Beckwourth Pass is the lowest

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

mountain range at an elevation of .

Geography

Beckwourth Pass is located at the north eastern edge of

Sierra Valley Sierra Valley is a large mountain valley located east of the crest of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range in Plumas and Sierra Counties, north of Interstate 80. Geography An intermontane valley at approximately elevation, Sierra Va ...

at Chilcoot-Vinton, California near the border between Plumas County and Lassen County, east of Portola, California and northwest of

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

California State Route 70 State Route 70 (SR 70) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting SR 99 north of Sacramento with U.S. Route 395 (US 395) near Beckwourth Pass (lowest in the Sierra Nevada) via the Feather River Canyon. Through the Feat ...

crosses over Beckwourth Pass. The

Feather River Route The Feather River Route is a rail line that was built and operated by the Western Pacific Railroad. It was constructed between 1906 and 1909, and connects the cities of Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The line was built to comp ...

of the former

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

, now the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

, crosses beneath the pass via the Chilcoot Tunnel. Route 70 and the railroad line provide an alternate route between

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

and

when

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

and the Overland Route, which cross the Sierra Nevada near

Donner Pass Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake and Donner Memorial State Park about west of Truckee, California. Like the Sierra Nevada themselves, the pass has a steep approach from the east and a gradual a ...

, are impassable due to winter storms.

History

James Beckwourth James Pierson Beckwourth (April 26, 1798/1800 – October 20, 1866) was an American fur trapper, rancher, businessman, explorer, author and scout. Known as "Bloody Arm" because of his skill as a fighter, Beckwourth was of multiracial descent, b ...

discovered Beckwourth Pass in 1850. In 1851, he improved the path into

to create his

Beckwourth Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail fo ...

. The trail ran from Truckee Meadows (what is now known as

Sparks, Nevada Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904, incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno, Nevada, Reno. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 108,445 residents in the city. It is the List of citi ...

) through the pass into California and on to Marysville. In late summer of 1851, James Beckwourth led the first wagon train of settlers along the Beckwourth Trail into Marysville. One of the settlers in Beckwourth's first wagon train was ten-year-old Josephine Donna Smith. Later, she took the name Ina Coolbrith, "Ina" is a diminutive name for Josephine and "Coolbrith" was her mother's maiden name. In 1915, Coolbrith would become California's first Poet Laureate. Between 1851 and 1854, 1,200 emigrants traveled the Beckwourth Trail, leading 12,000 head of cattle, 700 sheep, and 500 horses. However, in 1854, use dropped sharply when the Beckwourth Trail became a toll road. The toll cost to move a ton of freight from Bidwell Bar to Quincy was about $18. This made using the Beckwourth Road an expensive enterprise and the use of the Beckwourth Trail declined. Between 1895 and 1916, the pass was used by the Sierra Valley & Mohawk Railway

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

. The abandoned right-of-way is still visible on the south, and eastern slope of the pass. In 1906, the Chilcoot Tunnel, with a length of , was constructed beneath Beckwourth Pass by the

as part of its

. This route is now owned and operated by the

. In 1937, a bronze plaque was erected at Beckwourth Pass by the Native Daughters of the Golden West to commemorate the discoverer and the pioneers who passed along the trail. On August 8, 1939, Beckwourth Pass was designated as California Historical Landmark Number 336.

References

{{Sierra Nevada California Trail Mountain passes of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Landforms of Plumas County, California Rail mountain passes of the United States California Historical Landmarks History of Plumas County, California

Geography

History

See also

References