Ebbetts Pass Route

John Ebbetts took a mule string over a snow-free gap near here in 1851 and decided a railroad could follow him. In 1853 he pointed north to it from a peak above Sonora Pass for the mapmaker George Goddard, and the next year he died when the steamer Secretary blew up on San Pablo Bay. Goddard put his friend's name on the gap he thought had been meant. No railroad came, no emigrant train used it, and the highway closes every winter.

What the plaque says

Historical Landmark — Ebbetts Pass — Named after Major John Ebbett and pointed out in 1853 to surveyor G.H. Goddard who referred to it as a "route of great promise - probably the best one for a transcontinental railway." No emigrant train used this route but a stage road was completed here in 1864 to serve the mining region of Silver City. Stanislaus National Forest

Where it stands

More markers nearby

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• Memorial to Pioneer Odd Fellows — 14 mi
• Kit Carson Marker — 14 mi
• Pony Express Remount Station at Woodfords — 16 mi