Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 A Route for the Overland Stage Jesse G. Petersen Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Petersen, J. G. (2008). A route for the overland stage: James H. Simpson's 1859 trail across the Great Basin. Logan: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 6693-6_OverlandStageCVR.ai93-6_OverlandStageCVR.ai 5/20/085/20/08 10:49:4010:49:40 AMAM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K A Route for the Overland Stage Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Colonel James H. Simpson shown during his Civil War service as an offi cer of the Fourth New Jersey infantry. A Route for the Overland Stage James H. Simpson’s 1859 Trail Across the Great Basin Jesse G. Petersen Foreword by David L. Bigler Utah State University Press Logan, Utah Copyright ©2008 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 www.usu.edu/usupress Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on recycled, acid-free paper ISBN: 978-0-87421-693-6 (paper) ISBN: 978-0-87421-694-3 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Petersen, Jesse G. A route for the overland stage : James H. Simpson’s 1859 trail across the Great Basin / Jesse G. Petersen ; foreword by David L. Bigler. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-693-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Simpson, J. H. (James Hervey), 1813-1883--Travel--Great Basin. 2. Great Basin--Discovery and explora- tion. 3. Great Basin--Surveys. 4. Great Basin--Geography. 5. Scientifi c expeditions--Great Basin--History--19th century. I. Title. F789.P47 2008 917.904’4092--dc22 2007050285 Contents Acknowledgments vi Foreword vii Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 2 The Journey Begins: Camp Floyd to Faust Creek .................................................. 8 3 Faust Creek to Pleasant Valley ...............................................................................18 4 Pleasant Valley to Roberts Creek ..........................................................................38 5 Roberts Creek to Middlegate ...............................................................................64 6 Middlegate to Genoa .............................................................................................93 7 Genoa to Smith Creek Valley ..............................................................................120 8 Smith Creek Valley to Steptoe Valley ..................................................................142 9 Steptoe Valley to Swasey Mountain .....................................................................164 10 Swasey Mountain to Triple Peaks ........................................................................187 11 Triple Peaks to Camp Floyd ................................................................................198 12 After the Return ...................................................................................................217 Appendix: Geographic Coordinates 224 Notes 231 Bibliography 237 Index 240 Acknowledgments he research for this work extended over Geno Oliver of Reno, who has spent many years Ta period of nearly ten years and was assist- researching and traveling the old trails and roads ed by more people than can be mentioned. of Nevada, helped me by going over the Nevada Nevertheless, I do feel compelled to acknowledge portion of an early version of my manuscript. the contribution of several whose help and en- Will Bagley brought to my attention the post- couragement made it possible for me to turn my expedition letter from General Johnston to interest in Simpson’s trail into a book. Simpson, which told him to go easy on promot- First of all, and probably most important, is ing the new route as an emigrant trail. John Alley, the executive editor of the Utah State Evelyn Eggenhofer Herman most generously University Press, who decided to take a chance on allowed the use of the drawings of the army wag- a novice writer and publish this book. ons that appeared in her father’s book, Wagons, Joe Nardone, the indefatigable researcher Mules, and Men. of the Pony Express Trail, let me pester him The courteous and helpful staff at the Utah with questions about locations of the route and State Historical Society, provided me with copies its stations. of the William Lee journal and the H. V. A. Von James O’Neil Hall, who now lives in St. Beckh and John J. Young watercolors. George, Utah, came to my house several years My father-in-law, Louis Dunyon, showed me ago to discuss some aspects of the Lincoln the trail across the western ridge of Keg Mountain, Highway in Tooele County. Since that day, he helped me fi nd Brewer’s Spring, and introduced has accompanied me on several fi eld trips and me to GPS technology. has shared with me the