Volume 019-1 - March 1965 (2 pages)

a half, that our animals slid rather than walked down it.” Beyond the Greenhorn, were the famous ranches of Ben Taylor who brought the first horse herd of hot blooded animals from Kentucky and Missouri to California, and the well known Storm’s Ranch, which came into prominence when United States troops and State Volunteers rounded up the Indian Followers of Chief Weman at this ranch, and deported them to Mendocino County, with Storms as the first Indian Agent in California. Beyond Windy Hill to the west of Chicago Park and down the old Emigrant Road, is the location where Edwin Bryant wrote, on August 30, 1846, “After rising and descending a number of hills from the summit of one more elevated than others surrounding it, the spacious Valley of the Sacramento burst upon our. view.” After descending to the Valley along the water sheds of South Wolf Creek and the north bank of Bear River, The Emigrant Road approaches the side of old Camp Far West, a small army post maintained in 1849 and 1850. It is located on a slight, rocky bluff overlooking Bear River about two miles east of the site of Johnson’s Rancho. Saved from destruction is a small cemetery, used jointly by the people of Johnson’s Rancho and the military posse, in the period from 1844 to 1856, It is occupied by 18 graves, mostly soldier victims of Indian raids and disease, generally malaria. One little girl, Betsy Parker, occupied a brick lined grave in the corner of the plot. All are unmarked and lost to memory except for a common monument erected there in 1911 by the Native Sons of the Golden West. Two miles beyond the mountain section of the Overland Emigrant Road terminates in the Valley of the Sacramento at Johnson’s Rancho 31/2 miles East of the present town of Wheatland. The small adobe buildings are gone without a trace. Today, only a mammoth oak remains to mark the resting ground of the Emigrant Trains, and the grassy site of a once huge spring. Nearby is the worn track where the wagons pulled down the bank for the crossing of Bear River and valley road to Sutter’s Fort. CITIZEN OF THE YEAR DINNER Mr. Haroia J. George, Sr. will be honored as Nevada County Citizen of the Year at a dinner meeting Thursday, April 1, 1965 at Veterans Memorial Building, Grass Valley at 6:30 P.M. $2.75. General Chairman Gilbert Tennis states this event is open to the Public as this is a community affair. Tickets may be obtained from the following — Grass Valley—Esther Hartung, 303 S. Church St. Phone 273-6830; Mrs. Richard Shoemaker, Rt. 1, Box 875. Phone 273-702€; Gilbert Tennis, 124 Winchester St. Phone 273-2328; Hartung's Jewelers, 124 Mill St. Phone 273-3039. Nevada City—Mrs. Adelaide Elliott, P.O. Box 1002, Phone 265-4701; Mrs. Isabel Hefelfinger, 430 Washington St. Phone 265-2979; Elza Kilroy, 318 Drummond St. Phone 265-2075; Dickerman Drug Store, 219 Broad St. Phone 265-4215. HELP TO PRESERVE OUR COUNTY'S IMPORTANT AND ROMANTIC PAST — JOIN THE NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Membership only $1 per year — Payable January Ist each year Send $1.00 to Esther Hartung, 303 S. Church St., Grass Valley, California The Nevada County Historical Society meets first Thursday of each month except June, July and August. 1965 OFFICERS OF THE NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY President—Mrss. Isabel Hefelfinger, 430 Washington St., Nevada City Phone 265-2979. Vice President—Mrs. Richard Shoemaker, Rt. 1 Box 875, Grass Valley, Phone 273-7026. Secretary—Miss Esther Hartung, 303 South Church St., Grass Valley, Phone 273-6830. Treasurer—Mrs. Adelaide Elliott,, P.O. Box 1002, Nevada City, Phone 265-4701. Pact Precident-—Gilbert T Tennis. 124 Winchester St. Grass Vallev, Phone 273-2328. Nevada County Volume 19, No. 1 istorical society . March 1965 Description of theDonner Lake to Johnson’s Ranch Section of the Overland Emigrant Road By Wendell Robie It was customary during the period of the expansion of the United States westward, to many times call the new trails, the first wagon roads, and improvements such as cut offs, by the name of the guide, or the first wagon train captain, or the discoverer. If this custom was followed, the Overland Emigrant Road in California would have been named for the first wagon train captain, Elisha Stevens, who proved the road could be traveled with ten wagons and many horsemen in December, 1844. If the custom of naming a route for the first guide had been maintained, this section could be known