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The Emigrant Experience on the Truckee Route of the California Trail, 1844-1852
by Olive Newell
Paperback, 400 pages
Nevada County Historical Society, January 1, 1997
The greatest migration in U.S. history occurred from 1843 to 1853 between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. Before 1849, thousands of families packed their goods into wagons drawn by oxen and mules and headed for a land about which they knew very little. After gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, thousands more (mostly men) followed this same track and entered California through the Truckee and South Yuba river canyons.
Tail of the Elephant describes the harrowing trip in the actual words of emigrants and gold seekers who traveled from Fort Hall to Sutter’s Fort. The trail followed Nevada’s Humboldt River to its “Sink,” crossed the 40-mile desert to the Truckee River, went upstream through the Reno Valley to what is now the town of Truckee.
Here the trail split into three paths over the summit and a variety of trails along the South Yuba and Bear rivers before arriving at Johnson’s Ranch and Sutter’s Fort.
Quotations from the diaries, letters, and journals of more than 125 travelers tell the method of travel and the nature and attitudes of emigrants as they progress on the journey. These narratives contain useful and fascinating information about the pristine ecology of 150 years ago-writers comment on forestry, botany, geology, geography, car-tography, and hydrology before, during and after the gold rush.
“Seeing the Elephant”
The elephant, a phantom mentioned by many emigrants, has been used by the author as a unifying theme. Newell says the elephant “became a mythical symbol for a barrier confronting the adventurous but weak-willed. At the same time, it became a triumph for those who conquered their fear and bypassed the hazard he represented.”
The classic tale is of a farmer who wished to see the circus, but to in order to pay the entrance fee he had to sell his wagon load of produce. As he entered town, he met the circus cavalcade led by a magnificent elephant that so terrified his horse that it reared and bolted, upset the wagon, broke a wheel, harness and shaft, and tossed the farmer into a ditch. Emerging bruised and dazed from the spilt milk, broken eggs and crushed vegetables, he shrugged and grinned, “At least I got to see the elephant.”
From the jump-off at St. Joseph, John Clark wrote in 1852: “All hands early up, anxious to see the path that leads to the Elephant.” In 1849, cholera exploded on the plains, and Joseph Wood, after passing many sick and dying men and numerous fresh graves, mournfully concluded, “Now methinks I see the elephant with unclouded eyes!”
On the North Platte River, a group encountered five buffalo in a ravine a few miles from camp. The buffalo started an attack, and a little red-haired Vermont Yankee escaped by running into the river. He returned to camp after dark, explaining, “Boys, I’ve seen the elephant, darn old roper if I ain’t.”
When emigrants, exhausted and dispirited after weeks of crossing dusty, barren stretches of desert, finally encountered California forestland near the site of present-day Verdi, Nevada, they were invigorated and thrilled. Here is how one traveler remembered it:
“We at length came in sight of the California Mountains, which are covered with a dense forest of green trees—trees once more! Oh! how the very sight of them cheered our worn spirits. As we hurried to get among them, how gladly did we hail the change. As we entered the majestic woods the breath of the forest was animating to us. What a feeling of freshness diffused itself into our whole being as we enjoyed the pleasures of the pathless woods.
“We encamped that night upon a small, clear brook, whose waters were sweeter than any we had drank for a long time; the birds were singing all around us, and thousands of squirrels were hopping from branch to branch, whilst little Ned made the woods ring with his joyous laughter. What a change from the wild, wide wastes over which we had traveled for months.”
About the Author
Olive Newell, who has a history degree from California State University, Sacramento, has spent 20 years researching the Emigrant Trail. She has driven over or walked much of the Overland Trail, and has examined nearly all of the Truckee Route that is the subject of Tail of the Elephant. She is a member of the Oregon-California Trails Association and the Nevada County Historical Society.