contents of numerous I need also to thank Bill Henroid, who lives emigrant journals, which show that Simpson’s in Pleasant Valley; Wes Parsons, whose ranch is route was traveled by a surprisingly large num- in the mouth of Simpson Park Canyon; James ber of emigrants. and Vera Baumann of Eureka, Nevada; and David Gregory Franzwa, the widely read author and Molly Stanley of the Stanley Horse Ranch in of more trails-related books than anyone that I Mason Valley. All of them allowed me to spend know of, took pity on me and helped me with the some time exploring their private property. proper use of the English language. Most of all, I need to say thanks to my wife and Marie Irvine, who answered my many ques- partner, Nancy Dunyon Petersen, who, although tions about Howard Egan’s explorations of west- she has no real interest in old trails and army expe- ern Utah and central Nevada, brought the invalu- ditions, nevertheless endured countless dusty and able journal of William Lee to my attention. rocky miles, spent many long hours waiting for Mark Trotter, the manager of Camp Floyd me to return from hikes along the trail, and never State Park, provided me with information relat- failed to encourage me to continue my research ing to the layout of the old army post. and travel. This book is dedicated to her. vi Foreword by David L. Bigler t the end of the Utah War in June 1858, at Camp Floyd in July 1858. The forty-fi ve-year- AGeneral Albert S. Johnston selected Cedar old engineer fi rst surveyed a new line of supply to Valley to establish a military post for some twenty- the east that ran up Provo Canyon to Parleys Park four hundred offi cers and men of the US Army’s and down the Weber River to present Coalville. Utah Expedition. The location west of Utah From there, it continued up Chalk Creek to Lake at present Fairfi eld, Utah, met the imme- bypass Echo Canyon on the south. During the diate needs of his command for grass for its ani- 1857 confl ict, Utah Militia General Hiram B. mals and remoteness from population centers to Clawson had inspected this avenue to fi nd out avoid clashes between his soldiers and settlers of if it offered a way for the US Army to fl ank Echo the territory ruled by Brigham Young. Canyon defenses. He reported that it did not, At the same time, Johnston knew that the loca- without extensive roadwork. tion for his new post, named Camp Floyd, was less Also that fall, a preliminary reconnaissance than ideal when it came to its mission to support of the proposed route west motivated the ener- enforcement of federal law in the defi ant terri- getic engineer to expand the wagon road sur- tory. For one thing, it was some forty miles from vey to Genoa. With the approval of Secretary of the capital at Salt Lake City. For another, the War John B. Floyd and Johnston, Simpson set his same geographical formations that had allowed sights on a vast area of the American West from the territorial militia to block his advance the which no water fl ows to any ocean. He planned year before and force him to spend the winter of to conduct the fi rst recorded exploration directly 1857–58 at Fort Bridger made his force vulnera- across the heart of the Great Basin, a region large ble in the event of renewed hostilities. The wind- enough to encompass New England, New York, ing Echo Canyon corridor through the Wasatch Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Mountains ruled his line of communications In width, the area of high-altitude desert and on the east. And the way to northern California north-south running mountain ranges extends from Camp Floyd led through Salt Lake Valley from central Utah’s Wasatch Range to the crest and around the north end of Great Salt Lake, of the Sierra Nevada. From north to south, it two hundred miles out of the way. stretches more than eight hundred miles from To make his army effective in relation to its Oregon to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. In duties, Johnston had to open a supply line on the between, its triangular-shaped rim encloses most east that bypassed the Mormon Trail from Fort of Nevada and parts of Utah, California, Idaho, Bridger and the easily fortifi ed Echo Canyon and Oregon. As a region of interior drainage, its portal to Salt Lake Valley. In addition, he needed waters fl ow into briny bodies, such as the Great to make a wagon road to northern California Salt Lake and Pyramid Lake, and desert fl ats, that eliminated the northern loop around the never into the sea. Its longest perennial rivers are Great Salt Lake. Instead, it should run due west the Bear, which fl ows into Great Salt Lake, and from Camp Floyd on the south side of that briny the Humboldt, followed by the California Trail body to meet the California Trail near Genoa in and today’s Interstate 80.