today as the Truckee Route of the Overland Road, because at first it was very generally known by the name of the friendly Indian, Truckee, who was the first to guide the white men through the Sierra Pass; which from that day to this has been used in greater degree by our people than any other route through the mountains to California. On maps prepared by John C, Fremont expeditions, it is called The Road Over the Plains, During the period the Overland Road was used by emigrants to California, this portion of the road was then known to them by the Truckee name, and present Donner Lake was then Truckee Lake. There may have been emigrant wagon train parties of less ability and less industry for traveling the Overland Road than the Donner Party, but they have not impressed a name on history of that time. Indeed, the careless, quarrelsome, slow traveling Donner Party would have slipped into oblivion except for their tragedy of starvation and cold which has impressed the Donner name ever deeper into the fabric of names and places in this portion of the mountains as time has rolled by. Actually, any contribution by the Donner Party to this route to be a traveled road was of negative character. since 1932, various organizations have made use of the word Donner to define a location, or for promotional and advertising values. In the 16 years which have followed in continued Donner Trail publicity, the appellation of the word Donner Trail to beverages, hotels, organizations, publications, highways and the like, has run far away from the true historical balance which would otherwise have remained to give credit to this great overland route to those who rendered the positive aid to make it possible—Truckee, Elisha Stevens, Edward Bryant, and later, Theodore Judah. Even the old Overland Emigrant Road isnowcalled by many the Donner Emigrant Road. During the period of our western emigration, it was the common custom of travelers to keep written diaries of the daily incidents of their trip. Therefore, our libraries and historical collections today have many of the original manuscript diaries, or published copies of them, which are accurately descriptive of the road traveled and its location with relation to the present geographical features we are famili-

a half, that our animals slid rather than walked down it.” Beyond the Greenhorn, were the famous ranches of Ben Taylor who brought the first horse herd of hot blooded animals from Kentucky and Missouri to California, and the well known Storm’s Ranch, which came into prominence when United States troops and State Volunteers rounded up the Indian Followers of Chief Weman at this ranch, and deported them to Mendocino County, with Storms as the first Indian Agent in California. Beyond Windy Hill to the west of Chicago Park and down the old Emigrant Road, is the location where Edwin Bryant wrote, on August 30, 1846, “After rising and descending a number of hills from the summit of one more elevated than others surrounding it, the spacious Valley of the Sacramento burst upon our. view.” After descending to the Valley along the water sheds of South Wolf Creek and the north bank of Bear River, The Emigrant Road approaches the side of old Camp Far West, a small army post maintained in 1849 and 1850. It is located on a slight, rocky bluff overlooking Bear River about two miles east of the site of Johnson’s Rancho. Saved from destruction is a small cemetery, used jointly by the people of Johnson’s Rancho and the military posse, in the period from 1844 to 1856, It is occupied by 18 graves, mostly soldier victims of Indian raids and disease, generally malaria. One little girl, Betsy Parker, occupied a brick lined grave in the corner of the plot. All are unmarked and lost to memory except for a common monument erected there in 1911 by the Native Sons of the Golden West. Two miles beyond the mountain section of the Overland Emigrant Road terminates in the Valley of the Sacramento at Johnson’s Rancho 31/2 miles East of the present town of Wheatland. The small adobe buildings are gone without a trace. Today, only a mammoth oak remains to mark the resting ground of the Emigrant Trains, and the grassy site of a once huge spring. Nearby is the worn track where the wagons pulled down the bank for the crossing of Bear River and valley road to Sutter’s Fort. CITIZEN OF THE YEAR DINNER Mr. Haroia J. George, Sr. will be honored as Nevada County Citizen of the Year at a dinner meeting Thursday, April 1, 1965 at Veterans Memorial