Forty Mile Desert by Zina Abbott

The Forty Mile Desert was the most dreaded part of the California Trail—and for good reason. Based on reports of those who blazed the first trails to California, it became part of the established routes to northern and central California. Whether travelers intended to take the Truckee river route over Donner Pass, or the Mormon-Carson Emigrant route along the Carson River, they were required to go through this desert wasteland devoid of drinkable water.

 

This desert began as the water of the Humboldt River—brackish at best—dried up in the Humboldt Sink. For the next forty miles there was a lack of drinkable water. It was necessary to keep livestock away from the few sources of available water, like Soda Lake. The water was so alkaline, it killed any who drank from it. Also, the soil of much of that desert was sandy in nature, making it extremely difficult for both people and animals to walk through it.

Here is an excerpt from Mark Twain he write in Chapter XX of Roughing it. He crossed the Forty Mile Desert in the summer of 1861 by stagecoach:

On the nineteenth day we crossed the Great American Desert—forty memorable miles of bottomless sand, into which the coach wheels sunk from six inches to a foot. We worked our passage most of the way across. That is to say, we got out and walked. It was a dreary pull and a long and thirsty one, for we had no water. From one extremity of this desert to the other, the road was white with the bones of oxen and horses. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that we could have walked the forty miles and set our feet on a bone at every step! The desert was one prodigious graveyard. And the log-chains, wagon tyres, and rotting wrecks of vehicles were almost as thick as the bones. I think we saw log-chains enough rusting there in the desert, to reach across any State in the Union. Do not these relics suggest something of an idea of the fearful suffering and privation the early emigrants to California endured?

Based in today’s Churchill County, Nevada, the Forty Mile Desert is a California Gold Rush name for Nevada's Lahontan Valley and the adjoining area to the northwest. The Lahontan Valley is a landform of the central portion of prehistoric Lake Lahontan’s lake bed from 20,000 to 9,000 years ago. That valley and the adjacent Carson Sink are only a small portion of the lake bed. The Humboldt Lake is to the valley’s northeast. Pyramid Lake is west, and Walker Lake is south. It is all part of the larger Great Basin Desert.

 

Because of the extreme daytime temperatures and lack of water, if possible, this desert was crossed at night.

Many lives were lost while traveling this desert—both human and livestock. Starvation and thirst preyed upon people and animals every mile.  A survey made in 1850 resulted in a listing of 1,061 dead mules, almost 5,000 horses, 3,750 cattle, and 953 graves.  The value of personal property loss was set at the time at $1,000,000.

The heaviest traffic through the Forty Mile Desert occurred between 1849 and 1869, when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed.

I did not find many public domain pictures of the Forty Mile Desert. If you would enjoy seeing some contemporary photographs of the region, for the Carson Trail, please CLICK HERE.

For the Truckee Trail, please CLICK HERE.

I devoted a chapter in my recent novel, Clara, to the experience of the characters crossing the Forty Mile Desert. The chapter that followed included their relief at finally making it through and reaching the Carson River. To find the book description purchase options for Clara, please CLICK HERE.

 

 

Also, although each book can be read as a standalone, my first book I wrote for the Prairie Roses Collection, Pearl, has many of the same characters as Clara. It is on a Kindle Countdown sale for 99¢ (ebook) through April 29, 2023. To find the book description and purchase options, please CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

http://oldageisnotforsissiesblog.com/day-4-on-the-california-trail-a-deadly-desert-to-cross/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahontan_Valley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Trail

http://overlandtrails.lib.byu.edu/essay_ctrail.php

https://emigranttrailswest.org/virtual-tour/carson-trail/

https://shpo.nv.gov/nevadas-historical-markers/historical-markers/forty-mile-desert