Granite Pass

Granite Pass. . One day west of the City of Rocks: Never saw such dust! In some places it was actually to the top of the forewheels! Fine white dust; more like flour. Our men were a perfect fright, being literally covered. -- Emigrant journal entry, circa 1850 , Heading west from the City of Rocks on the California Trail, emigrants aimed toward their next goal, Granite Pass, the gap in the distant ridge six miles away. There was always a next goal. , At this point most California-bound emigrants were on the same trail; the various routes east of here had merged. A critical point on the trail, Granite Pass was a funnel through which emigrants poured from eastern prairies toward the Humboldt River valley to the west. , Try to picture the scene here in the summer of 1850 when an estimated 50,000 emigrants, 100,000 animals, and 20,000 wagons passed through this valley. The animals ate the grass; campfires consumed anything that would burn; feet, wagon wheels, and hooves thrust clouds of dust skyward. , Had you stood here looking at Granite Pass before 1848, as early emigrant parties did you would have been standing in Oregon looking into Mexico.