Building, Grass Valley at 6:30 P.M. $2.75. General Chairman Gilbert Tennis states this event is open to the Public as this is a community affair. Tickets may be obtained from the following — Grass Valley—Esther Hartung, 303 S. Church St. Phone 273-6830; Mrs. Richard Shoemaker, Rt. 1, Box 875. Phone 273-702€; Gilbert Tennis, 124 Winchester St. Phone 273-2328; Hartung's Jewelers, 124 Mill St. Phone 273-3039. Nevada City—Mrs. Adelaide Elliott, P.O. Box 1002, Phone 265-4701; Mrs. Isabel Hefelfinger, 430 Washington St. Phone 265-2979; Elza Kilroy, 318 Drummond St. Phone 265-2075; Dickerman Drug Store, 219 Broad St. Phone 265-4215. HELP TO PRESERVE OUR COUNTY'S IMPORTANT AND ROMANTIC PAST — JOIN THE NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Membership only $1 per year — Payable January Ist each year Send $1.00 to Esther Hartung, 303 S. Church St., Grass Valley, California The Nevada County Historical Society meets first Thursday of each month except June, July and August. 1965 OFFICERS OF THE NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY President—Mrss. Isabel Hefelfinger, 430 Washington St., Nevada City Phone 265-2979. Vice President—Mrs. Richard Shoemaker, Rt. 1 Box 875, Grass Valley, Phone 273-7026. Secretary—Miss Esther Hartung, 303 South Church St., Grass Valley, Phone 273-6830. Treasurer—Mrs. Adelaide Elliott,, P.O. Box 1002, Nevada City, Phone 265-4701. Pact Precident-—Gilbert T Tennis. 124 Winchester St.. Grass Vallev, Phone 273-2328. Nevada County

Volume 19, No. 1 istorical society . March 1965 Description of theDonner Lake to Johnson’s Ranch Section of the Overland Emigrant Road By Wendell Robie It was customary during the period of the expansion of the United States westward, to many times call the new trails, the first wagon roads, and improvements such as cut offs, by the name of the guide, or the first wagon train captain, or the discoverer. If this custom was followed, the Overland Emigrant Road in California would have been named for the first wagon train captain, Elisha Stevens, who proved the road could be traveled with ten wagons and many horsemen in December, 1844. If the custom of naming a route for the first guide had been maintained, this section could be known today as the Truckee Route of the Overland Road, because at first it was very generally known by the name of the friendly Indian, Truckee, who was the first to guide the white men through the Sierra Pass; which from that day to this has been used in greater degree by our people than any other route through the mountains to California. On maps prepared by John C, Fremont expeditions, it is called The Road Over the Plains, During the period the Overland Road was used by emigrants to California, this portion of the road was then known to them by the Truckee name, and present Donner Lake was then Truckee Lake. There may have been emigrant wagon train parties of less ability and less industry for traveling the Overland Road than the Donner Party, but they have not impressed a name on history of that time. Indeed, the careless, quarrelsome, slow traveling Donner Party would have slipped into oblivion except for their tragedy of starvation and cold which has impressed the Donner name ever deeper into the fabric of names and places in this portion of the mountains as time has rolled by. Actually, any contribution by the Donner Party to this route to be a traveled road was of negative character. since 1932, various organizations have made use of the word Donner to define a location, or for promotional and advertising values. In the 16 years which have followed in continued Donner Trail publicity, the appellation of the word Donner Trail to beverages, hotels, organizations, publications, highways and the like, has run far away from the true historical balance which would otherwise have remained to give credit to this great overland route to those who rendered the positive aid to make it possible—Truckee, Elisha Stevens, Edward Bryant, and later, Theodore Judah. Even the old Overland Emigrant Road isnowcalled by many the Donner Emigrant Road. During the period of our western emigration, it was the common custom of travelers to keep written diaries of the daily incidents of their trip. Therefore, our libraries and historical collections today have many of the original manuscript diaries, or published copies of them, which are accurately descriptive of the road traveled and its location with relation to the present geographical features we are famili-