Henness Pass, at an elevation of , is a mountain pass located northwest of

Reno 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, ...

on the crest of 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 ...

range in

Sierra County, California Sierra County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 3,236, making it California's second-least populous county. The county seat is Do ...

. The pass is traversed by Henness Pass Road, a mostly unpaved road not generally passable by automobiles in winter. Portions of the road are recommended for high clearance vehicles only. Like most of the well-known Sierra Nevada passes, it lies on the

Great Basin Divide The Great Basin Divide in the western United States is the ridgeline that separates the Great Basin from the Pacific Ocean watershed, which completely surrounds it. The Great Basin is the largest set of contiguous endorheic watersheds of No ...

. Here, the

Middle Yuba River The Middle Yuba River is one of the three main forks of the Yuba River in Northern California in the United States. The river rises at the crest of the Sierra Nevada, and flows generally west through canyons to join the North Yuba River near No ...

flows west to the Pacific Ocean, and the

Little Truckee River The Little Truckee River is a river that is a tributary to its larger counterpart, the Truckee River, north of Lake Tahoe. It drains the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, flowing through Sierra County and Nevada County in eastern Californ ...

flows east into the Great Basin. Historically, Henness Pass Road was a travel route used by Native Americans and then immigrants and local mining communities during the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

era. Beginning in the late 1850s, the road was a major supply route for the silver and gold mines in Nevada. Freight was brought by steamboat from San Francisco up the Sacramento River to Marysville. From there it was carried by wagons, with part of the route being via the

Bridgeport Covered Bridge The Bridgeport Covered Bridge is located in Bridgeport, Nevada County, California, southwest of French Corral and north of Lake Wildwood. It is used as a pedestrian crossing over the South Yuba River. The bridge was built in 1862 by David J ...

and the Virginia Turnpike, which connected to the road to Henness Pass at North San Juan. Henness Pass is named for Patrick Henness, who is credited with developing the route in 1849 or 1850 as an alternative to Donner Pass. In 1855 the road was officially surveyed by D.B. Scott when the California Legislature passed An Act to Construct a Wagon Road over the Sierra Nevada range, but a route through El Dorado County approximating the current path of

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

was ultimately chosen. Charles Marsh was a founding director of the Henness Pass Turnpike Company, and was a civil engineer who built and owned water systems serving the mines and towns of Nevada County, California beginning in the 1850s. His intimate familiarity with the topography of the area led to his accompanying

Theodore D. Judah Theodore Dehone Judah (March 4, 1826 – November 2, 1863) was an American civil engineer who was a central figure in the original promotion, establishment, and design of the First transcontinental railroad. He found investors for what became th ...

(who wanted to build a transcontinental railroad) on a reconnaissance of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1860. They proceeded over the Henness route, taking elevations and measurements, and came back both convinced that a railroad crossing of the imposing mountains was feasible. They also explored the Donner Pass route, and agreed that it was more favorable. The Henness Pass route was eclipsed by completion in 1868 of the

First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

as far as Reno via

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 ...

. Henness Pass and its namesake road still provide the only crossing of any significance between

Yuba Pass Yuba Pass is a mountain pass on State Route 49 in Sierra County in the U.S. state of California. The pass lies at an elevation of about 3.4 air miles west of Sattley, on the divide between the North Yuba River and the Middle Fork Feather Riv ...

( State Route 49) to the north and

Donner Summit 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 ...

(

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 ...

) to the south.

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See also