Pine Groove Flat does make a "fine road," the saddle at the southern end of it is a "slight dividing ground", and the trail (and as the present road does) would have then "descended toward the valley of another strearn," in fact the East Walker River. This misidentification shows that they had missed the confluence of the East and West Walker while traveling south in Mason Valley, their view mostly blocked by the cottonwoods and willows. It is also evident then that the confluence was not the "forks" where they had camped that night. This day they encamped after traveling 24 miles by the East Walker at 38°36'19". This would put them near the present headquarters of the Flying M Ranch. |
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1/25 - This morning they proceeded west toward
the Bodle Hills. Having crossed the modern
north/south graded road they climbed west in the
vicinity of the dirt roads to the "pure spring"
between the roads at "the edge of the timber." The
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Last
year Bob asked me where I thought Frémont
was during, late January, 1844. Whereas much work
has been done on 
1/16
- Frémont's party followed the east bank of
the Truckee River south from Pyramid Lake passing
across the river from where Ornsby would meet
defeat and death two decades later. Frémont
mistook the Pah Pah Range for the Sierra Nevada.
They camped on the east side of Truckee River at
the middle of the large eastern curve in Dodge
Flat, northeast of Wadsworth.
1/17
- They "left the river, which here issues from the,
mountains on the west", and traveled south over the
low eastern end of the Virginia Range, pretty much
following Alt. 95. They left the route of the
highway about 3 miles north of Silver springs,
following the wash south to camp at the top of the
"S" curve in the Carson River at a site now under
Lahontan Reservoir about 2 miles east of Silver
Springs. The river at this site would have run
"more directly to the eastward." This "S" curve of
the river is clearly shown on Preuss's map,
1/20
- The party moved upstream and "encamped on it
close to the mountains". Here they "ascended a peak
of the range, 
where
it commanded a view of the stream behind the first
ridge, where it was winding its course through a
somewhat open valley". They had reached the point
where the river valley narrows between the eastern
Pine Nut Mountains and Churchill Butte, near the
site of Fort 
Churchill.
The peak climbed must have been the west peak of
Churchill Butte, and the open valley was the Carson
Plains looking, toward the site of Dayton with the
storm covered mountains of the Virainia Range and
the Carson Spur of the Sierras beyond. If they were
any farther west their route the next day would
have had to go south over the variable topography
of the east Pine Nut Mountains and which would not
have been described as "tolerably level ground."
Frémont noted that they climbed a peak, not
the highest which is the east peak of Churchill
Butte. The east peak would have given a view of the
entire area in which they had been traveling for
the last three days, which would have been
mentioned in his journal, whereas the west peak
gives a clear view in the direction he was thinking
of going, as well as to the south.
which
extended south of Mt. Wilson. The geology of that
ridge matches that described by Frémont. The
view of Smith Valley seen from that nidge also
matches his description. The West Walker River
meanders from the "gorge" of Hoye Canyon toward the
"cañon" of Wilson Canyon. The Pine Nut Range
north of the "gorge" and the Sierra Nevada beyond
were both hidden in snow clouds, so once again he
decided to go "southward," in which direction he
would have had a good view from the ridge.
1/24
- This date started with the meeting of
Frémont's men with a similar, though smaller
group of Washoe who were outside their home
territory mostly likely on a hunting expedition.
Following the hunter's lead they went upstream
"between dark-looking hills" of quaternary basalts
on the east and the tertiary andesitic rock on the
west that narrowed the river valley. They crossed
the river on a fishing dam near where the moderm
bridge is, the route upstream being blocked by the
granite of "Impassable canons." The expedition most
likely followed the present road up to the south
skirting the "snowy mountains" of Big Indian Mt. of
the Wassuk Range, as this route affords the easiest
passage through the "very broken country" which
lies between the road and the river. The "low gap"
as shown on Preuss's map matches the one the
present road passes through. This route would match
the local geology of tertiary sedimentary sandstone
with Frémont's description of "impure
sandstone," as would the andesitic rocks
encountered upon "Issuing from the gap" with
Frémont's description of "compact lava, and
other volcanic products". The "wide valley, or
rather
basin" they "descended" to, following the drainage
from Baldwin Canyon, is the valley of Rough Creek,
"a small tributary" of the East Walker. They
encamped where the creek bed is wide before
narrowing at the Lyon/Mineral County line at
38°24'28".
pronghom
was most likely killed in the Washoe fashion of a
small cooperative group using the springs as a
trap. The trail then headed toward the lowest pass
in the Bodle Hills, coming out of the trees near
the California/Nevada border. The geology
Frémont describes again fits the rocks found
here, being rhyodacite and andesite flows and
breccias. The pass (8350') is between Potato Peak
and Masonic Hill just south of Logan Springs and
gives a good view of their "future road" where Hwy
395 leaves Bridgeport Valley heading north. After
taking in the magnificent view they followed the
Rock Springs drainage down past Locomotive Point to
their camp site which is now under the Bridgeport
Reservoir.See Peter Lathrop's study of the preceeding Markleeville to Charity Valley route.
Kit Carson to Frémont: "There," he said, "is the little mountain"
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 ©1999, 2007 Bob Graham |
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