Humboldt Wells

The Humboldt River begins here, and so did many an emigrant's relief. These marshy springs and ponds are the Humboldt Wells—the headwaters of the river whose valley carried the California Trail across the breadth of Nevada. After the dry country to the east, wagon trains found water and grass here at the start of the long Humboldt corridor. When the Central Pacific came through in 1869, it made the springs a water stop called Humboldt Wells; the name was shortened to Wells in 1873. The town still stands at the river's source that first gave the trail its water.

What the plaque says

These springs, seen as marshy spots and small ponds of water in the meadows here, are the Humboldt Wells, a historic oasis on the California Emigrant Trail. Here, during the period 1845–1870, hundreds of covered wagons each year rested and refitted from their arduous journeys up Raft River, past the City of Rocks, across the Goose Creek Range and down Thousand Springs Valley, and prepared for the grueling 300-mile trek along the Humboldt Valley. Ruts of the old emigrant trail winding down to the springs may yet be seen on the slopes above them and to the northwest. The City of Wells, first established as the water stop of Humboldt Wells on the Central Pacific Railroad in September, 1869, is named for these springs. Its name was shortened to Wells in 1873.

Where it stands