Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/35

 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 25 From Pleasant Valley, the road pursued a northwestly course across Shell Creek, through Ruby Valley, to Pine Creek, thence down that stream to its junction with the Humboldt at Gravelly Ford, some twenty-five or thirty miles below the place where Hastings' Cut-Off joined the main California trail. About fifteen miles from the mouth of the creek the road was forced to pass through a ter- rible canon. There were on this route only a few stations —s om e half-dozen in the entire distance of over three hundred miles from Camp Floyd to the Humboldt. After reaching the Humboldt this route followed the usual emigrant trail. 20 Though this route was over one hundred miles shorter than the emigrant trail from Salt Lake City to California by way of the City of Rocks, it still was not direct enough to suit the mail contractors. In the summer of 1859, Captain J. H. Simpson, of the Topographical Engineers of the United States Army, who had helped to work out Chorpenning's route in the previous year, made a second reconnaisance and opened up a new route which entirely avoided the Humboldt. 21 Much of this new route was al- ready well known to a Mr. Howard Egan, a Mormon guide, mountaineer and mail-agent. 22 To whomsoever the credit is due for the discovery of this route, it is certain that the mail contractor soon took advantage of it. In the fall of 1859, Major Chorpen- ning established a mail route which avoided the Hum- boldt. It followed the road which had been established in 1858 to Huntington Valley, but instead of following down Pine Creek to the Humboldt, it left the old road in Huntington Valley and struck off across country to the south, to what is now the southern part of Eureka County, Nevada. From there the route lay almost directly west across Simpson's Park, Reese River and Smith's Creek 20 Ibid., pp. 268-270. 21 Senate Executive Documents, 26 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. Ill, Doc. 2 ., Ser. No. 1025, pp. 847-855. 22 Burton, op. cit., p. 453.