Forty Mile Desert

This was the stretch emigrants feared most—forty waterless miles of alkali between the Humboldt Sink and the rivers beyond, crossed by night when heat allowed. A survey in 1850 counted the cost in carcasses: more than a thousand dead mules, almost five thousand horses, nearly four thousand cattle, and over nine hundred human graves. The route split a few miles southwest into the Carson and Truckee branches. Today the Trinity rest area off Interstate 80 marks where the ordeal began, the desert unchanged.

What the plaque says

The 40 Mile Desert, beginning here, is a barren stretch of waterless alkali wasteland. It was the most dreaded section of the California Emigrant Trail. If possible, it was traveled by night because of the great heat. The route was first traveled by the Walker-Chiles Party in 1843, with the first wagon train, regardless of its horrors, it became the accepted route, as it split five miles southwest of here into the two main trails to California, the Carson River and Truckee River routes. Starvation for men and animals stalked every mile. A survey made in 1850 showed these appalling statistics---1,061 dead mules, almost 5,000 horses, 3,750 cattle, and 953 graves. The then value of personal property loss was set at $1,000,000. The heaviest traffic came from 1849 to 1869. It was still used after completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• People of the Humboldt — steps away
• Pershing County — 22 mi