Pioneer Express Trail

The plaque is a list of places that are under water. Between 1849 and 1854 Pioneer Express riders carried mail up this gold rush trail to the many populous mining camps on the American River bars, and the bronze names seven of them, Beals and Condemned and Dotons and Long and Horseshoe and Rattlesnake and Oregon, every one of them now beneath Folsom Lake. The route ran on from there to Auburn and the camps beyond it.

What the plaque says

PIONEER EXPRESS TRAIL BETWEEN 1849 AND 1854, PIONEER EXPRESS RIDERS RODE THIS GOLD RUSH TRAIL TO MANY POPULOUS MINING CAMPS ON AMERICAN RIVER BARS NOW COVERED BY FOLSOM LAKE, INCLUDING BEALS, CONDEMNED, DOTONS, LONG, HORSESHOE, RATTLESNAKE, AND OREGON ON THE ROUTE TO AUBURN AND THE CAMPS BEYOND. REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 585 PLAQUE PLACED BY CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION MAY 5, 1957

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 17 mi
  The tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.
• Sacramento — 21 mi
  The Gold Rush river port that became the state capital, and jacked itself ten feet into the air to stop drowning.

More markers nearby

• Old Folsom Powerhouse — 3.1 mi
• Folsom-Overland Pony Express Route in California — 3.4 mi
• Terminal of California's First Passenger Railroad — 3.4 mi
• Mormon Island, Negro Hill, Salmon Falls, and Condemned Bar — 3.8 mi