Historical Marker · No. 517
Emigrant Trail Crossing of Present Highway
Weed, Siskiyou County · California
Erected by California State Park Commission; Siskiyou County Historical Society; County of Siskiyou
The bronze has been shot where it matters: bullet holes have taken the last digit of 1852 and the first of 600, and only the state register still says what they were. The road it records is the Yreka Trail, opened in 1852 as a cutoff from the Applegate route that brought the first wagon settlers this far north. That summer a Yreka man named John Onsby had a letter from his uncle, asking him to send supplies to the train coming over. A Trails West post 700 feet north marks Sheep Rock on the same road.
What the plaque says
Emigrant Trail As early as 1852 wagon trains of overland emigrants crossed 600 feet to the north into Shasta Valley and Yreka; and at this point the 1857 Military Pass from Fort Crook emerged to join the westward emigrant road. Historical Landmark No. 517 Marker placed by the California State Park Commission, the Siskiyou County Historical Society, and the County of Siskiyou.
Where it stands
41.55841, -122.20971 · Directions